Canadian Sikhs Through A Century, 1897-1997 8176850756

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CANADIAN SIK H S T H R O U G H A C EN TU R Y (1897-1997) DR BHAGAT SIN G H This book is an account of the Sikhs who created a respectable place for them in Canada through sheer hard labour, inexhaustible vitality, a deep sense o f responsibility, an indom itable spirit and unbounded inherent capacity to bear hardships. A century-old history o f the Canadian Sikhs is marked by many stages as: from penury to affluence and from deprivation of all human rights to full-fledged citizenship with representation in city councils, provincial assemblies and federal parliament. This book opens with the description of the situation in which the Sikhs were bom, raised and disciplined before they journeyed to Canada and elsewhere in the world. Two major events in the history o f the Canadian Sikhs, that kept them shaking to their spine, were the refusal o f the passengers o f the Komagata M aru to land in Canada in 1914 and the denial o f franchise in British Columbia for forty years (1907-1947). Their active participation in the Ghadar Movement has also been duly projected in this study. In this work the author has explained the Sikh identity and the steps taken by the Canadian Sikhs to preserve it in its distinct form. Canadian governm ent’s policy of multiculturalism is noble in letter and spirit but some of the whites take the policy as an affront to their pretended cultural superiority and cultural im perialism, the author says. Racism is still an unspent force in Canada where it is manifest in all its forms: individual, institutional and structural racism. It is openly at war with human values. Sadly, the Canadian Im migration Department does not treat all its immigrants equally. The author finds that at present there is hardly a vocation or profession that the Canadian Sikhs have not adopted. They included successful and rich businessmen, industrialists, educationists, doctors, engineers, scientists, lawyers, politicians, realtors,r transporters and big farmers and are on the highincom e-eam ers lists. The author has attempted to tell the Canadian Sikhs as to who they have been in the past and who they are at present and what they are likely to become in the days to com e. T he m u ltifa rio u s and commendable roles o f the Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver, for alm ost a century, have also received the author’s attention in this work. This is perhaps the first coherent and detailed study o f the virile and enterprising Canadian Sikh community. Design by : Saxena Computers Ph : 011 -3260363

C A N A D IA N SIKHS T H R O U G H A C E NTU R Y

(1897-1997)

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By the Same Author

E nglish W orks 1. Canadian Society and Culture 2. Canadian Sikhs through a Century (1897-1997) 3. A History o f the Sikh M isals 4. M aharaja Ranjit Singh and His Tunes 5. Sikh Polity in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries 6. M ughal Court News (Akhbar-i-D arbar-i-M ualla (1708-1718) 7. Persian H istorians and Historiography o f the Sikhs 8. Published about ten dozen research papers 9. About 200 entries in the Encyclopaedia o f Sikhism P u n ja b i W orks 10. History o f the Punjab (1469-1857) 11. H istoiy o f India Part-1 12. History o f India Part-II 13. M edieval Indian Institutions: so cia l cultural and economic 14. M aharaja Ranjit Singh, Punjabi and Hindi 15. Giani Gian SinghJH'istor'ian) 16. Prem Singh Hoti — His Life and Works 17. Rashtar Vir Guru G obind Singh 18. Raja P om s 19. Prominent Buildings o f the World 20. A bout 100 entries in the World and the Punjab Encyclopaedias (Punjab G overnment Languages Department) T ran slatio n s 21. A History o f the Sikhs (Teja Singh and Ganda Singh) 22. The World Religions (Harban Singh and M.L. Joshi) 23. History o f Britain (Carter and Mears) 24. A Short History o f the British Commonwealth Part-I (Ramsay Muir) 25. A Short History o f the British Commonwealth Part-11 (Ramsay Muir) 26. Akbar to Aurangzeb (W.H. Moreland)

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CANADIAN SIKHS THROUGH A CENTURY (1897 - 1997 )

B H A G A T SIN G H M.A., Ph.D.

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Gyan Sagar Publications Delhi www.sikhnationalarchives.com

Gyan Sagar Publications C-143, Preet Vihar Delhi - 110092

Copy right © Author

C A N A D IA N SIK HS T H R O U G H A C E N T U R Y (1897-1997) By DR B H A G A T SIN G H

First published, 2001 ISBN No. 81-7685-075-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the prior written permission o f the author. Besides donations from others, the Canadian Sikh Study and Teaching Society, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, has also helped financially in the publication o f this book.

P r i n t e d in I n d ia

Published by G yan Sagar P ublications, Delhi - 110092 Laser T ypeset by Perfect C om puter A rts, Delhi -110051 Printed by Ram Printograph (India), D elhi - 110051

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To The cherished memory of the brave and enterprising pioneer Sikhs who underwent tremendous sufferings sacrificing their yesterday for our tomorrow, to make us comfortable and affluent

,

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CONTENTS

vii

Preface Historical Background

1

Early Sikh Settlers and Their H ardships and Sufferings

33

The K om agata M aru— A Challenge to C anadian Immigration Rules and Racism G hadar M ovem ent in C anada and Am erica

59

86

Fight for Franchise or Right to Vote

116

The Sikhs and Immigration

147

Racial D iscrim ination— A Stigm a on Human Soul

180

The Sikhs vis-a-vis Canadian M ulticulturalism

204

Professions and the Sikh Professionals

240

The K halsa Diwan Society, V ancouver— A Powerful Institution

280

Sikh Identity and Its Preservation in Canada

317

Next Generation Sikhs in Canada

352

Religious Heritage o f the Sikhs and Their Transform ation through It

383

G lossary

432

Select Index

445

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PREFACE

This w ork on the C anadian Sikhs from 1897 to 1997 w as undertaken despite my impaired health at the express instance o f som e Sikh scholars and Sikh societies in B.C. and some friends from V ancouver (B.C.). To write a good book is not a cakew alk, rather it is a strenuous and endless journey that exhausts the w riter but w riting is his lifeline. I partly agree w ith W illiam H azlitt that “a book is a bloodless substitute for life.” Probably, he wants to convey that one has to shed or burn ones blood to produce a book w hich ultim ately com prises bloodless m ass o f scribbled papers. But I fully agree with M ilton that “a good book is the precious life-blood o f a master-spirit,” m eaning that the author’s life-blood flows freely in the body o f his book. The author transfers his blood into his book otherwise it does not come to life. The author can never absent him self from his work, how ever objective and impersonal he may try to be. A book is born o f the brain and heart o f its author who puts h im self in its pages. His individuality im perceptibly blends itself into his w ork and gradually em erges in front o f the reader. It is demanded o f every w riter to give his best and his best cannot be another’s. Those who speak frankly are alw ays likely to be listened to than those who speak with less candour. An author should never conceal or suppress his mind. The question o f his views finding favour or disfavour with his readers is secondary but the author’s primary consideration is his sincerity towards him self and tow ards how he feels. He should be sincere to his experiences and his views regarding the subject in his hand. Personal experience is the basis o f every real w ork and sincerity to ones experience o f life is the foundation o f a good work. Experience is a good school but its fees are very high. It is hard to beat an experience o f m ore than h alf a century. It is not for sale at the corner store. You have to earn it. If we could sell our ex periences for w hat they cost us, we w ould all be millionaires. Generally it is gained through advancing years. No wise man

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(viii) ever wishes to be younger, thus losing the experience o f life gained at high price. He should write as his inner spirit prompts him to write and he should not write as the others w ant him to write. W riting to order would be dishonesty to him self and to his readers, to which a good w riter should never condescend. In the course o f w riting this book this author made it his ch ief business to report faithfully o f w hat he has lived, seen, thought, felt and known for himself. It is som ething w hich an honest w riter should never lose sight of. If readers differ with him at places it is natural, if they never differ with him that is unnatural as no tw'o men alw ays think alike. Differing with one another occasionally adds flavour to the thoughts. Style o f an author, as Carlyle says, is not the coat o f a w riter but his very skin. W hen a w riter has som ething really personal to say he will certainly not fail to find a really personal w ay in w hich to say it. A thought w hich is his own will hardly perm it itself to be shaped into the fashion o f some one else’s expression.’ Every spirit builds its own house.’ A t places this author solicits to be too assertive in his view s and experiences. As said above no tw o persons see a situation in the same way. Two men looked out through prison bars, one saw the mud, the other saw the stars. The aspiring men never look to the earth, they always look into the space. So do the w riters look at things differently, some look with pessimism and despondency and some with hope and optimism. In this book 1 have said things from my own experiences and assessm ents but still I believe that most o f the readers may tend to agree with me on most o f my observations. A century-old history o f the Canadian Sikhs is marked by many stages : from sheer penury to com fortable affluence and from deprivation o f all human rights to full-fledged citizenship with representation in city councils, provincial assem bles and federal parliam ent. The process o f this change had been aw fully agonising and beset w ith hurdles w hich took them decades to overcom e. In this study the same would be depicted faithfully. The cam era shows no mercy. It cannot ignore your faults. You cannot be too cautious. A true historian is a slave to his*jealous m istress— history— that never allows him to go astray. The author must be true to his inner voice. He should never be for a ban or constraint on voice. He must believe in freedom to disagree. He should be in full agreem ent with Voltaire, an 18th century w orld-renowned French philosopher who says, “ I disapprove o f what you say but I will defend, to the death, your right to say.v The pioneers being mostly illiterate they did not write any thing about them selves and those who could, did not find tim e to record it due to their w w w .sikhnationalarchives.com

