Chinese Head Tax and Immigration

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Overview

From 1885 to 1923 Canada imposed a discriminatory head tax on Chinese immigrants in an effort to limit the entry of Chinese immigrants after the Trans-Canada railway was completed in 1885. It started as the 1885 Act to Restrict and Regulate Chinese Immigration into Canada starting at $50 dollars for the right to enter. In total, the head tax collected approximately $23,000,000 dollars from 81,000 Chinese immigrants. In 1923, the federal government decided to end the head tax by replacing it with the Chinese Immigration Act which prohibited all Chinese immigration until 1947. [1]

Chinese Immigration to Canada

News in 1881 of the construction of the Trans-Canada railway construction in British Columbia attracted over 17,000 Chinese workers in the span of 4 years into the province. The Chinese workers were willing to accept much lower wages than other workers at $.75 to $1.25 each day in comparison to a European workers' wage at $1.50 to $2.50 [2].

The Head Tax

Initially, Chinese labour immigrants were welcome to Canada for cheap labour in building infrastructures for Canada.[1]

The head tax began in 1885 passed through the Chinese Immigration Act by charging all Chinese who wish to enter Canada a $50 dollar fee. The federal government raised this fee to $100 dollars in 1901 and eventually to the maximum of $500 dollars in 1903. At the time $500 dollars was approximately a Chinese labour worker’s wage for two years. In the span of 18 years the head tax was able to collect a total of $23,000,000 dollars from approximately 81,000 Chinese Immigrants [1]


In 1903, Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier spoke to the house of commons stating “In my opinion, there is not much room for the Chinaman in Canada.” emphasizing the undesirability of the Chinese in Canada[1]. Before the bill to raise the head tax a third time Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier that half the head tax collected would go to British Columbia which is an increase from the initial one quarter. British Columbia was to benefit from this bill and the bill to raise the head tax was passed immediately [3].


The Effects of the Head Tax on Chinese Immigration

The increase in head tax amounts had the goal of deterring the Chinese from entering Canada but findings from the census found that the head tax did not do much to limit Chinese immigrants from entering [3]. The population that was most affected by the head tax were the wives of Chinese workers who were barred from entering Canada. From 1885 to 1924 only approximately 1,100 Chinese women immigrated to Canada in comparison to 40,000 Chinese men [4].

Though the number of Chinese immigrants did initially decrease the first few years of introducing the head tax, by the year 1900 more than 1000 Chinese immigrants were entering Canada once again. In 1903, there were up to 5000 Chinese immigrants entering Canada. [3].


The ineffectiveness of the Chinese Head Tax to limit entry of the Chinese brought the creation of the Chinese Immigration Act also known as the Chinese Exclusion Act. The act brought changes to the legislation that instead focused on being selective of the backgrounds of the Chinese allowed into Canada. Chinese merchants and students were viewed as acceptable candidates to allow into Canada severely excluding laborers entry. The acting minister of immigration and colonization of the government Charles Stewart found that the government had only been allowing merchants and students into Canada starting in 1923 [3].

Prior to the Head Tax Redress

Prior to the announcement of the head tax redress in 2016, there were head tax campaigns targeting the parliament. One of the most famous cases being where Dak Leon Mark initially brought his head tax receipt for $500 dollars to Parliament in order to ask for a receipt. When brought to prime minister Pierre Trudeau, Mark’s request for an apology and compensation was denied. This sparked many other Chinese Canadians to do the same including the famous case of R. v. Mack.

The R. v. Mack case failed in the Ontario court of appeal in 2002 and also was refused the appeal in 2003 in the Supreme Court of Canada [1] . These cases brought up the problems with the previous head tax put pressure on ridings with high Chinese Canadian population. During the campaigns of the 2006 federal election, many of the main political parties made pledges to support the redress of the head tax [1] .

The Head Tax Redress and Apology

In 2006 the conservative was elected under the leadership of Stephen Harper and in June the head tax redress program began. The program offers $20,000 dollars to citizens that meet the criteria of having paid the head tax or paid for another individual's head tax with proper documentation. Individuals had to be alive February 6, 2006 or have a spouse to be able to apply for the amount [3] .

On June 20th 2006 Stephen Harper verbally apologized on behalf of Canada to all Chinese Canadians for the discriminatory treatment against Chinese immigrants [1] . It was seen as a historic speech where Harper announced “On behalf of all Canadians and the Government of Canada we offer a full apology to Chinese Canadians for the head tax and express our deepest sorrows for the subsequent exclusion of Chinese immigrants” [5] . The government also decided to dedicate $1,000,000 dollars into educating Canadians to the “discrimination and hardship faced by the Chinese and other communities impacted by wartime measures and or immigration restrictions”[1].


References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Winter, S. (2008). The stakes of inclusion: Chinese Canadian head tax redress. Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue Canadienne De Science Politique, 41(1), 119-141. doi:10.1017/S0008423908080050 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "The Stakes of inclusion" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "The Stakes of inclusion" defined multiple times with different content
  2. ↑ Li, C. (1995). The chinese: A valuable asset to the canadian pacific railway or an "evil" to white labourers? B.C. Historical News, 28(3), 9.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Cho, L. (2001). Rereading chinese head tax racism: Redress, stereotype, and antiracist critical practice. Essays on Canadian Writing, (75), 62. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Rereading chinese head tax racism" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Rereading chinese head tax racism" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Rereading chinese head tax racism" defined multiple times with different content
  4. ↑ Chu, S. K. H. (2006). Reparation as narrative resistance: Displacing orientalism and recoding harm for Chinese women of the exclusion era. Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, 18(2), 387.
  5. ↑ Edwards, J. A., & Calhoun, L. R. (2011). Redress for old wounds: Canadian prime minister stephen harper's apology for the chinese head tax. Chinese Journal of Communication, 4(1), 73-89. doi:10.1080/17544750.2011.544084
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