Sikh military history honoured
Macdonald once mused that an army of these sought-after soldiers could aid Canada
Sikh Heritage Month and Canada 150 have come together to highlight what a difference 150 years can make.
A commemorative poster, designed by Rahul Bhogal, shows the first prime minister of Canada, Sir John A. Macdonald, facing Canada’s current national defence minister, Harjit Sajjan.
“In 1867, Macdonald called for an army of Sikhs, 150 years later we’ve done one better as a country,” said Pardeep Singh Nagra, executive director of the Sikh Heritage Museum of Canada, who came up with the idea. “We’ve given you an army led by a Sikh.”
While a poster is commissioned every year, Nagra said this year’s brings together two themes, Sikh Heritage Month and Canada 150.
The story behind this poster, Nagra said, comes from a letter written on April 9, 1867, by Macdonald to Sir Henry Sumner Maine, who was living in India at the time.
It was sent after Queen Victoria signed the British North America Act, which confirmed Canadian Confederation and served as the Constitution until the Canada Act of 1982.
Macdonald was musing about the political climate of the time, Nagra explained, and in doing so, called for Sikhs to take San Francisco and California as collateral in the event that the U.S. invaded Canada.
Macdonald wrote: “War will come someday between England and the United States, and India can do us yeoman’s service by sending an army of Sikhs . . . across the Pacific to San Francisco and holding that beautiful and immortal city with the surrounding California — as security for Montreal and Canada.”
Nagra initially wondered where Macdonald got the idea to form an army of Sikhs. But their reputation as warriors was known at the time: large numbers of Sikhs had served in the British Indian Army, and the first are believed to have come to Canada after British soldiers went to London in 1897 to take part in Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee.
As Canada marks 100 years since Vimy Ridge, Nagra said it is important to remember that Sikh artillerymen fought alongside the 4th Canadian Division on that fateful Easter Monday morning in 1917.
“The Sikhs had and continue to have a great military history and tradition as some of the greatest fighters,” he said.
“We have a long history of service in the Canadian military that goes back over 100 years.
“We’re not celebrating Sikh Heritage,” Nagra said. “We’re celebrating Canadian heritage through a Sikh lens.”