Chinese Head Tax Compensation

[BubberMiley]

Harper's government announced a compensation package to the ancestors of the payers of the Chinese head tax this week. The CPC has learned from the Liberals how to offer up cash to interest groups for votes. Now the Canadian Jewish Congress has called for funding to memorialize the exclusion of Jews between 1933 and 1945.

There must be no limit to people whose ancestors suffered some kind of injustice. With enough historic wrongs seemingly corrected with taxpayers' money, Harper should get a majority yet.

[August1991]

Some facts:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will close a controversial chapter in Canadian history today by offering up to $20,000 to each of the people forced to pay the Chinese head tax who are still living.

The move will come as Mr. Harper offers a formal apology to the 81,000 Chinese immigrants who shelled out a total of $23-million to enter Canada. A compensation package is also expected to be offered to widowed spouses of those who paid the tax, while a source added there will be a so-called national recognition program established for educational and cultural activities. Estimates of the cost of the overall program varied, although one source said it would top $30-million.

Sources said the government has identified only 29 surviving victims of the tax. There are approximately another 250 or so widows.

....

One source said the government's package is based on one paid to Japanese Canadians who had been interned during the Second World War. That package saw payments of $21,000 to each of those affected still living. Another $12-million was set aside for the educational, social and cultural well-being of the community.

G & M

John Crosbie:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has now apologized to Chinese-Canadians for our racist immigration laws of the past -- and announced a compensation package. The previous Liberal government had announced proposed payouts of $2.5 million to the Chinese community under the Acknowledgement, Commemoration and Education Program -- along with $2.5 million for Ukrainian-Canadians (who looked for $12.5 million) for their relatives' internment during World War I and $2.5 million to Italians (who were expecting $12.5 million) for the internment of 700 men in World War II. The Conservatives have pledged to honour all three agreements.

On September 22, 1988, after 10 years of negotiation, the Government of Canada announced the Japanese Canadian Redress Agreement, which was aimed at compensating members of this community for the actions taken against them during World War II under the War Measures Act. This agreement included official acknowledgement of past injustices, sums of money paid to individuals and their community, and the undertaking to establish a race relations foundation. The total cost of implementing this agreement reached $422 million.

Hansard

Trudeau was adamant that the federal government would not pay compensation for past harm. Crosbie takes the same position as Trudeau although he was a member of the Mulroney government that approved the Japanese payout.

I tend to agree with Trudeau. If we start to pay compensation, there is no end to the claims of injustice and redress. The government should offer a formal apology. If money is offered, it should be given to build a museum or commemorative centre to record and remind everyone of the injustice.

(Incidentally, to my knowledge, the several hundred people arrested, held but never charged under the War Measures Act in 1970-71 were never compensated.)

In the 1950s, Germany agreed to pay 3 billion DM to Israel and Jewish organizations. As Crosbie notes, Japan has never paid any compensation to the Chinese or even issued an apology for war crimes committed.

[theloniusfleabag]

Dear August1991,

Sources said the government has identified only 29 surviving victims of the tax. There are approximately another 250 or so widows.

To my best 'ciferin', that is $5,580,000 paid to survivors (at $20,000/head reparations) Funny, 'head reparations' are used to compensate 'head tax'.

I guess the rest of the 'x-30,000,000' will build some nice memorial somewhere.

I heard rumour that there are some caves underneath Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, that some of the Chinese that were unwilling/unable to pay the head tax had hidden in. Evidently, these were later used by Al Capone and his cronies to store bootleg booze in prior to being exported to the US during prohibition.

Seems like as good a spot as any.

(Incidentally, to my knowledge, the several hundred people arrested, held but never charged under the War Measures Act in 1970-71 were never compensated.)

Have to split hairs on this one. If those arrested were arrested because they were French, there might be some claim for redress. However, it is different that if Canada was at war with France, and the people were arrested because they were French. In the FLQ case, it was an internal matter of 'civil diosbedience', rather than a policy that could be defined as 'racist'.

[Hicksey]

This whole thing is ludicrous.

Its not the government paying those reparations -- its you and I. Why should I have to pay for the actions of a bunch of politicians I didn't elect?

Do we prosecute sons for the sins of their fathers? Then why here?

The more of Harper I see the less I like him. He's another Bush. Real conservatives stand on principle and win for it. Him and Bush lick their proverbial finger, put it into the wind and wait to see which way the winds are going before they act. This colossal waste of tax dollars is nothing more than political pandering which IMO public money should not be allowed to fund.

