Reconciling with History: The Chinese-Canadian Head Tax Redress

Abstract

apology to Chinese Canadians at the Parliament of Canada for the imposition of the head tax and expressed sorrow for the subsequent exclusion of Chinese immigrants as a result of the 1923 Chinese Immigration Act. It took 121 years after the first head tax was levied on Chinese entering Canada and 83 years after the passing of the 1923 Act before Canada officially recognized the historical wrongdoings to the Chinese. Despite intense lobbying by Chinese-Canadian community organizations and individuals since the first Chinese Canadian filed a claim in 1983 to have the amount of the head tax returned to him, it was only after seven prime ministers had taken office, and many negotiations and court proceedings had taken place, that a settlement was reached in 2006. Why did the Canadian Chinese head tax redress take so long to materialize, especially in view of the 2002 apology offered by Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand, to New Zealand Chinese on account of a similar head tax? This report traces the history of the Chinese head tax redress in Canada and examines the factors that contributed to its settlement. Origin of the Chinese Head Tax in Canada 1