History has shown that human beings, while certainly capable of great good

and acts of kindness, have also been responsible for horrible acts against each other. This is hardly news, of course. There isn't a single country, or group or race, religion, creed, you name it which hasn't at some time in its' history done terrible things against others.

My own family history demonstrates the point. Originally active members of the John Knox Society in Scotland, at a time when Knox was making himself unpopular with the Roman Catholic Mary Queen of Scots, they decided to avoid state persecution by heading off to Ireland in search of a better life. That didn't work out that well either because under the reigns of Charles II and James II in the late 1600s, the Ulster Presbyterians, as they were then called, were openly persecuted by the state.

And so it goes. No doubt your own family history, whatever your origins, contains examples of cruelty and persecution. None of this is meant to excuse bad behavior, or suggest that it's the sort of thing we want to emulate.

But the point here is, if we want to right the wrongs of the past, where, exactly, do we draw the line?

The question becomes particularly relevant since Prime Minister Stephen Harper this week received a standing ovation from an audience of Chinese business people in Markham when he announced his government will apologize for the "grave injustice" of the infamous Chinese head tax imposed against Chinese immigrants arriving in Canada between 1885 and 1923.

Harper said the Conservatives have "long recognized the grave injustice of these past discriminatory measures . . . As promised from the recent speech from the throne, our government will move in Parliament to offer a formal apology for the Chinese head tax" and "will be consulting with the Chinese Canadian community to establish a consensus for further recognition and reconciliation for this sad period of our history."

That it was, as he says, a "sad period of our history" is irrefutable. The tax, aimed only at Chinese, and intended to stop the flood of Chinese immigration during the B.C. gold rush, also led to the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese immigrants altogether until it was repealed in 1947.

During this time, for example, some 17,000 Chinese laborers helped built the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Many lost their lives in the process and all were paid half as much as white workers doing the same jobs. Chinese immigrants paid between $50 and $500 each to enter Canada, a total of some $23 million, and Chinese Canadians have long worked for an apology and/or compensation. Now it seems, they're about to get both.

Incidentally, just before the Liberals called the last election, the government, which had studiously avoided the issue, signed a $2.5 million deal with the National Congress of Chinese Canadians. It offered no apology or compensation and angered many Chinese Canadian groups who felt they had no say in the matter.

There are fewer than 300 head tax payers still alive in Canada, but several thousand of their descendants none of whom, keep in mind, had to pay the tax have registered with the Chinese Canadian National Council and are now hoping for compensation.

Officials from the CCNC met with Heritage Minister Bev Oda and Harper's parliamentary secretary Jason Kenney on the weekend and now say that those who directly paid the tax, or their surviving spouse, will be paid between $15,000 and $30,000 compensation. The CCNC also wants compensation for direct descendants of those who paid the tax.

Maybe it's just me, but I have a hard time with the principle of my government apologizing on my behalf for something I had no part of and wasn't even alive at the time it happened.

It is also fair to say that Canada, while certainly guilty of some nasty things, pales by comparison to many countries when it comes to serious human rights abuses.

One need only to look at today's China to see that is true.

Certainly Canadians should be taught both the positive and negative side of our history fact is, most Canadian students aren't taught much Canadian history of any kind.

But this idea of formal apologies and sending cheques for ancient sins no doubt in the hopes of reaping current political benefits doesn't sit well here.

Maybe I'll feel better when my cheque arrives from Mary Queen of Scots, et al.