The Komagata Maru Incident

Recently in our PLP 10 class, we have started a new PLP project. After lots of consideration, it’s been named the “Ology of Apology”. In a nutshell, it’s about apologies, and what made the apologies necessary. The first incident we’ve begun to learn about is the Komagata Maru incident, which I’ll be talking about in this post. You probably haven’t heard of this tragedy yet, and that’s because it is a very localized story here in Vancouver, BC. However, this does not make the events that happened in the Komagata Maru incident any less important. Back in the early 1900s, lots of South Asians and people outside of North America, wanted to move to Canada in search of a better life as it was easier to make money there, more stable and were lots of rumours floating around that there was mountains made of gold which gave British Columbia the nickname “Gold Mountain”. Although there were many people from different backgrounds immigrating to Canada, that does not mean the white Canadians liked it. In fact, there was a lot of racism back then regarding immigration. Take the head tax for example. Chinese citizens who wanted to come live in Canada had to pay a tax to come here solely based on their race. This was the Canadians way of keeping Canada a “white Canada”. These terrible laws also affected other South Asians like Indians, and the Japanese, but more harshly, the Indians. Since India was a part of the British Empire, the citizens (subjects) were supposed to be allowed free travel and be able to live anywhere where the British Empire reigned. One of these places was Canada, but Canada didn’t like the idea of thousands of Indians coming to Canada. So Canada implemented a very racist, sneaky law called the continuous journey law. This law meant that boats travelling to Canada had to come directly from their country of origin and could not stop anywhere along the journey, and because there were no direct routes from India to Canada, this blocked almost all Indians from coming to Canada.

This is where the Komagata Maru comes into play, they decided to try and defy this law. The Komagata Maru was a Japanese ship filled with 376 Punjabi’s who should’ve been allowed free entry to Canada as they were all British subjects. On April 4, 1914 the Komagata Maru sailed from British Hong Kong, to Shanghai, to Moji, to Yokohama to Vancouver, and docked in Burrard Inlet. These people wanted to come to Canada as they were promised a better life, easier and higher paying jobs, and a more stable environment. As they travelled across the Pacific Ocean I think it’s important to note that they gave up everything they knew in their lives. They were willing to struggle and give up everything in hopes of a new and better life, just to be turned away. I think this is what needs to be memorialized most today, and something we should all know and reflect on. It wasn’t just a simple plane ride to a laid back vacation. The people on this ship left their families, their friends, their jobs. They risked it all, something most of us do not have the courage to do. Their drive, their persistence, even when getting rejected should be what is memorialized and remembers today when someone thinks of the Komagata Maru incident. Moving on with the story, they had just sailed across the entire Pacific Ocean and landed in Burrard Inlet. Just as the passengers were excited to finally have reached their destination and walk onto land in almost 2 months, the Canadian Government stopped them and did not let them step foot on their land. The Komagata Maru had in fact violated the continuous journey law. A 2 month standoff ensued. Either side not budging on their requests. The passengers of the Komagata Maru wanted entry to Canada and the Canadian Government wanted them to sail back to India. As this was happening, the ship and people on the ship were seen as a spectacle to the citizens of Vancouver. Crowds coming to see the ship and rowing out to get a closer look. The Captain of the ship wanted to finally challenge these racist immigration laws but the white Canadians did not like this. They knew if the people of the Komagata Maru were allowed entry, then many more south asians would come to Canada. Something the white Canadians did not want.

This is the part of the story that I believe is most relevant today. We still live in a racist society, but if people took the time to look and reflect on these past events, and the blatant racism intertwined with them then I feel our society would be a lot more inclusive and forgiving as everyone would be able to see that nothing but bad comes from these terrible actions.

Unfortunately, there is no happy ending to this story. The conditions on the boat began to worsen but the passengers still put up a fight until the last second. The passengers were denied food and water, but they had been supported all the way to the end by the existing South Asian population in Vancouver. Finally, as a Canadian military vessel was called in, they were forced to sail all the way back to India. But that’s not even where this story ends, nor the worst part. To put the rotten cherry on top, they were named “traitors” to the Indian British Empire and most were gunned down and killed while some were arrested. Fast forward to 2008, Stephen Harper decides to make an apology about the Komagata Maru incident, and although official sounding, the Sikh community was not happy with the apology and thought it was unacceptable. They wanted it delivered on the floor of the House of Commons instead of some lousy suburban park. It made them feel as though they were a second class citizen.

“Our community . . . is very much disappointed. We have been treated like a second class citizen,” – Jaswinder Singh Toor.

“The apology was unacceptable,” said Jaswinder Singh Toor

This is a perfect example of how an apology can make a situation worse, something we have been learning about during this project. For years this went unresolved until May 18, 2016, when Justin Trudeau apologized in the House of Commons. This apology was widely accepted, the Sikh community thought he did a great job with his apology. This apology was very important to the South Asian communities in BC as it was the first time the head of Canada officially recognized the terrible events that transpired in 1914 and offered some sympathy in a professional environment. It brought the whole event to a close and that is why the apology was so significant.