By COLLEEN PALUMBO, Golden Memories (TheGoldenStar.net)
Oct 25 2006
Sikh immigrants landing in Canada at the Vancouver, B.C. Canadian Pacific Railway Pier – 1907
(Vancouver Public Library, Special Collections, VPL 9426 )
It has been suggested that I include a story about the Sikh community in one of my columns. I have done this in the past but with so many new residents I don’t think that it hurts to do so again. Parts of the following came from Golden Memories with corrections where necessary for accuracy.
During the early 1890s a number of Sikhs moved to work in the newly developed Columbia River Lumber Company (C.R.L.) mill. In the early 1890s transportation to Canada from the USA was limited to walking or riding a horse across the border, or in the case of Surjan Singh and Dr. Hari Singh, by steam ship.
There were about 45 Sikh people in Golden at the time. The Sikh Temple in Golden was the first Sikh Temple to be built in North America. They built a Sikh Temple not far from where the school board office is located today. The first Sikh temple was beautiful inside. There was a gorgeous carpet on the floor which the people sat on to worship. Many of the Sikh people built their homes close to this temple and were of the Sikh religion. They would take their shoes off before entering the temple and services began with the Lord’s Prayer in their native tongue, Punjabi.
They were very friendly, hardworking and well respected as shown in Golden’s history from interviews with some of Golden’s oldtimers like Norman King, Jack Anderson, Billy Wenman and Blackie Curveon. There were a few Sikh people who were well known like Surjan Singh and Dr. Hari Singh, Hardit Singh, Kartar Singh and Batan Singh. Hospital records from 1893 to 1930 were searched and in all those years only 30 entries were found with about 25 Sikhs being admitted. There has been property recorded in the land title records under the names of Bakhtawar Singh, Inder Singh, Hira Singh, Attar Singh. Telegraph records show one telegram sent about Bakhtawar Singh from his father Inder Singh on Sept. 23, 1911 reporting that a Hindoo (Sikh) was killed accidently at the CRL mill.
Hardit Singh and a few others brought their wives to Golden in 1923, when Canadian Immigration finally allowed the women to come. Hardit Singh had a son named Piara Singh born on Aug. 26, 1924, the first Sikh born in Golden. In 1926 a massive forest fire tore through the timber limits of the CRL and the sawmill had to be closed in 1927. The 40 or 50, Sikh people living in Golden moved to the West Coast to work. The Sikh people took the Guru Granth Sahib (The Holy Scriptures) with them, and abandoned the building, and carpet. Some of the other items were given to the King family. The wooden structure was sold and moved to a dairy farm on 12th Street. One Sikh man lived here until 1930 and was married to a local Canadian girl.
In 1955 Gurdial Singh Dhami moved to Golden and stayed for two or three years. He left and returned again in 1962 with a few other Sikhs. Gurdial Singh Dhami was instrumental in establishing the Sikh community as it flourishes to this day in Golden.
Mrs. Wixon told Shiv Singh Jaswal in 1979 of the existence of the Sikh people of the earlier era and this sparked the interest of several people.
People attended the funeral of a young Sikh woman, Jaswant Kaur in the United Church. Everyone realized that we had no place to worship and had no Guru Granth Sahib (Holy Book) which is very important to the Sikh religion.
People interested in building a temple in Golden set about gathering together and those interested each put in $15 to begin a building fund. The first meeting was held in the basement where Raminder Singh Hundle lived on 14th Street. The first letter was written by Shiv Singh Jaswal to announce to the whole East Indian community that they should come together for a meeting to discuss the building of a new Sikh Temple in Golden. Their first general meeting was held in February 1980 in the Snow Kings Castle, a community hall that was located near 14th Street. Everyone was in agreement that a new Gurudwara should be built.
Surain Singh Manhas quickly made a deal with Hari Singh Olleck of Kamloops to buy the property for $39,800. Another man who had a special roll to play in the construction of the new Sikh Temple was Raminder Singh Hundle. He wrote all the letters and grants and met with the proper authorities in both Golden and Victoria, to see the speedy construction of the new Temple.
Raminder Singh Hundle’s wife Parkash Kaur, made arrangements to get Guru Granth Sahib in Vancouver. Then Raminder Singh Hundle, Shiv Singh Jaswal and Balhar Singh Khrod organized and arranged for the Guru Granth Sahib to be brought to Golden from Vancouver in the start of 1980. The Sikh community were very happy to have a holy book for their future temple. The $100,000 needed to build the Temple was raised in two years.
The current Golden Sikh Temple (Gurudwara) in Golden had its Grand Opening on Oct. 9, 1981.
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