Redress Train to Ottawa…. 
Gim Wong featured in Vancouver Sun Story

My father used to joke that Canada honoured the Chinese railway workers by naming the rail line after them.

CPR….
Chinese People's Railway….

83 year old Gim Wong will be hopping on board the “Redress Train” to Ottawa for the June 22nd Ceremony and announcement for Apology and Acknowledgement for the Chinese Head Tax.  Last year Gim rode his motorcycle to Ottawa to ask Prime Minister Paul Martin for an apology for the racist head tax.  Martin's office denied Gim a meeting, but current Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with Gim during a vist on May 25th with Chinese community elders, head tax payers and descendants.

I blogged Gim's 2005 Ride for Redress with pictures and contributions from across Canada.

Gim was featured in a June 15 Vancouver Sun story today on page B5

Senior recalls closed doors made him feel second-class:
Chinese RCAF veteran heading to Ottawa to hear prime minister apologize in Parliament on June 22  (see below)

Here's something I have just written… to help send off Gim at the VIA RAIL trainstation on Friday.
Main and Terminal streets in Vancouver.
4:00pm  Ceremony and Media Information at Th
5:30pm  Train Leaves.

This Train is Bound for Redress
(to the tune of This Train is Bound for Glory)
http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/pages
tiTHSTRAIN;ttTHSTRAIN.html

This Train is Bound for redress, this train….
This Train is bound for redress, this train…
This train honours the head tax payers
This train honours Chinese railway builders
This train is bound for redress this train.

This Train is Bound for redress, this train….
This Train is
bound for redress, this train…
This train is justice and fairness
This train is sharing our stories
This train is bound for redress this train.

This Train is Bound for redress, this train….
This Train is bound for redress, this train…
This train wants apology and action
This train wants symbolic compensation
This train is bound for redress this train.

This Train is Bound for redress, this train….
This Train is bound for redress, this train…
This train honours all our stories
This train honours all Canadians
This train is bound for redress this train.

Senior recalls closed doors made him feel
second-class

Chinese RCAF veteran heading to Ottawa to hear prime minister apologize in
Parliament on June 22

Maurice Bridge

Vancouver Sun

Thursday, June 15, 2006

 

CREDIT: Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun Wearing his RCAF uniform, Gim Foon Wong, 83, rode this motorcycle to Ottawa last year to try to protest the head tax his father paid.

“Slaves
at least were worth something — you could sell a slave if you didn't want him.

“Chinese?
Dime a dozen, not even a dime a dozen. Worthless!”

There
was no mistaking the visceral bitterness in the words. In a few short minutes,
83-year-old Gim Foon Wong electrified a news
conference Wednesday, explaining the long-repealed Chinese head tax in terms of
a life bent and shaped by legislated Canadian racism.

His
father arrived in B.C. from China in 1906 and paid the $500 head tax to escape
starvation in China, thanks to two elder brothers who shovelled
coal for a dollar a day in Cumberland for a decade. A century later, Wong let
his frustration off its leash and revealed the long reach of the discriminatory
legislation.

“I'm
not saying I'm a smart guy, okay?” he said, sitting in Strathcona
Community Centre next door to the school he graduated from in 1936. “I had
potential, [but] any degree in university would have been useless, so what did
we do? Drop out in Grade 9 and go to work.

“In
1941 in a cannery in Prince Rupert,
I was getting 121/2 cents an hour. The guy next to me — the kid was 12 years
old — was earning 25 cents an hour [because] he's a white man.”

Wong
fought his way into the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War,
but could not shake the feeling of being a second-class citizen.

“Invariably,
everywhere I went, I was the only Chinese. You know what that was [like], 60
years ago?”

The news
conference was not Wong's first round with the head tax. Last summer, he rode
his big Honda Gold Wing motorcycle across Canada and arrived on Parliament
Hill wearing his RCAF uniform, complete with service medals.

Paul
Martin, who was prime minister at the time, refused to speak to him.

Now he's
headed back to Ottawa, riding the rails laid
down by Chinese workers, to hear Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologize in
Parliament on June 22 for the head tax and the subsequent Chinese Exclusion
Act, which barred Chinese immigration to Canada from 1923 to 1947.

