Law and the Chinese in Canada: A Case Study in Ethnic Perceptions of the Law

F. Quei Quo is a political science professor at Simon Fraser University.

This research report, as the title shows, is a case study in ethnic perceptions of the law, based on 187 interviews with the samples drawn from the Toronto Chinese business community in 1979-80. The validity of its conclusions, therefore, is very much qualified by the size and particular, not universal, characteristics of the sample. To what extent do the Chinese cultural traditions affect the respondents’ legal beliefs and attitudes? This research is a small attempt at such a big question. The report consists of six chapters with numerous tables and figures and an appendix in which definitions of variables are given. Like many other reports of fieldwork, many lines and pages are spent explaining methodology, illustrating the setting, and clarifying concepts, leaving little space for elaboration of the conclusions. For example, how did the “over 40 percent of the sample do think discrimination generally is a serious problem in Toronto” in the conclusion (p. 65) come about, compared to the earlier analysis (p. 33) in which it was stated that “about 20 percent think that there is some discrimination in the police treatment of Chinese people”?

The findings seem to raise more questions than they answer. Pending the publication of a more comprehensive volume on a larger scale research project, this report remains just a report of a very limited project.