Ocean View Cemetery is a very popular cemetery with the Chinese in Greater Vancouver. On the southwest corner of the cemetery, which Ocean View has assigned the name Fern, is a fair number of Chinese who died in the 1950s and from the looks of things most died without family. Vast majority of these graves had shown no visitors during the traditional Spring and Autumn visitations nor the traditional western holidays. Another indication of them died family-less is the fact that the year of birth is missing on a rather large number of these tombstones.

Thee are more than 350 photos in this collection. I have broken it up into multiple slideshows and presented over three pages because one slideshow takes too long to load.

View Photo Album

View Photo Album

Ocean View Cemetery is a very popular cemetery with the Chinese in Greater Vancouver. On the southwest corner of the cemetery, which Ocean View has assigned the name Fern, is a fair number of Chinese who died in the 1950s and from the looks of things most died without family. Vast majority of these graves had shown no visitors during the traditional Spring and Autumn visitations nor the traditional western holidays. Another indication of them died family-less is the fact that the year of birth is missing on a rather large number of these tombstones.

Thee are more than 350 photos in this collection. I have broken it up into multiple slideshows and presented over three pages because one slideshow takes too long to load.

View Photo Album

View Photo Album

Ocean View Cemetery is a very popular cemetery with the Chinese in Greater Vancouver. On the southwest corner of the cemetery, which Ocean View has assigned the name Fern, is a fair number of Chinese who died in the 1950s and from the looks of things most died without family. Vast majority of these graves had shown no visitors during the traditional Spring and Autumn visitations nor the traditional western holidays. Another indication of them died family-less is the fact that the year of birth is missing on a rather large number of these tombstones.

Thee are more than 350 photos in this collection. I have broken it up into multiple slideshows and presented over 3 pages because one slideshow takes too long to load.

View Photo Album

View Photo Album

My father had three older brothers (Lee Kam Man, Lee Kam Chun, Lee Kam Hing) and at least two older sisters. My father returned to China in 1922 and eventually settled in Hong Kong.

My grandparents once lived on a back street near the Quan Yin Temple in Penang. If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of my uncles and aunts or any members of the Lee family, please contact Simon Lee through this website. Thanks in advance.

Simon W Lee

家祖李公宜煦祖貫廣東省台山縣 (昔之新寧) 東坑塔腳鄉。於十九世紀未期，以十七之齡，年未弱冠，遠涉重洋，僑居於馬來西亞之檳城、從事木匠之業。育有四男：錦文、錦全、錦興、錦茂 (即先父。字炳華、號偉茂) 、二女、名字不詳。

先君於一九二二年 (時十六歲) 獨自返回祖國，後定居於香港。時逢亂世，日寇侵掠，魚雁不通，音訊斷絕。今欲聯絡各伯姑兄弟，以圖聚首，惟時移世換，不知其所，而資料稀少，只知家祖於先父年幼時搬遷到新埠觀音廟後街。

本人於二零零一年旅遊檳城時、會唔觀音廟後街之長久居民李亞娥女士、相信家祖曾於三品巷三十三號居住。各位賢君如有上列各人或其子孫之消息請與此網站聯絡，萬分感謝。

李煥祥謹啟

In 1871 BC agreed to enter Confederation as a province of Canada, on the condition that a transcontinental railway be built to link it to the rest of the country. The construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway brought the second wave of Chinese immigrants. The 1885 Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration reported that 15,701 Chinese entered Canada between 1881 and 1884. In 1882 alone, eight thousand arrived in Victoria.

However, the long journey extracted a heavy toll. The travelers faced with numerous hazards such as storms, pirates, insanitary conditions, starvation and scurvy. It was estimated that nearly ten percent died of scurvy. In December 1859, the Lady Inglis was lost on her voyage from China to Canada. The Lawson arrived at Victoria in June 1860 with 68 passengers, although its list showed 280; the missing passengers couldn’t be accounted for. The captain was later charged with having no clearance paper and no medicine chest on board.