(ix) over-busy daily schedules. It is w ell know n that those w ho create history seldom find tim e to w rite it. L ater interview s w ith them exposed the perpetrators o f intense pain and gross injustice on them . A lthough those w ere bad tim es for them but w ere lived in the hope o f good tim es to com e, w hich ultim ately did com e. In the circle o f tim e no stage is stationary. There is no sting in their voices and no rem orse in their m em ories. W hen com pelled to speak o f their past, they sm iled aw ay those m iserable days. T heir struggle to vacate injustice w as determ ined w ith undepressed spirits and relentless tirade w ithout su rren d erin g to the agents o f fate. F or a genuine cause they w ould rather break than bend. They never com prom ised over their established heritage and valuable principles o f righteous conduct. In their new hom e-land they alw'ays m eticulously upheld the intrinsic values o f their religious tenets and m oral discipline. These qualities m ade them stand firm in their odd hours in an alien, inhospitable and som etim es hostile land w here ultim ately they found ready recognition and ungrudging acceptance at the hands o f their long-tim e detractors. It is my very sincere feeling that I have not been able to narrate the tearful tales o f w oe o f the pioneer im m igrants as agonisingly and distressfully as they had suffered. I w ish that these elderly pioneers w ho are now travelling in the fast lane o f their Iife-journey and are locked up inside them selves m ust open up and divulge all their experiences before they bang into the sunset o f oblivion and the treasure o f history w ithin them gets crem ated or buried unknow n. The preserved old stories o f the pioneers will bring their rem ote past to the present. An investigator-historian approaches the past with one aim: ‘‘Tell m e all” . But they im ploringly appeal to the q uestioner to leave their past into the past and they are unw illing to talk about it. But their life is not th eir’s now, it is d e a th ’s. D eath is the penalty one pays for living. A t their late 80s or 90s they have becom e the relics o f the past. The Sikhs are probably the m ost adventurous people in the w orld. N one in the w orld had exhibited so strongly the indom itability o f hum an spirit as the Sikhs. M igration from one place to another for greener pastures has been the practice o f alm ost all the tribes o f the universe right from its creation. This had been n ecessitated by the vag aries o f g eo graphical co n d itio n s or calam ito u s ch an g e s in the p h en o m en a o f nature. T he econom ic considerations o f the Sikhs pushed them out o f the Punjab into various parts o f the w orld including Canada. The Sikh diaspora has m ade a m eaningful contribution to the Sikh faith by m aking it a w orld religion but sadly enough most o f the non-Sikhs, the w orld over, know little about Sikh religion and culture. The Sikhs do need to tell the non-Sikhs outside India as to w ho they are and, despite their small num bers, how they have

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(x) contributed significantly to different aspects o f life in the countries they happened to inhabit perm anently. To provide the readers with some basic information about the religious and cultural heritage o f the Sikhs a chapter has been incorporated in this work. The first chapter o f this book narrates the situation out o f which the Sikhs were born and raised before they journeyed to Canada. They carried in their blood strong germ s o f resistance to injustice and servitude and had preference and readiness for sacrifice when encountering ignominy. Their habit o f hard work and determination to attain w hat they once planned to achieve alw ays brightened their path. They possess lim itless and unbounded inherent capacity to bear hardships and sufferings and under all circum stances their anxiety to rise equal to the expectations o f others alw ays keeps them prom pting. W hen they go to foreign lands they know w hat challenges they are likely to face. Odd circum stances facing them never pose any threat to their indom itable spirits and they m ake them selves worthy challengers o f the gravest situations m entally and physically. This book is not an adm iring look at the Sikh comm unity in C anada but an impersonal analysis o f their century-long struggle for existence in their newly adopted country. We rem em ber, more often, w hat has been unpleasant.I have covered all tim es— with one foot in the past and one foot in the future and tw o eyes on the present. This is what a historian is like. History is tonnes more than ‘a collection o f tales from the tom bs’ as has been ignorantly said. V oltaire’s sw eeping rem arks are also incorrect when he says that ‘history is a pack o f tricks we play on the dead.’ W ithout its study a man does not know his past, present and future and is thus reduced to the status o f a sem i-hum an being. The C anadian Sikhs passed through a strenuous struggle in their new ho m elan d , being unw elco m e g u ests th ere. T hey faced h o rren d o u s opposition arising out o f racism ingrained in the w hites’ blood. The AngloSaxons are w hite-skin-colour vanity incarnates. This w ork is the story o f one hundred years o f self-assertion by the most virile com m unity o f the world. The Sikhs all over the decades waded through a ceaseless identity crisis and ultim ately established their distinct identity clearly recognizable and acceptable everyw here on this planet. In the early stages the whites made all efforts to exterm inate the Sikh presence in Canada. The Canadian w hites’ enduring effort to keep C anada a w hite country had to be fought against on the irrefutable plea that Canada belongs as much to the Asians and A fricans as to the Europeans. Canada is a land o f immigrants. All inhabitants o f C anada including the aboriginal

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(xi) settlers are immigrants w hether they cam e here fifty years back or ten th o u san d years ago. R igh t from th e b e g in n in g th e w e ll-d e sig n e d immigration handicaps and hurdles put before the East Indians had to be crossed at all stages o f their existence in C anada. U nfortunately the immigration problems subject them to harassm ent even today. The Canadian governm ent’s policy o f m ulticulturalism is noble in letter and spirit but the whites in private dealings have alw ays flouted it with impunity as they took this policy as an affront to their cultural superiority and cultural imperialism to w hich they have been accustom ed for centuries. They have been discrim inating against the non-w hites to the point o f criminality. With the younger generation this trend is now slightly in the reverse gear. But the policy o f m ulticulturalism cam e as a rescue and relief to the A sians and other non-whites. The two major constituents o f Canadian population— the Anglo-Saxon and the French, believe that the observance o f their cultural heritage is their most prized privilege and all other cultures should merge into their cultures. Such thinking is an act o f high-handedness and shocking injustice on the part o f those who think that way. If a person loses his culture he loses his personality, his individuality and his identity w ithout w hich he is reduced to a status far less than that o f a dignified man. Canada is an ethnically and culturally a diverse country. In essence, to be Canadian is to be m ulticultural. Cultural diversity is one o f this country’s most positive national characteristics. It is the belief o f the sensible C anadians that m ore exposure to diverse cultures prom otes tolerance, understanding and cooperation, giving them their Canadian identity. The problem o f preservation o f Sikh identity has been constantly plaguing the minds o f the C anadian Sikhs. There is no question o f Sikhs becom ing C anadians through some m etam orphosis. The Sikhs, by virtue o f their living in Canada, are fully Canadians. To keep them as such, the Khalsa Diwan Society, V ancouver’s role for alm ost a century has been com m endable and its multifarious contributions to the Sikh com m unity has received adequate attention and discussion in this book. The Sikhs m aintaining an unalloyed identity in C anada gave them strength and distinctiveness, despite every effort to assimilate them by destroying their ancestral heritage. They integrated in the mainstream but never accepted to merge in it, surrendering their religious and moral ideas, to the perpetual chagrin o f the assimilationists. When different traditions have combined together what has grown is not merely the aggregate o f these traditions but the interaction has led to the em ergence o f som ething

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which is m uch more and is characterised by freshness and vigour. A m ong the finest fruits o f this process o f cultural synthesis has been the introduction o f Sikhism in Canada. The Sikh religion has all the attributes and graces o f major world religions. The book is an account o f the Sikhs who created a respectable place for. them selves in C anada through sheer hard labour, inexhaustible vitality, a deep sense o f responsibility and fairness in their dealings with others. This account m anifests as to how a few enterprising Sikh individuals, starting from a scratch in a foreign land, grew into a sizeable, a dignified and one o f the most em inently conspicuous com m unities in a country which com prises a multitude o f peoples originally belonging to m ore than a hundred nationalities o f the world. T wo major events in the history o f the Canadian Sikhs, that kept them shaking to their spine, w ere the refusal o f the passengers o f the K om agata M aru to land in Canada in 1914 and denial o f franchise in British Colum bia for forty years (1907 to 1947). For their rights the Canadian Sikhs always chose to fight by peaceful and legal means. The significance o f man is not in w hat he attains, but rather in w hat he longs to attain. Speaking more precisely, the greatness lies jio t only in achieving ones goal but also in the struggle to achieve it. Through their perseverance and persistent efforts the Sikhs, ultimately, em erged trium phant. O f course, their participation in the ghadar movement in India w as based on violent means which entailed sad c o n se q u e n c e s le a d in g to th e ir h a n g in g s , tr a n s p o rta tio n and imprisonment. During my stay in C anada my perceptions regarding the past, present and the future generation Sikhs becam e clear and deeply intuitive and cognitive. I had watched and visualised the Sikh life-style, their professions, their poverty and riches very closely through living am idst them for a num ber o f years, and by ripping open their hearts to know how they felt being in a foreign land. I studied the corporate life o f the com m unity as w'ell as that o f the individuals, producing an accum ulative effect upon my mind and enabling me to evaluate them rigorously. This book is, in fact, a story o f the East Indians’ confrontations suffered in their past. It is an account o f an unhappy m em ory to a good time. In an ultim ate analysis, their’s is a success story w hich every im migrant com m unity across the globe should emulate. If you forget the past you forfeit the future. So the linkage with the past is absolutely im perative. In the course o f w riting my book on the ‘Canadian Society and C ulture’, I had made an in-depth study o f various aspects o f the total C anadian life spectrum which stood me in good stead in producing this work.

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(xiii) My sources o f information include those pioneers w ho are now on the brink o f departure to a w orld hereafter. T hey have grievous and deplorable tales to tell in their stam m ering voices that m ove the listeners emotionally. Literature on the harrow ing story o f the K om agata M aru and the ghadar m ovem ent is available in abundance. The records o f the K halsa D iw an Society, V ancouver, though m aintained incom pletely, provide a very valuable source material regarding all phases through w hich the Sikh com m unity passed in the course o f their century-long existence in Canada. The m anifestation o f racial discrim ination and the vehem ent opposition to the Sikh rights in C anada during the period under study can be read in the old issues o f The D aily Province and The Vancouver Sun. The British Colum bia press had been hostile to the East Indians for decades after decades. But the anti-Sikh and pro-Sikh speeches o f the w hite M LAs and MPs and the records o f the debates in the legislative assem blies and the Canadian parliam ent are also available. ‘ The deepest sin against the human mind is to make it believe things w ithout evidence’ (H uxley). So the evidence for every historical statem ent has to be produced. Lastly, but very importantly, are my observations based on my personal experiences, instinctive propensities and perceptions o f the Sikh way o f life in Canada and the influence o f the w est on their cultural and religious heritage. Let me hope that the readers will graciously excuse the author’s rem arks that a historian is a prophet who knows the past, understands the present and divines the future. Through this w ork this author has attem pted to tell the Canadian Sikhs as to who they have been in the past and who they are at present and w hat is expected o f them to becom e in the com ing generations or w hat they are likely to become in the days to come. The past is dead' and buried and the future w hich is still to come is pregnant with unknow n’ probabilities. Therefore, future is more im portant than the past. I am a futurist and believe that in the days ahead our dream o f the Sikh splendour in Canada will come true. They are destined to have glorious future because o f their diverse noble qualities. History is not only the study o f the past for its ow n sake, com pletely divorced from the encumbrances o f the present, but linked w ith the present and the future as well. No w ork o f this nature can lay claim to perfection in respect o f information on the various aspects o f life o f the C anadian Sikhs discussed herein. There is always a scope o f unearthing more relevant material for incorporation and a scope to evaluate it from a new angle. So this book may be judged from what it is and not from w hat it is not. For the sake o f clarity, repetition at places is unavoidable.