The news
conference was called by B.C. groups seeking redress for the tax.

Compensation
suggestions range from $20,000 to $39,000 per person affected, but Harper has
given no indication whether any kind of compensation will accompany the planned
apology.

“For
over three weeks, redress organizations across the country have asked for a
meeting with government officials,” said Mary-Woo Sims, on behalf of the
B.C. Coalition of Head Tax Payers, Spouses and Descendants.

“We
are ready, willing and able to meet with government any time to ensure that the
redress package is one which will ensure that justice is achieved for those
wronged by government discrimination, and which all Canadians can
support.”

Sims
said the groups are also still waiting to hear details of the “redress
train,” the highly symbolic train trip to Ottawa, which was arranged by the Ontario
Coalition of Head Tax Payers and Families with Via Rail.

Wong
says he will go, and thinks five or six spouses or descendants of head-tax
payers will leave Vancouver
on Friday with him.

There
are believed to be fewer than 20 surviving head-tax payers in Canada, about
260 spouses and a total of about 1,200 related families, or 4,000 people in
all.

Sid Tan,
president of the Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity
Society (ACCESS) in Vancouver, and a national director of the Chinese Canadian
National Council, said more than 82,000 Chinese paid the head tax between 1885
and 1923, effectively covering the cost of the CPR railway which many of them
built.

He
termed the request for redress “a tax refund — this is not compensation.

“We're
not a bunch of ungrateful, greedy bastards. Even if we do get our rightful
return, the money's going to be spent in Canada. We're going to be buying
fridges, hopefully a car,” said Tan.

“This
is not about the money– it's about justice and honour.
This is the dignity of a community finally finding its voice and its rightful
place in this Canadian society of ours, which I'm very proud to be a part
of.”

mbridge@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

More Chinese Head Tax Stories in Media for June 15

June 15, 2006

Chinese ride rails to accept apology

By SHARON HO, SUN MEDIA

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2006/06/15/pf-1633729.html

http://torontosun.com/News/Canada/2006/06/15/1633562-sun.html

---

Harper will apologize for head tax on Chinese

---

June
14.As the son of a Chinese head tax payer, I completely agree with MP
Olivia Chow that compensation must accompany the apology. Without
compensation there is no justice and no reconciliation. The Prime
Minister must deliver on the promised redress of the head tax.In
addition, redress must be fair, substantial and just. Whole families
were affected — husbands, wives as well as their children. The head
tax financially disadvantaged families and with the Chinese Exclusion
Act, many families were separated and even torn apart. The redress
package must recognize these hardships and financially compensate the
families in a fair and just manner.

---

Doug Hum, Toronto

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1150321811405&call_pageid=970599119419

June 15, 2006

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/2006/06/15/1633456-sun.html

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/National/2006/06/15/pf-1633324.html

http://www.940news.com/nouvelles.php?cat=23&id=61491

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=f2b0825e-6080-4036-90c3-befc7099effc&k=82520

