Chinese head tax apology long overdue

It's definitely a case of better late than never... but a century is pretty late by any standard.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced in Vancouver on Thursday that he will be apologizing for the head tax collected from Chinese immigrants between 1885 and 1923 (For an article by Elianna Lev about the announcement, click here).

A sad consequence of Canada being governed strictly by the rule of law is that governments may feel threatened by potential lawsuits when apologizing for atrocious behavior. Rather than run the risk of racking up multi-billion dollar legal fees and compensation (and ushering in unpopular taxes to pay for it), our elected officials would prefer to keep our dusty old skeletons in the closet.

Some may contend that it makes no sense for our current government to apologize for something that happened so long ago. After all, Canada is a vastly different sort of place than it was when the head tax was collected (and in modern-day Vancouver, any elected official that proposed a head tax on Asian immigrants would likely find themselves under investigation for hate speech). There's something to that; if the son should not be held accountable for the sins of the father, where does that leave the great-grandson?

But countries have longer lifespans than individuals and even of many family lines. Canadian citizens may be united in their condemnation of their past mistakes, but until there is official recognition by the state for those misdeeds, that collective indignation rings a little hollow.

It may well be that the government feels safe enough to apologize only because there are so few potential claimants left to collect compensation. But the Liberal government that preceded it can't have been faced with such a dramatic difference in numbers. The Conservatives should be commended for finally doing what's right.

tags: China, Chinese, Canada, Canadian, Vancouver, railway, workers, head tax, Stephen Harper, apology, apologize