Hey you…. yeah you! Have you heard the tale of the legendary ship: the Komagata Maru?
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What?!? You barely know anything about it? Rumour has it that more than 100 years ago, a Japanese ship full of Sikh pioneers came to Vancouver to challenge laws set by the most powerful empire of the time. It would result in the death of many of these men and yet, this event would be the turning point in India’s Freedom Movement to quote Jaswinder Toor, president of the Komagata Maru society and descendant of one of the passengers aboard the ship.
^A picture of the Komagata Maru
In all seriousness, we began a new project! Hi again. I’m back to, as you can guess, talk about the Komagata Maru. This new project is all about the idea of “apologies” and we plan on taking three case studies in which the Canadian government has apologized for to break down this concept. We have recently begun our foremost case study, which is all about this Komagata Maru Incident and I even got to go on my first PLP case study! Now before I even begin talking about the first case study, let’s talk about apologies.
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Apologies are everyday occurrences and yet do we every really think about them? Apologies are vital for strong relationships as they can fix salty wounds, disputes, and misunderstandings so what goes into a good “sorry”? After discussion and lecture we found 7 main points and -here they are:
1. A specific definition of the perceived offense.
2. Acknowledging that the perceived offense cause harm.
3. Taking responsibility.
4. Recognition of wrongdoing.
5. A statement of regret.
6. A promise not to repeat the offense.
7. An explanation of why the offender acted this way.
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Although all may not be necessary depending on the severity of the issue it is normal for use to at least follow 3 of these points. Anyways back to the main topic about that ship.
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So what is this Komagata Maru event? As hinted in my spooky intro, it is a tragic tale of racism, discrimination and systemic oppression than happened in BC’s past. It is the story of Sikhs challenging the “Continuous Journey Act” by SHOCKINGLY…. go to the Canada. I could probably write an essay on this but that does not really make sense considering the internet exists so here is a video by Historica Canada that explains the entire thing for me:
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To sum it up bluntly, people were racist and didn’t like “non-white” immigrants coming to Canada so the put all sorts of laws preventing or making it nearly impossible for Asians to immigrate to Canada. One such law was the “Continuous Journey Act” that would only allow immigration from India if the ship had stopped by at no other countries. At the time, this was essentially impossible due to technology so a group of Sikhs lead by a man named Gurdit Singh Sirhali tried the impossible by coming to Canada all the way from Asia. Upon arrival they were denied entry due to blatant racism and they were stuck at the port for multiple months. Eventually, they forced to leave after military vessel called in and had no choice but to make the grueling trip back to India. However, even back at home, they were branded “traitors” to the British Empire and some were killed, and some were arrested. That is a brief overview of this sad story but what happened afterwords?
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The legacy of the Komagata Maru would evolve to affect many things in our live and especially as a South-East Asian myself, I may not even be in Canada without the sacrifice for these men. People like Jagmeet Singh would not have been able to enter politics and discrimination to Asians may have still lasted to this day without an event like this. Dr. Renisa Mawani, A historian and author of a book about the Komagata Maru, said after being questioned “Why is it important for governments to address historic wrongs?”:
“Historical wrongs are not merely historical. They have significant and ongoing effects on the present and the future. We can see this very clearly with colonial occupations that have created violent forms of dispossession, some of which are evident in indigenous struggles for land, resources, and sovereignty today. But the legacies of colonialism are also evident in the politics of migration, the ways in western occupations and interventions have created mass migrations in which certain bodies are seen as expendable and others are given the protection of national and international agencies. These politics are playing out on a global scale today in the Mediterranean and in the devastating refugee crisis in Europe.”
She sums up many point of how This Komagata Maru incident but I also want to point out that not everything that came out of this is so grand that it effected the global, political playing field but as well as the lives of many individual Sikhs and Asians. The descendants of those aboard the Komagata Maru will always remember the impact it left on their families so its important we do recognize and reconcile our relationships with our fellow Canadians. But speaking of reconciliation, how has the Canadian Government apologized?
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Justin Trudeau, in 2016 May 18, formally apologized for the events that took place in 1914 but this was not the first. The first “formal” apology from the government came in 2008. Although this one was not very accepted, it is good that many in the Sikh community have accepted Trudeau’s apology to quote Tejpal Singh Sandi: “Justin Trudeau has done a great job with his apology”. Besides the formal announcements to the public, a memorial for this event was also unveiled in 2012.
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Finally, I talk about the what we remember. We can all say that this was tragic tale but as historian we must understand the different points of views at the time and using different sources, deduct logical analysis on these events. I am not justifying what took place but we choose what aspects of this Komagata Maru event took place. We can easily say, that people were being racist but what caused it. Without understanding things like why people chose discriminate, we can’t remember this event properly. Today we remember as example of racism and systemic oppression that needs to be apologized for but rather than that, why not remember as the story of a group of pioneers coming to fight oppression. Rather than, thinking of a time when the Sikh community was rejected, instead we must also remember it as the year that the Sikhs had their first voice.
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Sources:
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/komagata-maru
https://www.arts.ubc.ca/news/arts-profesors-discuss-komagata-marus-legacy-and-pm-trudeaus-upcoming-apology/
Mrs. Willemse!
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-jas-johal-show/the-komagata-maru-107-years-C_OjSxZuMly/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVWAMFA6-BA&t=198s
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/komagata-maru-why-the-apology-matters-more-than-a-century-later-1.2907423
Mr Hughes!
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/komagata-maru-backgrounder-apology-1.3584372