Wednesday » June 14 » 2006

Cold water poured on redress train Karin Lee of the BC Coalition of Head Tax Payers has a copy of her mother's head tax certificate   Mike De Souza and Maurice Bridge, with files from DarahHansen, Vancouver Sun CanWest News Service and Vancouver Sun Wednesday, June 14, 2006 CREDIT: Peter Battistoni, Vancouver Sun Karin Lee of the BC Coalition of Head Tax Payers has a copy of her mother's head tax certificate. Vancouver supporters of redress for the Chinese head tax poured cold water Tuesday on the idea of a national “redress train” crossing the country to Ottawa for a long-awaited apology from the federal government. The Conservative government announced Tuesday it would apologize in Parliament June 22 for Canada's imposition of the head tax 121 years ago. The tax required thousands of Chinese immigrants to pay millions of dollars to enter Canada. It was introduced in 1885 after Chinese immigrants helped build the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was eliminated in 1923 and replaced by the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese immigration to Canada until 1947. Following the Conservative government's announcement of the apology, the Ontario Coalition of Chinese Head Tax Payers and Families announced that head tax payers, widows and their descendants would begin a train ride Friday from Vancouver to Ottawa to hear the apology in the Commons. “It's almost closing the loop,” said Susan Eng, co-chair of the Ontario coalition. “People, generations ago, who actually gave their lives to building the railroad that brought B.C. into Confederation are now going to ride those rails, all the way to Ottawa to witness the ceremony.” “It's a novel idea, but I don't think it works for the old people here [in B.C.],” said Karin Lee, a spokeswoman for the BC Coalition of Head Tax Payers, Spouses and Descendants. She said there are fewer than 20 survivors locally who paid the tax and she did not know of any who would be taking the train. “I would prefer to see them go on a first-class airplane ride. It's ridiculous to bump around for five days when you're 101 years old. “They're talking about June 22, and we're just over a week away,” she said. “How many people have enough time to gather up their life and go there and take a five-day trip?” Sid Tan, president of the Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity Society (ACCESS) in Vancouver, and a national director of the Chinese Canadian National Council, was also unimpressed by the train idea, and lack of detail about the form of the apology. “This is an issue of justice and honour, and I'm not sure the Conservative government understands that,” he said. “They just see it as a political thing.” Keith Wong, a volunteer with the Ontario coalition, said he expects about 10 people and their caregivers to make the trip from Vancouver to Ottawa. Wong agreed health and old age has played a part in discouraging many people from participating in an event he said carries “very intense symbolic meaning.” He said even some living in Toronto have declined to make the trip to Ottawa because of their age, although he believes as many as 100 are expected to attend the ceremony. He said many would fly. The apology was a Conservative election campaign promise. “We have kept our word by holding an unprecedented series of grassroots national consultations on redress,” Heritage Minister Bev Oda said Tuesday in the House of Commons. “I am pleased to announce that the prime minister will keep his word by righting this historical wrong when he makes the formal apology in this House.” Eng estimates about 300 families should each get compensation of about $20,000 for the head tax and the Exclusion Act. “It was blatant, unmitigated racism that drove the government of the day to pass the head tax and later the Exclusion Act.” She said the apology is a breakthrough, given the reluctance of the federal Liberals to offer a similar response when they were in power. “It's really an important message that the government will send that this is not just some type of throwaway gesture,” she said. “It's going to have a great deal of meaning and resonate across the country in the Chinese Canadian community, and [with] other Canadians who care about human rights and social justice issues.” The coalition has also asked the government to set aside between $5 million and $8 million on programs to promote awareness about racism. Details about the train and its departure were not available. © The Vancouver Sun 2006 http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=425552c6-330a-439a-a6ad-1c4f41a61999

Chinese Head tax apology coming June 22nd – no details yet on redress compensation package.

I was just interviewed by Sing Tao.

I stressed points that support the BC Coalition position:.

I
pointed out that Japanese Canadian redress was arrived at by meetings
and agreement with the Japanese Canadian redresss committee.  Initial
offer was rejected.

It would be terrible if the package
announced by the govt was rejected by the Coalitions of head tax
redress descendants across Canada.

Sing Tao wanted somebody to say that “head tax descendants should be informed of the package before the June 22nd announcement.

I
also pointed out that this is a Canadian issue with many of the head
tax familes becoming multi-racial.  Many of my cousins children, like
film maker Karen Cho – are all Multi-racial now.

Cheers, Todd

CCNC National <national@ccnc.ca> wrote:

Harper to apologize June 22 for Chinese head tax, compensation still unclear

By Sue Bailey Canadian Press 

 

OTTAWA
— Prime Minister Stephen Harper will apologize next week for a racist
head tax from the last century that still scars the Chinese community.

 But there’s no word on whether he’ll offer compensation during his June 22 statement in the House of Commons.

 “Cash
payments, community projects, some kind of memorial — that’s the sort
of thing that’s being considered,” said a government source who spoke
on condition of anonymity.

 “There is no clear consensus within the (Chinese) community.”

 Fewer than 20 people who paid the immigration tax are still believed to be living.

 About 81,000 Chinese immigrants paid fees ranging from $50 to $500 to enter Canada between 1885 and 1923.

 About
$23 million in head taxes were collected, placing a burden on
immigrants that often meant they could not afford to bring their loved
ones to join them.

 “Just an apology is not good enough,” said New Democrat MP Olivia Chow, who is Chinese.

