Canadian Prime Minister & Head tax redress
May 26, 2006 12:14:37 GMT -5
Post by David Wong on May 26, 2006 12:14:37 GMT -5
The other thread was getting too long and choppy, so I felt it would be nice to start afresh ... especially now that our PM has personally officially started meeting and negotiating with real head tax payers and their families. A final chapter if you like. 
I've now personally have stepped away from most of this effort as it has now taken a life of it's own ... with good people moving it along ... and an important announcement has now been scheduled by our government for next month (June, 2006).
Here is some recent coverage by our Canadian media:
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 The Chinese Exclusion Act followed, barring Chinese immigrants altogether until it was repealed in 1947.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.
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.
www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1148593812113&call_pageid=971358637177 <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 ?
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.
© Copyright 2002-2006 Bell Globemedia Inc.
www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060525/harper_headtax_060525/20060525?hub=Canada
canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060525/CPN/29777022
www.news1130.com/news/national/article.jsp?content=n0525131A
www.cknw.com/news/news.cfm?dir=national&file=n0525131A&n=1 <http://www.cknw.com/news/news.cfm?dir=national&file=n0525131A&n=1>
I've now personally have stepped away from most of this effort as it has now taken a life of it's own ... with good people moving it along ... and an important announcement has now been scheduled by our government for next month (June, 2006).
Here is some recent coverage by our Canadian media:
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.
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.
www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1148593812113&call_pageid=971358637177 <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 ?
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.
© Copyright 2002-2006 Bell Globemedia Inc.
www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060525/harper_headtax_060525/20060525?hub=Canada
canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060525/CPN/29777022
www.news1130.com/news/national/article.jsp?content=n0525131A
www.cknw.com/news/news.cfm?dir=national&file=n0525131A&n=1 <http://www.cknw.com/news/news.cfm?dir=national&file=n0525131A&n=1>
