Ride the rails for free?

Last week, a work colleague remarked that his Chinese wife felt she should be allowed to ride the railroad for free due to silly historical reasons. (Bonus response: my father joked that because they brought the Chinese into the country, the railroad should have to give everyone free trips as restitution)

Well today one may argue that every Chinese person brought into Canada owes his host country a huge favour. After all, perhaps the railroad was a godsend.