 “That is not justice, that is not reconciliation. There has to be compensation.

 “Some
of the descendants were directly affected because they’re sons and
daughters who never knew their fathers. They have mothers who committed
suicide because of loneliness, because of despair . . . (after) 30
years of being separated from their husband.”

 The Chinese Canadian National Council, with chapters across the country, has urged Ottawa to:

 —
Apologize and send a letter of regret to anyone holding a head tax
certificate, including surviving spouses or descendants of those who’ve
passed on.

 —
Pay a minimum $21,000 to surviving head tax payers or their spouses,
and a minimum of $10,000 to be divided among the first generation
children of deceased payers if both they and their spouse are dead.

 “We
are serving notice to the government that redress in amounts lower than
our proposal would be very difficult for a number of redress-seeking
groups and families to accept,” said Victor Wong, executive director of
the council, in a letter to the Conservative cabinet dated Monday.

 Some
survivors have said they would prefer funding for a memorial or
community projects, said the government source. Related consultations
drew hundreds of responses.

 “We’re
not going to be held to an artificial timetable,” the government
official said when asked when a compensation deal might be reached.

 “It’s extremely important for us to arrive at a just conclusion.”

 Chinese immigration to Canada surged after 1858, especially when labour was needed for hazardous work building the Canadian Pacific Railway.

 The
federal government later tried to stem the influx with head taxes and,
later, the Chinese Exclusion Act that barred Chinese immigrants
outright. It was repealed in 1947.

–30–

 

Subject: (Redress) “Half measure not enough for reconciliation with Chinese Head tax payers and their families.”

 

From Olivia Chow’s office:

 

Subject: Press Release: Chow says “Half measure not enough for reconciliation with Chinese Head tax payers and their families.”

Chow says “Half measure not enough for reconciliation with

Chinese Head tax payers and their families.”

Ottawa
– After two promises from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, consultations
across the country involving thousands of Canadians, and a fund raising
dinner hosted by the Chinese Committee of the Conservative Party
attended by 500 people featuring Minister Bev Oda and Prime Minister's
Parliamentary Secretary Jason Kenney, today's announcement of an
official apology was met with little enthusiasm.

“Today the
Conservatives began looking a lot like Liberals. After years of broken
Liberal promises, we thought that this government would finally restore
trust and do what it promised,” said Chow. “Chinese head tax payers and
their families have been clear about the significance of compensation
to the reconciliation process.”

Early in his mandate, Prime
Minister Harper had publicly promised an official apology and redress
to the Chinese community for the Head Tax. However, during the Throne
Speech and in subsequent comments, the Conservatives have made no
mention of the issue of redress. Today in Question Period the
government again failed to offer proper redress.

“After
waiting so long for the Liberal's to act, I welcome the official
apology, but Canadians seeking proper redress may be disappointed again
with the Stephen Harper government. I am disappointed that no
commitment to redress has been made today,” said Chow. “Since 1984 New
Democrat MPs Margaret Mitchell and Dan Heap were champions of seeking
justice and reconciliation. I thank my colleagues in the NDP caucus for
their long standing support and sustained effort.”

In the last
session of Parliament, both the Liberal and Conservative parties
rejected NDP amendments to proposed legislation that called for an
apology and redress for Chinese Head Tax payers and their families.
These positions changed during the 2006 federal election.

“How
much longer will surviving families have to wait for justice and
reconciliation?” asked Chow last week in Question Period. Chow and the
NDP team will continue to pressure Stephen Harper to provide adequate
compensation at the upcoming June 22 announcement in the House of
Commons.

The Canadian government collected $23 million from Chinese immigrants to Canada between 1885 and 1923. 

-30-

For more information, please call:
Sarah Dopp, 416-543-8332

 

End

Subject: (Redress) Globe and Mail: Harper to apologize for head tax

 

Harper to apologize for head tax

TERRY WEBER

Globe and Mail Update

Ottawa will offer a formal apology next week to Chinese Canadians for the head tax.

The
Conservatives had promised during last winter's election that the
government would formally express its regret for the tax once in office.

