Head Tax Redress Train Steams Across the Prairies
A train carrying Chinese Canadians and their descendants who were subjected to the unfair Head Tax and subsequent Exclusion Policy of the first half of the 20th century is headed to Ottawa. Once there the Chinese Canadian community is expecting an apology from Prime Minster Harper as well as some form of redress.
The Chinese community is not of one mind when it comes to what sort of redress should be offered. Some want cash payments in 2006 equivalent dollars. This would be extraordinarily expensive, and also set a precedent the government does not wish to have set. Others want a simple acknowledgment of the particularly trying predicament they were put in by the Canadian government after having contributed so much to the development of the country. A middle of the road solution involving some sort of heritage funding is to be expected.
Actions like these sorts of apologies are not purely domestic matters. They get a good deal of coverage in international Chinese press, and thus contribute to the global image Canada wishes to foster.
Link: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=8cf25574-3d00-4f9a-9187-656945b85903&k=10125