By March 31, 2008, the Government of Canada had identified 785 surviving head tax payers and their spouses and paid them each $20,000 as compensation. Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes an official apology in the House of Commons to Chinese Canadians for more than six decades of legislated racism against them through the <i>Head Tax and Exclusion Act</i>. Ontario Superior Court justice dismisses a class action asking for compensation for the <i>Head Tax and Exclusion Act</i>, but also states that the Government of Canada has a moral obligation to redress Chinese Canadians. The Chinese Canadian National Council surveys the Chinese Canadian community and registers more than 4,000 head tax payers, their spouses and descendants and launches a campaign for an apology and redress. Two elderly Chinese head tax payers, Dak Leon Mark and Shack Yee, meet with MP Margaret Mitchell (Vancouver East) and ask for help in getting a refund and redress for the $500 head tax they both paid to enter Canada. With the proclamation of the <i>Charter of Rights</i> and Freedoms, the fundamental rights of all people in Canada are entrenched in our Constitution. With the proclamation of the <i>Charter of Rights</i> and Freedoms, the fundamental rights of all people in Canada are entrenched in our Constitution. The Chinese Canadian National Council forms as part of the community's response to gross misrepresentation in a national news report. Chinese Canadian lawyer Kew Dock Yip teams up with Jewish civil rights lawyer Irving Himel to repeal the <i>Chinese Exclusion Act</i>. Kew Dock Yip, a son of Vancouver merchant Yip Sang, is called to the Ontario Bar, becoming the first Chinese Canadian lawyer. Further amendments to the <i>Chinese Immigration Act</i> quintuple the head tax on Chinese to $500 to discourage individual and family settlement in Canada. Amendments to the <i>Chinese Immigration Act</i> double the head tax on Chinese immigrants to $100. The federal government assigns the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration and later levies a $50 head tax on all Chinese immigrants. The federal government assigns the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration and later levies a $50 head tax on all Chinese immigrants. Further amendments to the <i>Chinese Immigration Act</i> quintuple the head tax on Chinese to $500 to discourage individual and family settlement in Canada. The driving of the 'last spike' into a railway tie at Craigellachie, B.C., marks the completion of the mainline of the CPR and connects Canada to British Columbia. Thousands of Chinese are recruited by the Canadian Pacific Railway to build the western section of the transcontinental railroad through the Rocky Mountains. Thousands of Chinese are recruited by the Canadian Pacific Railway to build the western section of the transcontinental railroad through the Rocky Mountains. The Fraser Valley Gold Rush in British Columbia attracts the first major migration of Chinese to lands that later become Canada. Kew Dock Yip, a son of Vancouver merchant Yip Sang, is called to the Ontario Bar, becoming the first Chinese Canadian lawyer. Amendments to the <i>Chinese Immigration Act</i> double the head tax on Chinese immigrants to $100. The driving of the 'last spike' into a railway tie at Craigellachie, B.C., marks the completion of the mainline of the CPR and connects Canada to British Columbia. The Fraser Valley Gold Rush in British Columbia attracts the first major migration of Chinese to lands that later become Canada. Chinese Canadian lawyer Kew Dock Yip teams up with Jewish civil rights lawyer Irving Himel to repeal the <i>Chinese Exclusion Act</i>. The Chinese Canadian National Council forms as part of the community's response to gross misrepresentation in a national news report. Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes an official apology in the House of Commons to Chinese Canadians for more than six decades of legislated racism against them through the <i>Head Tax and Exclusion Act</i>. Saskatchewan enacts its <i>Act to Prevent the Employment of Female Labour in Certain Capacities</i> to prohibit Chinese employers from hiring white female employees. Manitoba passes <i>An Act respecting Elections of Members of the Legislative Assembly</i> that disqualifies people as voters if they fail tough residency requirements, unless they are able to pass a language test in a selected European language. The <i>Dominion Elections Act</i> (1900) and its amendments link federal voting rights to inclusion on provincial voters' lists, effectively barring Chinese Canadians living in some provinces from the federal franchise. Sir John A. Macdonald amends the <i>Electoral Franchise Act</i> to redefine a 'person' who has voting rights to exclude those of 'Mongolian or Chinese race'. The <i>Chinese Exclusion Act</i> comes into force on Dominion Day in 1923. The <i>Chinese Exclusion Act</i> comes into force on Dominion Day in 1923. Canada's first Chinese Canadian Member of Parliament, Douglas Jung, introduces the so-called 'Amnesty' program that allows thousands of formerly illegal immigrants from China to regularize their status in Canada with the immigration department.

The Dominion Elections Act (1900) and its amendments in spirit continued the exclusion of Chinese that was conceived in Sir John A. Macdonald’s Electoral Franchise Act (1885).

In 1898, the Franchise Act was fixed to state in s. 5 (a) that “the qualifications necessary to entitle any person to vote thereat shall be those established by the laws of that province as necessary to entitle such person to vote in the same part of the province at a provincial election.”

The Act was designed to give the provinces the responsibility of drawing up elections lists; it also clarified that the provinces were not allowed to disqualify voters, on grounds of their occupation, employment with provincial or federal governments and belonging to any class of person. For a brief time, citizens of Chinese or Japanese descent who were resident in British Columbia were permitted to vote in federal elections, even though they could not vote provincially.

In 1920, amendments to the Dominion Elections Act upheld eligibility to vote in federal elections as dependent on a person being registered on the provincial voters list; however, it added a clause that stipulated that any person disenfranchised by a province “for reasons of race” would also be excluded from the federal franchise. Voting continued to be regarded as a privilege, rather than as a right.

While voting rights were withheld from Chinese, other statutes, especially enforcement of various amendments to immigration legislation and the eventual imposition of the Chinese Exclusion Act, made life difficult for many Chinese families that were often separated solely by discriminatory Canadian law and policy.

Exclusion from federal elections, based on provincial voters lists, endured until amendments to the Dominion Elections Act in 1948 removed its provincial piggy-backing of race provisions. Dismantling racism in federal elections law followed repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act, and broader reforms brought about by a change in political and social attitudes affected by the Second World War.

Early Chinese Worker Militancy in BC: Excavating Narratives of Resistance
The “last spike” has been found!
10 Year Anniversary of Parliamentary Apology
Road to Justice Travelling Exhibit Launched at Toronto City Hall
Canadian Government clawed back community fund to commemorate Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act
show all >>
show all >>
Chinese Canadian Legal History Quiz
Biographies
Historical documents
Media Publications
Links
Legal references