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Canadian PM marks anniversary of Chinese head tax apology

Xinhua, June 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday commemorated the ninth anniversary of the historic Chinese head tax apology, calling the tax a "grave injustice."

"Our government recognized that it was a grave historical wrong and one that caused undue hardship on families. As I stated nine years ago, this was a grave injustice, and one we are morally obligated to acknowledge," Harper said in a statement.

Nine years ago, Harper offered an official apology in the House of Commons for the unjust head tax that was imposed on Chinese immigrants from 1885 to 1923.

More than 15,000 Chinese laborers came to Canada in the mid-19th century to assist in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Once the railway was complete, then Canadian government set in place a number of measures to stop the flow of immigrants from China to Canada.

Beginning with the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885, a Head Tax of 50 Canadian dollars was imposed on Chinese newcomers. The Canadian government subsequently raised this amount to 100 Canadian dollars in 1900, and then to 500 Canadian dollars in 1903.

The tax remained in place until 1923, when then Canadian government amended the Chinese Immigration Act and effectively banned most Chinese immigrants to Canada until 1947. Newfoundland also imposed a head tax on Chinese immigrants from 1906 to 1949, the year it joined Canada as a province.

Since the fall of 2006, the Canadian government began to offer symbolic ex gratia payments to living head tax payers and living spouses of deceased payers. It also established the Community Historical Recognition Program to help finance community projects that explored the impact of past-war measures and immigration restrictions on cultural and religious communities. Endi