Paul Martin’s statement on Chinese Head Tax Not Good Enough! - Mary-Woo Sims

Mary -Woo Sims is a long time human rights advocate and a friend of mine.  She helped Gim Wong on his motorcycle Ride for Redress, motorbiking up to Craigelacchie, the site of the "Last Spike" with him in 2004.  She is running as an NDP candidate for Port Moody/Westwood/Port Coquitlam.

MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release December 29, 2005

 

Paul Martin’s statement on Chinese Head Tax Not Good Enough!

 

Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam - NDP candidate Mary Woo Sims and long time human rights advocate says Paul Martin’s statement that he feels “deep sorrow” over the Chinese Head Tax imposed in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s is not good enough.

 

In an article published in a major Chinese daily Ming Pao on December 28, 2005, Paul Martin, who met with Chinese community leaders in Montreal on Dec. 28, 2006 reportedly said that he felt deep sorrow over the Chinese Head Tax and that he would take the advice of Raymond Chan and David Emerson to review the situation after the election.

 

“Why won’t he just come out and apologize to Chinese Canadians for the imposition of the Chinese Head Tax and the subsequent Chinese Exclusion Act?” said Sims.  “They have used the words ‘deep regret’ and now ‘deep sorrow’.  Why don’t they take the next step and make a formal apology to Chinese Canadians like New Zealand’s Prime Minister the Rt. Honourable Helen Clark did in 2002 over similar treatment in that country of its Chinese citizens earlier in the last century?”

 

Sims, who has been actively working on the Head Tax and Exclusion Act redress movement for years and who started the “Gim Wong Ride For Redress” rode with 82 year old Wong to Craigallachie, BC in 2004 to try to bring attention to this historic injustice.  “Raymond Chan has failed Head Tax payers and their descendents in his attempts to divide Chinese community leaders on the appropriate way to redress this issue and David Emerson’s use of a Chinese insult to describe Jack Layton shows that he simply doesn’t understand the sensitivities of the community” said Sims.

 

Sims supports canceling the deal made by the Liberals to redress the Head Tax just before the election call.  “Today in Toronto, our leader, Jack Layton said that ‘we need to have a response from our government that starts with an apology – an open and complete apology to the Chinese community.  That has got to be the starting place for redress.’  I agree with the stand that my leader has taken and look forward to working with him in Parliament to achieve a just redress for this historic racist injustice” said Sims.

-30-

 

For more information call:  Joy Langan 604-868-6123

Boxing Day Head Tax stories in Media: Vancouver Sun and CKNW

VANCOUVER SUN Tuesday » December 27 » 2005

Head-tax redress a top issue in several ridings Liberals and Conservatives have opposite views on an issue that could sway some Lower Mainland constituencies

Jonathan Fowlie
Vancouver Sun

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Redress for the head tax Ottawa once imposed on Chinese-Canadians is becoming a significant election issue in some ridings in B.C. and Ontario, Chinese community leaders told a news conference Monday.

"With the Conservative party and the Liberal party taking diametrically different positions on this, that could have an effect," former Vancouver councillor Tung Chan said.

Tung cited Burnaby-Douglas and Richmond as two examples of Lower Mainland ridings where the issue is key.

"Richmond has 40 per cent Chinese-Canadians living there, so that could well be one of the ridings where this could have a major impact," Chan said.

Joseph Wong, president of the Chinese Canadian National Council, agreed, saying the head tax and the recently announced $2.5-million plan by Ottawa to address the issue are starting to be of major concern, especially in ridings with a substantial Chinese community.

In November, the Liberal government announced a $2.5-million plan to recognize the historic injustice of the head tax, but it did not apologize or offer individual financial redress to victims and their families.

"As far as we are concerned, the Chinese community across Canada is voicing our disapproval of that type of settlement," said Wong.

"We absolutely would not accept this type of settlement imposed upon us by the federal Liberal government," he added.

Wong, who is also a recipient of the Order of Canada, said there are are at least 10 Ontario ridings where the Chinese-Canadian community accounts for at least 10 to 15 per cent of voters, and where the head tax issue could affect the outcome.

While campaigning in Ontario earlier this month, Conservative leader Stephen Harper changed his position on the head tax issue and joined the New Democratic Party and Bloc Quebecois in condemning the government's $2.5-million plan as inadequate.

Harper also called on Parliament to apologize for the head tax.

Between 1885 and 1923, the Canadian government collected $23 million in so-called head taxes -- essentially fees to immigrate to Canada -- from about 81,000 Chinese immigrants. The government went a step further between 1923 and 1947 by imposing an outright ban on Chinese immigration.

At Monday's news conference, Wong called the head tax the "most racist, dirtiest part of Canadian history" and demanded it be properly addressed.

"The federal government is not taking this seriously enough," he said, slamming the recently announced Liberal plan.

Wong went on to urge Chinese Canadians to become more involved in the election because of the issue, though he stopped short of endorsing one party over another.

"I'm asking Canadians of Chinese descent to participate in the political process," he said. "I am asking people to know about the issues they are voting for, and also to know about the stance of their candidates and vote accordingly."

jfowlie@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Sun 200

City's Chinese community wants Ottawa to up the ante
Dec, 26 2005 - 7:20 PM

VANCOUVER/CKNW(AM980) - A group of concerned Chinese Canadians are calling on the Liberal Government to rescind an agreement in principle on the headtax redress.

Former Vancouver City Councillor Tung Chan says on Boxing Day or not this is about to become a major issue in the Federal election.

Reps from several groups are calling for an apology and individual compensation, charged Chinese immigrants between 1885 and 1947.

Dr. Joseph Wong is the founding President of the Chinese Canadian National Council, "I'm asking Canadians of Chinese descent to participate in the political process. We know the Chinese community has not been a high voter turnout within our community and I think that this is exactly the problem that we are facing."

Dr. Wong also points to recent polls suggesting 75 to 90 percent of those asked in the Chinese Canadian community aren't satisfied with the agreement offer which is 12 and a half million dollars in compensation.

Redress: The book by Roy Miki - addressing racial identity and its consequences

It's Boxing Day morning at Kalamalka Lake, and I am not at any Boxing Day sales in Vancouver. I am reading Roy Miki's book Redress: Inside the Japanese Canadian redress movement. Roy is an amazing person. In 1994 I interviewed him for an article in the Simon Fraser University student newspaper "The Peak".

I am stunned by the atrocities and restrictions placed on the Canadians of Japanese descent, even though I have read many accounts. I nod knowingly when I read that Asian Canadians were "racialized" in the 1900's - particularly by the Anti-Asiastic League who wanted to create and maintain a "white Vancouver" despite the presence of First Nations peoples. I read about the 1907 meeting at City Hall, that erupted into a riot in Chinatown, where stores were attacked and damaged, before the white rioters headed to Japantown where they were repelled by a prepared community.

This was the Vancouver where my maternal grandmother was raised, soon after being born in 1910 in Victoria BC. This was the political and social climate where my paternal grandfather was given a "Chinaman's Chance" of defending a non-guilty plea for drug trafficking, because the RCMP wanted to make an example of him as one of Victoria's top community leaders that they could "take down." This was the BC, where the $500 head tax was only applied to ethnic Chinese in an effort to keep "the Yellow Peril" away from "British" Vancouver, where the early city fathers, provincial fathers and leaders of Canadian Federation had emmigrated from Scotland and England, seeking a better life.... just as the Chinese had, leaving behind a corrupt Imperial government, famines, to come to "Gum San" - the gold mountain of opportunity.

