Dear Saanich South,
You are invited to a community gathering at the Saanich South Constituency Office:
6pm – 8pm, Wednesday July 23, 2014.
On this day, exactly 100 years ago, a steamship called the Komagata Maru left Vancouver Harbour for Calcutta. On board were more than 300 would-be immigrants from India. They had spent the last two months trapped on board the ship in the Burrard Inlet, desperate for food and fresh water, as they tried and failed to get the same right to enter Canada given freely to “white” immigrants.
By learning this history we can appreciate how the Indo-Canadian community has thrived over the last 100 years, and how the restrictions and discrimination of the past have been steadily replaced with opportunities and multiculturalism.
There will be historical displays, Indian food, chai and sweets.
We will celebrate how far we've come and reflect on the challenges which remain.
Hope you can make it!
Please RSVP: rsvp@saanichsouth.ca
Lana
Lana Popham, MLA Saanich South
The Komagata Maru, 100 years ago
1914 – 2014: from Expulsion to Embrace
The Komagata Maru was a steamship
that sailed from Hong Kong to Vancouver, arriving on May 23, 1914.
On board were 376 passengers, all
members of the British Empire. They arrived to start a new life in BC, like
hundreds of thousands of other warmly welcomed immigrants in the years before
the First World War.
However, these new arrivals
received a hostile reception because of who they were: migrants from India. 340
of the passengers were Sikh Punjabis, the rest were Muslims or Hindus from
other parts of the sub-continent.
The passengers were unwanted and “illegal”
because they were not “White”.
As offensive as this sounds to us
today, that was a ‘moral’ position and popular view at the time. Such sentiments
were openly stated by everyone from the BC Premier, the local Member of
Parliament, the Chief of Police and Military Officials, to the editors of the major
newspapers and most in the general public.
Law and regulations were in place
to legalize this discrimination. Non-whites must be severely restricted from
immigrating to Canada, the logic was, to ensure the dominant culture prospered
and the resources and jobs of this bountiful part of the world were reserved
for those in power.
For two months a dramatic
conflict played out in Victoria, Vancouver and Ottawa. In fact, the story was
leading news around the world. It spoke to major world issues of the moment, including
the British occupation of India. It led to direct action by the Prime Minister
and Members of his Conservative Cabinet …not to mention a dramatic murder and a
hanging in Vancouver.
When the Komagata Maru arrived
outside the harbour of Vancouver in May 1914, the Canadian government acted
aggressively. The Immigration Ministry denied the passengers permission to land
and ordered the ship to leave BC waters.
The leader of the passengers was
Gurdit Singh,a successful businessman and activist based in Singapore. He
believed with good reason that he and his passengers had a legal right to
immigrate to Canada as Members of the British Empire. He planned this journey,
charted the boat and crew, and sold one-way tickets. In his view this would be
put the first of regular such voyages.
Gurdit Singh refused to leave the
Burrard Inlet. However, he had only brought enough water and food for a one-way
voyage. As their supplies quickly dwindled, the passengers took stock of their
dire predicament. Canada would not let them land. The government refused even
to take them into custody on land while while their claims were adjudicated.
After a long and uncomfortable
voyage, the passengers found themselves in an anchored and floating prison.
The passengers’ plight brought together
a diverse group of supporters, including the nascent Indo-Canadian community
and a disparate minority of socialists and progressives.
Funds were raised and a lawyer
was hired to fight the government in court. (He later had to flee as his work
on behalf of the Komagata Maru generated credible death threats to himself and
his wife and child.) The passengers wanted equal treatment with immigrants from
other parts of the world, especially north-west Europe, who happened to be welcomed
into Canada with open arms by the Canadian Government at the time.
Soon after the Komagata Maru
arrived, a rally was organized by Vancouver mayor Truman Baxter in which he and
other speakers like Member of Parliament H.H Stevens urged the government to force
the ship to leave port immediately. The Immigration Official in charge, Malcolm
R.J Reid, worked tirelessly to keep the passengers off-shore.
Meanwhile a "shore
committee" was formed which raised funds for the ship and helped hire a
lawyer to fight the case in court. Gurdit Singh agreed to file a representative
case on behalf of all the passengers in the name of a farmer named Munshi
Singh. On July 6th, the full bench of B.C court of appeal gave a unanimous
verdict that under new Federal orders-in-council it had no authority to
interfere with immigration department.
On July 19, 1914, the ship Sea Lion, with 35 special deputised immigration
officers along with 125 Vancouver police officers approached the boat in order
to force it from Vancouver harbor. The angry passengers defended themselves by
throwing chunks of coal that was onboard as cargo. The Sea Lion was forced to retreat.
On July 21st, the
Federal government mobilized its new Royal Canadian Navy and brought in a
warship, the HMCS Rainbow to force
the Komagata Maru to leave.
By this time the passengers were
close to starving and suffering from a lack of drinking water. On July 23, they
chose to leave port peacefully. They were not allowed to take on food and water
and other supplies they needed for the return voyage until they were well out
to sea.
The passengers of the Komagata
Maru struggled non-violently for the chance to live in Canada. After exhausting
all legal options they agreed to leave, and set a course for Calcutta India on
July 23, 1914. The dramatic story continues in India as many were arrested or
killed by British-India police soon after their return. Gurdit Singh escaped
and went into hiding. Six years later he voluntarily surrendered to the police on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi and spent five years in prison.
In Canada, the story of the Komagata
Maru resonates deeply with many people, especially the Indo-Canadian Community.
In many ways it marked a turning point in the long struggle for equality in
Canada. Today this moment is celebrated by many Sikh Punjabis because Canada
has truly become their home, a place where they live in freedom and strive for
what is good.
100 years after the expulsion of
the Komagata Maru much has changed. Canadians have become more pluralistic,
welcoming of diversity and respectful of human rights.
May this anniversary be celebrated in the spirit
of accepting new challenges: we can best honour the Komagata Maru by advancing
freedom and justice for all.
Lana Popham
