Victoria — Old Town, Chinatown & Inner Harbour
Fisgard Street and the Chinese Public School
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
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Transcript
Fisgard Street preserves some of Chinatown's most important institutional buildings.
The Chinese Public School emerged from a discriminatory education system. In the early twentieth century, efforts to segregate Chinese students triggered community resistance and boycotts.
Education was not a side issue. It determined language, opportunity and whether Chinese Canadian children would be treated as members of the province.
The school later became a community institution teaching Chinese language and culture.
Victoria's Chinatown survived because it contained far more than commerce. It had educational, social, religious and political structures.
The neighbourhood's continued physical coherence is why Parks Canada designated it a National Historic Site.
Finish here by looking back toward Old Town. The distance is only a few blocks. Historically, racial barriers could make those few blocks feel much larger.