Charlie Quan stood up for Head Tax Redress in 2005 at age 98

Charlie
Quan was the the first person to receive a head tax redress ex-gratia
payment in 2006.  Charlie came to Canada as a small young child, and had
to pay $500 head tax, at the start of the previous century. In 2005, He
was a brave man calling for a full head tax redress and payment, when
others were feeling too afraid.  It was wonderful to meet and talk with
him, and I discovered he was the grandfather of one of my childhood
friends.

I met Charlie through renowned head tax activist Sid Tan.  Sid told a story at Charlie's service in his eulogy, about how Charlie came up to him after the Supreme Court of Canada denied leave to appeal in 2003.  “Charlie came up to me,” Sid says, “He said, you and Gim and Victor are doing a good job, but you need some help.”

“You're a head tax payer?” Sid says he thought maybe Charlie was a son or descendant of a head tax payer. But Charlie Quan had come to Canada at a young age, and in 2003, he was only 96 years old.

In the next few years, the head tax redress ramped up to one of the major issues of the 2005-2006 federal election campaign.  The Liberal Government of Paul Martin promised the ACE program of Acknowledgement, Commemoration and Education.  But Charlie wanted an apology and a monetary redress.  He went on record as saying what he thought a fair price would be.  You can see him in this CBC interview. 

Check out my blog posts with Charlie here: https://www.gunghaggis.com/blog?cmd=search&keywords=charlie+quan

Sid Tan, friend of the family sent this message out yesterday evening.

Mr. Charlie Sang Now Quan

February 15, 1907 – February 23, 2012