The majority of the immigrants came from the two southern coastal provinces of Guangdong (廣柬省), particularly the four adjacent counties of Xinhui (新會), Taisan (台山), Kaiping (開平) and Enping (恩平)- collectively known as Siyi (四邑), and Fujian (福建省). The similar dialect spoken by these Siyi people are commonly referred to as Taishanese (台山話). It became the defacto Chinese language in North America up to and until the early 1970’s Then Hong Kong became the primary source of Chinese immigrants and Cantonese (廣東話) is now the most commonly spoken dialect in the communities. However, majority of Chinese immigrants now come directly from China. This shift will not only impact the spoken language but also the written form as Simplified Chinese, standard in Mainland China, replaces the current popular Traditional Chinese.

Here is a listing of the Chinese in British Columbia 1884 – 1885 by surname and county of origin as compiled by the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association.

By 1886, Chinese begun to settle at the corner of Carrall and Pender (was Dupont at the time). The main business was laundries. Slowly the settlement spread eastward along Pender. However, all was destroyed during the disastrous Vancouver fire of June 13, 1886.

Because of the depression at the time, the local unemployed white workers, through the Knights of Labour, expressed strong feelings against Chinese labour. The Knights of Labour were adamant that Vancouver should excluded all Chinese. In early 1887, Anti-Chinese Leagues were formed and meetings held throughout British Columbia. On February 24, 1887, an Anti-Chinese meeting was held in Vancouver because it was rumoured that at least a hundred Chinese had landed in Vancouver. This eventually led to the February 24 Chinatown Riot.

The Vancouver Anti-Chinese League held a meeting on February 24, 1887 when twenty-four Chinese arrived from Victoria to clear the Brighouse Estate. After the meeting was formally adjourned, someone called for “Those in favour of running out the Chinese tonight.” The crowd responded with a roar and they, estimated at three to four hundred strong, marched through the snow to the Chinese camp at the western end of the Coal Harbour Bridge. The Chinese were roughly herded outside and the camp destroyed. To escape the kicking and manhandling, some of the Chinese jumped into the icy water and the rest were chased onto the CPR right-of-way without shelter. Not satisfied, part of the mob returned to Vancouver and set fire to some of the Chinese buildings on Carrall Street. The mob returned to Chinatown the next day and forced the Chinese to leave for New Westminster.

The Chinese didn’t return to Vancouver until the Attorney General in Victoria introduced An Act for the Preservation of Peace within the Municipal Limits of the City of Vancouver and brought 36 constables from Victoria to Vancouver. By 1887 present day Vancouver Chinatown began to take shape along Dupont (present day Pender) from Carrall to Main (was Westminster Avenue at the time) with thirty-two businesses. For the next eighty years the Vancouver Chinese community remained in this area which expanded later to Gore St. on the east and Keefer on the south.

]]> http://legacy1.net/chinatown-riot-of-1887/feed/ 0 http://legacy1.net/wing-shui-xie/ http://legacy1.net/wing-shui-xie/#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:02:06 +0000 Woodson http://legacy1.net/?p=116

We don’t have a lot of information on him but from data on hand and knowledge of Chinese customs we can make certain deductions. Firstly, it is safe to say that Xie Wingshui was born in 1883 or there about. His second daughter and fourth child, Der She Chow, was born in 1911. Males at that time were generally married between the age of 16 and 20. If we take the medium age and assume he was married at 18. There seems to be a pattern of a child every other year. Then in 1911 he would have been 28 which means he was born in 1883.

From here we can establish the approximate year of his arrival in Canada. If they were to go overseas and work another common practice for them to leave at the age of 14 or slightly older. This means Xie Wingshui arrived in Canada around 1897 and paid the prevailing $50 head tax.

From what we know, he stayed in the BC Lower Mainland area and worked in the vegetable farms. Since this was seasonal work thus he would returned to China during the off-seasons to save on the living expenses. He may not had made the trip every year but at least every other year.

During WWI he again returned to China. He stayed as long as permitted by his Canadian traveling paper. Made his way to Hong Kong to catch the steamship for the journey to Canada. However, the better ships were requested by the government for the war effort. After seeing the rust bucket masqueraded as passenger ship and recalled the soothsayer’s warning, he decided to postpone his return journey to Canada. Earlier a fortune teller had warned he would die away from home. In seeing the ship’s condition, he decided not to tempt fate.