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(xiv) When I undertook this work I was in India. I felt slightly disadvantaged in respect o f procuring required source material for this project as no good book can be written w ithout having access to scholarly apparatus. But I was very fortunate to thankfully receive every bit o f needed information and usable material from Canada through incessant efforts o f Sardar Pritam Singh Aulakh o f Vancouver and Sardar Balwinder Singh Brar o f Richmond (BC). But for their continuous and persistent help and follow up action, this book could not have come into being. Their immense interest in producing literature on the Canadian Sikhs was, undoubtedly, the main factor in accom plishing this work. They were kind to find time to read the manuscript very carefully and give very valuable suggestions and useful information to be incorporated in the book. I am deeply indebted to them for the same. My two books on Canada totally consum ed the restful years o f my retired life and from a rocking chair they put me on a hard and hot seat. When an author is seriously engaged in his work he finds him self placed under self-imposed curfew and tied to his working desk month after month. Generally a w riter uses his m anuscript as his pillow as he does not know as to when a new idea or information flashes across his mind that he hastens to incorporate in his book. But I am pleased to say that through these books I gave to C anada more than I received from it. G iving is never my regret, it is always blissful. I feel that in the rem aining days o f my life my proudest mom ent will come w hen 1 hold this book in my hand. This author is a strong adm irer o f the various qualities o f the Sikhs not because he proudly belongs to this com m unity but because o f his having made comparative study on alm ost all the major com m unities o f the world. Others are good in their own ways but the Sikhs are unique and u n p aralleled in m any w ays. T h eir q u a litie s o f d a u n tle ss co u rag e, genuineness o f word, superb gentleness, gracious hospitality and matchless honesty— that they brought w'ith them as an invaluable gift to Canada— make them a people par excellence on this planet. The author is deeply grateful to the donors o f the financial assistance for the publication o f this book,

— BH A G A T SINGH 2 7-khalsa College Colony Patiala (INDIA)

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CHAPTER 1

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

G eo g rap h ic S itu atio n o f th e P u n ja b People envisaged in this study m ainly hail from the Punjab, — a rich province o f India with the highest agricultural produce and sturdiest and most virile men. It would be profitable for the reader to have a little clearer picture o f the area and its inhabitants. Punjab is the com bination o f tw o Persian w ords: < ' p u n j’ and ‘ah' meaning five waters or five rivers-Satluj, Beas, Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum. In medieval ages, the Punjab was called suba Lahore with Lahore as its capital. During Em peror A kbar’s period this province was divided into two parts and named suba Lahore and suba Multan. Under M aharaja Ranjit Singh the Punjab came to be named as Lahore Darbar. A fter its annexation by the British in 1849 it was renam ed Punjab. A fter the mutiny o f 1857 Delhi w as also made a part o f the Punjab. In 1901 the British governm ent separated the areas across river Indus from the Punjab and named it the N orth-W estern Frontier Province. In 1947, on the occasion o f India’s independence the Punjab was split up into two parts on the basis o f Muslim and Sikh-Hindu population. The M uslim -dom inated area o f the province was joined with Pakistan and the second part rem ained w ith India. In 1966, on the linguistic basis Indian Punjab was broken into three parts: Punjab, H aryana and Himachal. The Punjab, prior to 1800, had been the gatew ay o f India for the invaders from its Northw est. To its north the sky-touching and snow-clad H imalayas stand as invincible guards for its security. But it was from the Khyber, Q uram, Tochi and Bolan passes in the north-w est that a large num ber o f peoples as Aryans, Iranians, Greeks. Kushans, Hunas. Turks. M ughals, Duranis. etc., entered India or made repeated inroads into it.

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2

Canadian Sikhs Through a C entury(1897-1997)

They all had brought with them, to this land, their distinctive inodes o f life, religious beliefs and practices and social custom s w hich, in a measure, added som e new strands to the fabric o f India’s culture and civilization. The M uslims, before com ing to India, in the beginning o f the eleventh century, had developed a civilization o f w hich they were very proud. They believed that their religion was the best o f all in the world and they considered them selves under a solemn obligation to propagate it and bring as m any people into its fold as possible. They w ould pay little heed to India’s glory prior to their advent. They looked upon the people o f India as infidels and adopted a contem ptuous attitude tow ards them. Consequently, the Hindus and the Sikhs suffered m any hardships. Because o f its geographical position, the Punjab has been the field o f many battles. The intruders and invaders had to fight their way through the Punjab to the other parts o f India. The A ryans, G reeks, K ushans and H unas had to fig h t b a ttle s in th e P u n jab . L ater, S u ltan M ah m u d , Muhammad Ghori and Babar did the same. Panipat had been the battlefield o f three historic battles o f 1526, 1556 and 1761. We see that the Punjab had been constantly the arena o f fighting through the ages. Thus, the people o f this part o f the country becam e hardy, brave and martial in spirit. This characteristic o f the Punjabis was inherited by the subsequent generations o f the Punjab. E conom ic C o n d itio n o f th e P u n ja b In the later medieval times, m ainly, the Punjab has been a rural-based province, agriculture being the principal occupation o f the people. The land being fertile, it had been a suitable source o f incom e or subsistence for the fanners. Francklin’s w riting about the eighteenth century Punjab says, “The Sikh territories are said to contain prodigious quantities o f cattle, horses, oxen, cow s and sheep; and grains o f various kinds are produced in abundance.” 1 The land o f the Punjab has been, in the past and is at present, fertile and very productive due to natural and artificial m eans o f irrigation. Exemptions, rem issions and inducem ents given by the state from tim e to time further encouraged cultivation. A ccording to Steinbach, the tranquility, w hich prevailed during the later years o f the rule o f M aharaja Ranjit Singh, stim ulated traffic and a considerable comm ercial intercourse betw een the Punjab, British India and Afghanistan was the result. The Punjab that produced a variety o f manufactures and agricultural products exported the same to different parts

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Historical Background

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o f India and central Asian countries. The exports o f the Punjab included grains, pulses, sugar, rice, ghee, oil, salt, cotton, manufactured silk, woollen fabrics, shaw ls, blankets, cloth, paper, gold and silv er articles and enamelled works. The Punjab im ported from A fghanistan, Central A sia and hill areas, dry and fresh fruits, groceries, Persian carpets and ornamental w ood-w orks. Punjab im ported fine cotton cloth, ivory, spices, glass, copper, hardw are, gold and silver, e t c ., from all over India and E u rop e2 The nobles and rich courtiers o f the Lahore D arbar and the Punjab chiefs procured chandeliers, mirrors, paintings and other curios from European countries and other parts o f the world like Syria and China. The horses o f good breed were imported from Afghanistan and Central Asia. People o f Turkistan bred horses for export to Hindustan. D uring this period Punjab was an independent state under M aharaja R anjit Singh (1780-1839) and Hindustan was under the British. Apart from the military demands o f the governm ent for the supply o f good horses, the anim al was also co m m o n ly used for c o n v e y a n c e , p le a s u re -rid in g an d la c in g particularly by the upper classes. Good horses alw ays found a profitable market everywhere. The Punjab had many trading centres, which included the cities o f Lahore, Amritsar, Peshawar, M ultan, W azirabad, Rawalpindi, D eraG hazi Khan, Attock and Jhang. Amritsar was known as the commercial emporium o f Northern India and Lahore w as called the ‘Delhi o f Punjab’. Besides trade with the countries referred to above the Punjab had trade with Balkh, Khurasan, Turkistan, Persia, Russia. Tibet, Y arkand, China, Sind, Bahawalpur and R ajasthan states. Thus, once upon a time, not long back, Punjab, the land o f the ancestors o f the Canadian Sikhs, was economically a flourishing state w here people from foreign countries aspired to settle and serve, and people lived in peace and plenty. There were more than sixty persons hailing from alm ost all the countries o f Europe, England and the USA in the em ploy o f M aharaja Ranjit Singh. They had come to the Punjab to better their econom ic prospects. They included senior army officers, J. F. Allard and C.A. C ourt (French), J.B. V entura and P. D. A vitabile (Italian), H onigberger and H. Steinbach (German), J. Harlan and Kunarah (American), Foulkes and Ford (English). Sikh J a ts a V irile C o m m u n ity Through their sheer Herculean strength, unbending spirits, unshaken determ ination and m atchless intrepidity the Sikh Jats carved out their principalities in the Punjab in the 18th century throw ing out the Afghan

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invader Ahmad Shah Durrani, the greatest military genius o f the time in Asia. Ultimately under M aharaja Ranjit Singh they created a strong and com pact kingdom, as large as that o f France. The military achievem ents o f the Sikhs gave them a splendid halo. The Sikh Jats are, undoubtedly, a unique and marvellous people on this planet. W henever they issue out o f their home country they seldom look back and w herever they settle they put their w hole heart and soul into their new homeland. But they alw ays carry their cultural heritage baggage with them and keep sticking to it devotedly. They are perfectly law -abiding citizens. They put at stake even their lives when their dignity, self-respect and honour are in jeopardy. T heir qualities o f superb gentleness, hospitality, honesty, large-heartedness and cam araderie make them a people par excellence. The fundamental traits in the Jat character have been the instinct o f tribal freedom and tribal kinship. Due to their strong love o f freedom and w arlike spirit they could no longer be denied a high place in the Sikh society that they eminently hold. The Sikh G urus took pains to bring such a people into the pale o f discipline and m ade them w onderful citizens o f the world. How they were transformed through Sikhism has been discussed in detail in Chapter 13 o f this book. T h e Sikh Struggle fo r In d e p e n d e n c e a n d A ssu m p tio n o f S overeignty In the first six decades o f the eighteenth century (1707-1768), the Sikhs constantly remained engaged in the struggle against the M ughal rulers o f the Punjab and the foreign invaders o f A fghanistan, till ultimately they assumed the rule o f their land. The Sikh struggle for sovereignty can be split into four distinct stages: from 1708 to 1716; 1717 to 1747; 1748 to 1761 and 1762 to 1768. The period from 1708 to 1716 w itnessed the first unsuccessful Sikh attem pt to carve out an independent s^ate under the leadership o f the valiant Banda Singh Bahadur. The task set before him proved too great for him. The M ughal raj was deeply rooted in the soii; its pow er was not yet exhausted. The Mughal Em peror Bahadur Shah (1707-1712) issued an edict on 10 D ecem ber 1710, ordering a wholesale genocide o f the Sikhs— the w orshippers o f N anak— w herever found, saying: N anakprastan ra h a r ja kih ba-yaband ba-qatl rasanand} To the ill-luck o f the Sikhs the governm ent had at the helm o f affairs in the Punjab a strong man like Abdul Samad Khan, who mustered all the resources o f the province and held the Sikhs in check. But during Banda

