PM repeats pledge to formally apologize for head tax
Prime Minister Stephen Harper received a standing ovation at a Chinese-Canadian awards dinner Saturday night after renewing his promise to apologize for the head tax once imposed on Chinese immigrants.
Harper said his government will consult with the Chinese-Canadian community about how it will apologize for what he called the "grave injustice" of the discriminatory tax.
He made the comments to a Chinese-Canadian business group in Markham, just north of Toronto.
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"Chinese-Canadians have made ... an invaluable contribution to Canada and your community deserves nothing less than a full apology for this past wrong," Harper said.
"Our government will always be mindful of the integral role played by Chinese-Canadians in Canadian society and in turn will always afford this community the respect to which it is entitled."
The Conservatives' throne speech on April 4 included a promise to formally apologize for the head tax imposed on nearly 81,000 Chinese immigrants between 1885 and 1923.
The tax, costing each immigrant between $50 and $500 to enter the country, was followed by the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese immigration until its repeal in 1947.
In November 2005, the federal government â then led by Paul Martin and his Liberals â signed a $2.5-million deal with one prominent Chinese group to set up educational projects to commemorate those who paid the tax.
But the agreement angered other Chinese-Canadian groups, who complained they had not been consulted.
Only about 800 people who paid the head tax are alive, but there are many descendants across the country.