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Komagata Maru incident
The Komagata Maru incident involved the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru, on which a group of people from British India attempted to migrate to Canada in April 1914, but most were denied entry and forced to return to Budge Budge, near Calcutta (present-day Kolkata). There, the Indian Imperial Police attempted to arrest the group leaders. A riot ensued, and they were fired upon by the police, resulting in multiple deaths.
Komagata Maru sailed from British Hong Kong, via Shanghai, China, and Yokohama, Japan, to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on April 4, 1914, carrying 376 passengers from Punjab province in British India. The passengers were 340 Sikhs, 24 Muslims and 12 Hindus, all Punjabis and British subjects. Of these 376 passengers, 24 were admitted to Canada, but the other 352 were not allowed to disembark in Canada due to suspected links to revolutionaries in India. The ship was forced to leave Canadian waters, escorted by HMCS Rainbow, one of Canada's first two naval vessels.
The Canadian government's first attempt to restrict immigration from British India was an order in council issued on January 8, 1908, that prohibited immigration of persons who "in the opinion of the Minister of the Interior" did not "come from the country of their birth or citizenship by a continuous journey and or through tickets purchased before leaving their country of their birth or nationality". In practice this continuous journey regulation applied only to ships that began their voyage in India, as the great distance usually necessitated a stopover in Japan or Hawaii. These regulations came at a time when Canada was accepting huge numbers of immigrants, almost all of whom came from Europe. More than 400,000 arrived in 1913. Race relations in Vancouver had been strained in the years before the arrival of the Komagata Maru, culminating in the Anti-Oriental riots of 1907.
The visions of men are widened by travel and contacts with citizens of a free country will infuse a spirit of independence and foster yearnings for freedom in the minds of the emasculated subjects of alien rule.
— Gurdit Singh
Gurdit Singh Sandhu, from Sarhali (not to be confused with Gurdit Singh Jawanda from Haripur Khalsa, a 1906 Indo-Canadian immigration pioneer), was a Singaporean businessman who was aware that Canadian exclusion laws were preventing Punjabis from immigrating there. He wanted to circumvent these laws by hiring a ship to sail from Kolkata to Vancouver. His aim was to help his compatriots whose previous journeys to Canada had been blocked.
Though Gurdit Singh was apparently aware of regulations when he chartered the ship Komagata Maru in January 1914, he continued with his enterprise in order to challenge the continuous journey regulation, in the hope of opening the door for immigration from India to Canada.
At the same time, in January 1914, he publicly espoused the Ghadarite cause while in Hong Kong. The Ghadar Movement was an organization founded by Punjab residents of the United States and Canada in June 1913 with the aim of gaining India independence from British rule. It was also known as the Khalsa Association of the Pacific Coast.
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Komagata Maru incident
The Komagata Maru incident involved the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru, on which a group of people from British India attempted to migrate to Canada in April 1914, but most were denied entry and forced to return to Budge Budge, near Calcutta (present-day Kolkata). There, the Indian Imperial Police attempted to arrest the group leaders. A riot ensued, and they were fired upon by the police, resulting in multiple deaths.
Komagata Maru sailed from British Hong Kong, via Shanghai, China, and Yokohama, Japan, to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on April 4, 1914, carrying 376 passengers from Punjab province in British India. The passengers were 340 Sikhs, 24 Muslims and 12 Hindus, all Punjabis and British subjects. Of these 376 passengers, 24 were admitted to Canada, but the other 352 were not allowed to disembark in Canada due to suspected links to revolutionaries in India. The ship was forced to leave Canadian waters, escorted by HMCS Rainbow, one of Canada's first two naval vessels.
The Canadian government's first attempt to restrict immigration from British India was an order in council issued on January 8, 1908, that prohibited immigration of persons who "in the opinion of the Minister of the Interior" did not "come from the country of their birth or citizenship by a continuous journey and or through tickets purchased before leaving their country of their birth or nationality". In practice this continuous journey regulation applied only to ships that began their voyage in India, as the great distance usually necessitated a stopover in Japan or Hawaii. These regulations came at a time when Canada was accepting huge numbers of immigrants, almost all of whom came from Europe. More than 400,000 arrived in 1913. Race relations in Vancouver had been strained in the years before the arrival of the Komagata Maru, culminating in the Anti-Oriental riots of 1907.
The visions of men are widened by travel and contacts with citizens of a free country will infuse a spirit of independence and foster yearnings for freedom in the minds of the emasculated subjects of alien rule.
— Gurdit Singh
Gurdit Singh Sandhu, from Sarhali (not to be confused with Gurdit Singh Jawanda from Haripur Khalsa, a 1906 Indo-Canadian immigration pioneer), was a Singaporean businessman who was aware that Canadian exclusion laws were preventing Punjabis from immigrating there. He wanted to circumvent these laws by hiring a ship to sail from Kolkata to Vancouver. His aim was to help his compatriots whose previous journeys to Canada had been blocked.
Though Gurdit Singh was apparently aware of regulations when he chartered the ship Komagata Maru in January 1914, he continued with his enterprise in order to challenge the continuous journey regulation, in the hope of opening the door for immigration from India to Canada.
At the same time, in January 1914, he publicly espoused the Ghadarite cause while in Hong Kong. The Ghadar Movement was an organization founded by Punjab residents of the United States and Canada in June 1913 with the aim of gaining India independence from British rule. It was also known as the Khalsa Association of the Pacific Coast.