Chinese head tax in Canada

In 1993, then-Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney made an offer of individual medallions, a museum wing, and other collective measures involving several other redress-seeking communities. These were rejected outright by the Chinese Canadian national groups.

In the same year, after Jean Chrétien replaced Mulroney as prime minister, the Cabinet openly refused to provide an apology or redress.[15]

Then-Liberal Multiculturalism Minister Sheila Finestone announced in a letter that the government "cannot rewrite history" and would not grant financial compensation or redress to groups for past injustices. Instead, the letter confirmed $24 million in financing for a Canadian Race Relations Foundation, an idea raised by the previous Conservative government.[19]

Still, the CCNC and its supporters continued to raise the issue whenever they could, including a submission to the United Nations Human Rights Commission and eventually undertaking court action against the Crown-in-Council, arguing that the federal Crown should not be profiting from racism and that it had a responsibility anadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and international human rights law. In addition, it argued the 1988 apology and compensation for the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War established a precedent for redressing other racially motivated policies.

In a $1.2 billion legal challenge, an Ontario court declared in 2001 that the government of Canada had no obligation to redress the head tax levied on Chinese immigrants because the Charter had no retroactive application and the case of internment of Japanese Canadians was not a legal precedent. Two subsequent appeals in 2002 and 2003 were also unsuccessful.[20]

Following the legal setbacks, community activism continued once again across the country. In 2003, Canadian historian Pierre Berton gave a ceremonial iron railway spike to redress activists who toured the historical icon around the country as part of a "Last Spike Campaign", rebuilding support for a public demand for redress.[21]

When Paul Martin won the leadership of the federal Liberal Party and became prime minister in 2003, there was a sense of urgency in the Chinese Canadian community as it became clear that there were perhaps only a few dozen surviving Chinese Head Tax payers left (they were paid $20,000) maybe a few hundred spouses or widows. Several regional and national events had been organised to revitalize the redress campaign:[22][23]

In 2004, Doudou Diène, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, concluded that Canada should redress the head tax to Chinese Canadians in response to a submission by May Chiu, legal counsel to the Chinese Canadian Redress Alliance.[24] In 2005, Gim Wong, an 82-year-old son of two head tax payers and a World War II veteran, conducted a cross-country Ride for Redress on his Harley Davidson motorcycle, where upon his arrival in Ottawa Prime Minister Paul Martin refused to meet him.[25][26]

On November 17, 2005, a group calling itself the National Congress of Chinese Canadians (NCCC) announced that an agreement had been reached between 11 Chinese-Canadian groups and the federal Cabinet, wherein the Queen-in-Council would pay $12.5 million for the creation of a new non-profit foundation to educate Canadians about anti-Chinese discrimination, with a specific pre-condition that no apology would be expected from any government figure. The NCCC was formed in the early 1990s and negotiated with the mantra "no apology and no individual compensation," so the Liberal government selected them as the representative group to negotiate the deal. The Department of Canadian Heritage's announcement on November 24, 2005 stated that the agreed upon funding would be reduced to $2.5 million. It was later revealed that the Minister for Asia and Pacific affairs, Raymond Chan, who claimed to have negotiated the deal, had purposely misled both the ministers of the Crown and the public and some of the groups named as being party to the agreement stated publicly that their names had been used without permission; several other groups listed did not even exist. Taco Chan stated that "apology is not on" and argued "that to apologize would be tantamount to giving up immunity that has been granted to the government by the court." Don Lee, the co-founder and national director of the NCCC has claimed that his organization had no direct ties to the Liberals; however, Toronto First Radio host Simon Li asked "Why, Mr. Prime Minister, on the eve of a federal election, was so much money given to a single organization that sent out squads of volunteers to campaign for Liberals in Toronto's Chinatown in the last election?"[21][27]

The Liberal deal with the NCCC upset the CCNC and its affiliates, as this purported deal had been reached without their input. Other community groups including the B.C. Coalition of Head Tax Payers and the Ontario Coalition of Chinese Head Tax Payers and Families criticized the agreement as well.[21]

