The pioneers of Komagata Maru who were turned away from Canada all those years ago will have a home here after all. PICs executive director Charan Gill has commissioned a huge mural of the Komagata Maru and its passengers on the south wall of the middle building of the PICs supported living facility, facing 75A Avenue (off 120th Street) in Surrey . “We just want this to be a symbol of respect to those people on Komagata Maru who fought the racist policies of the colonial regime,” Gill told The Asian Star. “They may have been denied the right to land and live in Canada then but we will be giving them the right to land here in Surrey and become citizens of Surrey,” Gill said.
He said the mural will remind people forever the sacrifice made by the passengers of Komagata Maru and how they battled the then Canadian government’s racist policies. Komagata Maru, a Japanese-owned freighter was chartered out of Hong Kong in April 1914 by 376 Indians, mostly Sikhs, bound for Canada. At the time, Indians were kept out of Canada by an order-in-council requiring them to come to Canada by continuous passage from India, when no steamship line provided such service. Before the Canadian government, under tremendous pressure, closed the door in 1908, about 2000 Sikhs had settled in BC.
In 1913, 38 Sikhs contested the continuous-passage order and were admitted. This encouraged others to charter the Komagata Maru. When it arrived at Vancouver in May 1914, most of the passengers were detained on board. They waited on board for two months while immigration officials maneuvered to keep them out of court and, after they had lost their case, while their leaders negotiated departure terms. The arrival of the RCN cruiser Rainbow on July 20 added to the Canadian pressure, and on July 23 Komagata Maru sailed for Calcutta, where it was met by police suspicious of the organizers’ politics. On disembarkation, 20 passengers were killed in a shooting exchange.
The 10 feet wide by 18 feet tall painting will be completed by Jarnail Singh, who has painted other murals in the Lower Mainland. “It will be huge as it covers the 3rd and 4th floor walls,” Gill said. He said the mural will remind people forever the sacrifice made by the passengers of Komagata Maru and how they battled the then Canadian government’s racist policies.
By Umendra Singh Source: The Asian Star, September 23, 2006 – www.theasianstar.com
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