Chinese Canadians plan to pursue redress after lawsuit rejected
( 2001-07-12 10:17 ) (7 )

Canadian plaintiffs of Chinese origin will pursue redress for Canada's discriminatory policies dating back to an 1885 head tax on Chinese immigrants despite a court decision throwing out their class-action lawsuit, lawyers said in Toronto Wednesday.

"The lawsuit is only one of many avenues to achieve redress," said lawyer Avvy Go, who served as co-counsel in the lawsuit, filed in December.

"We've contacted the prime minister's office" to negotiate for a compensation package and plan to pursue a political campaign to win redress, said Cynthia Pay, of the Chinese Canadian National Council, which has sought redress for Chinese Canadians since 1984.

Ontario Superior Court Judge Peter Cumming this week struck out the lawsuit, saying the government was not legally liable for discriminatory polices that pre-date Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which came into effect in 1985.

The lawsuit -- filed by three identified plaintiffs, including one 93-year-old head tax payer and two descendents of a second payer -- claimed their present Charter rights were infringed.

It also represented some of the 2,000 head tax payers believed to be living as well as their widows and descendants.

"Canada believes that in order to move forward ... our efforts should be focused on moving forward in the areas of abuse and discrimination," said Heritage Canada spokeswoman Nancy Bergeron.

"It's really focused on the future, not the past, ... and protecting the rights of citizens," she added in response to a question about the possibility of the Chinese Canadians receiving compensation for past discrimination.

Lawyers were seeking the 23 million Canadian dollars paid for head taxes by 81,000 Chinese entering Canada between 1885 and 1923, plus interest, which they said would amount to more than one billion dollars (US$660 million) today.

The Head Tax law imposed a 50-dollar fee on Chinese immigrants beginning in 1885 after their services were no longer required to build the Canadian Pacific Railroad.

The tax increased to 100 dollars in 1900 and 500 dollars in 1903, when it was replaced by the 1923 Exclusion Act, which restricted Chinese immigration until it was abolished in 1947.

Despite the judge's ruling that the lawsuit had no legal merit, the plaintiffs' lawyers welcomed some of his statements in support of their movement for redress.

"The legislation in its various forms was patently discriminatory against persons of Chinese origin," Cumming said in his 16-page ruling, released late Monday.

"By contemporary Canadian morals and values, these pieces of legislation were both repugnant and reprehensible," he said.

Cumming also suggested that "Parliament should consider providing redress for Chinese Canadians who paid Head Tax or were adversely affected by the various Chinese Immigration Acts."

Yew Lee, 51, one of the three plaintiffs in the lawsuit and a descendent of a Head Tax payer, said by telephone: "I'm just happy that Judge Cumming has said that even though there is no legal obligation, there is a moral obligation (for redress)."

In 1988, the Canadian government agreed to create a 422 million dollar (US$280 million) compensation fund for Japanese Canadians to redress their treatment in Canada during World War II.

"It was a unique situation, unparalleled, and based on a list of factors, such as the large scale of the internment and the relocation and deportation program," Bergeron said of the 1988 fund.