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Singh’s period a will was created in thp ordinary m asses to resist tyranny and to live and die for a national cause. The idea o f a national state working underground like a sm ouldering fire came out forty years later with fuller effulgence never to be suppressed again.4 During the period from 1717 to 1747, the Sikhs suffered horrible persecutions and martyrdom s at the hands o f the M ughal governors o f Lahore, but they rem ained as defiant as ever. They had learnt to carry their cross on their shoulders and w age their battles. The Persian invader N adir Shah asked Zakariya Khan, the governor o f Lahore, in 1739, where the Sikhs lived. Zakariya Khan said, “Their homes are on their saddles. They eat grass and claim kingship o f the Punjab.” N adir Shah prophetically told him, “Take care, the day is not distant when these rebels will take possession o f the country.”5 On 1 June 1746, nearly seven thousand Sikhs w ere killed and three thousand made prisoners, This carnage is know n as chhota ghallughara (the small holocaust) as compared to the wadda ghallughara (the big holocaust) o f 5 February 1762, when m assacre o f ten to thirty thousand Sikhs had been estimated. In the third stage from 1748 to 1761, the direct thrust o f Ahm ad Shah Durrani— the A fghan ruler, was against the M ughals and the M arathas. This provided a golden opportunity to the Sikhs to recoup and gather strength. D uring each invasion o f the Durrani the various Sikh bands harried the retreating A fghans all the way up to river Indus, depriving them o f most o f their booty. The Sikh leaders m oved into the vacuum created in the central Punjab by the M ughal-A fghan contest. Jassa Singh A hluw alia took over the leadership in 1748 from the aging Kapur Singh and became the supreme com m ander o f the Dal Khalsa. The A fghan rule o f the Punjab, from May 1757 to April 1758, was terminated by the joint action o f A deena Beg— later the governor o f Lahore, the Marathas and the Sikhs. The historic battle o f Panipat, fought on 14 January 1761, between the Marathas and the A fghans, sealed the fate o f the M arathas in the north. In the fourth stage, from 1762 to 1768, only two contestants, the Afghans and the Sikhs, were left in the arena o f the Punjab. In this period the Sikhs suffered tremendous human losses in the great holocaust referred to above. But the Sikhs were determined to fight the A fghans to the finish. In 1763, the Sikhs defeated the Afghan general Jahan Khan. They captured Sirhind in January 1764 and entered Lahore, in April 1765. In Decem ber 1766. on the request o f the Muslim citizens o f Lahore. Ahmad Shah Durrani

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offered the subedari (governorship) o f the capital to Lehna Singh Bhangi which the latter declined saying that accepting it from the hands o f a foreign invader was against the policy and honour o f his com m unity.6 The Afghans in 1757,1762 and 1764 had demolished the Harmandir and every time it was rebuilt from the debris left by the A fghans, making the Sikhs more and more determined against the A fghans. By 1767, the Sikhs had retaken alm ost the whole o f the Punjab. A hm ad Shah seemingly an invincible conqueror o f his time in A sia ultimately retired to Kabul, leaving the Punjab in the hands o f the Sikhs. E arnest Trum pp says, “ R epeatedly repulsed and d isp ersed , th e ir tem p les d esecrated and destroyed, m assacred in thousands and driven to the deserts, w antonly pursued by the M ughals on the one hand and pillaged by the Durrani on the other, the Sikhs yet succeeded in erecting sovereignty o f their ow n.”7 The second and third quarters o f the eighteenth century produced a galaxy o f valiant and very co m p eten t Sikh leaders as K apur Singh Faizullapuria, Jassa Singh A hluw alia, Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, A la Singh Phulkian, Tara Singh Ghaiba, Jai Singh Kanaihya, Lehna Singh and Gujjar Singh Bhangi, Charhat Singh Sukarchakiaand Baghel Singh Karorsinghia. All o f them had em erged from very hum ble origins. They were gems shinning in the dust. T heir leaders picked them up. U ltim ately, they liberated the Punjab from the M ughals and A fghans and carved out their principalities. The immensity o f sacrifice, in human blood, made by the Sikhs to gain mastery over their own hom eland was trem endously vast. Some o f the w riters estim ate this num ber as two lakhs (200,000) from the days o f Guru G obind Singh to the final ouster o f A hm ad Shah Durrani from the Punjab in 1768. The above-m entioned Sikh leaders carved out their independent principalities named M isals. Though tw elve is the generally accepted num ber o f the m ajor confederacies, there were sm aller ones also w hich allied themselves to one o f them in need o f war. The Sardars were sovereign in their areas, w hatever the extent o f their possessions. They had direct dealings w ith the neighbouring independent states.8 Out o f 12 M isals ten were headed by the Jat Sikhs. Jassa Singh Ahluw'alia (1718-1783) rem ained the undisputed leader o f the Sikh com m unity till his death. Jassa Singh R am garhia (1723-1803) would jum p into the battlefield amidst boom ing guns, totally indifferent and insensitive to the grave hazards to his life. The founder o f the Singhpuria Misal. Kapur Singh (1697-1753), possessed sharp intellect, penetrating shrewdness and pow er o f quick grasp. A la Singh (1695-1765) ww'A\sik n n at:o “.ale:

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had pleased the M ughal Emperor, the Durrani invader and the Dal Khalsa to the extent o f using them to his advantage. He may rightly be called the Bism arck o f the Sikhs. He had three balls in his hands and by throw ing them sim ultaneously into the air, he alw ays caught them never allowing any one o f them to fall. The K halsa ideals served as a beacon light for the Sikh chiefs. W henever the people felt their leaders were likely to stray, out o f ignorance, from their ideals, they showed them the right path. The Sikh chiefs dared not, therefore, defy the Sikh ideals. The Panth or the Khalsa commonwealth was considered by all the Sikhs as a very sacred creation o f the Gurus reared into the final shape by G uru G obind Singh.9 The military achievem ents gave the Sikhs a splendid status as soldiers. The Sikh chiefs o f the eighteenth century w ere the generalissim os o f the Dal K halsa (the Sikh national arm y) and also the rulers o f their Misals. Even when in the civil adm inistration o f the Misal there w as not m uch o f dem ocracy left, the organization o f the Dal K halsa still functioned in a dem ocratic way. The leader o f the national arm y w as elected and in times o f em ergency the M isal chiefs pooled their resources in the com m on interest o f the entire Sikh com m unity.10 M ah araja R an jit Singh, w ho w as born on 13 N o v em b er 1780, succeeded his father who died in 1790. From 1799 to 1809, he directed his efforts mainly to the consolidation o f his position in the central Punjab. During the second period o f his rule, from 1809 to 1822, the annexation o f M ultan and K ashm ir extended the borders o f his kingdom . And during the third period, from 1822 to 1839, by annexing the valley o f Peshaw ar, he gained control o f the principal highw ay by w hich the Punjab had often been attacked through the past m any centuries. W ithin a period o f four decades, Ranjit Sirigh rose from the position o f a petty Sardar to that o f a king o f an extensive kingdom . Scores o f Sikh and non-Sikh chieftains in the Punjab or on its borders accepted his suzerainty. His kingdom extended from the Him alayas in the north-east to certain im portant posts beyond the Indus on the south-west. “This ruler o f the Sikhs was the first monarch after Anangpal who not only checked the recurring stream o f invaders, w hich during eight hundred years had been pouring into the Punjab from the N orth-W estern frontier, but also subdued the inhabitants o f that a re a /' He brought the scattered people o f the Punjab under uniform and consistent system o f governm ent. The position o f Ranjit Singh am ong the Sikhs may be paralleled to that o f Frederick the Great, o f G erm any, who rose to power not so much as the king o f Prussia as the one man to whom all G erm ans could look as likely

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to raise that medley o f principalities and electorates into a nation. Thus, Ranjit Singh created a strong and com pact kingdom with natural and dependable frontiers on all sides. The M aharaja alw ays made him self available to those who wanted to see him. His was a court that did not inspire any fear which made the princes and officers tremble and fall dow n on the ground in the D arbar o f the medieval rulers. Although the M aharaja w as the sole director o f the s ta te a ffa irs an d w as c o m p e te n t a n d sh re w d e n o u g h to run th e adm inistration w ithout guidance from any quarter, he had at his court, a galaxy o f nobles, bureaucrats and a military hierarchy whom he could consult w henever he liked. N one o f his subjects could defy his orders. Victor Jacquemont, a French traveller, who visited the M aharaja at Lahore, writes, “He is better obeyed by his subjects than the M ughal Em perors at the zenith o f their pow er.” 11 The M aharaja was the most outstanding ruler o f his time in the w hole o f Asia. A lexander B urnes, who cam e to Lahore to deliver to Ranjit Singh the presents o f the king o f England, w rote, “ I never quitted the presence o f a native o f A sia w ith such im pressions as I left this man: w ithout education and w ithout a guide, he conducted all the affairs o f kingdom w ith surprising energy and vig o u r and yet he w ields his pow er with moderation quite unprecedented in an eastern prince.” 12 Ranjit Singh’s comparison w ith historical personages as Sher Shah Suri, N apoleon, Bismarck, A braham Lincoln, Shivaji, H aider Ali, etc., is unreasonable, as their circum stances w ere different. Ranjit Singh carved out his way to a kingdom in more unfavourable circum stances than those o f the above mentioned great men o f history13. He died on 27 June 1839 in the full blaze o f his glory. He left his kingdom in the hands o f imbecile, w eak and incom petent successors — K harak Singh, Sher Singh and Duleep Singh. The English, against their prom ises, annexed the kingdom o f the M aharaja to their dominion on 29 M arch 1849. Thus cam e to a sad end the Sikh royalty that M aharaja Ranjit Singh had established with great toil and statesm anship. T h e M u tin y o f 1857 The outbreak o f the mutiny at M eerut took place on 10 May 1857, to m assacre the English and thus liberate India from foreign dom ination. It spread to different parts o f northern India and partially to the Punjab. Th Punjab has been charged o f having saved the British Empire because ol their lukewarm support o f the mutineers. There could be a few causes that are said to have kept the Punjabis a little inactive. The British with the