Safety was a compelling reason for him to wait but there are cultural reasons also. To the Chinese, especially those of the older generations, the concept of “fallen leaves return to the root (落葉歸根)” is of utmost important. This is based upon the true home-grown Chinese religion, ancestor worship. In ancient time not worship one’s ancestors was cause enough for the a leader’s removal. Chinese history is littered with references of appointing a male heir to ensure the offerings were made at the appropriate times. It became the unspoken obligations to make offerings to one’s ancestors om all important occasions and to visit the grave sites at least twice a year, Spring and Autumn, for offerings and maintenance. Because of poor transportation and the associated high cost people die while traveling most likely wouldn’t be buried in the family or clan’s ancestral burial ground and have their graves tended to.

Unfortunately, during the War most ships were requisitioned by the government and commercial ships were few and far in between. Consequently Xie Wingshui missed the return deadline on his travelling Canadian paper. He started to sell seedings at Taishan City (台城) which is in another county but not far from his village. All was well until 1939 when the Japanese invasion finally reached the area. One of the Japanese tactics was to bomb local cities and towns. He was caught in one of these daytime raids and killed. Thus in a way he met fate on the road he took to avoid it.

Kevin,

Thank you for set up the website and let me know the chow family tree. I have a problem, I don’t know can you help me?

My grandfather have gone to Canada to work around 1915 and was dead around 1958-1959. I have never seen my grandfather’s look because I was born after he dead. My father told me my grandfather went to Canada to work because he wanted to provide a best living to their families. But I am unhappy that even my grandfather dead, no one know where is he buried. About 10 years before, one of my father’s relative who told my father that my grandfather was passed away in St. Joseph Hospital and buried in Fraser Lawn. I don’t know whether it is true or false. I have tried to go to Vancouver to check but the government told me that they have no record.

So Kevin, Can you help me to check although I know it is very difficult and not easy to find, as a granddaughter, I don’t want my grandfather used his half life in Canada due to give a best living to his family and now he dead, no one know where he buried.

I can only provide very little information to you, the informations are as follows :

• My grandfather’s name and address in China.
• 周炳恩 (CHOW BING YAN) 廣東省開平縣茅崗忠心里
• Name and address in Canada
  • 周瑞沾 (CHOW YEN) BLUBBER BAY B.C. CANADA
  • He had a relative called 周家潤, his mailing address was BOSTON CAFE, 199, BRUNSWICK STREET, HALIFAX NO. 8 CANADA.

I know only this information, it is very difficult to find. Anyway I hope you can help me.

I am looking forward to your reply. Thank you.

Best Regards

Renita Chau

This email of March 2, 2003 set me down a road I’ve never travelled before. It looked so straight forward because everything seemed to be in order:

1. there is a name with the properly spelling
2. the approximate years of death
3. there is a Mount St. Joseph Hospital which is known locally as the Chinese hospital
4. the cemetery (Fraser Lawn) is a bit tricky as there are three local possible cemeteries
   1. Fraser Cemetery in New Westminister
   2. Forest Lawn Cemetery in Burnaby (the lawn part of the name given by Renita)
   3. Mountain View Cemetery on Fraser Street, Vancouver

Of course, life is never this simple and easy. After exhausting all obvious and potential leads I finally turned to my friend, Al Chinn, for advice. He suggested a search of the online databases. A search on Google for “cemeteries in BC” eventually led me to the BC Vital Statistics web site. Searching for “Yen Chow” and “Bing Yan Chow” returned no hit but a search for “Chow” returned three hits. One of them was Ben Yen Chow, September 9, 1957.

One of my contacts during the search was Mr. Bak Lip Chow from the Vancouver Chow Association. He said Ocean View Cemetery was a popular burial site with the Chinese despite the fact it is located in Burnaby. Armed with this information I contacted Ocean View Cementery and inquired about Ben Yen Chow. They checked their records and confirmed Mr. Ben Yen Chow, indeed, is buried there.

Since then Mr. Ben Yen Chow’s descendants had traveled from Toronto to pay their respects. I was able to meet and accompany them during their most recent visit. They not only bought flowers to honour their father, grandfather and great grandfather but also placed incense sticks on all surrounding graves. For many of these tombs, if not all, this was the first time in a long time that somebody pays such respect. I found this to be very heartening gesture.

