Seeking a Just and Honourable Redress

‘Apparently, the BC Liberals had lined up some Chinese Canadian community leaders in mid-February to accept the apology motion in the Legislature on March 14th. Their plans were thwarted by the Haakstad memo. The community leaders would have been validating the government’s “quick wins” strategy. Yet for three weeks now, these “validators” have remained in the shadows – no doubt a tough lesson for the BC Liberals and all political parties.’

By Victor Wong –

The BC Liberal’s Multicultural Strategic Outreach Plan was controversial for its blunt language, cynical approach to community engagement, and misuse of public services for partisan objectives. CCNC and the Head Tax Families of Canada expressed our disappointment with the Outreach Plan and the language around “quick wins” and we accepted Premier Clark’s apology.

We welcomed the probe by Deputy Minister John Dyble which concluded that while the Outreach Plan was not fully implemented that there was a misuse of public resources and an attempt to hide the activities through personal email communication, there were complaints from community-based groups and that some staff transferred government and private information to personal email accounts, presumably for partisan purposes.

The Dyble report also observed that the activities to achieve an apology for the Head Tax had been “underway for a number of years” and was an “appropriate use of government resources.” CCNC and HTFSC have sought a meaningful BC apology since 2006 when we wrote to then Attorney-General Wally Oppal and subsequently to the BC Ombudsman. It was BC politicians who lobbied for the Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act and enacted a litany of anti-Chinese legislation. The federal government collected a total of $23 million in Head Tax levies from 1885 to 1923 and transferred an estimated $8.5 million to BC. This unjust enrichment of the BC treasury must be reversed and these monies must be returned to the families who paid it.

BC must not be seen to be profiting from racism – it would be harmful to our image at home and overseas. During the 2009 BC election, we issued a questionnaire to all four political parties and the most promising response came from the BC Green party. In April 2011, we met with MLA Richard Lee to present a framework for redress. In May 2012 and early February 2013, CCNC and HTFSC rejected overtures of a stand-alone apology from the BC government.

The federal apology in 2006 was supported by all four federal Parties and accepted by some of the head tax families. The federal apology offered a partial redress which included direct redress to 785 living Head Tax payers and surviving spouses, and a community education fund. An estimated 3,000 head tax families – where the head tax payer and spouse had passed away – were excluded and did not receive any direct redress, yet these families had the same experience. We are proposing that BC return the head tax monies to these families in order to achieve a complete redress.

CCNC and HTFSC understand that there may be different views on redress. However we express our disappointment with the individuals and community groups who have supported a stand-alone apology. There were rumours in mid-February that the BC government was mobilizing community representatives and party supporters to accept an apology motion in the BC Legislature on March 14th, the last sitting day of the Legislature.

We submit that had the Outreach Plan not been made public, these community representatives would have been seen as  validating the government’s “quick win” strategy. It should also be instructive to all political parties that these validators were nowhere to be found during this controversy because they and their families were not directly affected by the past racist legislation. Redress cannot be genuinely achieved without the acceptance of all of the affected families.

We also understand that some community groups have suggested some community-based and collective measures. These suggestions include improving the education curriculum and protecting heritage sites. We would encourage groups to contact the relevant Ministry as these suggested actions are not contingent on an Apology. In fact, the BC education system already includes some instruction on BC’s racist past with teachers utilizing Asian Heritage Month and the numerous community education resources to teach BC history.

A complete redress is the foundational lesson and sets in place the healing and reconciliation process which will take years if not decades to ferment. A just and honourable redress is restorative, especially for the direct victims and affected families. CCNC and HTFSC will continue to lobby the BC government to do the right thing and to negotiate a meaningful apology.