Vancouver City Council formally apologized Tuesday for historical discrimination against 376 passengers travelling on board the Komagata Maru steamship from British India in 1914. Council also declared Sunday, May 23, as the first Komagata Maru Remembrance Day to be marked by the City of Vancouver. The apology recognized Vancouver City Council’s racism when they supported through resolution rather than denounced the federal government’s racist immigration laws in June 1914, opposing people from India and other Asian countries to enter and live in Canada. Passengers were forced to remain on board for two months without sufficient access to medical aid, food, and water. The ship eventually returned to India, where tragically 19 passengers were shot and killed. Many others were injured or jailed.

By PD Raj – Senior Writer DESIBUZZCanada

VANCOUVER - Vancouver City Council formally apologized Tuesday for historical discrimination against 376 passengers travelling on board the Komagata Maru steamship from British India in 1914. Council also declared Sunday, May 23, as the first Komagata Maru Remembrance Day to be marked by the City of Vancouver.

The apology recognized Vancouver City Council’s racism when they supported through resolution rather than denounced the federal government’s racist immigration laws in June 1914, opposing people from India and other Asian countries to enter and live in Canada. Passengers were forced to remain on board for two months without sufficient access to medical aid, food, and water. The ship eventually returned to India, where tragically 19 passengers were shot and killed. Many others were injured or jailed.

“As we mark the 107th anniversary of the arrival of the Komagata Maru, Vancouver City Council and I, on behalf of the City of Vancouver, sincerely apologize for the role the City played in the incident, especially supporting laws that prevented passengers from disembarking,” said Mayor Kennedy Stewart. “For this, and all the repercussions that followed, we are truly sorry.”

Mayor Kennedy Stewart read the formal apology at the start of Council meeting. This apology and the City’s official observance are the results of Council’s unanimous decision in June 2020 to recognize the injustices of the Komagata Maru incident.

Komagata Maru Remembrance Day

This week, the City will launch a video telling the story of the Komagata Maru incident through the eyes of passengers’ descendants and their families. The video will be shared via the City’s website and social media channels on Sunday, May 23.

The video will also be screened on the third floor foyer of City Hall each year between May and July, as an educational piece for future school visits and the public.

“We are all richer when we remember how unique it is to have so many different ethnic communities living together,” said Raj Singh Toor, vice-president of the Descendants of the Komagata Maru Society. “I hope the apology and video will help to connect Vancouverites, British Columbians and Canadians with their past, and to build a more peaceful, equitable tomorrow.”

On Sunday, City Hall will also be illuminated orange to mark Komagata Maru Remembrance Day.

Staff have been working since fall of 2020 with a volunteer committee, including historians and Descendants of the Komagata Maru Society members, on how to mark this day.

South Asian apology and redress

The apology for the City’s role in the Komagata Maru incident is part of a broader ongoing effort to recognize historic discrimination against the South Asian community, which arises from a 2019 Council decision.

One goal of this work is to educate decision-makers and the broader public of the human rights violations against people of South Asian descent, and the ongoing impact and harm of discriminatory laws, regulations, policies, and practices. The City is in the process of hiring a South Asian Redress Planner who will work with the Senior Social Planner for Anti-Racism and Cultural Redress to advance this necessary redress work with South Asian communities.

Councillor Jean Swanson brought the Komagata Maru apologize and Komagata Maru Proclamation Motion June 10, 2020 behalf of the Descendants of the Komagata Maru Society request which was written by Raj Toor of the Descendants of the Komagata Maru Society. 

Liberal MLA Michael Lee also delivered a statement in the Legislature on the Komagata Maru, reflecting on the racist attitudes and laws that led to the incident and the lessons it has for us today. When the 376 passengers on the Komagata Maru arrived in Vancouver in 1914, they were met with skepticism and racism. While attitudes have changed in the last 107 years, there is still much more work that needs to be done to make B.C. a more inclusive community.

Lee noted that incidents like the Komagata Maru, while all too common in our province and country’s history, hold a mirror up to our current society. They force us to reflect, to evaluate, and hopefully, encourage us to work together for a better, fairer, future for all British Columbians.

The Komagata Maru arrived in Vancouver on May 23, 1914 with 376 passengers, one of which was Toor’s grandfather. His name was Baba Puran Singh Janetpura. The other passengers were British subjects from India of Sikh, Muslim and Hindu origin, seeking to enter Canada.

On June 23, 1914, Vancouver Mayor Truman Baxter organized an anti-Asian rally, and the first speaker was the prominent politician H. H. Stevens. “I have no ill-feeling against people coming from Asia personally,” he told the crowd, “but I reaffirm that the national life of Canada will not permit any large degree of immigration from Asia . . . I intend to stand up absolutely on all occasions on this one great principle—of a white country and a white British Columbia” 

The overflow crowd of 2,000 unanimously adopted a resolution proposed by Vancouver Alderman Frank E. Woodside to immediately deport the passengers. The body of the motion declared,  “And whereas it is the universal opinion of all citizens resident upon the Pacific Coast of the Dominion of Canada, that the influx of Asiatics is detrimental and hurtful to the best interests of the Dominion, from the standpoint of citizenship, public morals and labor conditions:” Alderman Woodside further declared at this meeting, “We have here now about 4000 Hindoos, which is more than we want…”  (The Vancouver World, June 24, 1914).

On the night of June 29, 1914, Vancouver City Council unanimously passed a resolution moved by Alderman William R. Hamilton, and seconded by Alderman Malcolm McBeath, protesting the ship's landing in Canada, and stating that Vancouver City Council was "unalterably opposed to the admittance of Hindus and other Asiatic races into this country." The motion further stated that "... these people would prove a serious menace to our civilization, both economically and socially ..." Alderman McBeath was later to become Vancouver Mayor from 1916 - 1917.

On July 23, 1914, the Komagata Maru was forced to leave by the Government of Canada, without allowing the passengers to disembark.  

The British were ruling India at that time, and when the Komagata Maru arrived in India, British troops shot at the passengers. Around 20 people were killed on the spot. Many were injured, and the rest of them were put in jail for a long period of time.

On May 23, 2008, at the request of the Descendants of the Komagata Maru Society, the BC government apologized for the events of 1914, stating that “The House deeply regrets that the passengers, who sought refuge in our country and our province, were turned away without benefit of the fair and impartial treatment befitting a society where people of all cultures are welcomed and accepted.”

On May 18, 2016, at the request of the Descendants of the Komagata Maru Society, the Canadian government apologized for its handling of the Komagata Maru, stating that it was sorry for its indifference and discriminatory laws, and that it was committed “to positive action – to learning from the mistakes of the past, and to making sure that we never repeat them.”