Vancouver — Gastown & Chinatown
Waterfront Station and the CPR Terminus
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
Listen
Transcript
The Canadian Pacific Railway was the bargain that tied British Columbia to Confederation. The promise of a transcontinental railway helped bring the colony into Canada in 1871; the line reached the Pacific coast in the 1880s.
Vancouver became the western terminus, linking prairie grain, timber, minerals and passengers to ocean shipping.
That national project depended heavily on Chinese railway workers, especially through the difficult mountain sections. They were paid less than white workers and faced dangerous conditions. After the railway was complete, Canada imposed a head tax on Chinese immigrants.
The contradiction is foundational: a country-building project depended on migrants whom the country then tried to exclude.
Stand here and the geography is obvious. Vancouver exists where a national railway could meet a global ocean.