Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
19 November 2010
East Indian Migrants
Turned away from Canada
The Komagata Maru arrived in Vancouver Harbour
in May 1914; most of the 376 East Indian
passengers were never allowed to leave the ship
A murky chapter in Canada’s racist immigration policies was written during the summer
of 1914, when a two-
Ship Chartered to Test Canada’s Exclusion of Asians
In May 1914, a group of 376 passengers -
As documented by The Canadian Encyclopedia, “At the time, East Indians were kept
out of Canada by an order-
So the group chartered a vessel, the Komagata Maru that normal transported coal, and fitted her out for passengers.
The History of Metropolitan Vancouver website records that “The Komagata Maru had not left from India. She had departed April 4th, 1914 from Hong Kong with 150 passengers, picked up another 111 in Shanghai four days later, 86 more on the 14th at Moji in Japan and a final 14 at Yokohama. Then she headed to Canada.”
Vancouver Population Stirred up for Ship’s Arrival
Before the Komagata Maru arrived in English Bay (below), Vancouver on May 23, 1914, the local media were alerting the citizens of the city.
According to the Komagata Maru Heritage Foundation, “The Vancouver newspaper, The Province, published a news report under the heading of ‘Boat Loads of Hindus on Way to Vancouver’ and ‘Hindu Invasion of Canada.’ ”
(To the uninformed journalists and public of the time all people from India were Hindus.)
By the time the vessel dropped anchor there was a determination in the minds of citizens and authorities that the passengers were not going to be allowed to disembark.
Continuous Journey Rule
Used to Keep Indians out of Canada
The British Columbia had earlier passed a law requiring immigrants to have at least $200 on their person. The law was specifically drafted to keep poor people from Asia out.
The authorities also invoked the “continuous journey” rule saying the Komagata Maru had stopped on its journey to Canada in other ports.
As lawyers for the passengers and the government argued the ship was stuck in the harbour and officials tried to stop them from getting food and water. There were also some nasty scenes of mob violence in Vancouver.
Eventually, the authorities brought in the heavy equipment – literally. The navy
training vessel HMCS Rainbow and her six-
Under threat of being shelled, the Komagata Maru sailed out into the Pacific Ocean on July 23, 1914.
Twenty of the ship’s passengers, who were resident in Canada, were allowed to stay.
No Welcome for Passengers in India
A sad footnote to the whole affair was related by The Dominion: “upon returning to
Calcutta, India, in September 1914, the Komagata Maru was stopped by a British gunboat
and the passengers were placed under guard. A riot ensued and the British-
Image credit
Vancouver Public Library
Library and Archives Canada C46574
Sources
“Komagata Maru and the Politics of Apologies.” Harsha Walia, The Dominion, September 11, 2008
“Sikhs Unhappy with PMs Komagata Maru Apology.” Canadian Press, August 3, 2008.
“RCMP Considering Human Smuggling Charges in Sun Sea Case.” Marten Youssef, Globe and Mail, September 30, 2010.
© Canada and the World, October 2010
All rights reserved
APOLOGIES
On May 23, 2008 a resolution was unanimously passed by the British Columbia Legislature apologizing for the denial of entry to Canada of the passengers aboard the Komagata Maru.
A couple of months later, Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered an apology in a speech in Surrey B.C. However, Canadian Press reported (August 3, 2008) that,
“Following Harper's speech, Sikh community leaders asked the crowd for a show of hands on whether or not to accept the apology. Then they announced that the gathering had rejected it.”
The Sikhs wanted the apology to be delivered on the floor of the House of Commons as been done for Chinese subjected to a head tax.
SUN SEA
In modern echoes of a distant event another vessel, the MV Sun Sea, arrived off Canada’s
west coast in 2010 with a boatload of would-
As the Globe and Mail reported (September 30, 2010) “the barely seaworthy boat sailed across the Pacific Ocean with 492 Tamil migrants onboard. Since the vessel’s arrival at CFB Esquimalt on August 13, Canadian authorities have scrambled to distinguish human smugglers from asylum seekers.”
Unlike the Komagata Maru passengers, some of the people on the Sun Sea are suspected of being phoney refugee claimants while others might be terrorists.