Photos: When these Indian immigrants got to Canada, police kept them on their boat for two months
A hundred years later, the government apologized for the Komagata Maru incident
People thronged the deck after a long transpacific voyage. Immigration officers stared back. It was May 23rd, 1914, and the SS Komagata Maru’s 376 passengers were being denied entry into Canada because they were Indian.
The ship approached Vancouver destined for confrontation. Gurdit Singh, a wealthy Sikh from Singapore, masterminded the trip to expose racist Canadian policies and to showcase how Indian subjects of the British Empire were treated. His political stunt resulted in a two-month standoff.
Canada had exclusionary laws targeting East Asians, but legislation directed against Indians was intentionally vague due to British fears of nationalist insurrection in India. The Continuous Journey regulation of 1908 permitted only émigrés arriving from their country of origin and the government pressured ships to cut direct passage from India. Singh hired the Komagata Maru and departed from Hong Kong with 150 emigrants, picking up more in Shanghai and Yokohama including — in Canada’s view — nationalist agitators.
The authorities in Vancouver seemed to be expecting them. Arrivals were typically processed ashore but only 20 repatriating Indian-Canadians and a doctor and his family were allowed to disembark. Rubberneckers on boats or on the piers grew as days passed, the central government unsure how to proceed. Locals of Indian extraction filed a lawsuit against, and everything ground to a standstill. While the Komagata Maru sat idle, authorities harassed its passengers, restricting supplies. At one point they tried to seize control of the ship.
More than a month passed before the courts officially declined to intervene, and appealing their decision seemed hopeless. Low on food and water, Singh demanded provisions for a voyage to Calcutta. When the authorities refused, enraged passengers deposed the Japanese crew, then fought off a tugboat enlisted to force the ship from harbor. Eventually, an agreement for enough supplies to reach Hong Kong was reached and on July 23rd, the Komagata Maru left.
Upon reaching Calcutta the ship wasn’t denied berth, it was held by gunboats. England had just entered WWI, and the ship’s passengers were seen as political agitators. Police stormed the ship and a riot broke out; 19 returnees were killed and most others arrested. Singh escaped and lived on the lam until 1922 when a nationalist leader by the name of Mahatma Gandhi finally convinced him to surrender. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment.
The Continuous Journey requirement remained law until 1947. On May 18th, 2016, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized in the House of Commons for what came to be known as the Komagata Maru Incident .
