Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

via PSAC BC Human Rights Committee
Vancouver BC - The Head Tax Families Society of Canada (HTF), successor group to the BC Coalition of Head Tax Payers, Spouses and Descendants (BC Coalition), will observe the turnaround of the Chinese head tax/exclusion redress struggle with a public forum. Invitees include Greater Vancouver Members of Parliament from the three parties represented in the House of Commons, the BC Attorney General and Minister of Multiculturalism, the three Chinese Canadians sitting on Vancouver City Council and other elected officials.

• When: 11:00am Saturday, November 25, 2006
• Where: Chinese Cultural Center - Dr. David Lam Hall, 50 East Pender Street, Vancouver

“Outside Inside” refers to last November 26 when several hundred people set up an information line in Chinatown. It attended outside a closed redress conference funded by the government at the Chinese Cultural Center and a photo opportunity for Prime Minister Paul Martin at United Chinese Community Enrichment Social Services (SUCCESS). This “on the streets” action is now considered by many in the redress movement as a seminal moment in the redress struggle.

At the time, governing Liberals were reaching an Agreement in Principle (AIP) to direct millions of dollars in a community redress fund to a pro-Beijing group created in the aftermath of Tiananmen Square in 1989. Then, the opposition Conservatives were introducing Private Member’s Bill C-333 allowing the Liberal government to direct millions of dollars to the same group, which would accept the funds on an agreed precondition of “no apology, no compensation” to head tax families.

The Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) and local Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity Society (ACCESS), who were against Bill C-333 and AIP, enlisted head tax families and supporters to make a strong and definitive statement that the Government’s and Official Opposition’s actions were a betrayal. The ad hoc BC Coalition was revived and called for political participation and peaceful assembly. Recently, the Head Tax Families Society of Canada was formed to call for good faith negotiations between the federal government and representatives of head tax families for a just and honourable redress to all head tax families.

The unilateral settlement imposed by the Government will directly address only 0.6% of affected head tax families. Approximately 600 surviving head tax payers and spouses will receive $20,000 in ex gratia payments. Over 82,000 Chinese families paid the unjust tax between 1885 and 1923 in Canada and 1906 to 1949 in Newfoundland before joining Confederation.