N.L. apology coming on head tax: Ottenheimer

The government of Newfoundland and Labrador will apologize within days for having made Chinese men pay a discriminatory tax when they entered Newfoundland before it became part of Canada, the provincial intergovernmental affairs minister said.

John Ottenheimer said the Newfoundland and Labrador government now recognizes that a head tax in effect between 1906 and 1949 was racist, and that an apology will be made in the next few days.

"It's certainly our intention to use the word 'apology' for two reasons that is what the Chinese community wants, and secondly that more clearly represents and demonstrates what we should be doing as a people," Ottenheimer told CBC News on Thursday.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a formal apology on Thursday for Ottawa's head tax, which Chinese immigrants were forced to pay between 1885 and 1923.

• FROM JUNE 22, 2006: PM unveils redress for head tax on Chinese

Bob Hong, whose father paid a $300 head tax in 1931 when he immigrated to Newfoundland, has been one of the most outspoken advocates in the Chinese community seeking an apology.

"I think this is momentous," he said.

"I'm doubly proud to be both a Canadian and a Newfoundlander. I'm simply moved to tears tinged with sadness, of course, because Dad is not here."

Hong said the federal and provincial apologies are a good step towards righting a historical wrong.

More than 300 Chinese immigrants were forced to pay the head tax when they moved to Newfoundland.