Komagata Maru incident

The "Komagata Maru" incident involved a Japanese steamship, the Komagata Maru, that sailed from Hong Kong to Shanghai, China; Yokohama, Japan; and then to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1914, carrying 376 passengers from Punjab, India. The passengers were not allowed to land in Canada and the ship was forced to return to India. The passengers consisted of 340 Sikhs, 24 Muslims, and 12 Hindus, and all were British subjects. This was one of several incidents in the history of early 20th century involving exclusion laws in Canada and the United States designed to keep out immigrants of Asian origin.

Bhai Gurdit Singh Jawanda's initial idea

Gurdit Singh Jawanda, from Amritsar, was a well-to-do fisherman in Singapore who was aware of the problems that Punjabis were having in getting to Canada due to exclusion laws. He wanted to circumvent these laws by hiring a boat to sail from Calcutta to Vancouver. His aim was to help his compatriots whose journeys to Canada had been blocked.

Immigration controls in Canada

During the first two decades of the 20th century, some provinces in Canada enacted laws limiting the civil rights of Indians, including the right to vote, hold public office, serve on juries, or practice as pharmacists, lawyers, and accountants.However, because India, like Canada, was part of the British Empire, Canadian authorities did not pass exclusion laws explicitly targeting those of Indian origin. The Imperial authorities in London had noted Indian resentment when the Australia enacted immigration restrictions implictly designed to restrict non-European immigration in 1901, based on similar legislation in South Africa. New Zealand had passed similar restrictive legislation in 1899.

When Canada started making provisions to block immigration from India, London warned it to be cautious in its approach and to be aware that its actions might inflame nationalist fervour in India. With this in mind, Canadian immigration authorities decided to indirectly halt Indian immigration to the country.

The government’s first attempt to restrict immigration from India was to pass an order-in-council on Jan. 8, 1908, that prohibited immigration of persons who "in the opinion of the Minister of the Interior" did not "come from the country of their birth or citizenship by a continuous journey and or through tickets purchased before leaving their country of their birth or nationality."The new regulation was soon challenged with the arrival of the S.S. Monteagle in March, 1908. The ship carried more than 200 passengers, 105 of whom had boarded in Calcutta. A number of the passengers were ordered deported as they did not comply with the new regulation. The orders were challenged in court. Justice Clement quashed the deportation orders on March 24, 1908, after he found the regulation to be invalid, as the Immigration Act did not authorize the delegation of decision making to the Minister of the Interior, as stated in the regulation. [Re Behari et al. (1908), 13 B.C.R. 415 (B.C.S.C.); Johnston, H., Voyage of the Komagata Maru, p. 5, footnote 9.]

The government responded by introducing an amendment to the Immigration Act, which expressly authorized a regulation “to prohibit landing of any specified class of immigrants or any immigrants who have come to Canada otherwise than by continuous journey from the country of which they are natives or citizens and upon through tickets purchased in that country.”

The amendment was enacted on April 10, 1908. [S.C. 1908, c. 33] The government passed an order-in-council under the amended Act on May 27, 1908. A further regulation was passed by an order-in-council on June 3, 1908, which stated that “No immigrant of Asiatic origin shall be permitted to enter Canada unless in actual and personal possession in his or her own right of two hundred dollars, unless such person is a native or subject of an Asiatic country in regard to which special statutory regulations are in force or with which the Government of Canada has made a special treaty, agreement or convention.”

While neither regulation expressly referred to India, they effectively stopped immigration from India as the $200 cash requirement limit was a significant hurdle for most potential immigrants from India, and the continuous journey regulation was made effective by pressuring steamship companies not to provide direct service between Canada and India or to sell through tickets from Indian ports. [Johnston, H., op.cit., pages 4 and 5.]

Canadian Pacific did run a very lucrative shipping line between Vancouver and Calcutta. However, the Canadian government forced the company to stop this service. It was now impossible to come via continuous journey to Canada.

A new, revised Immigration Act was enacted on May 4, 1910. [S.C. 1910, c. 27] It included provisions similar, though not the same as provisions in the 1906 Act, which authorized the continuous journey and $200 cash requirement regulations. The two 1908 regulations were reenacted on May 9, 1910, by orders-in-council P.C. 920 and P.C. 926.

