In 1885 the first part of The Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 was legislated. This act stated that Chinese immigrants must pay a tax of $50 before entering Canada. The fee was later increased to $100 in 1900 and to $500 in 1903. This fee may sound low right now but back then $50 was a lot of money especially since Chinese labourers were paid much lower than their European counterparts.
Head Tax Certificate and Receipt
Once again, this act was legislated as a further obstacle for Asians to immigrate to Canada and to keep Asians out of the country in the hopes of maintaining a "White Canada" - a little scary isn't it? This is one more thing on top of a large wall of other obstacles which our ANA ancestors had to overcome and endure. If you would like more information about the head tax and the controversies surrounding it as well, wikipedia provides a brief overview - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_tax_(Canada)
If you would like information on the redress campaign please go here - http://www.ccnc.ca/redress/index.html - the site that the Chinese Canadian National Council has made in support of the redress.
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