In the first chapeter of Redress, Roy Miki tells the story of Tomekichi (Tomey) Homma "naturalized as a British Subject" in Canada, who tried to have his name put on the voter's list, but was turned down no doubt, because of the stipulation in Section 8 of the Provincial Election Act which stated: "No Chinaman, Japanese, or Indian shall have his name placed on the Register of Voters for any Electoral District, or be entitled to vote in any election."

Homma decided to challange the ruling on October 19th, 1900, but was eventurally denied by a lengthy court case and both the BC and Canadian governments. The Privy council at the time had stated that "Orientals... were so inassimilable that they were incapable of participating in the democratic process." (Miki, p. 33-34)

The Victoria Times Colonist newspaper at the time had written "We are relieved from the possibility of having polling booths swampd by a horde of Orientals who are totally uniftted either by custom of education to exercise the ballot, and whose voting would completely demoralise politics... they have not the remotest idea of what a democratic and representative government is, and are quite incapable of taking part in it." (Miki, p 28)

My great-great-grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan, was educated at the Wesleyan Mission in Hong Kong, and arrived in Canada in 1896, following his elder brother the Rev. Chan Sing Kai - the first Chinese ordained in Canada. The Chinese Methodist Church helped teach the Chinese immigrants how to speak English. A favourite story that my grandmother tells me is that her granfather would tell his family, "We are in Canada now - we should do things the Canadian way." In every generation of his 6 descendants in Canada, there have been inter-racial marriages with Caucasians. In fact, descendants in the 6th and 7th generation are now only 1/4 and 1/8 Chinese.

Yes, Canada has had a racist history, and yes Asians have successfully integrated and assimilated. But is this alone a case for redress for past wrongs? Certainly not. The case for redress is that in the 17 years since the 1988 redress settlement there has been tremendous healing in the Japanese Canadian community. In his final chapter, Miki shares that in order to become fully Canadian, the community had to forge an identity of being Japanese-Canadian through both internment and redress.

Similarly, my grandmother's younger brother Daniel Lee, a WW2 veteran, has consistenly requested that the Canadian government apologize for the head tax. Our family elders did not have the privilege or franchise to vote in the country of their birth until 1947, while other families were kept apart because of the consequences of the head tax and Chinese Exclusion Act. I am aware that as I have grown up in Canada, I have always been racialized, as my uncles before me who were denied jobs and university admittance. These were the real consequences of the head tax and continued legislated and socialized racism. Reading the accounts of the Japanese Canadians during internment, I can only marvel at what my own ancestors endured from arrivals in 1888 to 1947, when they were finally able to vote.

The Chinese Canadian National Council launched its 2006 Election Primer today. “Head Tax redress has become a key community driven election issue,” Colleen Hua, CCNC National President said today. “We’ve developed a questionnaire of 12 questions on a range of topics for the Party Leaders and for the community to use when candidates knock at their door.” With most of the more than one million Chinese Canadians living in urban ridings, the federal Parties need to pay attention to the concerns of the Chinese Canadian community. “There are no less than 14 candidates of Chinese descent running for elected office and Chinese Canadians are involved at all levels of this federal campaign,” Dr. Joseph Wong, Founding President of CCNC said today, “CCNC and equality-seeking groups urge prospective voters to register, to become familiar with the issues, to ask questions of candidates and to vote in this upcoming election.”   more »

Head Tax on CBC TV with Oliva Chow vs Raymond Chan

CBC TV hosted Toronto Councillor & NDP candidate and Raymond Chan Minister of State (Multiculturalism) on TV this morning.  This issues is becoming big and bigger as more and more Chinese Canadian head tax descendants become more aware of the issue.  I just had a phone call from a stranger that saw the broadcast - and asked me how to find her grandfather's documentation.  Expect this more and more...

Host(s): MIKE DUFFY

MIKE DUFFY: Well a murky chapter in Canadian history has resurfaced in this federal election campaign. Just prior to the fall of the minority government, the Liberals announced an agreement with the Chinese-Canadian community. They would be given millions of dollars to build an educational facility to acknowledge that Canada had put restrictions on Chinese immigrants called a head tax which was in place from 19, I'm sorry 1885 to 1923. But many people say the deal doesn't go far enough. Others say it will open up a Pandora's box of litigations from other ethnic groups. Joining me tonight in Vancouver, the Minister of Multiculturalism, the Honourable Raymond Chan, and in Toronto the NDP candidate in that city Olivia Chow. So, Ms Chow, what's wrong with the proposal the government's put forward to recognize that the head tax was a wrong thing?

OLIVIA CHOW (NDP Candidate): I don't know, Mike, why it's so difficult for a Canadian government, the Liberal party, to actually say "sorry", apologize for the wrong so that the 250 people that are still left, that are still alive that have paid a head tax could at least get a sense of justice. Apologize and then begin the reconciliation talk so that they can perhaps get a symbolic compensation. Doesn't have to be too much. We did it for the Japanese-Canadians. Why can't we do it for the Chinese-Canadians?

DUFFY: Let me just go back over the ground for people who may not be aware of this issue. What the government is saying is that instead of giving money to individual people who were harmed by this, as the Mulroney government did for the Japanese who were interned during the Second World War, the Martin government is saying let's give a general grant to the community and let the community use it to build a kind of cultural centre, a memorial museum to remind future generations of what happened. So there is a different approach between the two.

CHOW: It's also, the way the money's being doled out is not at all transparent. And one of the groups that are receiving the money is not formally established yet. The Montreal Cultural Centre that was announced actually doesn't quite formally exist. So it's murky in the way that where is the money going, what's the formal application process, who is qualified? Are these people are special connected friends of the Liberal party? Is that why they are getting the money?

DUFFY: No, no, they would never do that.

CHOW: Well I don't know what the Gomery inquiry is all about.

DUFFY: The culture of entitlement. Well, we've lost Minister Chan somehow. The satellite went down. We're working on that.

CHOW: Maybe it is the ghost of the people that have actually passed away. It's actually quite sad.

DUFFY: It's not a very good omen. But while we try to get him back, how serious is the division within the Chinese-Canadian community?

CHOW: If you consider the day that this was announced, this deal was announced, it was all very secretive, but when it was announced, one of the local Chinese stations did a poll. Eighty-eight percent of the Chinese-Canadians that phoned in said, no, this is terrible. This is not good. Twelve percent said ah, maybe this is a good thing. So you can tell that a lot of people said, look, already a lot of these seniors have passed away and shouldn't we at bare minimum apologize and then do the reconciliation so that a historical wrong can be overcome. And just going, just throwing the money out there is a wasteful of money and it doesn't do anything.

DUFFY: So the choice, and we're still trying to get Minister Chan, so the choice is between giving several million dollars to a community centre to build a kind of museum, and giving cheques to individual people. Would it be the same amount of money? What if somebody who doesn't know this says, oh, they're just looking for free money from the government.

CHOW: Well, actually there are certificates that they have to pay. It doesn't have to be a big amount. It could also just be a symbolic amount. And maybe some of these head taxpayers don't even want the money. I think the key thing is respect them, ask them what they want to do with the money. Some of them may not want the money. They may want to use it for education purposes. Fine. But at least ask them, respect them. One of the group that...

