Tracing the story of the immigration

INDO-CANADIANS OF NOTE

TORONTO: There is plenty of dispute over when the first Indian immigrants arrived in Canada, but they are widely believed to have arrived near the turn of the 20th century. According to one theory, this may have been in 1897 as a British regiment, mainly comprising Sikhs, passed through British Columbia en route to London. These soldiers would travel through the country to England for occasions such as the Jubilee of Queen Victoria or the Coronation of King Edward II in 1902, as part of a Hong Kong military regiment.

Margaret Walton-Roberts, Associate Director of the International Migration Research Centre, part of the Waterloo, Ontario-based Wilfrid Laurier University points out that, “Early immigrants from India were mainly Jat Sikh sojourners from Punjab, drawn to British Columbia to work in the province’s resource industries.” According to her, by 1904, 36 Sikh males, four women and five children arrived in Canada and another 5,000 followed over the next three years.

But soon, there was a backlash in Canada. In 1908, an Indian immigrant had to possess $200 in landing money, a fourfold hike. A Government order was also passed making continuous passage from India to Canada mandatory for landing in the country, while the only operator offering such a service was directed to not sell through tickets to Canada from India.

In effect, this excluded Indians from the country: In 1908, over 2,500 immigrants had arrived, the next year that number was five. Five years later, Canada’s reluctance to accept Indian immigrants led to the Komagata Maru incident, in which 376 Punjabi immigrants were prevented from landing in Vancouver and two months later, escorted away from the harbour.

On their return to India, a riot led to British firing killing 19 passengers and would-be immigrants. That incident remains part of immigrant lore in Canada. It was only after World War II that such restrictive policies were relaxed.