After visiting the gravel site and seeing over a hundred single plot burials there I can’t helped but wonder how of them are waiting to be discovered by their descendants? Since it is estimated that 82,000 had paid the head tax, is 25% or20,500 a good guess? Or is 41,000 closer to the truth? May be higher still? And how many people are in a situation similar to Renita Chau and her family searching for the gravels or their ancestors?

What sets Canada’s action apart from the others is the head tax was imposed soon after the completion of the TransCanada railway. During the latter phrase of this project thousands upon thousands of Chinese workers were brought in not only as a cost saving measure but also they were the only people who would worked in areas so dangerous that others had refused. Because the Chinese workers were paid substantially lower than the Caucasian workers the Canadian government’s saving was estimated to be nearly $3 million dollars.

These Chinese workers were assigned to work along the treacherous Fraser Canyon. Names such as Hell’s Gate, Jaws of Death Arch, and Indictment Hole give an indication of the terrain. Some say for every foot of railway a Chinese died. Another reason for the high casualty is due to the fact the Chinese were more often than not given the backbreaking and hazardous jobs of tunneling and handling of explosives.

How important was the railway to Canada? One of British Columbia’s conditions in joining the Dominion of Canada was a railway linking it to the rest of the country over the Rockie Mountains. Without the Chinese workers we could say with certainty there wouldn’t be any railway. This was acknowledged by Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister. Without the railway, British Columbia wouldn’t had joined the confederation of Canada. So Canada as we know today wouldn’t even exist. However, during the Last Spike, a ceremony to commemorate the completion of the railway linking Canada from coast to coast, not one Chinese was present.

What consequences did these measures had on the Chinese aside from barring their entry? How did it affected the families, the wives and children? Did it affected the grandchildren?

In Australia, more than a few Caucasians were surprised (shocked?) to discover their Chinese roots. Relations were suppressed such that grandchildren didn’t know their grandparents despite the almost daily encounters. The term living windows and paper sons is a byproduct of the American Chinese Exclusion Act and its loophole. This was not, however, confined to those immigrated to the USA. It was more or less similar for those immigrated to Canada. Repealing the Chinese Immigration Act in 1947 created many paper sons Canadian style.

The head tax prevented all but a few wealthy Chinese from having their families joined them in Canada. As a matter of fact it took them years of hard work and saving just to repay their own head tax loans. It was only after the head tax loan was repaid then they can saved for the return trip. Then it is no surprise the immigrants were generally married at a later age than their stay-at-home counterparts. The Chinese Exclusion Act together with the Great Depression and the Japanese invasion and occupation of China meant many husbands and wives never meet again after their wedding. It was not uncommon for them to be separated for twenty or thirty years before they see each other again. For the more fortunate ones this interval was shorten to between five and ten years. All these meant many started their family only when they were in their forties or the age differences between siblings are such that they represented different generations. In most cases these children were deprived of knowing their grandparents and many of these parents didn’t lived to see their children entered adulthood. We have at least two generations who weren’t able to connect with their culture, heritage and past beyond their parents. We have at least two generations who did not know their grandparents.

Contrast this with the much heralded Canadian Homestead Program where immigrants predominately from Eastern Europe to settle in the Canadian prairie. The government gave them free acrages of land in one of the world’s bread baskets and generous assistance in establishing a new life in Canada. Click here for more detail. Yes, it is hard to believe we are speaking of the same country and in similar time frame.

As of today New Zealand is the only country whose government had openly apologized for imposing the head tax or the poll tax as it is called there. Many Canadians are seeking redress from the Canadian government. Compensation is a sticky issue within the Chinese community itself. Not just in Canada but on an international scale as the writings of Dr. Henry Chan and Kenda Gee give us examples of this great divide.

The Canadian government on November 16, 2005 announced a settlement of the Headtax issue with the National Congress of Chinese Canadians. Reactions from the Chinese community are far from favourable. Here is an article by Brad Lee of Toronto. David Wong of Vancouver wrote in his website:

” Ottawa’s token $12.5 million belongs to the Lo Wah Kiu (pioneer Chinese Canadian) community. It is not to be “shared” with other organizations for whatever altruistic reasons of “diversity, harmony or any of that other ‘noble’ stuff”. This sort of happy funding is already in place by the Feds, and is being well tapped into by those who pander to Ottawa.