DUFFY: Ms. Chow, I'm sorry, the Minister is back on the line. Minister, our sincere apology, I don't know what happened. You've been able to hear our discussion? RAYMOND CHAN (Minister of Multiculturalism): Yes I have been listening.

DUFFY: We just didn't have your picture and sound. So now you've heard Ms Chow's point of view. Tell us why the government did what it's doing and what you hope the reaction from the community will be.

CHAN: First of all, the head tax thing is a very terrible thing that the past government have done in the 100 years ago. And...

DUFFY: Maybe some Canadians don't understand that. Any Chinese coming to Canada during that period from 1885 to 1920, whatever, had to pay how much for every single person? They had to pay the Canadian government to come here.

CHAN: Close to about $500. And it is something that is terribly wrong.

DUFFY: And in those days it was a heck of a lot of money.

CHOW: You could buy a house.

CHAN: The issue is, Mike, is that the government's position is that we have to acknowledge that this kind of thing was terribly wrong, and then we have to commemorate and educate our children and the children of our children to the dark pages of our history and make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again. But the issue is that an apology would open up the Canadian taxpayers for unlimited liability, financial liability, and that's why you can't do it.

CHOW: Oh, excuse me. You know, this whole case has gone to the Supreme Court, and the courts have said that this is a political issue, that apology is fine, and they have the court case.

CHAN: No.

CHOW: They have a court case, and legally there is no other route to go, so don't hide behind the legal pressure. Japanese-Canadians had no problem. They had a compensation.

CHAN: The court has said that the government is not liable, but even if they are not liable and yet we still apologize and pay out compensation that would open up all the cases for everybody else.

DUFFY: It becomes an admission of guilt. You are afraid it becomes... CHAN: And also legally liability.

CHOW: No.

CHAN: For limited financial cases.

CHOW: Minister, it has gone to the, Minister, it has gone to the court.

CHAN: That's right.

CHOW: The court said that there is no case for it. So the whole liability, the legal issue is a red herring. Why wouldn't you apologize? Brian Mulroney, even though I'm not a Tory, apologized. There was no legal case. Nothing happened. He apologized.

DUFFY: But Ms Chow.

CHOW: So why is that a problem?

UFFY: Sorry, we're almost out of time. Interesting, Pierre Trudeau said no way to any group, not to the Japanese, the Chinese, no one because he said we are not responsible for the sins of our fathers. Brian Mulroney opened to the Japanese, and now minister, you've got all of this on your plate, not just the Chinese but many other groups, right?

CHAN: Everybody else, because the issue is that even though the courts have said that we're not liable. but at the same time if he decided to come and apologize then that will lead the government to be liable for everything that the courts said we're not liable for. And that would expose the Canadian taxpayer for unlimited financial liability.

CHOW: So let me ask you then, if you don't want to apologize, you don't want to compensate, why are you putting aside that money, and why isn't that money open for different groups to apply. What is it the criteria? You know that $2.5 million there is no criteria.

CHAN: This is a problem of you that you keep on... CHOW: Canadian household.

CHAN: You keep on saying that we hand out money, and now you are saying that we have not handed out money.

CHOW: You did.

CHAN: We have not. We're just coming together with the Chinese community to form a foundation with people from the success, from the Chinese cultural association across Canada, with the Chinese Free Masons. We never seen that kind of historical support from across the country of the Chinese community on one single government project. They come together to form a foundation and then they would judge which project they should finance and which ones they shouldn't.

DUFFY: Mr. Minister, Olivia Chow, thank you both for joining us. Terribly sorry for the technical problems earlier. That's what happens sometimes with live TV. We appreciate you both for coming in tonight.

--30--

Successful Dec 18 meeting for head tax payers and descendants

A good meeting today with lots of action and movement.  Sid counted about 85 people attending our meeting.  I chaired, with interpretation from Gabriel, and Joseph.  Also speaking were Sid, Foon, Thekla and our special Toronto guest Dora Nipp.

We followed the agenda with a few additions which were:
1 - Do we organize officially under the societies act and with what name - generally the answer was Yes - and same name
2 - Eric Chan is doing a documentary and interviewing people willing to share stories about head tax and exclusion
3 - Talk by Dora Nipp, and what is happening in Toronto and Ontario
4 - Cynthia is doing an art project and would like copies of head tax certifcate images

Lots of people commented on what we could do.  They brought photocopies of head tax certificates, and they signed petitions, and they took petitions and information sheets home with them.

Our strategy for the Christmas break is to go enjoy our parties with families and friends, and share with them the head tax redress issues.  It is important that our numbers will grow.

In January we will:
1 - hold workshops on how to research your family head tax certificate
2 - hold information sessions/meetings on head issues as we have been doing.
3 - collect stories on head tax payers and descendants
4 - organize all-candidate meetings on head tax issues.

Our next meeting will be January 8th - 1:30pm
Sunday at Quan Lung Sai Tong Association
164 East Hastings St. - just across the lane from Carnegie Centre.

For more information
please contact myself Todd Wong 604-240-7090
or Sid Tan 604-433-6169

Foon Chang presents head tax certificate copy to NDP leader Jack Layton in Vancouver


NDP leader Jack Layton accepts a copy of the Head Tax certifate of Foon Sing's  now deceased father-in-law, with NDP candidate Mary-Woo Sims - photo Ron Kidd.

At an NDP rally this morning in Vancouver at Subeez Restaurant.  Foon Chang cautiously and courageously approached NDP federal leader Jack Layton with a copy of the head tax certificate of her now deceased father-in-law.  She is a Chinese language speaker and unsure of her English language skills.

Mary-Woo Sims, NDP candidate for Port Moody-Westwood-Coquitlam translated to Jack Layton that Foon Chang had wanted to give a copy of the certificate to him, and that she had made a promise to her dying father-in-law that she would continue to seek redress for him.  Jack expressed his thanks to Foon Chang, and Foon Chang said that she felt deep gratitude in being able to ask Layton for his support, and that he was willing and committed to helping resolve a fair redress.

Layton told Foon Chang that the NDP has been working for 20 years to seek redress in parliament for head tax payers.  He also told her that his wife Olivia Chow is a head tax redress advocate in Toronto, and said a few words of "thank you" in both Mandarin and Cantonese.

Foon Chang told me that she is looking foward to the 1pm meeting on Sunday, Dec 18th, organized by the BC Coalition for Head Tax Payers and Descendants, to be held at Quan Lung Sai Tong Association at 164 East Hastings St.

picture to follow soon!

Vancouver Sun:  Daphne Bramham column addresses politicians, multiculturalism and Sid and Todd's adventures at a Raymond Chan press conference in Mandarin

Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Bramham has been exploring interesting angles in the Chinese Head Tax issue, that many media are calling the surprise election issue.  Check out Politicians must represent Everyone: Holding separate news conferences for ethnic media goes against multiculturalism goal, Friday, December 16th, p. B1 & B4.

Bramham explores that while English and French are Canada's official languages, other languages are becoming increasingly prevalent in major urban centres such as Vancouver, Surrey, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Richmond.  In an increasingly culturally diverse Canada, she pleas that our politicians must use our common language in order not to isolate, or ghettoize specific cultural or ethnic groups.

