LostRabbit
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那些人头税苦主,都80/90快100了,按保守党的赔偿方案,(给在世的人头税主和配偶赔20000加币),总共才用多少人能拿到这赔偿?,上次看报道,现在在世的总共不到300人,现在竟然担心他们以前在中国的配偶也来拿这20000加币? 这就是西方的人权?
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/archives/story.html?id=ca8c73b5-3f0e-4229-a8f5-a3f97a2d407c
Tories knew of 'huge' head tax problems
Memo warned Chinese redress might raise issue of polygamy
Peter O'Neil, CanWest News Service
Published: Monday, February 12, 2007
OTTAWA - The Conservative government went ahead with a Chinese head tax redress program last year despite internal warnings the initiative might raise "huge" legal problems and possibly risk offending community members over the issue of polygamy.
"On the issue of Chinese spouses, we risk offending the community by 'exposing' the whole polygamy question," stated an unsigned Canadian Heritage briefing note prepared in early 2006 obtained through the Access to Information Act by researcher Ken Rubin.
"In fact, this will be a failure in the eyes of the community and will be seen as a perpetuation of a 'wrong today' unless we can develop an approach which treats all forms of spouses in a dignified and gracious manner and which recognizes their experience without unduly exposing the whole issue of polygamous unions or 'non-legal' marriages."
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Font: ****The documents say many marriages performed in China before 1940 were polygamous, though they do not provide much detail on the issue. The briefing note added: "Of course, this does not address the bigger question of Charter 'retroactivity' which, as you know, we believe is a 'HUGE' issue."
The warning referred to concerns that the government could expose taxpayers to enormous costs if it provides retroactive compensation for rights violations before the Charter of Rights' equality provision came into force in 1985.
Another internal document, stamped "secret" and obtained by The Vancouver Sun, also warned the former Liberal Cabinet on June 21, 2005, that financial payback for Chinese-Canadians would "increase substantially" the Canadian government's exposure to legal action from ethnic minority groups seeking compensation for racial injustices.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized last June to Chinese- Canadians and promised $20,000 payments to surviving head tax payers or the spouses of deceased head tax payers to recognize an historical injustice.
Canada, after welcoming some 15,000 Chinese labourers to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway, imposed a $50 tax on Chinese immigrants starting in 1885.
The tax gradually rose to $500 before legislation in 1923 banned Chinese until that law was repealed in 1947.
Canadian Heritage spokesman Len Westerberg said on Friday that the legal issue was addressed by making clear the $20,000 payments to head tax payers and widows announced last June were "ex gratia" and voluntary.
That was the same terminology used by the federal government in 1988 when it provided a $422-million redress program for Japanese-Canadians and their immediate descendants interned during the Second World War.
Mr. Westerberg, asked about the polygamy issue raised in the newly released documents, noted that the payments to spouses could only go to women in "exclusive conjugal" relationships.
The documents state that many marriages performed in China until the 1940s "were either potentially or actually polygamous." Most head tax payers in Canada would have married in China, either before leaving for Canada or during a trip to their home country, it said.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/archives/story.html?id=ca8c73b5-3f0e-4229-a8f5-a3f97a2d407c
Tories knew of 'huge' head tax problems
Memo warned Chinese redress might raise issue of polygamy
Peter O'Neil, CanWest News Service
Published: Monday, February 12, 2007
OTTAWA - The Conservative government went ahead with a Chinese head tax redress program last year despite internal warnings the initiative might raise "huge" legal problems and possibly risk offending community members over the issue of polygamy.
"On the issue of Chinese spouses, we risk offending the community by 'exposing' the whole polygamy question," stated an unsigned Canadian Heritage briefing note prepared in early 2006 obtained through the Access to Information Act by researcher Ken Rubin.
"In fact, this will be a failure in the eyes of the community and will be seen as a perpetuation of a 'wrong today' unless we can develop an approach which treats all forms of spouses in a dignified and gracious manner and which recognizes their experience without unduly exposing the whole issue of polygamous unions or 'non-legal' marriages."
Email to a friend
Printer friendly
Font: ****The documents say many marriages performed in China before 1940 were polygamous, though they do not provide much detail on the issue. The briefing note added: "Of course, this does not address the bigger question of Charter 'retroactivity' which, as you know, we believe is a 'HUGE' issue."
The warning referred to concerns that the government could expose taxpayers to enormous costs if it provides retroactive compensation for rights violations before the Charter of Rights' equality provision came into force in 1985.
Another internal document, stamped "secret" and obtained by The Vancouver Sun, also warned the former Liberal Cabinet on June 21, 2005, that financial payback for Chinese-Canadians would "increase substantially" the Canadian government's exposure to legal action from ethnic minority groups seeking compensation for racial injustices.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized last June to Chinese- Canadians and promised $20,000 payments to surviving head tax payers or the spouses of deceased head tax payers to recognize an historical injustice.
Canada, after welcoming some 15,000 Chinese labourers to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway, imposed a $50 tax on Chinese immigrants starting in 1885.
The tax gradually rose to $500 before legislation in 1923 banned Chinese until that law was repealed in 1947.
Canadian Heritage spokesman Len Westerberg said on Friday that the legal issue was addressed by making clear the $20,000 payments to head tax payers and widows announced last June were "ex gratia" and voluntary.
That was the same terminology used by the federal government in 1988 when it provided a $422-million redress program for Japanese-Canadians and their immediate descendants interned during the Second World War.
Mr. Westerberg, asked about the polygamy issue raised in the newly released documents, noted that the payments to spouses could only go to women in "exclusive conjugal" relationships.
The documents state that many marriages performed in China until the 1940s "were either potentially or actually polygamous." Most head tax payers in Canada would have married in China, either before leaving for Canada or during a trip to their home country, it said.
