A murky chapter in Canada’s racist immigration policies was written during the summer of 1914, when a two-month stand-off took place on the country's west coast.
Ship Chartered to Test Canada’s Exclusion of Asians
In May 1914, a group of 376 passengers - 340 Sikhs, 12 Hindus, and 24 Muslims, organized a test of Canada’s policy of trying to keep non-whites from immigrating to the country.
As documented by The Canadian Encyclopedia, “At the time, East 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 the service.”
So the group chartered a vessel, the Komagata Maru that normally transported coal, and fitted her out for passengers.
The History of Metropolitan Vancouver website records that “The Komagata Maru had not left from India. She had departed April 4th, 1914 from Hong Kong with 150 passengers, picked up another 111 in Shanghai four days later, 86 more on the 14th at Moji in Japan and a final 14 at Yokohama. Then she headed to Canada.”
Vancouver Population Stirred up for Ship’s Arrival
Before the Komagata Maru arrived in English Bay, Vancouver on May 23, 1914, the local media were alerting the citizens of the city. According to the Komagata Maru Heritage Foundation, “The Vancouver newspaper, The Province, published news reports under the heading of ‘Boat Loads of Hindus on Way to Vancouver’ and ‘Hindu Invasion of Canada.’ ”
(To the uninformed journalists and public of the time all people from India were Hindus.)
By the time the vessel dropped anchor there was a determination in the minds of citizens and authorities that the passengers were not going to be allowed to disembark.
Continuous Journey Rule Used to Keep Indians out of Canada
British Columbia had earlier passed a law requiring immigrants to have at least $200 on their person in order to enter the province. The law was specifically drafted to keep poor people from Asia out.
The authorities also invoked the “continuous journey” rule saying the Komagata Maru had not sailed from India and had stopped on its journey to Canada in other ports.
As lawyers for the passengers and the government argued the ship was stuck in the harbour and officials tried to stop those aboard from getting food and water. There were also some nasty scenes of mob violence in Vancouver.
Eventually, the authorities brought in the heavy equipment – literally. The navy training vessel HMCS Rainbow and her six-inch guns steamed into the harbour. Under threat of being shelled, the Komagata Maru sailed out into the Pacific Ocean on July 23, 1914.
Twenty of the ship’s passengers, who were previously resident in Canada, were allowed to stay.
No Welcome for Passengers in India
A sad footnote to the whole affair was related by The Dominion (September 11, 2008)…“upon returning to Calcutta, India, in September 1914, the Komagata Maru was stopped by a British gunboat and the passengers were placed under guard. A riot ensued and the British-Indian police opened fire, killing 20 passengers.”
On May 23, 2008 a resolution was unanimously passed by the British Columbia Legislature apologizing for the denial of entry to Canada of the passengers aboard the Komagata Maru.
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