Bramham recalls the December 2nd press conference held by Richmond MP and Minister of State (Multiculturalism) Raymond Chan at his campaign office in Richmond, which was conducted in Mandarin Chinese for the Chinese language media.  English speaking media were not invited to discuss the controversial issue of Chinese head-tax redress and ACE program which Chan has signed with the National Congress of Chinese Canadians. 

This issue has been criticized by both members of the media and the community for its exclusion of both and apology and individual tax refund or compensation - not to mention an almost complete exclusion of negotiating with the Chinese Canadian National Council which has registered 4000 head tax payers and descendants.  This issue has clearly divided the Chinese community in all its myriad forms of pioneers, new immigrants, multi-generational descendants, old immigrants and more.

Bramham included details from my visit to the Chan press conference wrote:

"Two journalists were there who don't speak fluently in either Mandarin or Cantonese - Sid Chow Tan, who works for Vancouver Co-op Radio, and Todd Wong, who was writing a piece for the Web magazine, The Tyee.  both speak English as a first language and, incidently, both disagree with Chan and the Liberal government's handling of the redress issue.

"Chow Tan and Wong had to rely on other journalists and later translators to get the gist of what was said.  And it was heady stuff.

Bramham goes on to describe the content of the translation of Chan's Dec. 2 press release in which Chan accused the Chinese Canadian National Council and "some members of the NDP of using the issue of the head tax, the suffering of the head-tax payers and untruthful information to deepen the conflict within the Chinese community, attack a political party, many community volunteers and myself in order to benefit a certain political party and organization."

"This is a violaiton of justice.  Their words and action are dispicable," continues Chan.

Bramham goes on to point out that "This is headline-grabbing stuff that got prominent attention in the Chinese media and might have in most other Canadian media.  "Why were only Chinese-speaking journalists invited," she asks.  "Head-tax redress is not a Chinese issue.

Bramham points out that how Canada deals with head-tax redress will demonstrate what it means to have a compassionate, inclusive and multicultural country, using the 1988 redress settlement for the Japanese Canadians who were interned during World War 2. 

Clearly our notions of our country change with every wave of immigration.  How did the initial French and English pioneers treat the First Nations people?  How are the new immigrant Chinese treating the established mainstream English speaking community now?  Multiculturalism has been under attack in recent years for becoming a "cottage industry" that perpetuates itself according to writer Neil Bissoondath.

As a 5th generation Chinese Canadian, I grew up with stories about how difficult it was for my ancestors and my parents to find acceptance in Canada - even little things like finding an appartment, getting a job, going to University - without racial discrimination.  But today, many new Chinese language immigrants take it for granted that they can live completely in Vancouver without having to speak in English. 

At the end of her column Bramham writes:

Multiculturalism is about the kind of real integration that results from mutual respect, equal economic and social opportunites and substantive equality.  Barriers to integration of individual Canadians are barriers to the progress of Canada as a whole.

She then attributes the eloquent quote to Raymond Chan's speech when he opened a conference in October.  She concludes by stating "Apparently when it comes to multiculturalism, a lot is lost in the translation of word to action.

National Post: 1885 tax becomes an issue in 2006

Not a day goes by now without a story on Chinese Head Tax in one paper or another....

There are lots of issues within this seemingly innocuous and historically forgotten and ignored moment in Canadian history.  At its core, it appears to be a Liberal grab for votes by appealing to Chinese language voters and ethnic voters.  But many things have gone awry. 

The problems of this "One size fits All" redress for recognizing "the historical experiences of [all] ethnocultural communities impacted by wartime measures and immigration experiences," would NOT be tolerated if it were treaty negotiations with First Nations peoples.  Each ethno cultural group must be addressed separately and on an individual basis.  While it is true that no group suffered the material loss that the Japanese Canadians did during WW2 Internment, it is also true that no other ethnocultural group was targeted with a racially discriminatory head tax followed by an outright exlusionary ban on immigrantion.

The Liberals are now in damage control and the Conservatives, NDP and Bloc Quebecois smell blood.  It is ironic that after decades of continued discrimination and having calls for Chinese head tax redress dismissed by the government, that the closest the few remaining head tax survivors see to a settlement is not because of fairness, honour and justice - but because of its exact opposite in yet another Liberal manipulation of public funds for votes.

Below is today's head tax article in the National Post

National Post: 1885 tax becomes an issue in 2006
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=cfedb730-
4d0e-485f-a43b-0b046a40aa06&k=50231&p=1
Brian Hutchinson, National Post
Published: Thursday, December 15, 2005

RICHMOND, B.C. - Raymond Chan is an emotional fellow. Canada's minister of state for multiculturalism has been known to cry in front of constituents in his suburban Vancouver riding. Sometimes he cries out of gratitude, and sometimes in anger. His eyes teared up when our discussion this week touched on human rights.

He likens himself to a crusader, a defender of democracy; he is quick to mention he was once jailed in China, for leading a protest against that country's authoritarian regime.

It might seem odd, then, that Mr. Chan is so firmly opposed to a measure of reconciliation here at home, especially one that appeals to many residents of his Richmond riding. Half of the riding's eligible voters are, like him, of Chinese origin.
The issue is the long-discarded head tax, a racist duty imposed on Chinese immigrants to Canada between 1885 and 1923. It's estimated Ottawa collected $23-million from Chinese newcomers in those years; those who are still alive, and many of their descendants, want the money back.

They would also like a formal apology.
Mr. Chan once heartily supported their requests for compensation and redress.

But no longer. And he's not alone; indeed, half a dozen large Chinese-Canadian organizations that represent hundreds more Chinese groups have sided with Mr. Chan and his new, cautious approach to the head tax question.

The issue has suddenly become an election hot button for Chinese-Canadians across the country.  It could cost Mr. Chan his job, and the Liberals some important seats in Parliament.

The Chinese Canadian National Council says there are only four head tax survivors in Canada. But there are an estimated 80,000 descendants and thousands more Chinese-Canadians who feel compensation and an apology are due.

Mr. Chan took up their cause and ran with the issue in Richmond during the 1993 federal election campaign, his first. He was elected and made a junior minister in Jean Chretien's Cabinet. A year later, he recommended to Cabinet some form of redress and an apology to survivors of the head tax. "I was shot down," he recalled.

He says an apology and compensation are never going to happen, at least as long as the Liberals are in power.
The NDP and the Bloc Quebecois have already called for a formal apology, and last week Conservative leader Stephen Harper unexpectedly jumped on the bandwagon.

The Tories, Mr. Harper noted in a statement, have "long recognized the terrible historical wrong of the Chinese head tax. It is time for Parliament and the Government of Canada to recognize this grave injustice and to apologize for it."
The statement-- and the timing of its release, in an election campaign -- smacked of political opportunism. But it pleased those Conservative candidates locked in close battles with Liberals in B.C.'s crucial Lower Mainland.

Darrel Reid is facing off against Raymond Chan in Richmond. "The head tax issue is huge," said Mr. Reid, sitting in his Conservative war room, a few blocks from Mr. Chan's own election headquarters. "It was the only tax ever collected from a specific ethnic group in Canada. It was wrong, and that has to be recognized."

Mr. Chan counters that making an official apology to head tax survivors and their families will "open the floodgates" to "countless lawsuits and financial responsibilities for other historical wrongs."

