Canada is often referred to as a nation of immigrants, however, for a long period of time these immigrants came from a limited side of the world. Most people who migrated to the Dominion before the turn of the twentieth century left European nations, predominately the British Isles and Western Europe. The pattern of immigration began to shift particularly in the 1890s, as it became more likely for southern and eastern Europeans to make the trip.
Additionally, another notable change in the pattern of immigration was the increase in Asian workers beginning to arrive in the first couple of decades after Confederation. As a result of the influx of immigrants entering Canada, racism flourished in a variety of ways from individual acts of suspicion, disrespect to formally enacted laws and policies designed to drive out and limit the prospects of racial minorities.White Canadians saw the presence of Asians during the first third of the twentieth century as the greatest threat to national prosperity. 1 In The Black Candle, Emily Murphy a magistrate from Edmonton addresses the problem of drug trafficking in Canada and despite taking some care to present her remarks as detached and scientific, she had some clear opinions regarding various racial and ethnic groups and their involvement in the trade. Murphy expressed stereotypical and prejudiced views about various racial and ethnic groups.
Like many Anglo-Protestants of her time, Emily Murphy believed that the social problems of the era, such as poverty, alcohol and drug abuse were linked to the influx of immigrants into western Canada and that criminal activity amongst certain immigrants needed to be eliminated through anti-drug organizations and strict legislation. Emily Murphy (1868-1933) was a suffragist, equal rights activist and eugenicist. The growing concern of drug abuse amongst immigrants and white-Canadians caused Murphy great distress and became a tireless anti-narcotics crusader.Although Murphy’s views on race changed over the course of her life,[5] the perspective contained in her book, the Black Candle, is considered the most consequential because it played a role in creating a widespread “war on drugs mentality” leading to legislation that “defined addiction as a law enforcement problem.
”[6] A series of articles in Maclean's magazine under her pen name, “Janey Canuck,” forms the basis of the Black Candle. Using extensive anecdotes and “expert” opinion, the BlackCandle depicts an alarming picture of drug abuse in Canada, detailing Murphy’s understanding of the use and effects of opium, cocaine, and pharmaceuticals, as well as a “new menace,” “marihuana. ”[7] Murphy’s concern with drugs began when she started coming into “disproportionate contact with Chinese people” in her courtroom because they were over represented in the criminal justice system. [8] In addition to professional expertise and her own observations, Murphy was also given a tour of opium dens in Vancouver’s Chinatown by local police detectives.Vancouver at the time was in the midst of a moral panic over drugs that was part of the anti-Oriental campaign that precipitated the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923. [9] Canadian drug historian Catherine Carstairs has argued that Murphy’s importance regarding drug policy has been “overstated” because she did not have an impact on the drug panic in Vancouver, but that nevertheless “her articles did mark a turning point and her book … brought the Vancouver drug panic to a larger Canadian audience.
”[10] Race permeates the Black Candle, and is intricately entwined with the drug trade and addiction in Murphy’s analysis.Yet she is ambiguous in her treatment of non-whites. [11] In one passage, for example, she chastises whites who use the Chinese as “scapegoats,”[12] while elsewhere, she refers to the Chinese man as a “visitor” in this country, and that “it might be wise to put him out” if it turns out that this visitor carries “poisoned lollipops in his pocket and feeds them to our children. ”[13] Drug addiction, however, not the Chinese immigrant, is “a scourge so dreadful in its effects that it threatens the very foundations of civilization,” and which laws therefore need to target for eradication. 14] Drugs victimize everyone, and members of all races perpetrate the drug trade, according to Murphy. [15] At the same time, she does not depart from the dominant view of middle class whites at the time that “races” were discrete, biologically determined categories, naturally ranked in a hierarchy.
In this scheme, the white race was facing degradation through miscegenation, while the more prolific “black and yellow races may yet obtain the ascendancy”[16] and thus threatened to “wrest the leadership of the world from the British. ”[17] Murphy’s ambiguity regarding non-whites is reflected in scholarly debates, ut what is not controversial is that the Black Candle was written “for the express purpose of arousing public demands for stricter drug legislation” and that in this she was to some degree successful. [18] This motivation may have influenced her racial analysis by playing to the popular prejudices of her white audiences. On the other hand, she may have deliberately tried to distance herself from those prejudices, especially the ones propagated by the more vulgar and hysterical Asian exclusionists in BC in order to maximize her own credibility and sway her more moderate readers. [19]It is her racist views of immigrants and non-whites that colour her legacy of an advocate of all people. Murphy's class based views and ideology of the upper white Canadian are immortalized in her writings.
Her most controversial book, The Black Candle, is Canada's first book on the subject of drug abuse and trafficking. The ? ’a€? black candle' is a reference to opium smoking where users have a "black candle" (a pipe) that they light over a lamp and the flame of the smoke of the opium is black In her book Murphy basically lays blame for drug trafficking at the feet of the Chinese immigrants and that due to the drugs crime is more frequent.Yet, her book is a contradiction of sorts as she sees the Chinese as the root of the drug trade in Canada but on the other hand praises them for their efforts in China to stop the trafficking of opium. Murphy does not only slander the Chinese but also focuses on African-Americans as well in the Black Candle.
She again praises the ? ’a€? black' people for being "law-abiding" and then in the same paragraph states how some are "contrariwise? ’a€¦wicked persons. " 15 Her beliefs are not out of the ordinary for the early nineteenth century and if accused of being a racist Murphy might have been shocked.What we call racism today would have seemed like statements of truth about a certain type of ethnic cultures. It did seem like the Chinese brought drugs into Canada and corrupted the white. What she doesn't necessarily delve into is assumption that the Chinese were responsible for the drug trade in Canada was an overgeneralization, nor does she take into account the role of the white person in the start of the spread of drugs.
Similarly, her ideas concerning black people were mainly negative and class based. When Murphy lived in Chatham, Ontario, she wrote that it was a place where you could acquire a maidservant or handyman.This shows that Murphy was a product of her times. That the equality that was being spread by the social reformers and suffragists was class and race based.
Published in 1922, Murphy's amazingly inaccurate account of drug addiction has the power to amuse even today's most staunch prohibitionists through its overblown rhetoric, biased sources and totally unqualified claims. Emily Murphy is heralded as being one of Canada's greatest women who helped further the Canadian feminist movement in the nineteenth century. She is most famous for her court battle to have women declared "persons" under the British North American Act.Some of her achievements also include: being the first female magistrate in the British Empire, author of several books, president of the Women's Canadian Club, and was active in implementing the Dower Act. Emily Murphy is regarded as being an influential woman in the first-wave feminist movement and she represented the women of her time period. Yet, despite all her accomplishments and her belief in equality for all, she was a strong advocate of eugenics and sterilization as well as being a racist, which mars her legacy.
The question then is, should Emily Murphy be praised and held up as a role model to women when she degraded and disparaged immigrants and non-white people. The answer to this question is complicated as Murphy was a product of her time and one cannot simply view her through the lens of contemporary principles. However, this also cannot be used as an excuse for her negative rhetoric, but to understand Emily Murphy's view one must look at the era in which she belonged. Emily Murphy may not be a role model to women but society cannot overlook her deeds and accomplishments.