Between the Liberals, NDP, CPC ... we just can't win for losing in Con-ada ... err ... Canada.

[mcqueen625]

Harper's government announced a compensation package to the ancestors of the payers of the Chinese head tax this week. The CPC has learned from the Liberals how to offer up cash to interest groups for votes. Now the Canadian Jewish Congress has called for funding to memorialize the exclusion of Jews between 1933 and 1945.

There must be no limit to people whose ancestors suffered some kind of injustice. With enough historic wrongs seemingly corrected with taxpayers' money, Harper should get a majority yet.

An apology for wronged people is okay, but financial compensation? It was Chinese immigrants this time, and now the Ukrainian or some other ethnic immigrants are looking for similar compensation. How long do we have to apoligize for something our ancesters did a long time ago. As for financial compensation, I do not think that we should be paying cash because it just gives individuals a reason to get in line with their hand out for free cash even though they may not be entitled.

I liken it to compensation paid to supposed victims of Karl Toft, infamous pedophile who when he worked as a guard at Kingsclear Boy's Correctional School where he molested at least 200 boys over a number of years. I agreed with the apology, and I also agreed that those who were molested while in custody should have councelling provided for as long as they need it, but I draw the line at that. I'm not sure how much compensation was paid to each victim, but living in New Brunswick and reading all about the investigation, there were many kids that claimed abuse that Karl Toft said he never touched. The one's he did molest he freely admitted, but many he denied touching them. Rumour has it that some individulas may have made up stories of molestation simply to get some free cash, and how can it be proven they actually were molested unless the perpetrator admits to it.

[mcqueen625]

Some facts:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will close a controversial chapter in Canadian history today by offering up to $20,000 to each of the people forced to pay the Chinese head tax who are still living.

The move will come as Mr. Harper offers a formal apology to the 81,000 Chinese immigrants who shelled out a total of $23-million to enter Canada. A compensation package is also expected to be offered to widowed spouses of those who paid the tax, while a source added there will be a so-called national recognition program established for educational and cultural activities. Estimates of the cost of the overall program varied, although one source said it would top $30-million.

Sources said the government has identified only 29 surviving victims of the tax. There are approximately another 250 or so widows.

....

One source said the government's package is based on one paid to Japanese Canadians who had been interned during the Second World War. That package saw payments of $21,000 to each of those affected still living. Another $12-million was set aside for the educational, social and cultural well-being of the community.

G & M

John Crosbie:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has now apologized to Chinese-Canadians for our racist immigration laws of the past -- and announced a compensation package. The previous Liberal government had announced proposed payouts of $2.5 million to the Chinese community under the Acknowledgement, Commemoration and Education Program -- along with $2.5 million for Ukrainian-Canadians (who looked for $12.5 million) for their relatives' internment during World War I and $2.5 million to Italians (who were expecting $12.5 million) for the internment of 700 men in World War II. The Conservatives have pledged to honour all three agreements.

On September 22, 1988, after 10 years of negotiation, the Government of Canada announced the Japanese Canadian Redress Agreement, which was aimed at compensating members of this community for the actions taken against them during World War II under the War Measures Act. This agreement included official acknowledgement of past injustices, sums of money paid to individuals and their community, and the undertaking to establish a race relations foundation. The total cost of implementing this agreement reached $422 million.

Hansard

Trudeau was adamant that the federal government would not pay compensation for past harm. Crosbie takes the same position as Trudeau although he was a member of the Mulroney government that approved the Japanese payout.

I tend to agree with Trudeau. If we start to pay compensation, there is no end to the claims of injustice and redress. The government should offer a formal apology. If money is offered, it should be given to build a museum or commemorative centre to record and remind everyone of the injustice.

(Incidentally, to my knowledge, the several hundred people arrested, held but never charged under the War Measures Act in 1970-71 were never compensated.)

In the 1950s, Germany agreed to pay 3 billion DM to Israel and Jewish organizations. As Crosbie notes, Japan has never paid any compensation to the Chinese or even issued an apology for war crimes committed.

The FLQ were Canadian grown terrorists and deserved to be arrested and tried for treason. What did our government do? Allow some to flee to Cuba and come back to start contracting businesses, including the contractor the Jean used. I won't dignify her name using the title of Governor General because of her comtempt for the Queen by ignorantly making herself unavailabler for the Queen's 80th birthday celebration.

I'm not in favour of having a Governor General, Liutenant Governor's in the Provinces or the useless Senate for that matter, but as long as we do it is wrong for someone who is appointed to such posts to ignore or snub the very person they are supposed to be representing.