Besides, he says, the federal government has already figured a way to address the issue without assuming unrestricted financial liabilities. In February, Ottawa announced the $25-million Acknowledgement, Commemoration and Education Program, aimed at recognizing "the historical experiences of [all] ethnocultural communities impacted by wartime measures and immigration experiences."

The money is to be shared among various Chinese-Canadian groups, along with organizations representing other ethnic and cultural minorities.

"The ACE program is for the Italians, the Ukrainians, the Germans, the Jews, the Sikhs," Mr. Chan explained. "Now the Croatians have asked to participate. The blacks have come to participate. Everybody wants to be part of it now."

The National Congress of Chinese Canadians is among the largest groups in support of the ACE program. "The Chinese community stands united in the cause of educating all Canadians about this tragic period in our history," noted Ping Tan, the NCCC's executive co-chair.

But the program's one-size-fits-all approach doesn't sit well with thousands of Chinese-Canadians affected by the head tax.
"Mr. Chan used to support us, and now he has turned his back on us," said Sid Tan, a Vancouver resident and spokesman for the Chinese Canadian National Council, which says it represents half of all head tax survivors and their relatives. "It really sickens me. The money is just going to go to Liberal friends. It's like a Chinese-Canadian sponsorship scandal."

He says Chinese groups that supported the ACE program have already submitted proposals for things such as commemorative rock gardens and museums. His members, meanwhile, have asked for grant information but have been ignored.

"There is a lot of anger over this," he said. "The Liberals bungled the whole issue of redress and they have basically divided the Chinese community."

It's an opening opposition parties are keen to exploit, and it has Liberals in B.C. on the defensive.

"I don't buy their little apology [demands] at all," Hedy Fry, the Liberal MP for Vancouver Centre, told a local newspaper this week.

As for Mr. Chan, he'd rather discuss other issues, such as same-sex marriage. His opponent, Darrel Reid, opposes it. A Mennonite, Mr. Chan used to oppose gay marriage, too. Not anymore.

THE HEAD TAX REDRESS
Before election was called, government and 11 Chinese-Canadian groups agreed to $2.5-million deal to set up educational and commemorative projects related to the tax.

HISTORY
Ottawa imposed a $50 tax on all Chinese immigrants in 1885, after completion of the Canadian Pacific railway. Tax was raised to $100, then $500 in 1903 -- the equivalent of two years' pay. In 1923 a new law effectively banned Chinese immigration. It was repealed in 1947.

OBJECTIONS
Chinese community says agreement bypassed some community groups and does not include an apology or compensation.

© National Post 2005

VANCOUVER -- Injustices from more than a century ago have emerged as a surprising election issue that could cloud the prospects of at least one Liberal cabinet minister, and possibly two.

At issue is how best to redress the racist government policy that exacted an expensive head tax from Chinese immigrants to Canada from 1885 to 1923 and then shut the door to all immigration from China until 1947.

Both Industry Minister David Emerson and Multiculturalism Minister Raymond Chan are seeking re-election in ridings with many Chinese-Canadian voters, and the federal government's refusal to apologize and offer compensation for these long-ago policies is now a huge topic within the ethnic Chinese community.

"It's all over the media," Sid Tan, the grandson of a head-tax payer and a long-time advocate of compensation, said yesterday

Mr. Tan said the controversy is going to hit Mr. Chan particularly hard, since he argued for compensation in the past but had changed his tune since joining the Liberal government.

But Mr. Tan predicted that Mr. Emerson's election chances could also be hurt, with New Democrat rival Ian Waddell a strong supporter of financial redress and an apology to those who paid the $500 head tax.

Mr. Chan has been the main defender of an agreement with a number of Chinese-Canadian organizations to provide $2.5-million for programs acknowledging the racism of the past.

But the deal provides no apology and no compensation for any of the few surviving immigrants who paid the head tax, nor for any of their families.

"Wrongs have been done, and we are going to document the stories and make sure this never happens again," said Mr. Chan, whose Richmond riding is more than 40 per cent ethnic Chinese.

"Every generation of Canadians has faced some sort of discrimination, historically. Are we going to compensate them all?

"I think the Chinese-Canadian community understands that the important part is the government's acknowledgement that this was a racist policy," he said.

Mr. Chan added that a formal apology would open up the possibility of class-action lawsuits against the government.

But last week, Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper thought the issue hot enough to overturn his party's previous support of the Liberal position. Mr. Harper called on the government to apologize for "the terrible historical wrong" of the hated head tax.

He further promised to negotiate with all groups, including Mr. Tan's Chinese Canadian National Council, about the possibility of financial redress.

His statement came just two days after Manitoba Tory MP Inky Mark, who spearheaded a private member's bill on the head tax issue, reiterated his agreement with the Liberals that an apology was a "slippery slope" leading to a possible avalanche of legal claims.

"What [past governments] did was legal," he told reporters. "That didn't make it morally right or ethical, but the fact was it was legal."

Mr. Harper, however, chose to respond to the entreaties of three Conservative candidates in B.C. who urged him to revisit the issue. Among them was Darrel Reid, Mr. Chan's Conservative opponent in Richmond.

Also adding to the fuel yesterday was Chinese-Canadian commentator Gabriel Yiu's demand for an apology from Mr. Chan over remarks he made about Mr. Yiu in a radio interview. He denied making any misleading statements as alleged by Mr. Chan, calling them defamatory and unacceptable.

Mr. Chan laughed off Mr. Yiu's demand.

"He's trying to speak as a commentator and not telling people he was an NDP candidate [in the past provincial election]. You cannot mislead people like that."

He also brushed off any suggestion that the controversy was causing him political trouble.

"It's all orchestrated. If you look at the support of the associations that have signed on to the agreement, it's historic. There has never been so much wide support. I think Chinese-Canadian voters understand."

Mr. Tan, meanwhile, said he intends to continue galvanizing "the grandmas and the grandpas" to fight for an apology and, at the very least, some repayment in recognition of the head tax they were forced to pay alone among all immigrants to Canada.

"There is anger and frustration out there. It's not orchestrated, despite what Raymond Chan says. It's real."

Chinese Canadian Redress Alliance

For Immediate Release: December 9, 2005

Prime Minister Paul Martin Should Meet Montreal Survivors of the Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act

MONTREAL/TORONTO. The Chinese Canadian Redress Alliance (CCRA) called on Prime Minister Paul Martin to follow the lead of Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper, NDP Leader Jack Layton and BLOC Leader Gilles Duceppe and support the call for an apology to and redress for the victims of the Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act.  

“Mr. Martin has adjusted his schedule to be in Montreal today to meet with former US President Bill Clinton. Yet he has been unwilling to meet with one of his LaSalle constituents, Mr. James Wing, a surviving Head Tax Payer,” Walter Tom, spokesperson for CCRA and Head Tax descendant said today.

“Mr. Martin has called for building an inclusive society. However, he continues to exclude the Head Tax payers and families who are among the nation-builders of this country from any redress settlement.” 

