“… Soon after landing, the routine of ” Canadianization ” usually began, with the women going out with their husbands to shop for new clothes. It was the custom then to dress Western style in public, saving their Indian dress for inside the home. This was strictly upheld in those days. ” On the day that I arrived in 1932, ” Mrs. Paritam K. Sangha remembers, ” my husband took me to the shop to get new clothes right away. I pleaded with him that I hadn’t had anything to eat and that I was starving, but he did not listen. First, we got the new dresses then later we got something to eat. It was the rule then to dress like the white ladies and keep our hair covered with a scarf at all times. ”
 
 
 
 
 

All of the women who remember those days agree that the situation was not like today when Indian women can be seen in ethnic dress in public. This was unheard of in the old days. Some women even adopted western dress en route. ” When we stopped in Hong Kong I bought some dresses, ” says Mrs. Pritam K. Johl. ” Everybody said that we couldn’t land unless we dressed properly. The pioneers insisted that we dress like the other Canadian people. They would not let anyone dress differently, we had to show that we could fit in and be just like the white people. ”

In keeping with this philosophy of conforming to the Canadian ways, most young men got their hair cut and bought new clothes. Almost all of them came wearing turbans and never cut their hair because of their strict religious upbringing. Devout Sikhs never cut their hair, so this decision was very difficult for some men. But there was strong pressure from outside to conform: from family, friends and the dominant society. For Mr. Mawa S. Mangat it was very traumatic: ” My dad made me cut my hair. Right after I got off the ship he took me to the Japanese barber at Fraser Mills. I cried all the way through it, I couldn’t sleep for a couple of nights. I’ll never forget that. “

Mr. Kuldeep S. Bains had a similar experience: ” My two brothers were working at Sooke Lake in the sawmill. They came to see me the day after I landed in Victoria. First thing in the morning, Bunt said, ‘Let’s go to town.’ We went to town to a Japanese barber. They made me sit down and get a haircut.  
 
He said, ‘I don’t want you to wear this turban around here.’  
 
 
 
 
 
He then took me to buy some new clothes, thicker clothes for winter. ” White barbers would not cut their hair of Asian people, so Sikhs had to go to Japanese or Chinese barbers. This practice persisted well into the 1940s. ” I went to the Canadian barber at one point, ” Mr. Dedar Sihota remembers. ” I sat and they kept taking other people and ignoring me. I said I want a haircut. He said, ” Sorry, we don’t cut your hair. ” They would not cut the hair of any Chinese, Japanese or East Indian. This was in 1943. ”

The Sikhs made these concessions in order to fit in with other Canadians. They would always stand out because of their skin color, but at least they tried to fit in with the dominant culture. Most Sikhs felt that these were simply surface changes and that they had not changed in any fundamental way. ” Canadianization ” was the price they had to pay for coming to this country, an offering given to make life in Canada a little easier.