The Chinese immigrants who paid the discriminatory head tax did so because they were determined to give their families a chance for a happy and prosperous life impossible to attain in China. The courage and tenacity with which they pursued, and realized, their dreams are awesome; if I were one their descendants, I would be thankful that their refusal to give up in the face of cruel racial discrimination allowed me to grow up as a citizen in a country which evolved into of one of the most multiculturally diverse and tolerant countries in the world. How sad that you have put a put a monetary price tag on the blood, sweat, and tears shed by the head tax payers. Their gift was priceless, and can be reciprocated only by working to make sure Canada continues to grow as a country that protects the rights of all individuals no matter what their ethnic origin.

The more than 40,000 Canadian men and women-- the vast majority of whom were white--who gave their lives so that Todd Wong , Judy Hamazawa, Grace Thomson, and the head-tax descendants clamoring for money, can enjoy the freedom and rights they seem to take so much for granted--more than made up for the mistakes of generations past.

If you do not believe me, just consider what the world might be like if Japan and Germany had won WWII.
I grew up on the West Coast during the 30s, Todd Wong, and I remember very well that Japanese language school students like myself sent goody bags to the Japanese soldiers fighting for the glory of Japan and the Emperor.
My Nisei friends and I ruefully recall how when we played team games, the winning team would shout triumphantly,
"Nippon katta, Shina maketa!" (Japan won, China lost.)
If we are going to redress wrongs of the past, let's not be selective. But better still, let's acknowledge that just as my friends and I have evolved, so has Canada.

And as I said, you and your friends owe the right and freedom you enjoy to give vent to your overblown sense of entitlement , not to the redress seeking activists, but to the men and women who selflessly gave their lives for you. When you ask the government to give "back"head tax descendants money you yourselves did not pay, you are asking families and descendants of men and women That's not only unjust, it's irrational.

Dear Lois

I have to completely disagree with you.

There are two ways to look at Chinese head tax history, Japanese Canadian redress or any issue: 1) you are helpless 2) you can do something about it.

There was a time in Canadian history, when Asian Canadians were helpless and powerless to change their fate against the systemic racism of White Canadian laws and society. This situation helped to create the term "Chinaman's Chance" - originally meaning if you were were wrongfully charged of a crime - you had absolutely zero chance of being found innocent. Just look at the Janet Smith murder case and the wrongful incarceration of the Chinese houseboy Wong Foon Sing - if you wish to dispute the extent of Anti-Asian racism in early 20th Century Vancouver.

You mistakenly claim that "I would be thankful that their refusal to give up in the face of cruel racial discrimination allowed me to grow up as a citizen in a country which evolved into of one of the most multiculturally diverse and tolerant countries in the world."

But what if Canada stayed the racist colonial country that it was pre-WW2? or in 1942 when it imprisoned Canadians of Japanese descent, but ignored the many more Canadians of German and Italian ancestry?

At any given moment, we cannot predict that Canada’s future will be racism free – we can only act in the present to ensure that wrongs are righted, and that mistakes are not perpetuated indefinitely - thus people speak out and become community activists.

This country is only tolerant because the head tax descendants such as Roy Mah, Douglas Jung and other Canadian born WW2 veterans, went to Ottawa in 1947 to demand that the racist "Chinese Exclusion Act" be lifted. Roy Mah went on to create the Chinatown News, and the BC Ethnic Press Association. Douglas Jung went on to become Canada's first Member of Parliament of Chinese ancestry, and to help Parliament give amnesty to "paper sons" because of the racist "Chinese Exclusion Act."

We are a racially tolerant nation today, because certain individuals refused to lie down in "learned helplessness" or succumb to "Stockholm Syndrome" and believe that the Government put Japanese Canadians in prison camps for their best interests and safety.

Chinese protested the head tax when it was first created in 1885, and when it was raised to $100 in 1900 and $500 in 1903. When the Canadian government passed the "Chinese Exclusion Act" on July 1st, 1923 - effectively banning any further Chinese immigration, the Chinese communities referred to Dominion Day as "Humiliation Day."

If community activists had NOT protested the Exclusion Act, Chinese would never have been allowed to immigrate to Canada. No Lt. Gov. David Lam in BC, No Gov. General Adrienne Clarkson in Ottawa.

If community activists had not protested the interned Japanese-Canadians, you and many others like Dr. David Suzuki, author Joy Kogawa and hockey player Paul Kariya's father would likely still be in Internment camps because the BC government didn't want any Japanese on the BC Coast.

Did the Chinese ever ask for for head tax refunds? Yes!
Did they ever think that one day, there would be a tax refund? Yes!

This is why head tax certificates have been passed on from generation to generation. Because, the original payers still felt that the certificate was worth something.

Dear Lois Hashimoto, there have always been protesters to social injustice and abuses of human rights. Some chose to speak out, and some chose to stay quiet. The Chinese Canadian WW2 veterans fought for Canada so that they could also fight for voting rights in Canada. The 442nd Battalion of Japanese American Nissei soldiers in WW2 became the most highly decorated unit in US military history, also fought to help free their families that were imprisoned in internment camps, similar to Canada.

I personally do not seek any head tax redress money – but I seek it for people like WW2 veteran Gim Wong, whose father paid it, and my 97 year old grandmother whose father paid it. I have heard the stories of suffering and racism, that many Chinese Canadians have put on brave faces for, because they felt there was nothing they could do about it.

Of all the immigrant groups to come to Canada, only the Chinese were subjected to a head tax.
Of the 50,000 estimated head tax certificates paid for, only less than 1% have been acknowledge with a ex-gratia payment.

For Canada to ignore the other 99% can best be described in your own words “That's not only unjust, it's irrational.”