The Head Tax was imposed by the Canadian government from 1885 to 1923 and the Exclusion Act was imposed by the Liberal government of the day in 1923 and lasted until 1947. CCRA supports the Chinese Canadian National Council and redress-seeking groups who have tirelessly sought redress on behalf of over 4000 redress claimants for more than 20 years. “We call on Mr. Martin to meet with Mr. James Wing and to begin a genuine reconciliation with the Head Tax payers and families,” Colleen Hua, CCNC National President said today. “Mr. Martin has already acknowledged that ‘the Chinese Head Tax was a terrible thing.’ It’s time for Mr. Martin to commit to good faith negotiations with the Head Tax payers and families and resolve this longstanding issue in a just and honourable manner.”

Chinese Canadian Redress Alliance is joined in the campaign for redress of the Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act by CCNC and redress-seeking groups including the Ontario Coalition of Chinese Head Tax Payers and Families, BC Coalition of Head Tax Payers Spouses and Descendants, Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity Society, and Metro Toronto Chinese and South East Asian Legal Clinic.

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For more information, please contact:

Walter Chi-Yan Tom, CCRA, (514) 341-3929

Ging Wee Dere, CCRA, (514) 488-0804

Victor Wong, CCNC Executive Director, (416) 977-9871

Chinese Canadian National Council

Media Advisory: December 9, 2005

Head Tax Redress Issue Debated in Chinese Canadian Community

TORONTO/VANCOUVER. Community debates on the Head Tax redress issue will take place this weekend in Vancouver and Toronto. This follows Prime Minister Paul Martin’s recent public comment that “the Chinese Head Tax was a terrible thing and I never want to see it happen again” and Conservative Leader Stephen Harper’s statement yesterday “for Parliament and the Government of Canada to recognize this grave injustice, and to apologize for it.” All three Opposition Parties and the Green Party support redress of the Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act.

Vancouver:

What: Vancouver AM1320 radio phone-in program.

Participants include Dr. Joseph Wong, Bill Chu and Thekla Lit.

When: Saturday (December 10) from 10:00 am – 12:00 noonPST                                                                                                                                    

Where: AM1320 on Radio dial; callers should dial 604-280-1320

Toronto:

What: Public Forum co-organized by Toronto First Radio Station and Toronto City Newspaper. 

Speakers include: Avvy Go (Ontario Coalition of Head Tax Payers and Families).

Commentators include: Cheuk Kwan.

When: Sunday (December 11) from 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm EST; Radio Broadcast is available online on Monday (December 12) at 9:30 p.m. at www.torontofirstradio.com                                                                                                                        

Where: Food Court of Market Village, Markham (near Kennedy and Steeles)

“We applaud Vancouver's CHMB 1320 Radio, Toronto First Radio and Toronto City News for their effort,” Sid Tan, CCNC National Director and Head Tax descendant said today. “The Liberals need to know the damage caused by their poor handling of the Head Tax redress issue. We are expecting CCNC founding President Dr. Joseph Wong to call in from Australia to participate on Saturday.”

“Martin’s Government has been unable to explain the accuracy of their list of so-called supporting organizations or quell growing anger over the secretly negotiated Head Tax deal,” Avvy Go, representing the Ontario Coalition of Chinese Head Tax Payers and Families and human rights lawyer said today. “All Parties and candidates need to know that Head Tax redress is a priority for the few surviving Head Tax payers and families, for the Chinese Canadian community, for Canadians and for Canada’s human rights image." 

“The Government needs to involve the Head Tax payers and families and not exclude us,” George Lau, Co-Chair of the Ontario Coalition of Chinese Head Tax Payers and Families and Head Tax descendant said today. “Many of us will be at the Sunday Forum in Toronto to voice our concerns and educate voters.”

CCNC is a national organization with 27 chapters across Canada. CCNC is joined in the campaign for redress of the Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act by the Ontario Coalition of Chinese Head Tax Payers and Families, BC Coalition of Head Tax Payers Spouses and Descendants, Chinese Canadian Redress Alliance, the Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity Society, and Metro Toronto Chinese and South East Asian Legal Clinic.

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For more information, please contact:

Avvy Go, Ontario Coalition of Chinese Head Tax Payers and Families, (416) 971-9674

George Lau (Chinese language media), Ontario Coalition of Chinese Head Tax Payers and Families, (416) 588-1751

Sid Tan, CCNC National Director (604) 433-6169; (604) 783-1853

Victor Wong, CCNC Executive Director, (416) 977-9871

Harper reverses stand on Liberal redress for ‘racist’ head tax policy

Conservative leader joins NDP and Bloc in demanding an apology for Chinese-Canadians
BY PETER O’NEIL VANCOUVER SUN


OTTAWA — Conservative leader Stephen Harper has reversed his position and is now calling on the federal Parliament to apologize for its blatantly racist anti-Chinese immigration laws from 1885 to 1947.
The Tories join the New Democratic Party and Bloc Quebecois in condemning as inadequate a recent $2.5-million Liberal plan to recognize the historic injustice but to not apologize or offer individual financial redress to victims and their families.
“The Conservative party has long recognized the terrible historical wrong of the Chinese head tax,” Harper said in a written statement issued Thursday during an election campaign stop in North Bay, Ont.
“It is time for Parliament and the government of Canada to recognize this grave injustice, and to apologize for it.”
The federal government collected $23 million in so-called head taxes — essentially a fee paid for the right to immigrate to Canada — between 1885 and 1923, equal to more than $1.2 billion in today’s dollars, from about 81,000 Chinese immigrants, many of them impoverished.
>From 1923 to 1947 there was an outright ban on Chinese immigration. It was the only time an immigration law specifically singled out a racial group, although federal policies at various times restricted or banned certain groups — most infamously when a “none is too many” approach was taken to desperate Jews fleeing Nazi Germany before and during the Second World War.
Harper indicated he would leave the door open to financial redress when he said a Tory government would attempt to negotiate with all groups.
It was a veiled a reference to the Chinese Canadian National Council’s exclusion from final negotiations on Liberal Multiculturalism Minister Raymond Chan’s initiative. The CCNC insists on an apology and redress.
“A Conservative government would work with the entire Chinese-Canadian community to establish a consensus for reconciliation and redress,” Harper said.
Harper’s surprise announcement comes as the party plans an election advertising campaign as early as next week in the Chinese media.
The CCNC, which has waged an aggressive campaign to discredit Chan’s $2.5-million initiative, said it was encouraged by Harper’s new stand.
“All three opposition parties are now criticizing the government’s poor handling of the head tax redress issue during this important election campaign,” CCNC executive director Victor Wong said following Harper’s announcement. “The Liberals should commit to good-faith negotiations with the representatives of head tax payers and families.”
Harper had supported the position of party critics Bev Oda and Inky Mark, two Tory MPs who pushed the Liberals to come up with the $2.5-million ACE — Acknowledgement, Commemoration, and Education — initiative that was announced days before the election campaign began, according to Oda, Mark, and a party official in an e-mail earlier Thursday.
The two critics supported Chan’s position that an apology could open the door to costly legal claims by Chinese-Canadians and other groups who believe they’ve been subjected to discrimination.
But at least three of Harper’s B.C. candidates, Darrel Reid, John Cummins and Kanman Wong, have broken from that position and publicly called earlier this week for a new deal that includes at least an apology and possibly compensation.
Oda, speaking after Harper’s announcement, said she and Mark won Harper’s support while working to advance their own private members’ bills seeking some form of redress from a reluctant federal government.
She said her leader’s new position reflects a party platform stand for a future Tory government, and takes into consideration the bitter divisions within Canada’s one million ethnic Chinese.
“We’ve listened to the community, we understand that there’s division here, and what we’re going to suggest is that we’re willing to sit down with the entire community and try to find consensus,” Oda said in an interview.
Harper, in his statement, evoked the work of his MPs and candidates as he cited the 1988 decision by former prime minister Brian Mulroney to provide more than $300 million in 1988 to Japanese-Canadians treated as enemy aliens during the Second World War.
“I acknowledge the efforts of Conservative parliamentarians and candidates to obtain a just redress of the head tax. These efforts are in keeping with the historical achievement of a previous Conservative government in addressing the unjust internment of Japanese-Canadians.”
Mark, who said he’s been fighting for resolution of the issue since getting elected in 1997, voiced some irritation earlier this week with the B.C. candidates who are calling for an apology and redress.
“I wish they’d talked to me first before they take a position, which none of them has done,” Mark said, adding: “Just be careful what you promise.”
Chan said this week that the government would open itself to costly lawsuits if it started apologizing and offering financial compensation to any group claiming victimization by past legal acts of Parliament.
In a statement issued Thursday, he said: “I am saddened that Mr. Harper has chosen to play politics with such an important issue.”
He added: “The Liberal government had an arrangement with the opposition critic Bev Oda and Inky Mark, the lead for the Conservative party on this file for the better part of 10 years, on how to acknowledge this tragic part of Canadian history. It is clear that Mr. Harper is not consulting with his own critics and members of his own caucus who have a personal stake in this issue.”
poneil@hotmail.com

