Canadian Railroads > Canadian Pacific Railway spike found in PM's office

OTTAWA — A missing ceremonial spike from the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway 125 years ago has been located — in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office, no less.

It was reported this week that a group of Chinese-Canadians had gifted the iron spike to Harper in June 2006 during the prime minister's official apology over the Chinese head-tax, requesting that it be put on display in Parliament's Railway Committee Room, the very chamber where Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald made the fateful decision to import Chinese labourers to save his cross-country railway project.

But according to rail historian Bradley Lee, the spike was nowhere to be found during recent visits to the suggested site. And in response to a series of phone calls by a Vancouver Sun columnist, nobody at the House of Commons could say where the spike had gone.

Finally, an email sent Friday afternoon by Melissa Bhagat, an adviser to the immigration minister, solved the mystery of the missing memorabilia — it was on display in a bookshelf in Harper's office.

"It's in the PM's Langevin Block office . . . not lost at all!" Bhagat wrote. "It has been on display since the PM received it, but he is happy to give it up to the railway room if need be."

Lee was relieved to hear the historical relic was located, but stressed that it was important for the relic to be on display in a public space.

"It's very important for all Canadians to know that (Chinese-Canadians) had a very, very important role in building this country, and have yet never been recognized for that contribution," he said.

The commemorative iron spike was one of the 300 presented to a group of white VIPs and railway dignitaries who attended the historic ceremony at Craigellachie, B.C., on Nov. 7, 1885. Approximately 15,000 Chinese workers were excluded from the event, celebrating its 125th anniversary this weekend.

The spike was given to the Chinese committee seeking redress from the federal government by Pierre Berton, who had obtained it while researching his famous history of the building of Canada's transcontinental railway.

The head tax — a racist duty levied on Chinese immigrants to Canada between 1885 and 1923 — was paid by an estimated 82,000 people.

The Montreal Gazette


Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Missing+Canadian+Pacific+Railway+spike+found+office/3786085/story.html#ixzz14e5x4lBq



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/10 16:24 by railwayman69.