Our Headtax money is for the memory of our Lo Wah Kiu’s, and is to be used for Chinese Canadian books, songs, poems, commemorations, films, movies, scholarships, parades, and aerial fly-throughs. Well okay, realistically… maybe $12.5m will pay for a couple of books and GST.”

On June 22, 2006, on behalf of the Government of Canada, the Prime Minister apologized in the House of Commons for the implementation of the Chinese Head Tax. As part of the apology and redress the government opted to compensate the surviving Head Tax payers and surviving spouse of Head Tax payers only.

The conditions set by the government limited this ex-gratia payment to approximately 500 head tax families with a surviving head taxpayer or a spouse of deceased head taxpayer. This represents only about one half of one percent of all affected Head Tax families.

Not surprising many descendants of Canadian Head Tax payers continue to seek a full redress from the Canadian government.

Thank you for inviting me to discuss the Head Tax issue with all of you today. Even though I have not, up until this point, taken part in any of these discussions, I have been reading, listening, watching, as well as participating in discussions at the federal level with M.P.s, and at meetings held by the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism. Please keep in mind that I most likely don’t have all the facts, and would be more than happy to be corrected and to listen to everyone’s opinion.

I will discuss the issue from a national perspective, based on historical and recent events.

Before I begin, I would like to thank Prof. David Lai for providing me with the proceedings of the National Conference held in March, 1991, in Winnipeg, as well as the results of the survey on this issue done by Victoria University and Simon Fraser University in 1996.

First, I would like to put the issue in its historical context. There has never been any doubt that Canada was a racist country, like all other Western countries at the time. Many of you are aware that our immigration policy remains discriminatory despite the fact that the racial and cultural qualifications were removed in 1967.

Everyone here today is aware of why the Head Tax was imposed. The main reason was that the B.C. politicians were concerned by the rapid growth of the Chinese population in comparison to the rest of the population in the province, and they were also afraid of losing the support of the working class who feared competition from Chinese labour. The Head Tax was meant to discourage Chinese migration to Canada after the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, when Chinese labour was no longer needed. The reason the amount was set at $50 in 1885 was based on information gathered by the Royal Commission of 1884. The amount was just above the maximum amount a Chinese labourer was able to save per year after his living expenses were paid, which were estimated to be $48.

However, we know that the Head Tax did not discourage Chinese immigration, and so the amount was increased to $100 in 1900, and to $500 in 1903. It is interesting to note that between 1885 and 1903, 39,925 Chinese paid the Head Tax to immigrate to Canada. From January 1904, after the tax was increased to $500, until the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923, 42,444 Chinese paid the Head Tax to come to Canada (between 1886 to 1924, a total of 82,369 paid the Head Tax to enter Canada. The Chinese Exclusion Act in the U.S. was passed in 1882). What these figures tell us is that the Chinese clearly wanted to come to Canada, and that no amount of Head Tax would discourage them.

Most of you would know that the reasons for migration were economic. This was mainly due to a huge increase in the population in Guangdong province without enough land to feed the population. There were also wars and rebellions that caused a great deal of suffering. At the same time, because of the abolition of the slave trade (Britain 1833), labour was needed by Western countries in their colonies. Going overseas meant survival, and despite discrimination, it was still the preferred option for the poor peasants in China. That is why we have the term “Gold Mountain.” Going overseas became a tradition and chain migration started. And, because of the great impetus for the Chinese to immigrate to the New World, countries such as the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand imposed a Head Tax to try to discourage their entry.

In reading the transcripts of the Winnipeg Conference of 1991, the point was made that there was a treaty signed in 1904 (Treaty Series #7) between the United Kingdom and China on the Employment of Chinese Labour in British Colonies and Protectorates, meaning that the Chinese should have had the right to immigrate to Canada which was a British Colony. Technically, yes. However, Canada became a country in 1867, and had its own immigration policy, and besides, most Chinese who immigrated after the completion of the CPR came as family members in the form of chain migration. So, in effect, this treaty did not apply. If I’m wrong, please correct me.