The continuous journey regulation came under judicial comment in 1911, in a case before the Supreme Court of B.C. involving Hassan Rahim, a known revolutionary from Bengal, India. On Nov. 9, 1911, Mr. Justice Morrison issued a writ of habeas corpus to quash a deportation order made against Mr. Rahim. In granting the order, the judge commented that the 1910 continuous journey regulation was invalid, as its wording (copied from the 1908 regulation) did not confirm with the enacting provision of Paragraph 38(a) of the 1910 Immigration Act. [Re Rahim (1911), 16 B.C.R. 369 (B.C.S.C.); Re Rahim (1911), 16 B.C.R. 471 (B.C.S.C.).]

The judgment did not result in any significant increase in attempts at immigration from India. Both regulations underwent judicial scrutiny again in November, 1913, in the course of two cases before the Supreme Court of B.C. The first involved Bhagwan Singh Jakh, a known revolutionary from Punjab, India, who had entered Canada by falsely representing that he was a returning resident of Canada. The second case involved 39 passengers from India who arrived in Victoria on Oct. 17, 1913, on the ship Panama Maru, and who were detained and ordered deported under the Immigration Act. [Johnston, H., op. cit., pp. 17-19.]

While court proceedings were still pending, Bhagwan Singh was forcefully deported on Nov. 19, 1913, in the face of a writ of habeas corpus issued by the Supreme Court. [Johnston, H., op.cit., pp. 19 and 20; Singh, K., Canadian Sikhs (Part One) and Komagata Maru Massacre, pp. 112 and 113.] On Nov. 28, 1913, Mr. Justice Hunter quashed the deportation orders made against 35 of the 39 passengers (applications concerning four passengers were withdrawn when the case was heard), by finding that: (a) the $200 cash requirement regulation was invalid as its reference to “Asiatic origin” didn’t conform with Section 37 of the 1910 Act, which authorized regulations in respect of persons of the "Asiatic race"; and (b) the continuous journey regulation was invalid for the reasons given by Justice Morrison in the Rahim case. [Re Narain Singh et al. (1913), 18 B.C.R. 506 (B.C.S.C.)]

Word of Justice Hunter's decision spread abroad, with Indians resident in Canada urging others to come to Canada, before the rules were changed again. [Johnston, H., op. cit., pp. 22 and 23.]

As an appeal from Justice Hunter’s decision was limited by law, the government responded quickly, by enacting new continuous journey and $200 cash requirement regulations on Jan. 7, 1914, by orders-in-council P.C. 23 and P.C. 24. The new regulations conformed with the enacting provisions in the 1910 Act, in accordance with Justice Hunter's decision. [Johnston, H., op. cit., pp. 25 and 26.]

The new regulations appeared to be immune from any further legal challenge. Though Gurdit Singh was apparently aware of the new regulations when he chartered the "Komagata Maru", [Johnston, H., op. cit., p. 26.] he continued with his purported goal of challenging the continuous journey regulation and opening the door for immigration from India to Canada. At the same time, in January, 1914, he publicly espoused the Ghadarite cause while in Hong Kong. [Johnston, H., op. cit., pp. 24 and 25.]

The regulations came at a time when Canada was accepting massive numbers of immigrants (over 400,000 in 1913 alone – a figure that remains unsurpassed to this day), almost all of whom came from Europe.

The voyage

Hong Kong became the point of departure. The ship was scheduled to leave in March, but Singh was arrested for selling tickets for an illegal voyage. He was later released on bail and given permission by the Governor of Hong Kong to set sail, and the ship departed on April 4 with 165 passengers. More passengers joined at Shanghai on April 8, and the ship arrived at Yokohama on April 14. It left Yokohama on May 3 with its complement of 376 passengers, and sailed into Burrard Inlet, near Vancouver, on May 23. "This ship belongs to the whole of India, this is a symbol of the honour of India and if this was detained, there would be mutiny in the armies" a passenger told a British officer. The Indian Nationalist revolutionaries Barkatullah and Balwant Singh met with the ship en route. Balwant Singh was head priest of the Gurdwara in Vancouver and had been one of three delegates sent to London and India to represent the case of Indians in Canada. Ghadarite literature was disseminated on board and political meetings took place on board.

