By Tao Wenzhao
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized last month for
the nation's notorious head tax, which was aimed at blocking the
flow of immigrants from China, and announced the Canadian
Government's intention to offer symbolic individual payments to
surviving head tax payers.
An historical error was redressed, though the apology came a bit
too late.
Chinese immigrants entered Canada via the United States in the
1850s. Preceding that, large numbers of Chinese laborers were
attracted from South China's Pearl River Delta to California
following the discovery of gold.
Although gold mining in California soon went into decline, gold
was soon found in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
American miners poured into Canada, including a number of Chinese
workers. The northward rush started around 1858. Five years later,
the number of Chinese workers in Canada reached 2,000. The number
kept expanding in subsequent years, with Chinese people moving from
gold mining to plantations, fisheries and various kinds of service
industries.
The construction of the Pacific Railway in the United States
began in the 1860s, while the building of the Canadian Pacific
Railway came a bit later. By the 1880s, railway construction became
the focus of development in western Canada. The Canadian
Government, therefore, sanctioned the recruitment of 17,000 Chinese
laborers from southern China's Guangdong Province.
Between 1881 and 1895, these Chinese workers toiled along the
route of the Canadian Pacific Railway, winding its way through the
Rocky Mountains. Many paid with their sweat, but some paid with
their lives. It is believed that at least 1,000 Chinese workers
died during the construction of the railway.
Prime Minister Harper said the devotion of these Chinese workers
helped make Canada the nation it is today. This could not be more
correct.
But once the railway was completed in 1885, things only got
worse for Chinese workers in North America.
The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in the United States in
1882, which always led Canada in this regard.
White workers found it difficult to compete with the hardworking
Chinese. To make matters worse, the majority of the Chinese had no
intention to settle down and integrate into local society. What
they wanted was to make money and send it home. As a result, they
were isolated from mainstream society in every way language,
customs and habits, and were discriminated by the whites for "being
aliens."
Pressure started growing in Canada for the adoption of
legislation similar to the US Chinese Exclusion Act. So the
exclusion of Chinese immigrants began almost as soon as the last
spike was ceremonially driven into the Canadian Pacific Railway at
Craigellachie, British Columbia on November 7, 1885.
In 1885, a head tax of C$50 was imposed on Chinese immigrants,
which increased to C$100 in 1901 and remained at C$500 from 1904
until 1923. At the time, the sum was equivalent to two years' wages
for a Chinese immigrant.
Chinese workers were the sole target of the head tax diplomats,
students and businesspeople were exempt.
Statistics show that a total of 81,000 Chinese workers were
forced to pay this notorious tax. Many ran up big debts, borrowing
huge sums to pay the tax. Moreover, the tax prevented family
reunions, with immigrants' wives and children unable to afford to
travel to Canada now that their families were in debt.
Prime Minister Harper said in his apology that the high head tax
forced many family members to stay in China. A failure to
acknowledge this injustice meant that many people did not treat
Chinese immigrants as fellow Canadians, the prime minister went on
to say.
His remarks hit home.
While the Canadian Government imposed a head tax on Chinese
immigrants, the United States remained open to European immigrants,
who, therefore, were reluctant to go to Canada. In addition, many
Canadians emigrated to the United States. In this context, Chinese
immigrants, after paying the head tax, came to Canada, which had a
short supply of labour at the time.
In this way, Canada killed two birds with one stone, easing its
labour shortage while also raking in huge sums in head tax
payments.
But when the United States started to restrict the flow of
immigrants from Europe in the 1920s, more Europeans turned to
Canada. Now there was no need for Chinese workers, Canada's doors
were firmly closed to the Chinese. Canada enacted the Chinese
Immigration Act in June 1923, which prohibited all Chinese, except
for diplomats, businesspeople and students, from entering the
country. At the same time, the head tax was scrapped because there
were no longer any Chinese immigrant workers to be levied.
The Chinese Exclusion Act in the United States was repealed in
the 1940s thanks to the enhancement of China's international
status.
During World War II, China fought side by side with the allies
against fascism and signed the Declaration by United Nations in
January 1942, together with the United States, the United Kingdom
and the Soviet Union.
Not only was this Chinese-exclusion legislation out of place in
the framework of international relations at the time, it also ran
counter to the will of many American people. President Franklin
Roosevelt sent a letter to the US Congress, urging the abolition of
the law. He said in the letter that the United States would correct
a historical error through scrapping the legislation. The act
formally died in February 1944.
Canada's Chinese Immigration Act was not abolished until 1947.
In his speech delivered at the Canadian Parliament, Prime Minister
Mackenzie King said that the law, based on discrimination, treated
people from a particular country as an inferior race. The
discriminatory law was repealed.
Starting from the 1980s, Chinese Canadians demanded an apology
for the head tax. This campaign finally resulted in Harper's
apology.
The number of Canadian citizens of Chinese descent has reached
more than 1 million. This group constitutes a fairly big source of
ballots in elections. Moreover, the status Chinese Canadians in the
fields of politics, economics and scientific research has been
enhanced and their sense of getting involved in politics and
safeguarding their rights is getting increasingly stronger.
A lesson has been learnt. Winning deserved rights and redressing
an historical error take a long time, even in a law-governed
society such as Canada.
Now being freed from their historical baggage, Chinese Canadians
can do more to help make Canada a more pluralistic nation.
The author is a researcher with the Institute for American
Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
(China Daily June 30, 2006)
