Federal apology, redress not in store for Chinese immigrants, group complains

By Cassandra Szklarski

TORONTO (CP) - Ottawa is imposing "paternalistic" conditions on Chinese
immigrants who want justice for the head tax they were once forced to pay,
critics said Tuesday as they denounced a federal private member's bill meant
to address their concerns.

The Chinese Canadian National Council said Bill C-333, which is making its
way through Parliament, shuts out most of the community by designating one
Chinese group to speak for all immigrants and their families.

The council has been left out of the legislation despite having been the
group that led the fight, said spokeswoman Susan Eng.

"It's a very paternalistic approach to how you deal with a community,
which, after all, is the whole point of this exercise," Eng said.

"We are talking about how an entire community was treated in a racist
manner, and now once again ...they are effectively saying to each community,
`Come to me with only one voice and that one voice has to agree to our
conditions."'

The Canadian government collected $23 million from more than 80,000 Chinese
immigrants between 1885 and 1923, with the tax ranging from $50 to $500 per
person. At the time, $500 was equivalent to two years of wages for a Chinese
labourer.

Chinese immigrants were then turned away in 1923, with families separated
for decades until the Exclusion Act was repealed in 1947. Several dozen
people who paid the tax are believed to still be alive.

The bill, introduced in 2002 by Tory MP Inky Mark, recognizes the injustice
suffered by Chinese immigrants and calls for an educational program, but
does not legislate a formal apology or offer compensation.

Mark said those elements were dropped to ensure the bill would survive a
vote in the volatile minority Parliament.


"If it's a money bill, forget it; it ain't going to happen," Mark said from
Ottawa.
"Using words like `redress,' `compensation,' `restitution' - they may be
correct from a justice point of view, a moralistic, ethical point of view,
but from a legalistic point of view it ain't going to happen."

Mark said once the bill is passed, options for compensation can be explored
through negotiations with the designated group - the National Canadian
Chinese Congress.

The Chinese Canadian National Council was dropped from the bill when they
continued to insist that it also include reference to compensation and a
formal apology.

"I dropped them out because we agreed not to agree," said Mark, himself a
Chinese immigrant who came to Canada in 1955 when he was six years old.
Mark said his father paid the head tax in 1922 and his grandfather paid in
the late 1800s when he arrived to work on the railroad.

"I'm a direct descendant of all these people," he said. "I know what the
argument is, I know what the anger is about."

The bill has passed second reading and is currently being reviewed by a
Commons committee. Mark said he hoped to see it pass third and final reading
before the end of the year.

Mark has also introduced a similar bill for the Ukrainian community. About
5,000 Ukrainians were rounded up and interned by the Canadian government
during the First World War, primarily because they came from parts of
Ukraine controlled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was at war with the
Allies.

Eng, who admits she never thought the bill would get as far as it has,
expressed frustration with the entire process.

She said members of the Ontario Coalition of Head Tax Payers and Families
were met with another roadblock at Heritage Canada when they tried to
discuss disbursement of a $25-million fund the federal government set up in
its spring budget.

The money was to pay for awareness programs about how various ethnic groups
have suffered racism over the course of Canadian history.
Members were told apologies or compensation would not be part of the talks,
Eng said.