What were the motives of the Chinese Head Tax in Canada, and to what extent were the impacts felt?
In order to better understand why the Chinese head tax is a part of Canada’s history and how it affected the Chinese immigrant population of Canada, I first had to look into what the tax was specifically.
What was the Chinese Head Tax in Canada?
The Chinese Immigration Act was the first ethnicity based anti-immigrant legislation in Canada. The Chinese head tax was put in place in 1885 under the act and only removed in 1923 when it was replaced by a total ban on Chinese immigration to Canada that lasted for 24 years. The price was per person with the exception of diplomats, government representatives, tourists, merchants, scientists and students, although some of these parties became no longer exempt as the Chinese Immigration Act was amended. Each person was originally required to pay $50, then the price was raised to $100, then $500. Chinese immigrants with leprosy, infectious diseases, or who were sex workers were banned completely from entering Canada, and there were additional restrictions on the number of Chinese immigrants allowed on each boat based on the ships’ weight.
Now that I understood what the head tax looked like, I was able to begin investigating why the tax and immigration act were established in the first place, especially seeing as they were so dramatically different from the policies applied to any other ethnicity in Canada at the time.
Chinese Immigration Certificate
What were the motives for establishing the tax?
The head tax was instituted following an influx of over 15,000 chinese immigrants coming to Canada in the 4 years leading up to the ban as a result of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Many Chinese people also immigrated to Canada for logging, farming, and merchant work opportunities. Many of these people found themselves in undesirable, dangerous, and low-paying positions that were not wanted by other Canadian residents. When Chinese labour was no longer essential to the completion of the railway, the Canadian government attempted to discourage further Chinese immigration by placing a financial burden on potential immigrants. The costs of the tax rose as the Chinese immigration rates did not see a sufficient decline, resulting in the final fee of $500 being equal to 2 years’ salary or the cost of 2 homes. There was no other ethnic group required to pay such a tax.
After investigating the cause of the tax, it was time to explore the consequences. What did the tax mean to Chinese Canadian communities? Was the Canadian government successful in its mission to halt the dramatic Chinese population increase in Canada?
To what extent were the impacts of the tax felt in the Chinese Canadian community?
One of the major implications of the tax was the most extreme gender imbalance that Canada experienced within an ethnic group until the end of World War 2, with men outnumbering women 28-1. Many of these men had arrived in Canada with the intent of saving enough money to bring their spouses and children into Canada, through the ban on Chinese immigration in 1923 left many families separated and many immigrants alone. Even after the ban was lifted, very few Chinese immigrants were allowed into Canada before 1967. Through the many amendments to the Chinese Immigration act that lifted and placed restrictions on various parties, 82,000 Chinese immigrants paid the tax over the 38 years in which it was established. Nearly $23 million was brought in to the National Government from the tax. Between 1881 and 1921 the Chinese population in Canada increased from 4,383 to 39,587 despite the tax policy. Under the act, Chinese immigration certificates were issued to each individual coming to Canada, and were required for re-entry to the country after temporary travel. The act also established a system of 19 columns worth of information that were documented for each Chinese immigrant between 1885 and 1949 in handwritten books, the most information required of any immigrant group arriving in Canada.
Record of Chinese Immigrants along with 19 columns of personal information
Along with the tax, many other restrictions were applied to the Chinese community to segregate them from the white population. These included separations in many public facilities such as swimming pools and movie theatres. Chinese immigrants were especially vulnerable to deportation as systemic racism ran through the government system, leaving immigration officials looking for reasons to send Chinese Canadians back to China. White Canadian citizens were oppressive and discriminatory to Chinese immigrants, behaviour which established psychological stress on Chinese Canadians for generations and which has never been completely eradicated.
With this knowledge, I began to seek out information regarding what kind of closure was received by those affected by the tax. I expected to find political statements of regret and widespread financial redress, seeing as this is a topic I haven’t really heard about previously. There must have been some kind of progress if the implications of the head tax are no longer a large part of the Canadian national discussion, right?
What action was taken in an attempt to help heal the wounds caused by the Chinese Immigration act?
