Chinese-Canadian advocates called on the B.C. government Sunday to repay $9 million in head taxes as a “symbolic” gesture as part of an apology to B.C.’s Chinese community.

The B.C. Liberal government is holding seven consultation meetings with Chinese British Columbians to determine the wording of an apology for historical wrongs such as the head tax, which ended in 1923, and the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was repealed in 1947.

Teresa Wat, the provincial cabinet minister responsible for multiculturalism, has said compensation is not part of the apology process.

“We are asking for a tax refund,” Sid Tan, a founder of the Head Tax Families Society of Canada, said before the start of the third consultation meeting, on Sunday in Vancouver.

He said the idea would not be to return money to individuals but instead use it to fund legacy projects to be decided by the head-tax families.

He said his group is pursuing individual compensation from the federal government, which collected $23 million in head taxes in Canada, and passed $9 million to Victoria.

Canada, with B.C. government support, started charging a head tax in the late 1800s to discourage Chinese immigration.

Tan said the $9 million received by B.C. (which is all they are asking for today) would be worth much more now, perhaps as much as $1 billion. Compounded annually for 100 years at five per cent interest, $9 million is worth $1.2 billion.

Tan argued the B.C. government’s decision to apologize has financial considerations, including on trade with China.

“This is all about telling them we are not racist anymore — ‘We did this apology’,” Tan told reporters. “But this apology message to our trade partners is that in B.C. you can profit from racism and keep the proceeds.”

Wat said that in the first two consultations — in Victoria and Kamloops — nobody asked for compensation.

“It is a loud and clear the message that most speakers think the government should consider education legacy efforts, and we are here to listen,” she told reporters at the start of the session at the Chinese Cultural Centre in Vancouver.

Some organizations are not interested in compensation from B.C., including the Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver.

“Our position is really from the conversation we’ve had with our 100-plus community members. We are not looking for compensation,” said association vice-president Jun Ing.

The B.C. government’s process has also been criticized as being more about a quick apology than reconciliation, which critics say is important if the apology is to have meaning and weight in the broader community.

But Wat said the consultation sessions are open to the public, and the apology sessions will result in recommendations to government in addition to a wording of the apology.

She said that she was also depending on the media to take the message of the apology to the public.

Bill Chu, who heads up Canadians for Reconciliation Society, has chastised the B.C. government for preparing to apologize for past wrongs without consulting widely with people who are not Chinese. “It’s a farce when it comes to reconciliation,” Chu said Sunday.