Toronto ? More than a century ago, Canada forced tens of thousands of Chinese who helped build the nation’s railroad to pay a “head tax” if they wished to remain in the country and then taxed them again to bring in their families. On Thursday, Canada apologized.

Five frail survivors who paid the head tax – the oldest is 106 – were among those at Thursday’s atonement ceremony in Ottawa. The government also announced that it would give compensation packages for the survivors and their widows.

The head tax, which started in 1885 at $50 and grew to $500 by 1903 – then two years’ wages for Chinese laborers – was collected from some 81,000 Chinese immigrants. Collections ended in 1923, when immigration from China was banned. Canada only began admitting Chinese again in 1947.

Chinese immigrants began coming to Canada in the mid-1800s in response to the gold rush in British Columbia. Some 15,000 Chinese were brought in to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway.