The Fighting 44s

The head tax redress to Chinese Canadians here in Canada is something I’ve been following for a while now as it directly affects my family. My great-great grandfather was one of those Chinese men we all talk about; he came to Gold Mountain and worked on the Canadian railroad.

He paid the head-tax. And my great-grandfather (whom i knew until i was twelve years old) also paid the head-tax after coming to the country to work with his father. My family would eventually set up roots in a tiny Canadian town as a result of the hard work of the family patriarchs, and just like the model minority, they kept their heads low and worked hard to make a living.

Although the Canadian government has made considerable progress in redressing the discrimination imposed on Chinese-Canadians, some believe it really isn’t enough.

$20,000 is a paltry amount compared to the 2-year salary equivalent over a century ago. Back then the $500 that my grandfathers paid was enough to buy two homes in Montreal. Take into account the mental and social anguish imposed on Chinese-Canadians as a result of the financial burden, being separated from their families, and also being barred from the very social services that the head tax went to fund, and the present-day amount of $20,000 is practically laughable. It’s a slap in the face.

It’s taken a while for the government to offer its apology and then to arrive at the $20,000 redress. Even then, the redress can only be claimed by the direct head-tax payers themselves or their spouses. Who’s still even alive? The exclusion act happened over a century ago, and although we Chinese have our longevity noodles and chi-kung exercises, not too many of us have made it this far.

Still, i’m not so sure if we should be upset that we’ve been given practically nothing, or if we should be glad we’ve been given anything at all…

Ottawa urged to expand head-tax redress
TABASSUM SIDDIQUI
Globe and Mail update

TORONTO — The Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) is calling for an expansion of the current federal redress program for Chinese immigrants who paid a discriminatory head tax upon entry into Canada.At a press conference Monday in Toronto, members of the council and the Ontario Coalition of Head Tax Payers and Families said the families of those who paid the head tax should be eligible for compensation.

Currently, only surviving head-tax payers and their spouses can claim the $20,000 settlement announced by the government in June 2006.

“We have formed a consensus right across Canada … that the redress is not complete,” said CCNC executive director Victor Wong.

“The head tax impacted on the entire family – this is the concept that the government fails to understand.”

The council says that as many as 3,000 families are excluded from the federal payments, which began after Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a formal apology to Chinese-Canadians last June for the head tax that was imposed on Chinese immigrants entering Canada from 1885 to 1923.

NDP MP Olivia Chow put forth a private members’ motion Feb. 14 in the House of Commons urging the government to recognize that the redress agreement is incomplete and to commit to negotiations with families of head-tax payers to offer them similar compensation to that of payers’ spouses.

“What’s happened is that only 5 per cent – that is, the head tax payers and spouse – receive redress,” Ms. Chow told the press conference via telephone from Ottawa, speaking in English and Cantonese. “Given that a year ago the Prime Minister promised to have complete redress and an apology, and so far, only the apology and a partial redress [has happened]…. We need to impress upon them that justice is not done as yet.”

Ms. Chow suggested that the matter could develop into a hot-button issue during the next federal election.

Several direct descendents of head-tax payers spoke of the hardship suffered by their families as a result of the discriminatory practice.

Student Eric Yam, 14, a second-generation Chinese-Canadian, never knew his grandparents. His grandfather arrived in Canada in 1923 and was sent to a detention centre in Victoria when he couldn’t pay all of the head tax. After marrying in China in 1930, Yam’s grandfather had to leave his wife and daughter behind upon returning to Canada due to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923. Tam’s father was born years later, but had to quit school at 17 to support his aging parents.

“The only memory I have of them is the suffering they faced,” Mr. Yam said. “Even after all these years, the effect of the head tax is still being felt. My father never got to go to school. First-generation sons and daughters should receive a refund from the federal government – it is only fair.”

Educator Rebecca Tam broke down in tears explaining how her mother never met her own father, who couldn’t afford to bring his family to Canada thanks to the head tax. Ms. Tam expressed surprise at how “speedily” Ottawa dealt with the case of Maher Arar, the Canadian who was imprisoned and tortured in Syria for nearly a year.

“The government is paying lip service to the descendents of head tax victims,” Ms. Tam said. “Chinese-Canadians are once again being sidelined. Mr. Arar, one person, suffered for one year … in the Chinese community, we had 80,000 head-tax payers and their families who suffered.”

Binh Chow, co-vice-chair of the Ontario Coalition of Head Tax Payers and Families (OCHTPF), noted that the $23-million in head taxes paid by Chinese immigrants is worth billions today even without factoring in accumulation of interest. As for government concerns that extending redress to families of head-tax payers would open the floodgates for applications, Mr. Chow said only those descendents born after 1947, when the exclusion act was repealed, would be eligible.

Over 80,000 immigrants paid the head tax, which ranged from $50 to $500 over the years. Newfoundland also imposed a head tax from 1906 to 1949, the year it joined Confederation.

Chinese-Canadians have been lobbying the government for the past two decades, with over 4000 families registering with the CCNC since 1984.

About 500 families are eligible for compensation under the current government plan, but thousands more have turned in head-tax certificates and other paperwork that could serve as documentation for any claims, Mr. Wong said, adding that the coalition hasn’t yet determined what they think the exact criteria for eligibility should be, but is keen to enter discussions with the government.

But Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney wouldn’t commit to negotiations, saying the government maintains an “open dialogue” with the Chinese-Canadian community.

“The government’s made its decision on redress, and I don’t see the cabinet reconsidering that,” he told Canadian Press.

While the government acknowledges the suffering of Chinese families, Mr. Kenney said it had to “draw the line somewhere” when deciding on a compensation package.

“Part of our concern, quite frankly, is that many families in this country have suffered hardship or injustice or discrimination, and we don’t want to create social divisions where people start comparing or compensating each other through their tax dollars for the sufferings of their parents or grandparents,” he said.

But the Chinese experience is “unique,” said Maria Chan, vice-president of the Chinese Community Centre of Ontario.

“It was the role that the Chinese played that made Canada possible,” said co-vice-chair Doug Hum of the OCHTPF, referring to how Chinese workers helped build the national railroad. “The tax belongs to the families and it should be returned. Whole families were affected. Many had to beg, borrow from other family members to get here.”

With files from Canadian Press

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 18th, 2007 at 10:52 pm and is filed under Advocacy & Activism, Opinion, Politics, Social Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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