From everything I’ve read so far, no one has mentioned anything about Chinese tradition and culture, which are very important points. A lot has been said about the Canadian government separating families, but if you look at the pattern of Chinese immigration overseas until after the Second World War, the immigrants were mostly adult males. The women were left behind in China, not by their own choice, but because of Chinese tradition. Even after the Second World War, if it had not been for the civil war in China, many of the women and children would still have been left behind. Villages in many parts of south China consisted mainly of women and children because as soon as the boys were old enough they would be sent abroad, despite having to pay the Head Tax. These families were known as the “overseas families.” But that’s another story which I’m not going to expand on at this time.

There is absolutely no question that the Head Tax was unfair, and that the Chinese were discriminated against by the Canadian government, since we were the only group singled out by racial origin to have legislation passed against the entry of many of our ancestors. However, we must realize that other groups, such as the South Asians also had legislation passed against their entry by the “Continuous Journey” amendment in the Immigration Act (1910), which just about excluded them from coming to Canada, even though they were not mentioned specifically by name in the legislation.

Canadian politicians wanted Canada to remain a white country, and as British as possible. That was why Eastern and Southern Europeans were not welcome until after the Second World War, and only then, partly because of the war against Fascism, but mainly because of the booming Canadian economy and the need for labour. So, aside from race, anyone with a different religion or customs, such as the Hutterites and the Doukhobors, was considered unable to assimilate. You can say that Canada had a discriminatory history similar to other immigrant receiving countries such as the United States and Australia.

In order to prevent those of non-British origins from entering, Canadian politicians did all they could to bar their entry. One of the ways was through negotiations with foreign governments. The Canadian government did attempt to abolish the Head Tax in exchange for self-regulation by the Chinese government on the emigration of its citizens, similar to the Hayashi – Lamieux agreement with Japan. I know the following information has been presented by Prof. David Lai in the past, but because it is so important, I am going to repeat it for those who are not aware of it. In 1908, Mackenzie King went to Beijing to discuss the issue with Liang Tun-yen, the acting president of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, the officials at Foreign Affairs suggested that King return to Canada, and bring forward any matter for discussion with the Chinese Consul-General who was being appointed, and in turn, he would refer the Canadian position to the Chinese Foreign Ministry for instruction. So, the opportunity for an agreement was missed because of the evasive and indecisive attitude of the Manchu government. In June, 1914, the Chinese Consul General in Ottawa suggested that the Chinese government was willing to restrict the number of emigrants to 1,000 per year, but the Canadian government felt that the number was too large, and no agreement was reached. So, I do put the blame partially on the Chinese government at the time.

Now, I will go over the chronology of the Head Tax redress campaign. For those of you who are very familiar with it, I hope you will bear with me for the sake of others who may need this information.

In 1984, an elderly Chinese-Canadian went to the office of MP Margaret Mitchell (NDP) of Victoria and asked if he could expect to be compensated for the Head Tax he paid. That was, to my knowledge, the beginning of the Head Tax redress issue.

We all know about the success of the redress movement of the Japanese-Canadians in 1988. Like everything else in Canada, events seem to follow those in the U.S. In 1980, the U.S. Congress conducted hearings into the internment of Japanese Americans. A year before the Canadian agreement by the Mulroney government, the U.S. government offered an acknowledgement and individual compensation package to the Japanese American internees.

In 1988, Prime Minister Mulroney formally acknowledged the wrongs done to the Japanese Canadians, and authorized the provision of C$21,000.00 to each of the individual survivors of wartime detention. The language used in the official document was “acknowledge” the treatment of the Japanese Canadians, and the government “pledge” to ensure it won’t happen again, as well as to “recognize” the commitment and loyalty of the Japanese Canadians to Canada. Please note that nowhere was the word “apologize” ever used. This is important because the Chinese communities all want an apology, even if they cannot agree on anything else. Please remember that the federal government will be very reluctant to use the word “apology”, because legally speaking, it means liability, and the government can be sued for monetary compensation. And because there are so many groups out there asking for redress, the government feels that there would be no end to it.

