More news articles on Chinese Head-tax + story interview with Gim Wong

Ottawa's 'final decision' on Chinese head-tax due in
June, PM says

GLORIA GALLOWAY

VANCOUVER — Chinese immigrants who were
forced to pay a blatantly racist head tax will learn next month how the federal
government plans to address the issue.

Chinese Canadians have been calling on Ottawa for several years
to apologize for the tax and to provide some form of redress.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper indicated during the
recent election campaign that, unlike the previous Liberal government, he was
open to those requests. And he told reporters yesterday that the Chinese
community could expect a response in mid-June.

“We will be announcing our final decision on that
within the next month,” Mr. Harper said. “There have been extensive
consultations across the country. I will be continuing some of those today and
we're very close to a final decision.”

aPs=”boxR”;

var boxRAC = fnTdo('a'+'ai',300,250,ai,'j',nc);
Those who have been fighting for action on the head-tax issue said
they were encouraged by the goodwill extended by the Prime Minister when he met
with head-tax payers and their families in East Vancouver
later in the day.

“This meeting speaks to the sincerity and
personal commitment of the Prime Minister that head-tax redress remains a
priority of this government,” Susan Eng, the co-chair of the Ontario
Coalition of Chinese Head Tax Payers and Families, said in a statement.

“The hopes and expectations of these Chinese
Canadian pioneers and their families for fair and just redress are now placed
in his hands and we expect that he will not disappoint them.”

In all, about 81,000 Chinese immigrants paid
$23-million to enter Canada
under the head-tax scheme between 1885 and 1923. The Chinese Exclusion Act
followed, barring Chinese immigrants altogether until it was repealed in 1947.

Over the past 21 years, more than 4,000 head-tax
payers and families have registered with the Chinese Canadian National Council.
Many have died, and the council wants action while there are still a few
remaining to accept what the government is willing to offer.

But the government has had to determine how it can
properly apologize for the discriminatory tariff and its consequences. Canadian
Heritage Minister Bev Oda has been charged with
conducting national consultations on the issue, and her findings will heavily
influence the government's response.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060526.BCHEADTAX26/TPStory/National

Harper
hears first-hand of suffering caused by Chinese head tax

May 26, 2006.
01:00 AM

BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH

TORONTO STAR

VANCOUVER—Quon Chang Shee
Dere is 102. But old age couldn't stop the Vancouver resident from delivering a sharp
message to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the issue of the Chinese head tax.

“I am going to
stay alive as long as it takes to get justice. How much longer would you expect
me to live?” she asked Harper in a meeting yesterday.

Dere's husband was one of some 81,000 Chinese immigrants who each paid a
$500 head tax to enter Canada
early in the century.

During a roundtable
meeting yesterday, Dere delivered a blunt appeal for justice in her own Chinese
dialect, said Mary Woo Sims, who sat in on the private meeting.

The Conservatives have
promised to deliver a formal apology for the head tax and redress to those who
paid it. Heritage Minister Bev Oda and Jason Kenney,
Harper's parliamentary secretary, have travelled the
country consulting with Chinese Canadians on the shape of the compensation
package.

For the first time
yesterday, Harper sat in on one of those sessions, saying he wanted to hear
first-hand the tales of racism and hardship before deciding the government's
position on compensation.

Charlie Quan, 99, told Harper how he toiled without break in a Saskatchewan coffee shop
for four years to pay off the money he had borrowed to pay the tax.

“Very hard work to
get money … every day, even Christmas Day and New Year,” he said later.

The session at the Strathcona Community Centre in the city's Chinatown
stretched for 90 minutes, a half hour longer than scheduled.

In total, Chinese
immigrants paid $23 million to enter Canada under the head tax scheme
between 1885 and 1923, when the Chinese Exclusion Act came into effect and
barred Chinese altogether until 1947.

The previous Liberal
government rushed through an agreement before the election providing $2.5
million for an educational foundation but offered no apology or compensation.

That sparked widespread
outrage among community leaders, including Sid Tan, who protested during former
prime minister Paul Martin's visit to Vancouver late last year.

Yesterday, Tan was
among those who met with Harper. Later, he said the progress they've made with
the Conservatives on the issue has been “astounding.”

Prior to the meeting,
Harper said he expects to announce details of the compensation package in
mid-June.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid
=1148593812113&call_pageid=971358637177

Harper meets with Chinese head
tax survivors

Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks during a press conference in Vancouver on Thursday.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks
during a press conference in Vancouver
on Thursday.

Canadian Press

Updated: Thu. May. 25 2006 11:40 PM ET

VANCOUVER —
The prime minister will apologize to Chinese head tax payers and their
families before Parliament rises for the summer.

Stephen
Harper had a one-hour meeting with three elderly head tax payers and other
members of the Chinese community on Thursday in Vancouver.

Fewer
than 20 Chinese Canadians who paid the racist tax are still alive.

Parliamentary
Secretary Jason Kenney said the meeting gave the Prime Minister a more human
perspective on the issue.

“If
nothing else this meeting means that when he offers his apology in the House
of Commons, he will be speaking with real feeling, with real meaning and not
just reading a speech that was written for him,'' said Kenney.

“This
has added an important personal dimension to the prime minister to the whole
issue.''

A
redress package will also be announced in parliament within the next month.

No
exact details on the package were discussed Thursday.

“We're
going to try to come up with a package that reflects a consensus within the
community,'' he said. “Not everybody will be
completely satisfied but most people should be generally satisfied.''

Eighty-four-year-old
Gim Wong, an air force veteran and descendant of
head tax payers, attended the meeting with Harper

“He
was very friendly,'' he said.

“I'm
just so happy. He has a patience and he seems so
interested. I think that's very important. One step at a time.''

During
last election's campaigns, the Conservatives won some support from the
Chinese community after promising to apologize for the head-tax.

The
Liberals, however, were unclear at the time on where the stood on the issue.

David
Emerson, the industry minister at the time, suggested they had new advice
that put the government in the clear legally when it came to an apology.

Former
prime minister Paul Martin offered a “personal'' apology on a
Chinese-language radio station.

Governments
dating back to Brian Mulroney's Conservatives have had a no-apology policy.

Kenney
acknowledged that there are many communities who have been victims of racism
but said the head-tax was a particularly appalling mark in Canadian history.

“There
was no other ethnic or cultural community that was so clearly targeted by
racist policies for so long,” he said.

Thousands
of Chinese immigrants were forced to pay the tax as the price of admission to
Canada
between 1885 and 1923.