Canada’s New Democrats

NDP CALLS ON GOVERNMENT TO PROVIDE FAIR DEAL FOR CHINESE HEAD TAX PAYERS

Vancouver – NDP candidate for Vancouver East, Libby Davies, along with her NDP colleagues, Mary Woo Sims (Port Moody –Westwood- Port Coquitlam) and Ian Waddell (Vancouver Kingsway) joined with families and representatives of Chinese head tax payers to urge the Liberal government to find a compromise and fair deal for all Chinese Canadian head tax payers and their families today.

“It’s upsetting to see the divisiveness the Liberals have created on this issue in the Chinese Canadian community,” said Davies. “We’re challenging the Liberal government’s so-called “shared vision” to acknowledge past hardships for Chinese Canadians through the Chinese head tax and exclusion legislation in a way that unites the community rather than deliberately divides it.”

An initial amount of $2.5 million has been allocated to the National Congress of Chinese Canadians in an agreement in principle through the Acknowledgement, Commemoration and Education (ACE) Fund. The Liberals announced the deal with the Congress in November, despite calls from several other organizations, such as the Chinese Canadian National Council, to be involved in any commemorative, educational or other key measures that may arise from the fund.

“It is completely unacceptable for the Liberal government to exclude at least 4000 head tax payers, their families and descendants through an agreement with only one part of the community,” said Sims.  

The NDP candidates are calling on the government to quash the existing agreement in principle, go back to the table with all the relevant groups, including key Chinese Canadian head tax payers, their families and representatives, and find a compromise and fair deal for everyone.   

 “These families deserve an apology and real respect from this government,” said Ian Waddell. “For so many to be shut out at this point is too reminiscent of the head tax itself.”

“This deal is going ahead without the families and others who were at the forefront of the redress movement,” said Davies. “The government has a responsibility to acknowledge the diversity of the Chinese Canadian community and find a course of compromise.”

Former NDP MP Margaret Mitchell, a long time advocate for human rights who was on hand for the news conference, was the first MP to ask the government for an apology on behalf of a head tax payer in 1984.  Libby Davies tabled a motion in 2004, asking for an apology and redress for head tax payers, their families and representatives.

The Canadian government collected $23 million from Chinese immigrants to Canada between 1885 and 1923.
 

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Contact: Meena Wong, 604-430-8600 ext. 257

Leanne Holt, 604-254-8863

Stephen Harper and Conservatives jump on the Head Tax apology band wagon

Yesterday the Vancouver Sun and other media announced that 3 Conservative MP candidates had broken away from the Conservative party platform on the head tax issue.  Led by MP Jim Cummins, (Delta-Richmond East) and candidate

Here's a Canadian Press Story about the Conservatives now ganging up with the NDP, and the Bloc Quebecois against the Liberal position.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/CanadaVotes
/2005/12/08/1344746-cp.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 8, 2005

Statement by Stephen Harper on Chinese head tax redress

NORTH BAY- Conservative leader Stephen Harper issued the following statement today:

 “The Conservative Party has long recognized the terrible historical wrong of the Chinese head tax.  It is time for Parliament and the Government of Canada to recognize this grave injustice, and to apologize for it.

I acknowledge the efforts of Conservative parliamentarians and candidates to obtain a just redress of the head tax.  These efforts are in keeping with the historical achievement of a previous Conservative government in addressing the unjust internment of Japanese Canadians.

Any redress should also acknowledge the invaluable contribution made to Canada by the Chinese-Canadian community.  A Conservative government would work with the entire Chinese-Canadian community to establish a consensus for reconciliation and redress.”

-30-

For more information: Conservative Party Press Office (613) 755-2191

David Suzuki quote on Japanese Canadian redress: prophetic for Chinese Canadian Head Tax Redress

During the Japanese Canadian redress there was a very similar situation to the current Chinese Head Tax redress process, where the Govt had worked with one group,  then another group arose to oppose and ask for inclusion.  In the end everybody was included and the settlement was accepted.

Here is the quote from David Suzuki made around 1984 (page 179)

"David Suzuki, a broadcaster, geneticist and enviornmental activist who attended the meeting on his own, had called for caution in attempting to politicize redress:

We are a minority group that is so small that we don't count anywhere.  What we have going for us is the moral rightness of the issue.  There is a great deal of pressure now to ram through something because this government is tottering on shaky legs.  There is no question in my mind that George is right, that this is a very opportune moment politically.  Whatever is done is not going to be done by addressing the moral issue involved.  It's going to be done for purely political reasons and you're going to be bought out if you don't watch yourselves very carefully."  p.179 Roy Miki, Redress

3 Tories break with party on Chinese-Canadian issue The three want Ottawa to apologize and compensate for the head tax imposed on Chinese immigrants

Peter O'Neil

Vancouver Sun

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

OTTAWA -- Three of Conservative leader Stephen Harper's candidates have split with their party's senior critics on an issue that has divided Canada's Chinese-
Canadian community. 

B.C. candidates Darrel Reid and Kanman Wong, and veteran MP John Cummins, say the federal government should renegotiate a $2.5 million agreement that seeks to recognize the racist anti-Chinese immigrant policies of Canada's past while not apologizing or offering individual compensation.

All three Tories say the next government should reopen talks to try to bring all factions of the community together on the issue, which, according to Reid, could be politically damaging for Multiculturalism Minister Raymond Chan in his riding.

"Certainly if the talk radio and the Chinese press are any indication, I would say there's been a very strong negative reaction," said Reid, Chan's Tory challenger in the riding, where close to half the population is ethnic Chinese.

"I think there's a lot of concern, there's a lot of upset, there's a lot of recriminations being thrown around."

While the federal Tory caucus hasn't taken a formal position, Tory multiculturalism critic Bev Oda and immigration critic Inky Mark both endorsed the Liberal position.

They both said Tuesday the Liberal position, based on private bills by Oda and Mark, had the endorsement of Harper.