Arrival in Vancouver

When the "Komagata Maru" arrived in Canadian waters, it was not allowed to dock. The first immigration officer to meet the ship in Vancouver was Fred "Cyclone" Taylor. [Whitehead, E., Cyclone Taylor: A Hockey Legend, p. 159] The Conservative Premier of British Columbia, Richard McBride, gave a categorical statement that the passengers would not be allowed to disembark, as the then-Prime Minister of Canada Sir Robert Borden decided what to do with the ship.

Meanwhile a "shore committee" had been formed with Hassan Rahim and Sohan Lal Pathak. Protest meetings were held in Canada and the USA. At one, held in Dominion Hall, Vancouver, it was resolved that if the passengers were not allowed off, Indo-Canadians should follow them back to India to start a rebellion (or "Ghadar"). The shore committee raised $22,000 as an installment on chartering the ship. They also launched a test case legal battle in the name of Munshi Singh, one of the passengers. On July 6, the full bench of the B.C. Court of Appeal gave a unanimous judgement that under new Orders-In-Council, it had no authority to interfere with the decisions of the Department of Immigration and Colonization. [Re Munshi Singh (1914), 20 B.C.R. 243 (B.C.C.A.)] The Japanese captain was relieved of duty by the angry passengers, but the Canadian government ordered the harbour tug "Sea Lion" to push the ship out to sea. On July 19, the angry passengers mounted an attack. The next day the Vancouver newspaper "The Sun" reported: "Howling masses of Hindus showered policemen with lumps of coal and bricks... it was like standing underneath a coal chute".

The government also mobilised the HMCS "Rainbow", a former Royal Navy ship under the command of Commander Hose, with troops from the Royal Irish Fusiliers, 72nd Highlanders, and the 6th DCOR [Duke of Connaught's Own] regiments. In the end, only 24 passengers were admitted to Canada, since the ship had violated the exclusion laws, the passengers did not have the required funds, and they had not sailed directly from India. The ship was turned around and forced to depart on July 23 for Asia.

Return to India

The "Komagata Maru" arrived in Calcutta on September 26. Upon entry into the harbor, the ship was forced to stop by a British gunboat, and the passengers were placed under guard. The ship was then diverted approximately 17 miles to Budge Budge, where the British intended to put the group on a train bound for Punjab. The passengers wanted to stay in Calcutta and marched on the city, but were forced to return to Budge Budge and reboard the ship. The passengers protested, with some refusing to reboard, and the police opened fire, killing 20 and wounding nine others. This incident became known as the Budge Budge Riot.

Gurdit Singh Jawanda managed to escape and lived in hiding until 1922. He was urged by Mahatma Gandhi to give himself up as a true patriot; he duly did so, and was imprisoned for five years.

ignificance

The "Komagata Maru" incident was widely cited at the time by Indian groups to highlight discrepancies in Canadian immigration laws. Further, the inflamed passions in the wake of the incident were widely cultivated by the Indian revolutionary organisation, the Ghadar Party, to rally support for its aims. In a number of meetings ranging from California in 1914 to the Indian diaspora, prominent Ghadarites including Barkatullah, Tarak Nath Das, and Sohan Singh used the incident as a rallying point to recruit members for the Ghadar movement, most notably in support of promulgating plans to coordinate a massive uprising in India.

Memorials and depictions

In 1951, the government of the new Republic of India erected its first monument at Budge Budge to commemorate the massacre there.

A plaque commemorating the 75th anniversary of the departure of the "Komagata Maru" was placed in the Sikh gurdwara (temple) in Vancouver on July 23, 1989.

A plaque commemorating the 80th anniversary of the arrival of the "Komagata Maru" was placed in the Vancouver harbour in 1994.

