Indo Canadians Celebrate Khalsa Diwan Society Centenary

Canadian Sikhs are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the pioneer Sikh institution Khalsa Diwan Society, on December 15-25, at the Gurdwara Sahib Sukh Sagar in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Society was formed in order to fight for justice and fairness for people of Indian heritage living in Canada in the early 1900s. Its headquarters at that time also became a very important center of activism and patriotism for the pioneers seeking India’s independence from the British rule.

Since its inception, Khalsa Diwan Society has done a commendable job in serving the Indo-Canadian community in Canada. The objectives of the 100 years celebration is to share with the community and especially the youth, the achievements and sacrifices of Sikh Pioneers and to discuss how they have helped in shaping the lives of all today, a press release said.

Consider the scenario, exactly 100 years ago, in 1906.

Pioneering immigrants from India, mostly Sikhs who had served the British armed forces in their far-flung outposts around Asia, were making their way to British Columbia. What brought them to the lumber mills and railroads of the Pacific Coast were the push of economic dislocation and the pull of economic demands in Canada.

In rural areas of the Punjab, steamship company agents had seized the opportunity for quick profit selling tickets by distributing glowing accounts of the fortunes to be made in British Columbia. Peasants were so attracted by the reports that they were mortgaging family property to come to Canada. They thought they would be warmly welcomed in what was another British outpost.

Instead, Indian immigration to Canada was restricted through government race-related policies in collusion with the British. Canadian Labor Minister Mackenzie King wrote: “The native of India is not regarded as a person suited to this country; that accustomed as many of them are to the conditions of a tropical climate and possessing manners and customs so unlike those of our own people, their inability to readily admit themselves to surroundings entirely different could not do other than entail an amount of privation and suffering which render a discontinuance of such immigration most desirable in the interests of Indians themselves.”

And here’s what one British army officer in India wrote to his colleague in Canada: “…So the wily ‘Hindu’ is invading your beautiful British Columbia? He is most undesirable to any western civilization, I should think. He is ignorant and most immoral. The higher classes of Hindus are credited with possessing a splendid brain but the coolie class are not …The money they earn in British Columbia will eventually be spent in India and so will be a direct loss to the province…they will never assimilate with your conditions, customs and religion… These people will never compete in aught else but the cheap labor market. The native is born a coolie and he remains as such and dies as such. He does not strike me as being desirous of wanting to better his condition through his presence there…”

On the streets of Vancouver, those were the days when belligerent bigots were singing “White Canada Forever.” For White Man’s land we fight. To Oriental grasp and greed We’ll surrender, no, never. Our watchword be “God save the King,” White Canada forever.

And at their 1906 convention in Vancouver, the Trades and Labor Congress asked that Hindus and all Asiatic people be excluded, and that only Anglo Saxons be allowed to participate in the country’s empire building. One local politician even said that the best way to solve the problem was to let the Indians wander the streets until they died of cold and hunger, as that would be a good way to discourage others from coming.

An article circulating in the British Columbia media at the time commented: “The smoke-coloured Hindu, exotic, unmixable, picturesque, a languid worker and a refuge for fleas, we will always have with us, but we don’t want any more of him. We don’t want any Hindu women. We don’t want any Hindu children. It’s nonsense to talk about Hindu assimilation. The Sikh may be of Aryan stock …he may be near-white though he does not look it. But we know him, and don’t want any more of him. British Columbia cannot allow any more of the dark meat of the world to come to this province. To deport these British subjects from India would be the wisest thing. These Sikhs are far too obtrusive. They are of no use to the country. British Columbia would be a hundred times better off without them. Certainly no more of them must be allowed to come.”

It was also a time when imperialists tried to argue that as long as the British Empire contained three hundred million Indian subjects, it could not remain a white man’s empire. Thus, on 13 November 1906, when the Tartar landed at Vancouver, British Columbia, and almost four hundred Indians disembarked, most applied for admittance to the US rather than face opposition in British Columbia.

That’s because those pioneers were confronted with the ugly face of racism.

That was most abundantly apparent in 1914 when 376 Sikhs, Muslims and Hindu passengers aboard the ship Komagata Maru were denied entry at Vancouver harbor, despite the fact they were British subjects. The passengers were not only denied entry, they were physically threatened, denied food, water and supplies and not permitted to take their individual cases before the courts.

The Komagata Maru incident wasn’t the first act of racism Sikhs had experienced.