The Japanese redress movement was successful and a comparison has often been drawn to that of the Chinese Head Tax redress. I want to point out that there are at least two major differences:

1. the Chinese who paid the Head Tax to come to Canada were Chinese nationals and not Canadians. The Head Tax was to prevent the Chinese from entering the country. The Japanese who were interned were Canadians or residents of Canada;
2. Unlike the Japanese Canadians, the Chinese were not interned, and to my knowledge, they never had their belongings and properties confiscated and sold.

So, comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges.

In a speech given to the National Congress of Italian Canadians and the Canadian Italian Business Professional Association on November 4, 1990, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney mentioned that he would apologize to the Italian Canadian community for the internment of 700 Italian Canadians during the Second World War in a speech to the House of Commons during that session of Parliament. This event was seen as a boost to the Chinese redress campaign. However, by the end of the parliamentary session, he still had not apologized. And to my knowledge, no apology was ever made.

On May 22, 1992, the British Columbia government approved a motion calling on the federal government to provide reasonable redress for the injustice of the Chinese Head Tax. This is a complete reversal of the earlier B.C. policy of urging the Dominion government (as it was known at the time) to stop Chinese immigration. After the Head Tax was instituted, the B.C. government was given part of the proceeds, which became very profitable for the province. Between 1885 and 1903, a quarter of the Head Tax, certificate fees and penalties went to the B.C. government. From 1903, half was paid to the B.C. government. So, the question is, is the B.C. government willing to compensate the Head Tax payers? I am not aware of any decision on their part.

I should like to mention that, at this time, some of the other groups who are seeking redress are:

1. the Italian Canadians (internment, WWII)
2. the Ukrainian Canadians (WWI internment – almost 9,000; Bill C-331 Inky Mark – public commemoration and restitution to be devoted to education and promotion of tolerance),
3. the German Canadians (internment during both World Wars)
4. the Canadian Jewish Congress (turned away the St.Louis – 900 Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany),
5. the Doukohbors (for 6 years, the B.C. government kidnapped their children and confined them in the New Denver Institution),
6. the National Association of Canadians of Origins in India (Continuous Journey; Komagata Maru) and
7. the African Canadian communities (slavery legal until 1833; Africville and the Black Loyalists – the African Canadian Coalition Against Racism formed in 2001 is a coalition of a number of black Canadian organizations).

Redress petitions were sent to then Secretary of State for Multiculturalism, Sheila Finestone, (by the Chinese Canadian National Congress, the National Congress of Chinese Canadians, the German Canadian Congress, the Canadian Jewish Congress, the National Association of Canadians of Origins in India, the National Congress of Italian Canadians, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, and the Canadian Ukrainian Civil Liberties Association), and on December 14, 1994, Minister Finestone made the following statement, “we wish we could rewrite history. We wish we could relive the past. We cannot…We believe our only choice lies in using limited government resources to create a more equitable society now and a better future for generations to come. Therefore, the government will not grant financial compensation for the requests made.”

I got to know Sheila Finestone when she was appointed to the Senate about three years ago. One day, I asked her why she made that announcement in 1994, and she said the Cabinet refused to pay compensation, and her hands were tied.

In 1995, the Canadian Race Relations Foundation was established with a grant of $24 million, as a fulfillment of the commitment under the Japanese redress in 1988, as well as the commitment of the government in 1994. Going through their website, I can see that many groups have had grants for initiatives and specific projects against racism, but up to this year, the Chinese Canadians have not received any significant funding from the Foundation for any educational projects on the Head Tax or the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923. I thought the Foundation is exactly what many in the community have been asking for. It is available, and we should make use of it.

Interestingly enough, also in 1995, a head tax of $975.00 per person was imposed on all immigrants by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, on top of $500.00 per adult and $100.00 per child as a processing fee. These amounts have been raised to $550 and $150 respectively. There are other fees as well for different kinds of sponsorships. Many people have complained and charged that the government is being unfair to immigrants. Have you ever wondered what the descendants of these immigrants may do in the future?

