30 January 2007 Media Release

Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust now open

The Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust is now urging members of the Chinese community to apply for funding. There is a limited time to apply to this funding round, which closes 28 February 2007.

Administered by the Department of Internal Affairs, the Trust aims to strengthen the unique identity of Chinese New Zealanders and their communities.

The Trust was set up following the Government’s apology for the historic actions of past governments who imposed a poll tax on Chinese persons entering New Zealand, and enacted other discriminatory statutes.

The Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust is in recognition of the hardship caused by the poll tax, and a gesture of goodwill to poll tax payers, their descendants, and future generations. The Trust’s goal is to create heightened understanding of the Chinese community within New Zealand as a whole.

The Trust provides grants for projects and activities that promote:
- education and use of the Cantonese language
- awareness and understanding of the history of Chinese New Zealanders
- recording and preservation of Chinese New Zealand history
- greater public understanding of ethnic diversity, with particular emphasis on the contributions of Chinese New Zealanders
- Chinese arts and culture, including Chinese New Zealand creative and cultural expression.

Applicants are not required to be Chinese, or descendants of early settlers, but proposals for funding must support the objectives of the Trust and have support from the Chinese poll tax descendant community.

Trust members will meet in late March to consider all applications, and successful grants will be announced in April 2007.

For more information about the Trust, and to obtain an application form, visit the Department of Internal Affairs’ website at www.dia.govt.nz or phone 0800 824 824.

ENDS

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