Both Reid and Cummins, the MP for Delta-South Richmond, say they would like to see a government apology and individual compensation for the surviving victims of the head tax that was imposed on Chinese immigrants between 1885 and 1923.

Wong, while supportive of an apology, wouldn't say if he supports financial redress.

There are about one million Chinese Canadians, representing a little over three per cent of the population. But in Richmond and Vancouver Kingsway, represented by Industry Minister David Emerson, they represent 44 and 42 per cent, respectively. In Cummins' riding, 18 per cent are ethnic Chinese, according to Statistics Canada.

Chan announced just days before the election campaign began that a "historic" agreement had been struck with the National Congress of Chinese Canadians and several other groups.

The initiative is intended to acknowledge the historic wrongs and fund projects to educate Canadians on the contribution of Chinese-Canadians.

But a rival group, the Chinese Canadian National Council, has waged a media campaign to discredit the agreement and argue that it doesn't satisfy demands.

The federal New Democratic Party has joined the CCNC in calling on the government to come up with a package similar to the 1988 agreement that provided more than $300 million as compensation to the Japanese-Canadian community, which was interned in camps during the Second World War.

Chan said Tuesday the Chinese-Canadian community has always been divided on the issue.

While some want money and an apology, others don't see themselves as "victims," according to Chan, who once publicly favoured individual  compensation.

"They say, 'We're not victims of Canada. Yes, we were discriminated against, and paid the head tax, but we benefitted as well.'"

Chan said both Harper and Mark, the Manitoba Conservative MP who initiated the

legislation and helped negotiate the agreement, support the government's position that an apology could open the government to legal claims.

"Both Inky and Harper recognize we cannot open the Canadian taxpayers to unlimited liabilities."

Mark's father and grandfather paid the head tax. Oda is a Japanese-Canadian who opposed the 1988 compensation agreement.

Last month, Mark sent out e-mails to MPs from all parties saying that the CCNC is "basically an arm of the NDP across Canada."

Mark said Tuesday he wished that Tory candidates in B.C. promising a better redress package had spoken to him, as he doesn't believe an apology and compensation are realistic.

He said he accepts the argument of government lawyers that an apology and redress package would be a "slippery slope" opening the door to countless other legal claims.

"Today's government can't apologize for things that happened in past governments. That's just the way it is," Mark said of the head tax and the subsequent exclusion legislation that banned Chinese immigration from 1923 to
1947. 

"What they did was legal. That didn't make it morally right or ethical, but the fact was it was legal."

But Reid said the Chinese experience stands out as unique because Chinese-Canadians were the only ethnic group specifically targeted in racist immigration laws.

"If the intent of the recent agreement . . . was to heal historic wounds, it hasn't worked," Reid said.

"Instead, the controversy and ethical issues surrounding it continue to grow.  It has reopened wounds in the Chinese community." 

poneil@hotmail.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2005

 

Prime Minister Paul Martin interviewed on Head Tax issues on Toronto Radio

Please  check out this amazing exclusive interview with Paul Martin on Toronto Radio about the head tax issues. - You will be surprised!

Listen on-line today - 3:20pm to 4pm PST
 at http://www.torontofirstradio.com/default.html

Please the CCNC media advisory below.

Todd Wong
BC Coalition for Head Tax Payers and Descendants
604-240-7090


 

Raymond Chan's Dec 2 press conference in Mandarin Chinese only????

I attended the Raymond Chan press conference yesterday. They were only letting in "journalists" and asked me for a card.  I told the office staff that I was writing a piece for www.thetyee.ca and gave them the card that of editor David Beers and said David had asked me to write a piece for him.  I told his office staff that I was there to hear Raymond Chan say why he was dealing only with the NCCC.  Then they let me in.

The whole thing was a bit surreal because everything was spoken in Mandarin.  I know only a few words in Mandarin "Wor shr Janada-ren (I am Canadian)",  "Wor bu-dong (I don't understand)", and "Dwei bu-shei (Excuse me/I'm sorry)" - which I repeated for Chinese media afterwards in the parking lot.

There were two media briefings available.  One in English and one in Chinese.  But they don't say the same things.  The English one is basically a media advisory, and the Chinese one lists Raymond Chan's views in  point form

During the Q&A period, One writer for the Sing Tao got into a verbal exchange with Chan - I am sure she was challenging him on some of the points, because he got very defensive.

Basically Chan was saying that all the Chinese Canadian organizations were on side with him, but a few minority groups were speaking up.  He also accused these individuals of being supported or influenced by the NDP and Chinese media commentator Gabriel Yiu.

Sid Tan (Co-op Radio, Saltwater City TV) did ask a question in English.  Tan asked if each of the 280 "supporting organizations" wrote statements of support.  Chan said no - he did not have that information.  I know personally that many of the organizations such as the Chinese Canadian veterans are apolitical and are only asking for an apology.  Some of the organization names are repeated such as the Chinese Freemasons, and the Dart Coon Club - because they are translations.

It has also since been revealed in the Chinese media that Kitty Ma of the CCC, signed the agreement with ACE without taking it to the CCC Board, so some of these organizations are apparently upset that their names were used without their permission.  Chan said that he had the signatories of the Vancouver Chinese Cultural Centre, Toronto Chinese Cultural Centre and Chinese Benevolent Association and some others, which represented those 280 groups.

After the Q&A period - Raymond's campaign/communications coordinator came up to me to say hello.  Surprise!  It was Ian MacLeod - president of Clan MacLeod Societies of Canada.  Ian is a regular at my Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners for the past 3 years and he is a very nice guy.  He even helped me find out how I can register a "McWong" tartan.

MacLeod quickly introduced Raymond to me and told him I am the creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy.  Raymond immediately acknowledged that he already knew me, and has previously attended a Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.  Raymond shook my hand and said to me "I am sorry I cannot give you what you ask for."  He was very quick with that apology - although all I had said to him so far was "Hello."

Hmmm.... maybe he got my letter to him about the CBC Radio interview with Gabriel Yiu and Raymond Chan - the one that I posted on my website, www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com and sent to all the Lower Mainland MP's + party leaders.

After MacLeod had hustled Raymond Chan out to their next meeting, Sid and I talked with some of the Chinese media reporters.  Our mandarin is pretty well non-existent and we wanted to know what they had questioned Raymond Chan about.  Before I knew it, they had their tape recorders out and were asking us questions.  Gee- whiz... I didn't expect that!  It sure was nice that they were able to speak in English, and tell me what Raymond had said during the press conference as they asked me my views on the issues.

I did point out that it was strange that everything was done in Mandarin and there was no Cantonese or English translation - because I thought that English and French were Canada's two official languages, and Cantonese was the language of the original Chinese pioneers who had to pay the head tax from 1895 to 1923.

I shared that when my great-great-grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan came to Canada in 1896, the Chinese Methodist Church helpe to teach the immigrant Chinese how to speak English.  Rev. Chan Yu Tan encouraged the family to learn Canadian ways, and we have been doing that for 7 generations.

I told them I didn't understand why Raymond Chan was giving money to many immigrant societies, because it was the head tax payers and their descendants who paid with their blood and sweat for many years in order to help repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act, and to pave the way for new immigrants to come to Canada.  It is like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

more later... I have to write my Tyee opinion piece now...