B.C. Legislation Formally Apologizes for Anti-Chinese Laws

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The B.C. government delivered a formal apology for its historic anti-Chinese policies that included a federal “head tax” to discourage immigrants. Addressing the B.C. legislature on Thursday, Premier Christy Clark stated that “today we express our sorrow and regret for historical provincial government practices that were once considered appropriate.” She said that “we believe this formal apology is required to ensure that closure can be reached on this dark period in our province’s history.”

In addition to that, the Premier alleged that “the entire legislative assembly acknowledges the perseverance of Chinese Canadians that was demonstrated with grace and dignity throughout our history while being oppressed by unfair and discriminatory historical laws.” The apology ends with a promise that “we will ensure that this never happens again.” According to a research, more than 100 B.C. laws and policies explicitly discriminated against Chinese people in the early years of B.C. history. These laws included restricted employment, banned voting and property ownership and imposed provincial taxes and fees based on Chinese origin.

Premier Christy Clark revealed to have consulted B.C.’s Chinese community, led by International Trade Minister Teresa Wat, which confirmed there was a desire for a formal apology but not additional compensation. She said that “the community feedback that Minister Wat got didn’t generally favour compensation.” Clark added that “there is a group that do, but I think overall there wasn’t as big an appetite for that as there was for a genuine apology addressing the long list of wrongs that governments over the last century have done to the Chinese community.”