Candidates back head tax redress

By Dan Hilborn
Published Jan. 14, 2006


The campaign to seek a formal apology, redress and compensation for Chinese immigrants who were forced to pay the head tax attracted a total of 23 election candidates from the NDP, Green and Conservative parties to the Crystal Mall on Monday.

Gabriel Yiu, one of the chief organizers of the campaign, said he is now confident that, no matter who is elected, Parliament will begin the process of reconciliation soon after the Jan. 23 election.

"We have got what we wanted," Yiu told the Burnaby NOW on Tuesday morning. "Paul Martin said yesterday that he will apologize formally in Parliament, while Stephen Harper said he supports individual compensation.

"The Liberals are the only party that does still refuse to accept individual compensation."

Among the candidates who attended the photo opportunity 'signing session' were 12 NDP MPs, including Bill Siksay and Peter Julian from Burnaby, nine Green party candidates, including Ray Power of Burnaby-Douglas, and Conservative Darrel Reid of Richmond. Svend Robinson, the former Burnaby-Douglas MP now running in Vancouver-Centre, was also present, as was Connie Fogal of the Canadian Action Party.

Siksay said he believes redress and compensation are vital to ensuring that Canada moves forward as a strong and proud country that acknowledges it was built on the backs of immigrants.

"The head tax was a terrible chapter in Canadian history," Siksay said. "It was an unjust law that caused incredible hardship for many, many people.

"I had family who lived in Canada at that time, which means, in fact, that I had family who were head-tax collectors," he said. "This isn't just an issue for Chinese-Canadians, this is an issue for all Canadians to take responsibility for what happened in the past."

Siksay noted that the Liberals and Conservatives voted to water down the original head-tax redress bill in Parliament to remove the word 'apology' and replace it with a statement of recognition.

"They took a weak bill and made it worse," Siksay said. "

Siksay also noted that the NDP has been at the forefront of the issue since the early '80s, when former MP Margaret Mitchell introduced the first proposal on the matter.

There are an estimated 25,000 surviving family members of the head-tax payers, including about 250 people who actually paid the tax.