SOCIAL PROBLEM RESOLVED?
Apology and Redress
![Picture](/uploads/1/1/0/2/11020844/981983459.jpg?369)
Figure Seventeen: A cartoon with Harper and the Head Tax
The CCNC (Chinese Canadian National Council) started seeking financial retribution and an apology for the head tax in 1984. They represented over 4,000 Head Tax payers, spouses and descendants. Over the years, they held numerous community meetings, gathered support from various organizations and famous Canadians, increased media awareness and meeting with Multiculturalism ministers. However, as time went on, the number of living Head Tax payers was slowly dwindling.
In the early 1990s, the CCNC teamed up with the B.C. Coalition of Head Tax Payers, Spouses and Descendants, gaining the support of 1,500 more Head Tax payers.
In 1993, before the federal election, Prime Minister Mulroney attempted to appease them by offering individual medals and a museum wing, but no financial redress. This offer was rejected.
The next year in December, 1994, the Minister of Multiculturalism, Sheila Finestone declared in Parliament that the government would not provide redress for the Head Tax and any other historical injustices against other communities.
Due to lack of progress in a political apology, CCNC and its allies, Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Legal Clinic turned to the Canadian Courts for justice. In 1999, Mr. Mack, Quen Ying Lee, and her son, Yew Lee filed a class action lawsuit, basing some of their case on Section 15 in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, on equality. However, in 2001, Ontario Superior Court Justice Cumming dismissed the case, saying that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms could not be applied retrospectively, and on September 13, 2002, the Ontario Court of Appeal agreed to Justice Cumming's ruling. On November 18, 2002, the Supreme Court of Canada turned down an appeal from Mr. Shack Jang Mack. 1
Finally, on June 22, 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a formal apology in the House of Commons.
In the early 1990s, the CCNC teamed up with the B.C. Coalition of Head Tax Payers, Spouses and Descendants, gaining the support of 1,500 more Head Tax payers.
In 1993, before the federal election, Prime Minister Mulroney attempted to appease them by offering individual medals and a museum wing, but no financial redress. This offer was rejected.
The next year in December, 1994, the Minister of Multiculturalism, Sheila Finestone declared in Parliament that the government would not provide redress for the Head Tax and any other historical injustices against other communities.
Due to lack of progress in a political apology, CCNC and its allies, Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Legal Clinic turned to the Canadian Courts for justice. In 1999, Mr. Mack, Quen Ying Lee, and her son, Yew Lee filed a class action lawsuit, basing some of their case on Section 15 in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, on equality. However, in 2001, Ontario Superior Court Justice Cumming dismissed the case, saying that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms could not be applied retrospectively, and on September 13, 2002, the Ontario Court of Appeal agreed to Justice Cumming's ruling. On November 18, 2002, the Supreme Court of Canada turned down an appeal from Mr. Shack Jang Mack. 1
Finally, on June 22, 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a formal apology in the House of Commons.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to formally turn the page on an unfortunate period in Canada's past. One during which a group of people – who only sought to build a better life – was repeatedly and deliberately singled out for unjust treatment. I speak, of course, of the Head Tax that was imposed on Chinese immigrants to this country, as well as the other restrictive
measures that followed.
But from the moment that the railway was completed, Canada turned its back on these men. What followed was 62 years of legislated racism against Chinese in Canada. It began with the various federal head taxes on Chinese immigrants,from 1885 to 1923. Outright exclusion of all Chinese followed with amendments to the Chinese Immigration Act, which came into effect on July, 1, 1923. Newfoundland, which did not join Confederation until 1949, had enacted similar discriminatory laws from 1906.
Ga nar dai, doe heep. (Canada apologizes) 2
The government gave symbolic payments to surviving head tax payers and their spouses, and will also fund community projects.
Still Unresolved? The redress was given to under 800 families with a surviving head tax payer and a deceased head tax payer with a surviving spouse. This is less than one percent of all affected Head Tax families.
Children of Head Tax payers have also suffered due to the Head Tax, including growing up without a father. There were also financial problems. 3 Another problem is that out of five million dollars originally set aside for the Chinese Canadians in the Community Historical Recognition Program, half a million, or 500,000 dollars, were not used, and taken back into government funds. The Chinese Canadian citizen advisory committee did not know that 10% of the allocated money had not been spent. There was a strict deadline of 18 months to spend the money, and when the deadline approached, the Canadian government repossessed the remaining money that had not been spent. 4
Also, when the Japanese Canadians were given redress in 1998, it was a long term fund, not an amount of money to spend within a certain time limit. |