Schema Magazine

Head Tax certificate of Kong Ming, Devon Wong's maternal great-grandfather.
Photo courtesy of the Wong family.

Conversations around Canada's historical head tax typically conjure up contentions around the past, but what can be said for future generations living with the legacy? Forty Chinese youth reflected on their family's early Canadian roots in an essay anthology assembled by the Chinese Canadian National Council. "Our Stories" includes a multimedia collection on Chinese Canadian experiences with the Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act. Their family stories reveal the heartaches of family separation resulting from institutionalized discrimination.

Photo of X, Devon Wong's maternal grandfather, having immigrated to Canada during the 1950s.
Photo courtesy of the Wong family.

I was given the opportunity to submit my own piece for the historical project, prompting me to dig even deeper into my own family's experience with the Head Tax. I was aware that my great grandfather had paid the racist fare, but there was little comment my parents could give me on how relevant it was to them today. The truth is that in studying the timeline of my grandparents subsequent immigration after my great grandfather had paved the way, it did matter. A lot. Perhaps financially we can say that we are better off without needing to "dig up the past," but socially and emotionally, there has been a cost. My great grandfather didn't meet his son for nearly twenty years due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. This goes without saying that there was an inevitable underdevelopment between a father and son relationship, which has its own consequences in a family's cultural fabric. Family bonds were fragmented by the misery inflicted by the Head Tax.

As descendants of pioneers that prevailed in spite of systemic racism, we must acknowledge the opportunities that we enjoy today at the cost of their selflessness. Though I never met my great grandfather, it would be as ignorant for me to overlook his sacrifices that afford me the privileges I have now to appreciate. After all, if my great grandfather so nobly believed in a better future for his own grandchildren, most that he'd never get the chance to meet, the least I can do is look beyond myself and demand justice for a man who held so much faith and hope for my generation.

"Our Stories" can be found at ccncourstories.wordpress.com. The anthology hopes to educate the general public, including the Chinese Canadian community, about the impact of the Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act.