8 май 1896 г. - Union Colliery v. Bryden (1899), end of Coal Mines Amendment Act (1890)

Описание:

"In 1899, the B.C. courts heard a case in which the B.C. Coal Mines Amendment Act (1890) was challenged when John Bryden, a shareholder in Union Colliery, wanted the company to bar Chinese from holding certain jobs of trust and responsibility at its coal-mining operations.

The 1890 amendment to the Coal Mines Act had prohibited Chinese people from being employed in coalmines below ground; the provisions to the Act were allegedly based on safety concerns about Chinese workers’ lack of English language skills.

Section 4 of the amended Act stated that: 'No boy under the age of twelve years, and no woman or girl of any age, and no Chinaman, shall be employed in or allowed to be for the purposes of employment in any mine to which this Act applies below ground.'

In Union Colliery v. Bryden, the company argued that the provincial government had exceeded its authority to prohibit employment of Chinese people in mines. The matter was decided by the Privy Council, which agreed with the company and struck down the Coal Mines Amendment Act.

In its decision, the Privy Council stated that its members were 'of the opinion that the whole pith and substance of the enactments of s. 4 of the Coal Mines Regulation Act . . . consists in establishing a statutory prohibition which affects aliens or naturalized subjects, that therefore trench upon the exclusive authority of the Parliament of Canada.'

Historian Victor Lee observes: 'The Privy Council in that case seemed to say that the federal government had exclusive jurisdiction over laws directed towards Chinese people in Canada.'”

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