Robert Yip of Ottawa also sends this link to the CTV televsion newstory on Gim Wong:
Gim Wong in Ottawa at the Canadian War Museum with Jack Layton.
Includes a quote from The Min of Justice that
“The matter is right now before Cabinet……”
Robert
click here for more stories on this website about Gim Wong and Chinese head tax redress go to:
http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/
ChineseHeadTaxissuesGimWongsRideforRedress
![]() Fri. Jul. 1 2005 3:07 PM ET ![]() Wong began his 'Ride for Redress' at Victoria B.C.'s Beacon Hill Park on June 3, and has been heading east ever since.
Veteran rides across Canada in head tax protestCTV.ca News Staff Gim Wong may be old, but he hasn't lost his fighting spirit. The 83-year-old is making a cross-Canada trip to convince lawmakers Factoring in inflation, that would be equivalent to more than $1 billion today. Like many of Canada's first Chinese immigrants, Wong's parents were Now, Wong not only wants the government to compensate the few The levy was originally imposed to discourage immigration from The Chinese workers were paid less than other labourers, however, and often made to do the most dangerous jobs. When the railway was completed in 1885, prevailing anti-Chinese racism led to the imposition of a so-called head tax. The tax started at $50, and climbed to $100 in 1900. By 1913, the Unless prospective immigrants from China were diplomats, tourists, Commonly referred to as the “Chinese Exclusion Act” because of its Wong and his son Jeffrey began their “Ride for Redress” at Victoria A veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Second World War, When he gets there, he hopes to put the issue directly to Prime Minister Paul Martin. “If I see Paul Martin, I'll say to him, 'get off your NDP Leader Jack Layton wants to see Wong succeed. “Many (Chinese immigrants) lost their lives building the railroad,” Layton told CTV's Rosemary Thompson. “And (Wong) is a veteran, (he's) fought for this country, and yet we Yew Lee, of the Canadian Council of Chinese Canadians, is also angry an apology has never been given. “I think Mr. Martin should stop listening to his lawyers and bean counters and start listening to his heart,” Lee told Thompson. “Because I sense he knows what the right thing to do is.” There is a chance the government is listening to people like Wong, “The matter is right now before cabinet,” Irwin Cotler told Thompson. “It's being considered.” Calls for compensation aren't unprecedented, and have, in fact, even be answered. In February 2002, New Zealand became the first Commonwealth nation In Canada, the federal government apologized in 1988 to Japanese Canadians who were detained during the Second World War.
|
User ToolsVideoRelated Stories |