本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛June 22, 2006
EDITORIAL: Head tax: Time to say we're sorry
Prime Minister Stephen Harper will deliver a formal apology today to thousands of Chinese Canadians for the head tax Canada imposed on them between 1885 and 1923.
He should. It was a racist tax, aimed at 81,000 members of one immigrant community, before they were barred from Canada between 1923 and 1947.
Families were shattered as a result. What Canada did was wrong and apologizing for it will not diminish us.
We need only remember the lesson our parents taught us as children -- it takes a big person to admit they were wrong.
We're a big country. We can stand to make a few apologies where called for by history.
Harper's apology, as long as it is appropriately worded, will not open Canadians to any new legal liabilities.
Canada's imposition of the head tax was wrong, but it was also legal at the time.
Harper will be saying he is sorry for what happened, not that the government of today, or its citizens, are responsible for it -- an important distinction.
As for compensation, Ottawa has set aside $25 million to address complaints by Chinese-Canadians and other ethnic groups for past wrongs. If, as expected, Harper uses a portion of that fund today to offer redress to the Chinese-Canadian community, we hope it will not be by offering the few people still alive who paid the head tax (which rose from $50 in 1885 to $500 in 1923) compensation. We hope the money will go toward something of benefit not only to Chinese-Canadians but to Canada as a whole -- perhaps a public memorial to those forced to pay the tax, an exhibit honouring Chinese-Canadian achievements, or university scholarships.
We don't want a political precedent set (beyond the $300 million the Canadian government paid to Japanese-Canadians unjustly incarcerated during World War II) in which apologizing for past wrongs becomes a way of giving public money to ethnic groups the Conservatives want to make inroads with.
If Harper's apology is accompanied by modest spending that is sensible and in a broad sense beneficial to all Canadians, we will have no objection.
If it is the first example of Harper raiding the public purse to curry favour with ethnic groups seeking redress for past wrongs, we will.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
EDITORIAL: Head tax: Time to say we're sorry
Prime Minister Stephen Harper will deliver a formal apology today to thousands of Chinese Canadians for the head tax Canada imposed on them between 1885 and 1923.
He should. It was a racist tax, aimed at 81,000 members of one immigrant community, before they were barred from Canada between 1923 and 1947.
Families were shattered as a result. What Canada did was wrong and apologizing for it will not diminish us.
We need only remember the lesson our parents taught us as children -- it takes a big person to admit they were wrong.
We're a big country. We can stand to make a few apologies where called for by history.
Harper's apology, as long as it is appropriately worded, will not open Canadians to any new legal liabilities.
Canada's imposition of the head tax was wrong, but it was also legal at the time.
Harper will be saying he is sorry for what happened, not that the government of today, or its citizens, are responsible for it -- an important distinction.
As for compensation, Ottawa has set aside $25 million to address complaints by Chinese-Canadians and other ethnic groups for past wrongs. If, as expected, Harper uses a portion of that fund today to offer redress to the Chinese-Canadian community, we hope it will not be by offering the few people still alive who paid the head tax (which rose from $50 in 1885 to $500 in 1923) compensation. We hope the money will go toward something of benefit not only to Chinese-Canadians but to Canada as a whole -- perhaps a public memorial to those forced to pay the tax, an exhibit honouring Chinese-Canadian achievements, or university scholarships.
We don't want a political precedent set (beyond the $300 million the Canadian government paid to Japanese-Canadians unjustly incarcerated during World War II) in which apologizing for past wrongs becomes a way of giving public money to ethnic groups the Conservatives want to make inroads with.
If Harper's apology is accompanied by modest spending that is sensible and in a broad sense beneficial to all Canadians, we will have no objection.
If it is the first example of Harper raiding the public purse to curry favour with ethnic groups seeking redress for past wrongs, we will.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net