Okay friends, time for another lesson in Canadian history.
Many of you are already aware that the Chinese built the railway back in the late 1800's. What you may not know is that the Chinese were recruited from China for the main purpose of cheap labour. Many Chinese died building the CPR and the worst of it was that once it was finished (1885), the Canadian government no longer wanted the Chinese to immigrate to Canada. BC in particular was very racist against the Chinese and did not want them populating their province.
In an act to discourage Chinese immigration, the federal government imposed a $50 Head Tax (1885)on all Chinese entering the country. When this failed to decrease Chinese immigration, they raised it in 1900 to $100. Worse yet, in 1903 they raised it again to $500. Remember that in 1903 $500 was a lot of money (who are we kidding, its still a lot of money ...to a student)!
However, it seemed that the Chinese were not wanted, no matter what price they were willing to pay (and many did pay it). From 1923-1947 the Chinese Exclusion Act restricted the Chinese altogether from coming to Canada. This Act prevented many Chinese families from being reunited as the men generally went ahead to make money to bring the rest of their families to Canada. The following is a picture of a Head Tax certificate.
Since then the Chinese community has been pursuing the government for an apology and compensation. The Conservative government came through with a long overdue apology in January of 2006. However, I am torn on the issue of compensation. While I agree that the Chinese community was treated horribly, I fail to see how giving them millions of dollars will heal their wounds. Instead, I believe the money should be put towards educating today's children of our past mistakes. By making it mandatory in elementary or high school education, children would grow up with a better understanding of the horrors that racism and other forms of discrimination can cause.
Overall, I stronly feel that Canada's reputation of being a 'multicultural' country has not yet been fully earned. We still have a long way to go before I would consider us accepting of every race, ethnicity, culture, etc.