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help o f the Poorbiya (H industani) soldiers had enslaved the Punjab. The Poorbiya soldiers had been looking dow n upon the Sikh soldiers who considered them selves to be superior. The Sikhs had a grudge against Delhi where the ninth Sikh G uru had been m artyred and later B anda Singh and his hundreds o f Sikh followers were killed under the orders o f Emperor Bahadur Shah’s ancestors. D uring the tw o A nglo-Sikh w ars, the Shah o f Delhi and one o f his chiefs, the N aw ab o f Jhajjar, had given every aid to the British against the Sikhs. And a good portion o f the spoils o f the Lahore Darbar toshakhana had gone to the Shah’s palace either through purchases or through some other means. The Sikhs believed that the Tim ur family, which led the mutiny, had been the traditional enem ies o f the Sikhs. A fter the annexation o f the Punjab the Sikh soldiers had been com pletely disarmed and had been diverted to farm ing with a lot o f facilities provided to them. This first w ar o f independence failed because it was fought without a uniformity o f purpose and unity o f aim. It w as a leaderless big enterprise, against a powerful alien rule, w hich was bound to fail. T he Sikh D iasp o ra After the mutiny o f 1857 was over m any parts o f the country faced many serious problems. C onquering a country is different from providing the people with all they need not as luxury but as ordinary or minimum requirem ents o f everyday life. The Punjab faced fam ines in 1861. O rissa faced drought in 1865, South India in 1876-77, K ashm ir in 1878 and in some other parts o f India from 1896 to 1900 w hich took a heavy toll o f life, poverished the people and subjected them to indebtedness. They spread out to different countries o f the world especially to South East Asia, IndoChina and Indonesia. When British Parliam ent abolished slavery through an Act the African slaves refused to w ork as free labour. M any thousands indentured labour (on contract o f five to seven years) w as hired from 1837 to 1915 from Bihar and Eastern U.P. to w ork on the sugarcane farms o f their British masters in Jam aica, Trinidad, Fiji, M auritius and British G uyana. Some o f them w orked as petty contractors and clerks in South Africa, particularly Natal, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, M alaya, Singapore and Hong Kong. In 1876 about 45000 people from Calcutta and about 15000 from M adras were sent to Fiji islands alone. The records relating to the United States show that there were two persons from India in 1859, five in 1860 and six in 1861 in that country. In due course o f time the number continued grow ing and at present, may be, a million Indians living in the United States. Many o f the Punjabi Sikhs went to the Asian countries where they w orked as clerks, policem en or w atchm en, m asons and

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carpenters. People from G ujarat and Sindh had also settled in those countries as traders and bankers. The South Indians, m ostly Tamils ventured out to nearby Malaya, as labourers on rubber estates. Many o f them w ent tow ards E ast A frica, N orth A m erica and G reat Britain. Thousands o f Indians had settled abroad in about a century— from 1837 to 1915. At present, about half a million o f the East Indians are settled in Canada, more than 90 percent o f them are the Punjabi Sikhs, mostly from Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar and Amritsar districts. Hardly there is a district in the Punjab that does not represent in Canada. The Sikhs, at present, have penetrated to all the countries o f the world. W herever they go they create a respectable niche for them. There are many wonderful stories o f their adaptability in even very remote corners o f the world. I give below only two such incidents briefly to give some idea and leave the rest to the reader’s imagination. I have a cutting from The Daily Statesman newspaper o f 14 February 1961, preserved in my file that reads as under: “The adaptability and enterprise o f the Sikhs are justly famous; all over the world they are to be found, usually prosperous and often highly respected citizens. O f all the remarkable achievements o f Indians abroad, however, perhaps Evelyn Waugh in his latest book, ‘A Tourist in A frica’, mentions the most startling. He writes admiringly o f the Masai tribe in Tanganyika as being great fighters and hunters who kill lions with spears: ‘ no one has made a servant o f a Masai; nor were they ever conquered. They are an intelligent people who have deliberately chosen to retain their own way o f life.’ Then he adds; ‘In one boma (village) near Arusha I saw a headman who was by origin a Sikh.’ “Surely leadership o f the aloof and forbidding Masai is infinitely more difficult o f achievement than, say, election to the U.S. Senate. Can we not hear more about this remarkable son o f India? Readers who have friends or relatives in A rusha might ask them to scour the slopes o f M ount Kilimanjaro for this Masai chieftain from the Punjab.” - ‘O bserver.’14 Dr G anda Singh, the celebrated historian o f the Punjab, once told this author that in the early twenties o f the 20th century when he was in the British army, he was once sailing in the Mediterranean Sea along with some army companions. The ship developed some fault and water started leaking into it. They sighted an island and hurriedly anchored the ship on its shores and started moving on the island to find some village or habitation nearby from where they could get some help to do the necessary repairs to the ship. On the turn o f the path they saw a man. in front o f them, carrying a bundle o f long sugarcanes on head with its upper part trailing behind on

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the ground. Dr G anda Singh put his foot on the trailing part o f the sugarcane. The man threw down the load from his head. The party was astonished to find that the man was a turbaned Sikh with full-grown flowing beard. On inquiry he told that he forgot the count o f time, may be forty years back, when he first accidentally landed on that island. Since then he was happily living there with the other residents o f the island and during all these years he never visited the Punjab. To the Sikh diaspora plans, even the sky is not the limit. Can anyone tell me a place on this planet where the Sikhs may not be found? The over-due recognition that Sikhism is one o f the world religions has been greatly facilitated by the w ork o f the Sikh diaspora which, has made a meaningful contribution to the Sikh faith. They have made Sikhism a world religion and we should now no more keep it in the over-closed doors. Its appeal is growing and it has a glowing future in the world at large. The challenge o f modernity to the Sikh religion abroad is now gradually fading away and Sikhism, in letter and spirit, is being appreciated more than ever. T he K uka o r N am d h ari M ovem ent This movement was more or less a religious movement but the English bureaucracy dubbed it as a political m ovem ent that it w as not. The government subjected the Kukas to hardships and strict surveillance. The founder o f this movement, Baba Balak Singh, w as a devout follower o f Sain Jawahar Mai who was given to deep meditation. Baba Balak Singh was deputed to Hazro to look after the Sikh congregations there. He spent most o f his time in reciting the A di Granth. Baba Ram Singh was one o f the three most prominent disciples o f Baba Balak Singh and was chosen to succeed him. Baba Ram Singh was bom on 3 February 1816, at Bhaini Araiyan, a village in the Ludhiana district. His father was a carpenter by profession. When Ram Singh grew into a young man he joined service in the Khalsa army at Lahore but later left it in 1845-46. He was a staunch follower o f Sikhism and had an unshakable faith in the spiritual leadership o f the Sikh Gurus. He desired the Sikhs to receive the baptism o f Guru Gobind Singh and he chalked out vigorous plans for am ritprachar. He was against caste distinctions among his followers. He was a strong exponent o f widow remarriage. He preached against the pardah (wearing o f veil by women) system among women and was in favour o f mixed congregations. His followers tied sid h ip a g (straight turban) and kept white woollen rosary.

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He, unequivocally, told his follow ers not to call him ‘G uru’ but since he was a beau ideal in religious matters, som e o f them took it easy to style him as the ‘G uru’. In the beginning the followers o f Baba Ram Singh were called ja g ya si or abhyasi. But because in a state o f ecstasy, rem oving their turbans from their heads, they would start dancing and shouting. They were called Kukas or shouters. Baba Ram Singh gave him self the nomenclature o f N am dhari because he enjoined upon his follow ers to practice naam. Because o f his simple and easily practicable teachings B aba Ram Singh gathered a large following. Mr M acnabb, the Deputy C om m issioner o f Sialkot, reported on 5 April 1863, that, “an elderly Sikh o f Ludhiana was going about the country with tw o hundred men whom he drilled at night with sticks instead o f m uskets, that he boasted o f five thousand followers who obey no hakam (officer).” On 28 June 1863, he was interned in his village Bhaini by the Punjab governm ent. In respect o f the cow, the Kukas w ere more orthodox believers in the sacredness o f the anim al than the H indus w ere. In 1870 a group o f enthusiastic Kukas attacked the butchers o f A m ritsar at the dead o f night, murdering four o f the butchers and injuring three o f them seriously. Four o f the Kukas were hanged and tw o o f them deported for life. On 11 January 1872, hundreds o f Kukas met at Bhaini to celebrate the Lohri festival. Some o f the zealot Kukas planned to m urder the butchers o f M alerkotla in utter contravention o f the advice o f their leader Baba Ram Singh. On the m orning o f 15 January, one hundred and tw enty five K ukas, including tw o w om en, entered the p alace o f the N a w a b o f M alerkotla to get arms from the state arm oury. In the clash that ensued in the palace both sides suffered heavy casualties. The Kukas left the town but they w ere overpow ered by the state police and brought back to M alerkotla. On 17 January, 65 o f them were tied w ith the guns and blown up under the orders o f Mr C owan, the D eputy C om m issioner o f Ludhiana and M r Forsyth, Com m issioner o f A m bala Division w ithout formal trial. Cowan was dismissed from service and Forsyth reduced in status. Baba Ram Singh w as deported to Rangoon (B urm a) w here he died on 29 N ovem ber 1884. Baba Ram Singh was succeeded on gaddi by his brother Baba Hari Singh, and then by Baba Partap Singh and then by the present incum bent Baba Jagjit Singh. The Kuka movement was basically a religious and social movem ent that was hampered by the activities o f a handful o f its over-zealous and fanatic followers. The movem ent would have been a m arvellous success

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and would have found favour with a much larger population o f the Sikhs if violence had not come into their actions against the butchers and the continuance o f the g u ru g a d d i had not been follow ed and propagated as a part o f their creed. T he Singh S ab h a M ovem en t The year following the persecution o f the Kukas and the suppression o f their movem ent saw the birth o f the Singh Sabha (1873). The Singh Sabha movem ent and its activities had a much w ider appeal to the Sikh masses and consequently made a far greater impact. There were certain factors that hastened its start. A flood o f Christian m issionaries had moved into the province after its annex atio n in 1849. T h ey o p en ed m any educational institutions and societies for the propagation o f their gospel. The British governm ent took undue and unreasonable interest in their missionary activities. Queen Victoria wrote a letter to Lord D alhousie on 24 N ovem ber 1854, expressing the hope that the developm ent o f the railway com m unication in the country would facilitate considerably the spread o f Christianity in these lands. In 1873 four Sikh students o f the A m ritsar M ission S chool o ffe re d th e m se lv e s fo r c o n v e rsio n into Christianity. Though they were prevented from doing so but it alerted the leaders o f the Sikh com m unity against the proselytizing activities o f the Christians. Some Hindu missionary m ovem ents had also started to demolish the separate and distinctive identity o f the Sikhs. M any practices banned in Sikhism were creeping into its fold. To stand against the threats being posed before Sikhism som e leaders o f the com m unity assem bled in Amritsar in 1873 and organized the Singh Sabha and decided to revive the basic Sikh philosophy. In 1876 Prof. G urm ukh Singh placed a programme before the Sikhs as under: To produce national literature in Punjabi, to impart religious education to the Sikhs, to save the Sikhs falling from their faith and to carry all such activities with the co-operation o f the British governm ent. Besides the Singh Sabha o f A m ritsar, Singh Sabha, Lahore, was also organized in 1879. Sir Robert Egerton, the governor o f the Punjab, agreed to be its patron. The governm ent o f India expressed hearty sym pathy for the promotion o f social and religious program m es o f the Sikhs. The main activities o f the L ahore Sabha aim ed at d efin in g the principles o f the Sikh religion by bringing in the market such books as explained and adored the Sikh religion; by correcting the doubtful Sikh literature and developing Punjabi language and publishing papers and

