Oldest Surviving Chinese Head Tax Subject Gets Compensation
Posted March 10, 2007 12:00 pm.
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Saturday was Ralph Lee’s 107th birthday, but for the Canadian, who just happens to also be the oldest surviving subject of Canada’s infamous Chinese head tax, it was also the day he finally got the compensation and apology he’d waited so many years for.
“Apart from the fact that I’m happy that grandpa’s alive to receive the apology, it’s a mixture of emotions,” said grand-daughter Landy Anderson.
Fron 1885 to 1923 Chinese immigrants in Canada were charged a head tax. Lee himself paid $500, which at the time was two years pay for the young man.
“When he came over here he worked pretty hard to make a living,” said daughter Faye Lee.
“He was only 12 years old and he had to work in a restaurant and wash dishes while going to school at the same time.”
Lee was one of many in attendance last June in Ottawa when the Canadian government announced both the compensation and released an apology for the tax and the ensuing 24-year ban on Chinese immigration.
“On behalf of the people and government of Canada we offer a full apology to Chinese Canadians for the head tax and express our deepest sorrow for the subsequent exclusion of Chinese immigrants,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that day.
That apology came with a $20,000 settlement offered to surviving head tax subjects or their spouses, though for some of their descendents that’s nowhere near enough.
“It’s a wonderful thing that there was an apology, and that redress has been given to surviving head tax payers and spouses, but this really only represents 0.6 per cent of the people who really suffered,” said attendee Colleen Hua.
Currently only about 500 Chinese Canadians are eligible for the compensation. If the offer were extended to the families of those who paid the head tax – 3,000 people would be eligible.