“We
have kept our word by holding an unprecedented series of grass roots
national consultations on redress,” Heritage Minister Bev Oda said in
during question period in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

“I
want to thank all of those who participated and I am pleased to
announce that the prime minister will keep his word by righting this
historical wrong.”

She said Mr. Harper will offer a formal apology on June 22.

About 81,000 Chinese immigrants paid $23-million to enter Canada
under the head-tax scheme between 1885 and 1923. The Chinese Exclusion
Act followed, barring Chinese immigrants from altogether. That act was
repealed in 1947.

Chinese Canadians have been calling on Ottawa for years to apologize for the tax and to provide some form of redress.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060613.wheadtax0613/BNStory/National/home

 

end

Subject: (Redress) CCNC Responds To Government Announcement

 

For Immediate Release

June 13, 2006

 

CCNC Responds To Government Announcement

 

TORONTO.
Chinese Canadians today welcomed the announcement that Prime Minister
Stephen Harper will issue a formal apology in the House of Commons on
June 22^nd.

 

The
Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) urges the Government to
provide more information on the details of redress as soon as possible.

 

“We welcome the announcement by Minister Oda that the Prime Minister will formally apologize in Parliament on June 22^nd,”
Colleen Hua, CCNC National President said today. “We urge all of the
Opposition Parties to join with the Government in righting this
historic injustice.”

 

CCNC
reiterated its 4 point proposal in a letter to the federal Cabinet this
past Sunday. “We are anxious to learn about the details of redress,”
Dr. Joseph Wong, Founding President of CCNC said today. “We hope that
the Government will convene a meeting with CCNC and redress-seeking
groups as soon as possible.”

 

Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) and other redress-seeking groups across Canada
have pressed successive Federal Governments since 1984 to provide
redress for the Chinese Head Tax legislation 1885 -1923 and the Chinese
Exclusion Act 1923 – 1947.

 

-30-

 

For more information, please contact:

Colleen Hua, National President, (647) 299-1775 (Toronto)

Dr. Joseph Wong, CCNC Founding President, (416) 806-0082 (Toronto)

Victor Wong, Executive Director, (416) 977-9871 (Toronto)

 

 

End

 

 

 

For Immediate Release

June 13, 2006

 

Chinese Canadians Ride the Redress Train

 

TORONTO/VANCOUVER/EDMONTON/CALGARY/REGINA/MONTREAL/

HALIFAX/ST. JOHNS

 

Today,
the Minister of Canadian Heritage announced that Prime Minister Stephen
Harper will introduce a motion for a Parliamentary apology for the
injustice of the Head Tax and Exclusion Acts on Thursday, June 22nd,
2006.

 

This Friday, Chinese Canadian head tax payers, widows and their descendents will begin a historic train ride across Canada to mark the day the government of Canada finally apologizes for the 62 years of legislated racism they endured under the Head Tax and Exclusion Acts. Beginning in Vancouver on Friday June 16th and joining a major group in Toronto
leaving Wednesday June 21st, hundreds of families will witness the
Parliamentary session at which the resolution to acknowledge the
injustice and apologize to them will be passed.

 

The Redress Train has been made possible with the kind sponsorship of VIA Rail Canada.

 

“We
are grateful for VIA Rail’s support in this historic event both to
commemorate the role of early Chinese Canadian pioneers in the building
of this country and to carry their descendants on this journey of
justice and reconciliation at this time in our country’s history.” said
Susan Eng, Co-Chair, Ontario Coalition of Chinese Head Tax Payers and
Families.

 

Specific dates, events and details will be released at a news conference to be held:

 

Date:                Wednesday June 14, 2006

Time:                10:00 am

Place:               302 Spadina Ave Suite 507

 

 

 

For updates and a current list of events, please see www.headtaxredress.org after Wednesday June 14th.

 

– 30-

 

For more information, please contact:

 

Keith Wong       [416] 971-8022; cell [416] 835-7623        

 

Ontario Coalition of Head Tax Payers and Families

Susan Eng, Co-Chair, (416) 960-0312 (Toronto)

George Lau, Co-Chair (416) 588-1751 (Toronto)

Yew Lee, Co-Chair, (819) 827-3357 (Ottawa)

Avvy Go, Counsel, (416) 971-9674 (Toronto)