By Zile Singh
A Japanese ship named Komagata Maru with 376 passengers on board, comprising theSikhs, Hindus, and Muslims from India, sailed from Hong Kong. It reached the Burrard Inlet, Vancouver, BC on May 23, 1914. Due to Canada’s Continuous Passage Act, no passenger was allowed to go ashore. The condition of the Canadian Continuous Passage (2008) was that the journey should be “uninterrupted” from the country of the passengers.In spite of all possible efforts to persuade the Canadian government to allow passenger to enter Vancouver, the Ship was returned after two months stalemate. Unfortunately, upon reaching the port of Budge Ghat, near Calcutta (Kolkata),the passengers faced the guns of the British-Indian police. Many were killed, others were jailed. Many had died on board the ship for want of food and medical facilities. Since then, this incident has become a symbol of struggle against injustice and continues to inspire efforts to eradicate racism in Canada and elsewhere.
In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper officially apologized for the incident in front of a large crowd in Surrey, BC. The Komagata Maru Memorial in Coal Harbour, Vancouver was erected by the Khalsa Diwan Society and the Vancouver Park Board in July 2012. The same year in December, Citizenship, Immigration and Multicultural Minister Jason Kenney granted money to Vancouver’s Khalsa Diwan Society (KDS) to build a museum dedicated to the Komagata Maru. The Museum, located on the premises of the KDS, is accessible to the public. In 2014, a Commemorative stamp of Komagata Maru was issued by Canada Post Corporation at the initiative of the Komagata Maru Heritage Foundation, Vancouver.
On May 18, 2016, Prime Minister Justine Trudeau apologized for this incident in the Canadian Parliament. He said,” Canada does not bear alone the responsibility for every tragic mistake that occurred with the Kamagata Maru and its passengers, but Canada’s government was without question responsible for the laws that prevented these passengers from immigrating peacefully and securely, for that, and for every regrettable consequence that followed, we, are, sorry.”
On February 9, 2024, the City of Vancouver gave a second name to a prominent street on the city’s Waterfront in honor of Komagata Maru. Canada Place, the street where a cruise and ferry terminal and the Vancouver Convention Centre are, will now have the second name of Komagata Maru Place, as it was the site closest to where the ship was docked in 1914.
Zile Singh is a columnist, author, poet, human rights activist, golfer and a vipassana meditator. He can be contacted at zsnirwal@yahoo.ca
