Dear Editor:
Re: Forum: Apology should include tax refund, Burnaby NOW, Jan. 22.
As a Chinese Canadian with grandparents that came in the 1890s, I have heard about the suffering due to the head tax and stories of discrimination. But let's not forget that Canada was good for Chinese immigrants. They came from a land of famine and extreme poverty. Canada was "gold mountain" with opportunity that did not exist in China.
While some suffered lonely lives dying alone, they were still able to send money back to their families in China. And any descendants today come from those who were able to raise a family and survive, if not prosper.
My dad and his brothers, who were born here, fought in the Second World War for Canada, and he was proud of helping bring full citizenship rights to Chinese Canadians. When he was still alive, he told me he was strongly opposed to head tax redress or apologies. While he suffered discrimination in his youth, he believed that it was time to let the past be the past.
No matter where in the world immigrants come from, starting a new life in a foreign land is always difficult. The first generation usually endures hardships to bring opportunity to their descendants.
Let's stop apologizing for yesterday's injustices and spend our energy on today's problems, whether it is helping the Dalit children (untouchables) in India get an education, fighting the rise of anti-Semitism, or supporting the Tibetan people facing cultural genocide.
Kelvin Chan, Burnaby