In 2001, the Chinese Canadian National Council launched a class action suit against the federal government “Mack vs. Canada”, acting for the survivors and relatives of those who paid the Head Tax to enter. The claim was for financial compensation, with compound interest, of the tax paid, as well as for general damages for pain and suffering. This failed, and the CCNC appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada on November 15, 2002, which was rejected, and a complaint is now underway with the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

On February 12, 2002, Prime Minister Helen Clark of the New Zealand government issued a formal apology to the Chinese New Zealanders, and announced the beginning of a process of reconciliation with the ethnic Chinese who had to pay poll tax until 1944. Funds and resources will be provided for the purpose of restoring and maintaining the Chinese heritage, culture and language. I think it is important to learn from the Chinese New Zealanders.

On December 10, 2002, Inky Mark introduced Bill C-333, which basically asks for:

1. an apology;
2. restitution to be devoted to educational materials on Chinese Canadian history, and the promotion of racial harmony.

The latest that I know of is that this May, the CCNC launched a New Redress Website and Canadians for Redress Campaign. It has won the support of, among others, the NDP leader, Jack Layton, June Callwood, Mathew Coon Come of the Assembly of First Nations, the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, the Metro Toronto Chinese as well as the Southeast Asian Legal Clinics.

Before we discuss the way forward, we should look at what the Chinese Canadian communities really want. From the survey that I have, there are many different points of view from the Head Tax payers and their descendants, from wanting personal compensation, to an apology, to education, to nothing at all. As long as there is such extensive division in the Chinese communities, the federal government will not deal with us seriously.

I now propose the following questions for discussion:

1. Do Chinese nationals have the right to compensation when another government tried to prevent them from entering the country?
2. Did the Chinese culture and tradition of keeping the women and children in China, while the men went abroad to work, not play a role in separating families as well?
3. If conditions had been better in China, would we be here discussing the Head Tax?
4. Are we responsible for the sins of past generations? As tax payers, are we responsible for what the politicians did generations ago? Should we set a precedence that future generations should pay for our sins?
5. What happened to the Chinese in the past was against human rights, but the concept of human rights was not even part of our vocabulary until after the Second World War. The claim by the different groups for redress is based on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms passed in 1982. Is it possible to claim retroactive rights?
6. In order that past mistakes are not repeated, future generations must know the truth about Canadian history. Would education not be the key to solving the problem. Since education is a provincial responsibility, is it not up to all of us to make sure that accurate history is taught in our schools and in our homes?
7. Is the new Human Rights Museum (Winnipeg) an effective venue for educating Canadians about past wrongs?
8. Should there be a Chinese Canadian National Museum like the one the Japanese Canadians have in Burnaby, B.C., or the Abbotsford Sikh Museum, also in B.C.? And if so, where do you think it should be located?

For all of you who really want to learn about the insider story of the Japanese Canadian redress, you should read Bitter Sweet Passage by Maryka Omatsu, who is a judge in Ontario, and who was intimately involved with the negotiations. I agree with her that, if it had not been for the settlement in the U.S., and the economic clout of Japan, it would not have happened in Canada.

No matter what any government says, history can repeat itself, so we must always be vigilant. Ultimately, I think political power is the only way to ensure that past wrongs will not be repeated. So, to all the members of the younger generation here, please keep that in mind, and play an active role in Canada’s future government.

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We thank Elizabeth E. Bullard-Watson, County Coordinator, Plumas County GenWeb, for taking these photos and so kind to let us use it here. What follows is part of an email she wrote which gives some historic background to these markers.

The headstones are located at the Quincy Chinese Cemetery in Quincy, CA. I have no idea how old the stones are. As you can see, the writing on the bricks is maintained and kept clear by someone. I have no idea who. The cemetery itself is very small. There are just these 10 brick headstones, and 2 formal headstones. The formal headstones are for Gee Ching (1884-1963) and Bette Anne Wong Gumbiner (1949-2001).

Chinese people made up a significant segment of Plumas County’s population from the early 1850’s to 1900, and particularly during the 1880’s. Many were laborers; others were miners. Local folklore tells us that many deceased Chinese men and women were shipped back to their homeland for formal burial. And, this may explain the lack of formal cemeteries for them in the Plumas County area. Others were buried in unmarked graves, or their graves were marked with wooden markers – now long-deteriorated. Other than the small Chinese cemetery at Quincy, there is unfortunately little evidence in modern times of their mass population here. Though, the Plumas County Museum, in Quincy, does have some artifacts in its holdings.