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m agazines in it yet saying nothing against any other religion or against the governm ent but soliciting the support o f the governm ent. A joint meeting o f the A m ritsar Sabha and the Lahore Sabha was held on 11 April 1880, and a general Sabha was established w hich was named the Khalsa Diwan. In due course o f time more Khalsa Diwans were set up and those were ultimately converted into the C h ief Khalsa Diwan. The major contribution o f the Singh Sabha movem ent was the creation o f a netw ork o f the Khalsa schools, colleges and other centres o f learning. The Singh Sabha leaders felt that the spread o f education am ong the Sikhs needed the help and friendship o f the British rulers. The K halsa College, Amritsar, was the result o f the educational activities o f the Singh Sabha. T ight grip over administration o f this college by the British governm ent created bitterness am ong the Sikhs. Pro-British Sikh leaders like Sunder Singh M ajitha who brooked the official interference in the Khalsa College, A m ritsar, were branded as ‘traitors’. The Singh Sabha m ovem ent produced prom inent Sikh scholars as Bhai Vir Singh, Bhai Kahan Singh, Bhai Ditt Singh, Professor G urm ukh Singh and Giani G ian Singh. They were truly am ong the most respected keepers o f the conscience o f the Sikhs. The w ritings o f the scholars who wrote in pursuance o f the objectives o f the Singh Sabha exposed the evils, which had slowly crept into the Sikh social and religious life and inculcated in them a desire for reform. The grow ing political unrest in the province o f the Punjab in the early years o f the tw entieth century, the influence o f the nationalist press and above all the grow ing forces o f nationalism in the country further added to the unrest am ong the Sikhs. This prepared the ground for the com ing Akali struggle directed against the mahants and other vested interests in the Sikh shrines on the one hand and the British im perialism on the other. The Singh Sabha m ovem ent rejuvenated the Sikh faith, Sikh culture, Sikh education, Sikh literature to a stage from where the Sikhs never looked back and never lost track o f their distinctiveness. In d ia ’s F reed o m S truggle Indian National Congress was founded by a progressive governm ent English O fficer Alan Octavian Hume in 1885. Hume asked the young graduates o f C alcutta to come forward and serve the people, be unselfish and make sacrifices to get liberated. H um e's message was a signal for the Indians to strive for their independence. But the C ongress continued working in it’s own way.

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Against the ideology o f the Congress, Indian emigrants organized the Ghadar Party outside India in 1914 and in it, the Sikhs played a dominant role. Since Canada was a part o f the British Empire they shifted their revolutionary activities to the U.S. T housands o f the E ast Indians volunteered for terrorist work in India and funds were collected to defray the expenses o f their passage. They were to ld ,“ your duty is clear, go to India, stir up rebellion in every com er o f the country.... Arms will be provided for you on arrival in India. Failing this, you must ransack the police stations for rifles, obey without hesitation the comm ands o f your leaders.” Many o f their leaders including Jawala Singh were arrested in India. The ghadarites continued pouring into India from Canada, the United States, China, Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines. By the beginning o f December 1914 about 6000 ghadarites had entered India. But in India the ghadarites found that the people were not prepared to co-operate with them. The Punjab was sending the flower o f their manhood to the battle-fronts. The Sikh religious organizations were opposing the ghadarites and giving them bad names. The ghadarites had a truck with the Germans who were soon disillusioned about the dishonest dealings o f some o f the leaders o f the party. The Ghadar Party failed in its objectives on account o f multiple reasons as lack o f needed arms, lack o f experience, bad, inefficient and dishonest leadership, failure o f revolutionaries to keep secrets15. Other causes included the efficiency o f the British intelligence service, lack o f co-ordination and tension between the G ermans and the ghadarites and harsh measures employed by the Punjab police to extract information from the arrested activists. And lastly, as told above, the Punjabi masses rejected it. The next stage in India’s freedom struggle was the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre on 13th April 1919 that shook the whole country to its very bottom. During the First World War (1914-1918) in the hour o f E ngland’s peril India rushed to her help with unfailing faith and loyal enthusiasm. The voice o f controversy was hushed and the grievances, which the people had against the government, were laid aside. In the words o f Lord Hardinge, India allowed herself to be ‘bled w hite’ and contributed freely in men and money. And in this Punjab’s share was more than that o f any other province or community in India. More than 100,000 Sikhs went to fight the battles o f the British in different pails o f the world. O f the 22 military crosses awarded for conspicuous gallantry to Indians, the Sikhs won 14. After the war. the Sikhs were pained to find that the police and the local officers continued to treat them as common rustic people instead o f outstanding

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heroes. They cam e to know for the first tim e the full account o f the maltreatm ent o f the Sikh em igrants by the Canadian and A merican whites and the infamous ghadar trials resulting in the hangings, deportations and internment in their villages o f nearly five thousand Sikh ghadarites. Because o f their unstinted support o f the British in the w ar they expected to get som ething like self-governm ent or dom inion status within the British C om m onwealth. But instead they got Rowlatt Act passed in March 1919 which gave the provincial governm ent pow ers to intern any person, and the judges were allowed to try political offences with a jury in specific cases. It was indeed a draconian m easure in tim es o f peace. There was a storm o f protest against the ruthless regime o f Sir M ichael O ’Dwyer, Lieutenant G overnor o f Punjab. M ahatm a G andhi was leading agitation against the Rowlatt A ct and on his way to A m ritsar he was prohibited to enter the Punjab on 4 April 1919. Gandhi was shown the order at Palwal railway station. On his refusal to obey the order he was arrested and taken to Bombay. The organizers o f dem onstration at A mritsar, Dr Saif-ud-din Kitchlew and Dr Satyapal w ere arrested and w hisked aw ay to Dharmsala (K angra) on 9th o f A pril. The people o f A m ritsar protested against these arrests and they attacked two British banks and killed their white managers. B rig ad ier G eneral E d w ard H arry D y er w as called from Jalan d h ar cantonment. He reached A m ritsar on the evening o f 11 th April, took charge o f the city and studied the situation. On 12th April, it w as announced by the governm ent that there w ould be no m eeting on 13th A pril, — the Baisakhi day. But as scheduled the m eeting was held at the Jallianwala Bagh at 4 p.m. Shortly thereafter General Dyer reached there with armoured cars and ordered firing w ithout warning, killing, according to government figures, 379 people, and w ounding over 2000. But according to unofficial inquiries about 1000 persons lay dead. Sir M ichael O ’ D wyer approving the action sent a message ‘action correct’. This gory episode gave an awfully disturbing idea o f the unlimited pow er assum ed by the foreign governm ent in terms o f destructiveness. The Jallianw ala Bagh is a standing m onum ent to the arrogant and cruel firmness o f the British raj. Martial law w as clam ped on the Punjab. The H unter Commission, giving unanim ous verdict on G eneral D y er's action recom m ended his dismissal from service. W inston Churchill, later the Prime M inister of England (1940-45), said in the British Parliam ent in 1919, "This episode which appeared to be without parallel in the modern history o f the British Empire was an extraordinary event, a m onstrous event, an event which stood in singular and sinister isolation".1(1 General Dyer told the Hunter C om m ission that the British raj was

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not in danger at all. He w anted to teach a lesson to the people. Jaw'ahar Lai N ehru writes in his autobiography that tow ards the end o f the year 1919 he travelled from A m ritsar to Delhi. In the m orning he discovered that all his fellow -passengers w ere military officers. One o f them was describing in an aggressive and trium phant tone his A m ritsar experiences. I soon discovered that he w as Dyer, the ‘hero’ o f the Jallianw ala Bagh. He pointed out how he had the w hole tow n at his mercy and he had felt like reducing the rebellious city to a heap o f ashes but he took pity on it and refrained. He was evidently com ing back from Lahore after giving his evidence before the H unter C om m ittee o f Inquiry 17 His adm irers presented him a golden sw ord, being the ‘defender o f the em pire’. The M orning Post raised a fund for him. He received a sum o f ( £26,317 from his English supporters. This am ount w as equal to his pay for many years, much higher to the salary he w as to get during the rem aining period o f his service. This betrays the bankruptcy o f conscience o f the w hites for the m urderer o f the innocent non-w hites. U dham Singh, a Sikh, at a public m eeting in London on 13th M arch 1940, m urdered Sir M ichael O ’D wyer, the Lieutenant G overnor o f the Punjab. Udham Singh was hanged on 13th June 1940 and this earned him m artyrdom for his brave act. During her visit to India in O ctober 1997, Queen Elizabeth-H said at a banquet hosted in her honour at Rashtrapati Bhawan, N ew Delhi, on 13th October, “ It is no secret that there have been som e difficult episodes in our past-Jallianw ala Bagh, w hich I shall visit tom orrow , is a distressing exam ple. B ut history canno t be rew ritten h o w ev er m uch w e m ight som etim es w ish otherw ise. It has its m om ents o f sadness as w ell as gladness. We must learn from the sadness and build on the gladness” . On 14th O ctober 1997, the Q ueen visited Amritsar. Rem oving their shoes, the Q ueen and the Duke (her husband), together, placed a w reath at the ‘flame o f liberty’ and stood in silence and then signed the visitor’s book. It has been interpreted as recognition o f those killed as m artyrs by the British monarch. T h e A kali M ovem ent The G urdw aras and their properties w ere being m isused by the m ahants who were in occupation o f the same. Despite the w arnings o f the Akalis, the m ahants carried on their immoral practices on the prem ises o f the G urdwaras and continued m isusing their income. N ankana Sahib, the birthplace o f Guru Nanak, was one o f the richest shrines o f the Sikhs. The G urdw ara’s Udasi m ahant, N arain Das, lived in