In 1983, Dak Leon Mark and Shack Lee placed a request for a refund of their $500 head tax payments from their MP, which was denied, cultivating a national push for retribution. Demands for compensation included requests for financial repayment, an official apology, political acknowledgement of the discriminatory nature of the act, and educational foundation funds. Lawsuits, protests, and national campaigns faced the government through 2006, when an official apology was presented by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the house of commons.
Stephen Harper pledged “symbolic payments to living head tax payers and living spouses of deceased payers.” and “funds to help finance community projects aimed at acknowledging the impact of past wartime measures and immigration restrictions on the Chinese Canadian community and other ethnocultural communities.”
Even so, only 785 head tax payers, spouses, and descendants received payments in 2009. Head tax compensation continues to be fought for in Canada, even 95 years after the tax was abolished. Many generations of head tax payer’s children have grown up in Canada since the establishment of the Chinese Immigration act, and yet little closure has been provided for these affected families. How could such a large scale example of systemic racism in Canada manage to fall out of our list of concerns? As I learn more about the history of various cultural groups in Canada, I begin to draw connections between the treatment and attitude towards who the white settler population deemed as ‘other’ to Canada. I am also able to see how our history has built the Canadian environment in which we live now, and how strings of unresolved Canadian conflict and discrepancy continue to linger in our everyday lives. Although Canada has worked to become viewed as peaceful, loving, and accepting, we still have a long way to go before we can begin to move forward from the rocky events of our past.
Sources:
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chinese-head-tax-in-canada/
https://humanrights.ca/blog/chinese-head-tax-and-chinese-exclusion-act
https://droitsdelapersonne.ca/sites/default/files/media/blg_ahm_low-jang-yit_610x407_0.jpg
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April 4, 2018 at 9:13 pm
I really enjoyed reading your post, Aislyn! First of all, you covered all the events that occurred in a very clear and logical sequence. I could completely understand why the tax was implemented, the immediate repercussions of the head tax, and the current impacts that the head tax still has on some Chinese-Canadians. Also, your last paragraph was very powerful to read, because it gave me a strong call-to-action. I completely agree with you – there is still more that can be done by every citizen of Canada to help ensure equality is seen for all minority groups.
A connection I drew between my own investigation and yours was about the implementation of the tax. John A Macdonald, who I investigated, heavily supported the tax, and also wanted to ban Chinese-Canadians from voting (he succeeded). However, it is important to note that a very notable Liberal Prime Minister after him, Wilfrid Laurier, raised the tax to $500.
Lucas
April 6, 2018 at 3:33 am
Really insightful post, Aislyn! I really liked the fact that you provided a brief, but thorough explanation of what the head tax is to help us, the readers, understand your inquiry without having to do secondary research ourselves. Also, the fact that each question was a follow-up to the one before made your transitions smooth and easy to follow along. Context wise, it was amazing how you used pathos in your third question second paragraph to get readers feel exasperated about the impacts of the head tax on the Chinese people.
A connection I had with my inquiry was when you talked about how “only 785 head tax payers, spouses, and descendants received payments.” I brought up an example in my post about how it took a son of a Chinese worker 17 years to repay the debt from the head tax because he didn’t receive payments. It’s extremely shocking how out of the thousands and thousands of workers, only 785 received payments. I personally find it really unjust.
April 6, 2018 at 5:09 am
Wow what an interesting topic! I had no idea the depths of which Canada’s discriminatory actions against the Chinese people went. As always, your writing is articulate and gave me a real understanding of how the head tax occurred, evolved, and what is being done (or lack there of) to create closure and mend the wounds that were created over 95 years ago. I thought that you effectively organized your thoughts and research under the heading question. This allowed me to understand your learning process while also keeping it concise and readable.
A connection I saw between our two topics was the theme of how politicians wanted to create Canadian Identity. The interesting thing is that in our two investigations, that happens in very different ways. In your event Canada was creating policies to keep culture and diversity out of the country. In my event Canada was doing the exact opposite of that; The Articles of Capitulation, and later The Québec Act, were attempts to preserve culture of nations other than Britain. The contrasting events show how for a long time Canada has struggled to create it’s identity, and now we are dealing (and not dealing) with the consequences.