Goodness, I sure don't know much. I found out this weekend that my grandfather came to Canada much earlier than I had thought. All this time, I thought he came in the 1960s or something. I only found out because of all the hubbub surrounding Canada's decision to finally issue a formal apology and redress the infamous "head tax." Turns out none of us are able to cash in on it anyway - the compensation is only for survivors and widows. Even then, if it were offered to children, we don't talk to my dad as it is, but whatever. It's nice that the government has officially apologized for its racist policies, even if the policies are 50 - 100 years old.
But, like I said...I had no idea. Mom pulled out a copy of grandpa's certificate. He landed in Victoria in 1918. NINETEEN-EIGHTEEN! Not quite 1960s, that's for sure! In fact, that's at the end of WWI and the peak of the head tax. He would've had to pay $500 in 1918 dollars. Equivalent to 2 years wages, likely working jobs that the European settlers didn't want to do (like laundromat or something). But...upon closer inspection of the certificate... it looks just like any other certificate you see posted on the internet, but the words are different! There's no fill-in-the-blank line where someone wrote in how much he paid in head tax. Most have a line that says "Five Hundred Dollars." Grandpa's says... "is exempt from head tax following the provisions of the Chinese Immigration Act." Grandpa didn't pay head tax!
That of course prompted me to poke around the internet. It seems that either 1) Grandpa somehow snuck into Hong Kong and came to Canada from there, in which case, HK was a British Colony at the time and Canada wouldn't have been able to consider him "Chinese." or 2) Certain professions were exempt from head tax, such as merchants, diplomats, clergy, and men of science. My grandfather was a pharmacist (or something like that...he definitely knew his Chinese herbs!). We're not entirely sure, but those are the 2 most likely reasons he was exempt from head tax. *side note: I guess this is another reason we wouldn't be compensated - Grandpa didn't even pay in the first place!*
This is all fascinating to me. History is more interesting when you have a personal stake in it. It's one of the reasons why, in a way, I am happy that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed. I wouldn't be here if they hadn't (other side of the family).
Someone in my family isn't very good at the game of telephone though. My mom distinctly remembers Grandpa telling her that he had paid head tax. Apparently before he died, he said that if there was ever compensation for head tax, to use the money for my schooling. I could say that I was his favourite...or I could say that my sibs were almost at university-age when he died anyway, and he didn't see any compensation coming anytime soon. I prefer to think that I was his favourite.
It's been about 90 years now. I found out that the Vancouver Public Library has head tax records on microfilm. Maybe I should go take a look next time I'm out there.
But, like I said...I had no idea. Mom pulled out a copy of grandpa's certificate. He landed in Victoria in 1918. NINETEEN-EIGHTEEN! Not quite 1960s, that's for sure! In fact, that's at the end of WWI and the peak of the head tax. He would've had to pay $500 in 1918 dollars. Equivalent to 2 years wages, likely working jobs that the European settlers didn't want to do (like laundromat or something). But...upon closer inspection of the certificate... it looks just like any other certificate you see posted on the internet, but the words are different! There's no fill-in-the-blank line where someone wrote in how much he paid in head tax. Most have a line that says "Five Hundred Dollars." Grandpa's says... "is exempt from head tax following the provisions of the Chinese Immigration Act." Grandpa didn't pay head tax!
That of course prompted me to poke around the internet. It seems that either 1) Grandpa somehow snuck into Hong Kong and came to Canada from there, in which case, HK was a British Colony at the time and Canada wouldn't have been able to consider him "Chinese." or 2) Certain professions were exempt from head tax, such as merchants, diplomats, clergy, and men of science. My grandfather was a pharmacist (or something like that...he definitely knew his Chinese herbs!). We're not entirely sure, but those are the 2 most likely reasons he was exempt from head tax. *side note: I guess this is another reason we wouldn't be compensated - Grandpa didn't even pay in the first place!*
This is all fascinating to me. History is more interesting when you have a personal stake in it. It's one of the reasons why, in a way, I am happy that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed. I wouldn't be here if they hadn't (other side of the family).
Someone in my family isn't very good at the game of telephone though. My mom distinctly remembers Grandpa telling her that he had paid head tax. Apparently before he died, he said that if there was ever compensation for head tax, to use the money for my schooling. I could say that I was his favourite...or I could say that my sibs were almost at university-age when he died anyway, and he didn't see any compensation coming anytime soon. I prefer to think that I was his favourite.
It's been about 90 years now. I found out that the Vancouver Public Library has head tax records on microfilm. Maybe I should go take a look next time I'm out there.
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