Ottawa denies national historic site bid for head tax monument

The federal government has rejected an application for Brandon’s Chinese head tax monument to be named a national historic site, citing its recent vintage.

The decision by Parks Canada and the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada was a letdown for Dennis Hurley, who made the application.

“I am very disappointed in this decision as the sole focus of Parks Canada’s enquiry seems to be on the age of the monument and disregards the fact that the event occurred over a century ago,” Hurley said on Monday.

The bronze scuplture was commissioned in 2010 and unveiled in the Brandon Municipal Cemetery in 2011 to commemorate Canada’s head tax on Chinese immigrants between the 1880s and 1923.

In 1885, the federal government started charging new Chinese immigrants $50 per person (about $1,749 in 2023 dollars) after the immigrants helped complete the Canadian Pacific Railway. That cost slowly ballooned to $500 by 1903 (equal to $18,000 in 2023).

In 1923, the federal government effectively banned Chinese immigration, with the ban lasting until 1947.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper apologized for Ottawa’s actions in 2006, and the federal government paid victims and their spouses compensation.

The Chinese community in Brandon used some of those funds to pay for the monument.

In late July, Parks Canada told the Sun the application would be denied as the site itself wasn’t at least 40 years old.

Hurley said that reasoning shouldn’t be applied since the monument commemorates atrocities committed well over four decades ago.

“This questionable logic is made worse when realizing the significant impact that the Chinese immigrant community had on Brandon’s early development and the long-lasting influence their many descendants have had on Canada,” he said in an email Monday.

Hurley received the written decision from the board on Sunday.

“Forty years is the minimum amount of time that must pass before sites can be considered by the National Program of Historical Commemoration,” the board wrote in its four-page decision.

“This is to allow for the growth of a body of scholarly research to support historical analysis on the site,” it added.

“It is not possible to evaluate the historic significance of the Chinese Head Tax Monument at this time, as there are not enough published academic histories that provide a detailed overview and in-depth analysis of the site itself.”

Hurley said “plenty” of academic research went into the application. He originally did research on the monument as part of his studies at Brandon University.

Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett praised Hurley for his efforts.

“It’s disappointing, but we sure appreciate the effort that Dennis in particular had put in on this,” Fawcett said.

In early July, Fawcett and city council provided Hurley with a letter of support for the application.

Fawcett said he wasn’t surprised by the decision, given the 40-year limit, but added that initiatives like this show the good character of Brandon residents.

“People in the community did want to recognize it, and did. I think that says something about the community we live in,” he said.

“Kudos to Dennis Hurley for bringing all that forward and doing that research on it.”

» alambert@brandonsun.com