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Canada’s prime minister apologizes for Ottawa’s head tax on Chinese immigrants |
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Militant/John Steele
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TORONTO—Supporters of the campaign for redress for Chinese head tax payers gathered June 19 in Union Station here to greet participants in the “Redress Express” train, which traveled across Canada to hear Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper apologize for the head tax imposed on Chinese immigrants entering the country from 1885 to 1923. Among those making the journey are some of the 20 surviving head tax payers, about 200 spouses, and descendants. Some 81,000 Chinese immigrants paid a total of $23 million to enter Canada over these years, until Ottawa passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1923 barring entry of all Chinese immigrants. The act was repealed in 1947.
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