Bill C-333, the Chinese Canadian Recognition and Redress Act, a private member's bill, was tabled in the federal parliament in order to implement the deal in November 2005. While C-333 sought to acknowledge, commemorate and educate about past government wrongdoings, it fell far short of the apology demanded by generations of Chinese Canadians. Furthermore, the clause in C-333 which stated "1.1 The Government of Canada shall undertake negotiations with the NCCC towards an agreement concerning measures that may be taken to recognize the imposition of exclusionary measures on immigrants of Chinese origin from 1885 to 1947" essentially excluded the CCNC, and its representation by proxy of more than 4,000 head tax payers, their spouses and families, from any settlement talks with the government. The Ontario Coalition of Head Tax Payers and Families lobbied the Conservative Party to stop the passage of Bill C-333. The Conservatives exercised a procedural prerogative and switched the order of Bill C-333 with Bill C-331, a bill to recognize past wrongs against Ukrainian Canadians during wartime, causing Bill C-333 to die when Prime Minister Martin's Liberals lost a motion of non-confidence and parliament was dissolved on 28 November 2005.[21]

As they had done while campaigning for the federal election in 2004, the New Democratic Party and Bloc Québécois stated, during the leadup to the January 2006 election, their support for an apology and redress for the head tax. Similarly, on 8 December 2005, Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper released a press statement expressing his support for an apology for the head tax. As a part of his party platform, Harper promised to work with the Chinese community on redress, should the Conservatives be called to form the next government.[28] Before his party ultimately lost the election, Martin issued a personal apology on a Chinese language radio program. However, he was quickly criticized by the Chinese Canadian community for not issuing the apology in the House of Commons and for then trying to dismiss it completely in the English-speaking media on the very same day. Several Liberal candidates with significant Chinese-Canadian populations in their ridings, including Vancouver-Kingsway MP David Emerson and the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and Richmond MP Raymond Chan, also made futile attempts to change their positions in the midst of the campaign. Others, such as Edmonton Centre MP Anne McLellan lost her riding to Conservative MP Laurie Hawn.

The 2006 federal election was won by the Conservative Party, though it was a minority government that was formed. Three days after the ballots had been counted on January 23, but before he had been appointed prime minister, Harper reiterated his position on the head tax issue in a news conference: "Chinese Canadians are making an extraordinary impact on the building of our country. They've also made a significant historical contribution despite many obstacles. That's why, as I said during the election campaign, the Chinese Canadian community deserves an apology for the head tax and appropriate acknowledgement and redress."[29]

Formal discussions on the form of apology and redress began on 24 March 2006, with a preliminary meeting between Chinese Canadians representing various groups (including some head tax payers), heritage minister Bev Oda, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister Paul Martin resulting in the "distinct possibility" of an apology being issued before 1 July 2006, to commemorate the anniversary of the enacting of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923.[30] The meeting was followed by the government's acknowledgement, in the Speech from the Throne delivered by Governor General Michaëlle Jean on 4 April 2006, that an apology would be given along with proper redress.[31]

That year, from April 21 to April 30, the Crown-in-Council hosted public consultations across Canada, in cities most actively involved in the campaign: Halifax, Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton, Montreal, and Winnipeg.[32] They included the personal testimony of elders and representatives from a number of groups, among them the Halifax Redress Committee; the British Columbia Coalition of Head Tax Payers, Spouses and Descendants; ACCESS; the Ontario Coalition of Head Tax Payers and Families; the CCNC; and the Edmonton Redress Committee of the Chinese Canadian Historical Association of Alberta and Chinese Canadian Redress Alliance.

Some considered that the major issues revolve around the content of any settlement, with the leading groups demanding meaningful redress, not only for the handful of surviving "head tax" payers and widows/spouses, but first-generation sons/daughters who were direct victims, as told in the documentary Lost Years: A People's Struggle for Justice. Some have proposed that the redress be based on the number of "Head Tax" Certificates (or estates) brought forward by surviving sons and daughters who are still able to register their claims, with proposals for individual redress, ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 for an estimated 4,000 registrants.[33][34][35]

On 22 June 2006, in the House of Commons for the first session of the 39th Parliament, Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered an official apology to Chinese Canadians. During his address Harper spoke a few words in Cantonese, "Ga Na Daai Doe Heep" (Chinese: 加拿大道歉, 'Canada Apologizes'), breaking the Parliamentary tradition of speaking either English and French in the House of Commons. The apology and compensation was for the head tax once paid by Chinese immigrants.[36] Survivors or their spouses were paid approximately CAD$20,000 in compensation.[37] There were only an estimated 20 Chinese Canadians who paid the tax still alive in 2006.[38]

As no mention of redress for the children was made, the Chinese Canadian community continues to fight for a redress from the Canadian government. A national day of protest was held to coincide with Canada Day 2006 in major cities across Canada, and several hundred Chinese Canadians joined in local marches.