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Head-tax redress came on his 107th birthday

Died 5 days after getting $20,000 cheque


ALLISON JONES, CP

Published: Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Ralph Lung Kee Lee has earned a place in Canadian history books as the oldest Chinese head-tax payer to accept the government's official apology and redress, and his family said yesterday at his memorial service they hope his story lives on long after his death.

Lee received his $20,000 redress cheque from Ottawa on March 10, his 107th birthday - just five days before he died.

"It was almost like, 'I waited this long, here I am. I'm going to stay alive to get it,' " Lee's daughter Linda Ing said of her father, who received his apology and compensation 94 years after coming to Canada.

Born in 1900, Lee came to Canada when he was 12 and paid the $500 head tax imposed on all Chinese immigrants between 1885 and 1923.

He returned to China to marry and fathered three children, but the Exclusion Act prevented him from bringing his family to Canada.

After the Exclusion Act was lifted in 1947, Lee was finally able to reunite with his family in Canada. For Ing, who was then 12, it was the first time she had ever laid eyes on her father.

On June 22, Lee was the oldest of six surviving head-tax payers who saw Prime Minister Stephen Harper deliver the government's official apology.

Lee had a fun and loving personality, Ing said, and he was quite tickled when he finally received his redress cheque.

Ing said when she was younger, she didn't appreciate the sacrifices her father made.

"It was in one ear and out the other," she said.

Ing's son Leo said now that Lee is gone, it's important for those who remember his story to pass it on so his legacy never dies.

"As we move on, the younger generation has to look back and to look at people like grandpa and think (about) why we came here, what we've accomplished here," he said.

"One day I won't be here to speak, so I want to make sure that grandpa has passed the torch on to the younger generation. I want the younger generation to realize where they came from, to be proud to be Chinese."

Lee's granddaughter Landy Anderson said she is extremely proud to tell people about her grandfather and her connection to Canadian history.


© The Gazette (Montreal) 2007