In 2004, Ali Kazimi's feature documentary "Continuous Journey" was released, This is the first in-depth film to examine the events surrounding the turning away of the "Komagata Maru." The primary source research done for the film led to the remarkable discovery of rare film footage of the ship in Vancouver harbour. Eight years in the making "Continuous Journey" has won over ten awards, including the Most Innovative Canadian Documentary at DOXA, Vancouver 2005, and most recently, Golden Conch at the Mumbai International Film Festival, 2006

The CBC radio play ""Entry Denied," by the Indo-Canadian scriptwriter Sugith Varughese focuses on the incident and a film also about the incident titled "Exclusion" by director Deepa Mehta is scheduled to be released in 2008.

Governmental apology

In April 2008, Dr. Ruby Dhalla, MP for Brampton-Springdale, tabled Motion 469 (M-469) in the House of Commons which calls upon the Canadian Government to apologize to the individuals and families impacted by the "Komagata Maru" incident. M-469 asks, "That in the opinion of the House the Government officially apologize to the Indo-Canadian community and to the individuals impacted in the 1914 "Komagata Maru" incident in which the passengers were prevented from landing in Canada." On May 12th 2008, the Conservative Government concurred and publicly apologized to the Indo-Canadian community for the "Komagata Maru" incident.

The Government of British Columbia also apologized in May 2008. [http://www.sadapunjab.com/news/?p=540]

Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued an apology for the incident in Surrey, British Columbia on August 3, 2008. While some members of the Sikh community were unsatisfied with the apology, Secretary of State Jason Kenney said "The apology has been given and it won't be repeated" thus settling the matter for the Federal government. [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080803/komogata_maru_080803/20080803?hub=Canada]

ee also

*Human rights in Canada

References

Bibliography

* Chilana, Rajwant Singh, International Bibliography of Sikh Studies (Dordrecht: Springer, 2005), pp. 461 to 463
* Ferguson, Ted, "A White Man's Country" (Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 1975)
* Johnston, Hugh J.M., "The Voyage of the Komagata Maru: the Sikh Challenge to Canada's Colour Bar." (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1979)
* Josh, Sohan Singh, "Tragedy of the Komagata Maru" (New Delhi: People's Publishing House, 1975)
* Kazimi, Ali, "Continuous Journey, feature-length documentary about the Komagata Maru. 2004
* McKelvie, B.A., "Magic, Murder and Mystery", (Duncan, B.C., Cowichan Leader, 1965)
* Reid, Robie L., "The Inside Story of the "Komagata Maru" in "British Columbia Historical Quarterly", Vol V, No. 1, January 1941, p. 4
* Report of the Komagata Maru Inquiry (Calcutta, 1914)
* Singh, Baba Gurdit, "Voyage of the Komagatamaru: or India's Slavery Abroad" (Calcutta; n.d.)
* Singh, Jaswant, "Baba Gurdit Singh: Komagatamaru" (Jullundur; New Book Co., 1965) [written in Gurmukhi]
* Singh, Kesar, "Canadian Sikhs (Part One) and Komagata Maru Massacre." Surrey, B.C.: 1989.
* Singh, Malwindarjit, and Singh, Harinder, War against King Emperer: Ghadr of 1914-15: A verdict by special tribunal (Ludhiana: Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh Trust, 2001)
* Ward, W. Peter, "The Komagata Maru Incident" in "White Canada Forever: Popular Attitudes and Public Policy toward Orientals in British Columbia." Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2d ed., 1990, pp. 79-93
* Waraich, Malwinderjit Singh (ed.), Sidhu, Gurdev Singh (ed.), Komagata Maru: A Challenge to Colonialism Key Documents (Unistar Books, 2005)
* Whitehead, Eric, Cyclone Taylor: A Hockey Legend (Toronto; Doubleday Canada, 1977), pp. 158-163

External links

* [http://www.sikhpioneers.org/ Pioneer East Asian Immigration to the Pacific Coast: Komagata Maru]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0490857/ Continuous Journey - an award-winning feature length documentary by Ali Kazimi. The only in-depth film account about this "incident"]
* [http://kabira.freeservers.com/komagatamaru.html Komagata Maru Voyage]
* [http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=bc5cdad1-2922-45e9-a828-d5e68baf500a "Tejpal Singh Sandhu was at Monday's meeting representing his great-grandfather Gurdit Singh, who chartered the ship to travel from India to Canada."]