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the G urdwara with a m istress and he called the prostitutes and dancing girls to the premises o f the sacred shrine. Narain Das was asked to improve his ways. Far from that he hired 400 gundas or m ercenary m urderers to meet the A kali threat. A ja th a o f 130 men, under the leadership o f Lachman Singh entered the G urdw ara at about 6 a.m. on 20th February 1921 against the advice o f the SGPC who had an idea o f the designs o f the m ahant. As soon as the ja th a stepped inside the gates o f the G urdwara, the gates were closed. The m ahant had already alerted his gang o f assassins who w ere arm ed with all types o f w eapons including hatchets, sw ords and Firearms. The Akali entrants were im mediately attacked and all the m em bers o f the ja th a were cut into pieces and dragged to a pile o f logs and burnt. It was a m ockery o f British justice that for the m urder o f 130 Akalis, three men were sentenced to death and tw o including N arain Dass were transported for life. O f m a h a n t’s 400 m urderers the governm ent could arrest alm ost all o f them . The N ankana tragedy and the inaction o f the local governm ent m ade the authorities in Delhi and London think that there was an urgent need to change their policy o f non-interference in the religious affairs o f the m inority com m unity. The Indian governm ent felt that the Punjab governm ent was not adequately sym pathetic tow ards the dem ands o f the Akali movem ent. T he G u rd w a ra w as h an d ed o v e r to th e S h iro m a n i G u rd w a ra Parbandhak C om m ittee (SGPC). N ational leaders like M ahatm a Gandhi, M aulana Shaukat Ali, Lala Lajpat Rai and Dr Saif-ud-Din Kitchlew visited the N ankana scene o f the tragedy and expressed sym pathies over the loss. Guru Ka Bagh m orcha is another landm ark in the history o f the Akali m ovem ent. In this stru g g le for th e ir rig h ts the A k alis rem ark ab ly demonstrated the efficiency o f the w eapon o f peaceful satyagraha. The immoral use o f force on the unarmed and non-violent protesters exposed the callousness o f the governm ent. Guru Ka Bagh was a small Sikh shrine, thirteen miles from Amritsar that had been erected to com m em orate the visit o f G uru A rjan Dev Ji. A djacent to the G urdw ara was a piece o f land on which acacia trees had been grown to provide firewood for the G urdw ara langar. The G urdw ara’s possession was taken by the SGPC but the Bagh and the land rem ained in the hands o f the mahant. On the report o f the mahant the authorities arrested five Akalis on 9 A ugust 1922, and put them on trial on the charges of cutting the trees, theft, riot and trespass. To protest against the arrest and charging the Akalis with trespass and theft and for the A kalis’ right to cutting the wood for the G uru’s

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la n g a r ja th a s from the surrounding areas and from the different parts o f the Punjab began to pour into the G uru K a Bagh. The num ber o f Sikh arrests began to swell. The num ber o f the m em bers o f each ja th a began to grow. The police, under the orders o f the higher authorities, decided to use force to prevent the Akalis from reaching the Bagh. The police stopped the ja th a s and beat them with lathis, jack-boots and fists. C.F. A ndrews, an English Christian m issionary, visited the site o f the police brutalities in the afternoon o f 12 Septem ber 1922. He described the official action as ‘inhuman, brutal, foul, cow ardly and incredible to an English man and a moral defeat o f England.’ “The vow they (the Sikhs) had made to God was kept to the letter. I saw no act, no look o f defiance. It was a true martyrdom for them as they w ent forward, a true act o f faith, a true deed o f devotion to G od.” Later in the day he met the LieutenantG overnor o f the Punjab and asked him to see things for himself. He had seen with his own eyes hundreds o f ‘C hrists’ being crucified at G uru K a Bagh. Sir Edward M aclagan arrived at Guru K a Bagh on 13 Septem ber, and ordered the beatings to stop. The police returned from the scene four days later. The brutalities o f the police on the passive resisters had continued for nineteen days. During the police action many national leaders including Swami Shardanand, M aulana Kifayat Ullah, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Pandit M adan M ohan M alaviya and Kumari Lilawanti visited A m ritsar and expressed their solidarity with the m ovem ent. A n A m erican, Captain A. L. Verges, who filmed the beatings o f the A kalis at the Guru Ka Bagh, prepared a short film titled ‘Exclusive Picture o f India’s M artyrdom ’. He described this morcha as ‘a unique struggle in human history and a peaceful rebellion against the constitutional authority. D uring the barbaric police action 5605 A kalis had been arrested and 936 were hospitalized. The arrested were released in May 1923. The disputed property w as taken from the m ahant and handed over to the S.G.P.C. on 17 O ctober 1923. J a ito M o rch a There was a sharp dispute between the N abha and Patiala states that had comm on boundaries. Justice Stew art o f A llahabad High Court, who conducted an inquiry, gave his verdict in favour o f their favourite state, Patiala. M aharaja Ripudam an Singh o f N abha also took interest in the affairs o f the Sikh comm unity and the national movement. The British governm ent decided to take action against him. He was made to abdicate in favour o f his young son. The S hirom ani G u rd w ara P arb an d h ak Comm ittee observed 9 Septem ber 1923, as N abha Day in protest against th e rem oval o f the M ah araja and a rran g e d a k h a n d p a th s in m any

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Gurdwaras. The police interrupted the akhandpaih at G urdwara G angsar in Jaito (N abha State). A m orcha was launched. The ja th a s or peaceful protest marchers to Jaito increased from twenty five each to a hundred and then to five hundred. They came from all parts o f the Punjab. The Indian National C ongress also expressed full sym pathy with the morcha. The SGPC and the Akali Dal w ere declared illegal. Fifty nine Akali leaders were arrested and charged with a conspiracy to wage w ar against the British crown. But the Akalis did not yield. One such ja th a , o f five hundred Akalis arrived at Jaito on 21 February 1924, and on refusal to disperse was fired at by the state police, causing a heavy loss o f life. The shooting aroused sym pathy for the cause o f the Akalis. Jawahar Lai N ehru, along with his colleagues, K. Santanam and A.T. Ciidwani, came to Jaito to know the exact position o f the Sikh morcha. They were arrested and sent to jail and later released. The m orcha finally ended with the A kalis com pleting their 101 akhandpaths on 6 A ugust 1925. A ja th a o f ten from V ancouver (Canada) also cam e to the Punjab to participate in the m orcha. T h e B a b b a r A kalis The militant spirit o f the Punjabis that had lain dorm ant since the suppression o f ghadar movem ent was resuscitated when the radical section o f the Akali reformers organized them selves into militant groups popularly known as the Babbar Akalis. This breakaw ay w ing made its appearance during the Sikh Education Conference held at H oshiarpur on 19-21 March 1921. They framed the program o f elim inating certain officials and nonofficials condem ned as enem ies o f the K halsa Panth. They w anted to teach a lesson to the toadies and to dem onstrate to the governm ent that self-respect and revolutionary spirit w as very much alive in the Sikh community. Their activities were mainly confined to the tw o districts o f Punjab— Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur. O fficialdom in the Punjab believed that they received large sums o f money for revolutionary propaganda from their counterparts still in A m erica and C anada.18 It was also planned to paralyse the supporters o f the bureaucracy— the zaildars, safed poshes, lambardars, patw aris and police informers. Kishan Singh o f village Birring (district Jalandhar), the retired army personnel, H avaldar Major, was the m oving spirit behind the Babbar movem ent. He exhorted people through his speeches to give up non­ violence. He also contacted the Sikh soldiers at Jalandhar cantonment with a view to obtaining arms and ammunitions.

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Many individuals who were police informers or toadies w ere done to death by the Babbars. In a bid to capture D hanna Singh, an im portant Babbar leader, on the night o f 25 O ctober 1923, five policemen were killed on the spot and one died later. A.F. Horton, Superintendent o f police, Hoshiarpur, and W .N.P. Jenkin, A ssistant Superintendent o f police, along with four inspectors were severely injured. Horton died a few days later in hospital. A bomb blasted by D hanna Singh concealed in his arm pit caused these casualties. By mid-June 1924, all the im portant Babbars had either been killed in police encounters or taken prisoners. O f the 62 Babbars put up for trial six, including Kishan Singh Birring, were condem ned to death, som e o f them were acquitted and the rest w ere sentenced to varying term s o f im prisonment. T he N au jaw an B h a ra t S ab h a The N aujaw an Sabha was formed in N ovem ber 1924 to win India’s freedom with methods o f violence, as its m em bers had no faith in the cult o f non-violence. They w orked aw ay from the shadow o f the Indian N ational Congress. Both these parties had one shared vision o f their country’s freedom from the foreign rule but their m eans to achieve it w ere different. The revolutionaries unanim ously elected Chander Shekhar A zad as th eir president. At the proposal o f B hagat S ingh (1 90 7 -1 9 3 1 ), this organisation w as named H industan Socialist Republican A rm y. They m anufactured bom bs and procured w eapons. M istakenly, they killed Saunders, A ssistant Superintendent o f police at Lahore, to seek vengeance o f the death o f Lala Lajpat Rai. In fact, they wanted to m urder Mr. Scot, the S uperintendent o f police. T hey m anaged to escape after k illing Saunders. On 8 April 1929, Bhagat Singh and his com panions threw a bom b in the Central Assem bly at Delhi and threw some pamphlets condem ning the British government for the maltreatment o f the Indians. The note thrown with the bomb said, “Y our repression must come to an end. The brutal murder o f Lala Lajpat Rai is the most heinous crime. You cannot crush a resurgent nation sustained by its faith in its ideological rectitude. With the blood o f the martyrs a holy altar is gradually being built on this sacred soil which will see the end o f the exploitation o f man by man. Since we know the deaf can 't hear our normal voice we send our message through this explosion. Inqulab Zindabad." The N aujawan Sabha was banned in 1930 under the Seditious Meetings Act.