The early Indo-Canadians faced harsh discriminatory laws. In 1907, Sikhs were denied the right to vote by a provincial government bill that disenfranchised natives of India unless they had Anglo-Saxon parents. The same year race riots took place on Vancouver streets with Asians and Sikhs being targeted. They were even urged to move to British Honduras (Belize).

KHALSA DIWAN SOCIETY ESTABLISHED

Faced with hostility in their new homeland, Sikhs formed the Khalsa Diwan Society to protect and defend themselves. It would become their political, social and religious voice. Eventually the society helped change immigration policies, lifting restrictions on Sikh women and children immigrating to Canada. With the help of unions, Sikhs earned fair wages in 1943 and the right to vote in 1947.

Now in its 100th year, the Khalsa Diwan Society is celebrating the lives of those pioneers. Many of the events will be held at the Gurdwara Sahib Sukh Sagar Sikh temple in Queensborough (347 Wood Street) with others at the New Westminster Community Center. In addition to celebrating Sikhism, the celebrations will remind participants how Sikh pioneers shaped the lives of all Canadians.

“At that time, there was a need. There was a lot of racism and Indo-Canadians needed a voice,” said Tanvir Singh, assistant secretary at the New West temple.

The intentions of the society have evolved over the years, said Singh. Once focused on social justice issues, it now is more oriented towards the faith and the operations of the many temples in the Lower Mainland and B.C. It also helps those in need, especially immigrants new to Canada.

During 1904 a Sikh Bhai Arjan Singh Malik brought Sri Guru Granth Sahib to Vancouver. The Sikhs congregated at homes for religious ceremonies. The congregations around Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji became a source of unity, inspiration and strength to stand for the rights of the community.

Holding congregations at private homes would have been very inconvenient. It would have been natural to look for an ideal place where everybody could be accommodated on regular basis. As a result, they formed the Khalsa Diwan Society during 1906 and built their first place of worship – Gurdwara Sahib at 1866 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver – during 1908. The Temple cost nearly $10,000, and is a monument to religious zeal and faith of a people far from home, in a strange land which has not treated them justly.

Meanwhile, in an unprecedented move, the management of Khalsa Diwan Society, Gurdwara Sahib Sukh Sagar was recently and for the first time passed on to the Sikh youth. What this means is that the overwhelming majority of the Gurdwara committee, and the volunteers, are people under the age of 30. “While respecting and taking consultation from elders, the youth have brought a new and fresh perspective to community building, sangat communications, Sikh intercultural relations, and spiritual discourse” an official announcement said.

In their mission statement, the Sikh Youth stated that they wanted “to provide truthful and honest management” and “create an atmosphere which is both inviting and comforting to today’s sangat.”

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ISSUE

It is topical too that the centenary celebrations this week will include a seminar and open discussion on domestic violence within the Sikh community.

Only last month Indo-Canadian women in British Columbia were speaking out publicly about the cycle of violence that has plagued their marriages and their families. Many are breaking their silence for the first time.

One by one, Sikh women in British Columbia have stood up in recent weeks to tell tales of being beaten, slapped and threatened with knives and guns. Last month it moved a crowd of more than 2,000 people to tears at an emergency community response forum held in the wake of brutal assaults that left two women dead and one fighting for her life.

One woman who said she was the mother of two girls told of being beaten by her husband for years before working up the courage to leave. “I am a survivor of 11 years of physical, mental and verbal abuse,” she said. “I was held at knifepoint. I was held at gunpoint.” She said that as in many extended Indo-Canadian families, she was encouraged to put up with the beatings to save face, but she finally left. “I am here today in one piece and my daughters are as happy as kids can be,” she said. “Save your daughters, save your sisters … if I can do it, you can do it.”

Attorney-General Wally Oppal, himself an Indo-Canadian, praised the women who told their stories. “It is a horrible cancer that at times seems incurable, but it can be cured,” Oppal said. “This is an awakening of our collective conscience.” He said prosecutors want to bring wife batterers to justice but women are still too often afraid to testify. “We are committed to prosecuting the wrongdoers but we need your help,” Oppal said. “We need witnesses.”

The incidents that prompted the forum included the Oct. 19 shooting of Gurjeet Kaur Ghuman, who was shot in the face in Port Coquitlam by her estranged husband, who then killed himself. She remains in critical condition. Four days later, the charred remains of pregnant Surrey teacher Manjit Panghali were found along a truck route near the Delta Port. Ten days later, 27-year-old Navreet Kaur Waraich, the mother of a four-month-old, was stabbed to death. Her husband Jatinder has been charged with second-degree murder.

indiaspora@gmail.com

By Francis C. Assisi

Source: INDOLink – www.indolink.com