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For the Lahore conspiracy and Central A ssem bly bomb cases Bhagat Singh and some nineteen other members o f their party were tried out o f which Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev were sentenced to death on 7 O c to b e r 1930, and the o th e rs w e re a w a rd e d d iffe re n t te rm s o f imprisonment. The three condemned to death were hanged on the evening o f 23 M arch 1931, and their bodies were secretly taken to the banks o f river Satluj near Ferozepur and crem ated. The hanging o f Bhagat Singh and his com panions was a cruel, brutalizing and out-dated form o f the British-sanctioned vengeance against those w ho wanted freedom for their beloved country. The names o f the three martyrs becam e a household word. Their daring and supreme sacrifice o f life inspired and boosted the sagging morale o f every youth throughout the country. Their martyrdom day is solemnly observed and homage is paid to the brave sons o f the soil every year at H ussainawala, the site o f their crem ation, and at Bhagat Singh’s ancestral village Khatkal Kalan, in the present N aw anshahr district o f Punjab. W o rld W a r II an d IN A (1939-45) During the World W ar II (1939-45) Japanese arm ies pushed across the Thai-M alayan border and defeated the British Indian forces opposing them. One o f the thousands o f Indians captured was Captain Mohan Singh, o f Ist/14th Punjab regim ent. He offered his services to the Japanese comm ander. Mohan Singh w as elevated to the rank o f a general and was made com m anding officer o f the newly established Indian N ational Arm y (INA). The INA led the Japanese attack on Singapore that w as captured on 15 February 1942. A bout 45,000 Indian prisoners assem bled at Singapore. O f the 20,000 who offered to join the INA a high proportion were the Sikhs. General M ohan Singh set up his headquarters at Singapore. He asked the Japanese Field Marshal about the role o f the INA that the Japanese had in mind. Mohan Singh again demanded o f the Japanese governm ent during the Bangkok Conference, on 15 June 1942, to make a declaration o f their policy towards India. The Japanese governm ent did not react favourably. Mohan Singh’s faith in the^Japanese governm ent w avered. The Japanese com m ander at Singapore took direct control o f the INA. Mohan Singh becam e cold towards the Japanese. His colleague N aranjan Singh Gill, who was in charge o f Burma, was arrested in 1942 and the INA weakened and Mohan Singh dissolved it. At this stage Subash Chander Bose arrived from G erm any and took charge o f the situation. He set up provisional governm ent o f Azad Hind.

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The Japanese becam e more co-operative w ith Subash than with Mohan Singh. Subash m oved his headquarters to R angoon and in February 1944 fought the British forces and succeeded in forcing his w'ay into Indian Territory. By the m onsoon season the INA w as pushed back. It was illequipped and outnum bered by the British forces. In January 1945 the INA fought its second round with the British w hose perform ance proved superior and by the middle o f May 1945 the heroic dram a o f the INA came to an end. Subash Chander retreated from R angoon to Singapore and from there to Bangkok. On 18 August 1945, the plane carrying him to Tokyo crashed, ending his violently enterprising career. P a rtitio n o f th e P u n ja b (1947) On 22 March 1947, Lord M ountbatten took over charge from Lord Wavell as viceroy o f India. He w as to m ake arrangem ents for the transfer o f pow er from the British to the Indians. The partition o f India into India and Pakistan had been decided. The split o f the Punjab was a m atter o f deep concern to all as it entailed disastrous consequences. The Sikhs and the Hindus o f the Punjab wanted division o f the province on the basis o f numbers and property. Sir Evan Jenkins, governor o f Punjab, had warned that the division o f the Punjab on com m unal lines w as fraught with serious repercussions as the M uslim s, H indus and the Sikhs were inextricably mixed in every district. The partition o f the province was bound to split the population o f the Sikhs into two but the Sikhs w anted to have the Punjab divided than live in Pakistan. On 3 June 1947, Lord M ountbatten m ade an em otional speech in broadcast regarding the fate that was in store for the Sikhs. “ We have given careful consideration to the position o f the Sikhs. This valiant co nm unity forms about an eighth o f the population o f the Punjab, but they are so distributed that any partition o f this province will inevitably divide them. All o f us who have the good o f the Sikh com m unity at heart are very sorry to think that the partition o f the Punjab which they themselves desire, cannot avoid splitting them to a greater or lesser extent. The exact degree o f the split will be left to the Boundary C om m ission in which they will o f course be represented /’19 On 4 June, the viceroy said at a press conference, “There are two main parties to this plan— the C ongress and the Muslim League— but another comm unity much less num erous but o f great im portance— the Sikh com m unity— have o f course to be considered. I found that it was mainly at the request o f the Sikh com m unity that C ongress had put forward

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the resolution on the partition o f the Punjab, and you will rem em ber that in the words o f that resolution they wished the Punjab to be divided between predom inantly Muslim and non-M uslim areas.... I must say that I was astounded to find that the plan that they had produced divided their comm unity into two alm ost equal parts. 1 have spent a great deal o f time both out here and in England in seeing w hether there w as any solution which would keep the Sikh com m unity more together w ithout departing from the broad and easily understood principle, the principle w hich was demanded on the one side and w as conceded on the other. I am not a miracle w orker and I have not found that solution.” British governm ent appointed Boundary Com m ission with Sir Cyril Radcliffe as chairm an. Each com m ission had four judges on its panel with two M uslims and tw o others. The Sikhs wanted the dividing line to be drawn along the Chenab river, thus keeping over 90 per cent o f the Sikhs in a com pact unit with most o f their historical shrines with them. On the other hand M uslim s dem anded Lahore, M ultan and Rawalpindi divisions and some tehsils in the Jalandhar and A m bala divisions. But the decision was solely in the hands o f Sir Cyril Radcliffe who gave 13 districts to the East Punjab i.e. the districts o f Jalandhar and A m bala divisions, the district o f A m ritsar and som e tehsils o f Lahore and G urdaspur. 62 per cent o f the total area o f the province o f Punjab and 55 per cent o f its population w as given to Pakistan. According to new findings on the partition o f the Punjab by Prof. V.N. Datta, Professor Emeritus, M odern History, K urukshetra University, Lord M ountbatten interfered in the boundary question. He even urged the Chairm an Sir Cyril Radcliffe to balance the border o f the east and the w est bearing the Sikh problem in mind and that any generosity to Pakistan should be more in Bengal than in the Punjab. Lord M ountbatten was concerned about the Sikhs as their most fertile lands o f L yalpur and M ontgomery were being given to Pakistan. Besides aw arding the Muslim majority district o f G urdaspur to India, ignoring the principle o f majority population, the boundary line with respect to Ferozepore and Z ira tehsils was also changed on 10 or 11 February 1947, reverting them back to India, after being awarded to Pakistan. On 14-15 August 1947, when India and Pakistan were celebrating their independence nearly ten million Punjabis— M uslim s and the Sikhs and Hindus were at each other’s throats. During the migration o f population horrible atrocities were committed on both the Pakistan and Indian sides. Trains carrying refugees w'ere attacked and bogies packed with m urdered passengers were sent across

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the borders. Even the old and infirm, w om en and infants w ere not spared. There was never a bigger exchange o f population attended by so much o f bloodshed earlier in the history o f the w orld. Lakhs o f people w ere slaughtered on both sides like goats and sheep. Politicians could not envisage the transfer o f population on such a large scale and they could not arrange it nor could they stop the senseless murders. Partition w as the result o f the failure o f the Indian statesm anship. W e may call it hastilyconceived, man-made catastrophe brought about by rash, cynical and hot­ headed politicians. It’s shadow still lengthens over India and Pakistan. M ore than four million M uslim s w ere left in the East Punjab and about four million Sikhs and H indus in the W est Punjab. It is generally believed that in 1947 about six m illion Sikhs and H indus m igrated to India from Pakistan and about the sam e num ber o f M uslim s m igrated from India to Pakistan. This migration on both sides took place by trains, m otor transport and foot convoys. On both sides o f the border, thousands o f people accepted conversions to save their lives. T housands o f young w om en were abducted; some o f whom were recovered later. They lived their later lives in terrible traum atic m em ories that brought m om ents o f horror shaking them to their spine till their bones cracked under the w eight o f years. Such tragic events could be the m ost sham eful chapter in the history o f any country o f the world. Partition o f the Punjab brought about revolutionary changes in the political, social and economic structure o f the Punjab. The Sikhs who were the most prosperous comm unity w as reduced to the level o f other Indian comm unities. To earn their livelihood, they were obliged to be scattered to different parts o f the country. Thousands o f the Sikhs w ent abroad to once again better their living standards. T h e P u n ja b i Suba After the independence o f India (15 A ugust 1947) the main grievances o f the Sikhs remained. They had no place under the sun w here they could have their political and cultural expression. The states o f southern India had been reorganized on the basis o f language but this principle w'as not applied to the northern India. Even their mother tongue Punjabi was denied the status o f a state language, because the Punjabi H indus, on political reasons, opted for Hindi, both in the schools and at the census. The Sachar formula (after the name o f Bhim Sen Sachar, the then ch ief m inister o f the Punjab) was evolved that suggested the teaching o f Punjabi and Hindi after the third prim ary grade, leaving the choice o f the m edium o f instruction to the parents. The Hindus freely opted for Hindi and the Sikhs

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Canadian Sikhs Through a Century (1897-1997)

for Punjabi. This split the com m unities further apart. In 1949 the Punjab University, dominated as it was by the A rya Samajists, also declared that Punjabi could not be a fit medium o f instruction even if the Sikhs agreed to both Nagri and G urm ukhi scripts. This exasperated the situation and the Punjab became the battlefield on the language issue. All parties accepted a com prom ise on Regional Form ula in 1956. The Punjab w as divided into tw o regions— Punjabi and Hindi. In the Punjabi region, Punjabi was to be the sole medium and it w as to be com pulsorily taught in the Hindi region and the vice versa. The Hindus never opted for it. On the other hand the Hindus launched pro-Hindi agitation. Jaw ahar Lai N ehru, the Prime M inister o f India, and Partap Singh Kairon, a powerful chief minister o f Punjab, were against Punjabi Suba. And unfortunately the Sikhs and Hindus did not fight for it from a common platform and it became wholly a Sikh issue and Jan Sangh (the main Hindu organisation) w as opposed to this demand. M aster Tara Singh, president o f Shiromani G urdw ara Parbandhak Com m ittee, launched a strong agitation for a Punjabi speaking state in 1960. He was arrested on 24 M ay 1960, and lodged in the D harm salajail. In his absence Sant Fateh Singh, the vice-president o f the SGPC, w ent on fast unto death over this issue on the precincts o f the G olden Tem ple at A m ritsar on 18 Decem ber 1960. U nder the explosive circum stances the governm ent released M aster Tara Singh in January 1961. Tara Singh met Jaw ahar Lai N ehru who told him that “ it is not out o f any discrim ination against the Punjab or distrust o f the Sikhs that the process o f form ing a linguistic state was not p o ss ib le ....” T hat “Punjabi w as essentially a dom inant language,” o f the Punjab state, com m on to both H indus and the Sikhs, though it is not possible to accept the principle o f purely linguistic states in the case o f Punjab. He felt that in the case o f Punjab’s division, “ it will be harmful to the Punjab, to the Sikhs as well as Hindus and to the whole o f India.” He did not elaborate as to why it was harmful. M aster Tara Singh asked Sant Fateh Singh to give up his fast. The people at large thought that the Sant had broken a solemn vow and betrayed their trust. M aster Tara Singh was also under the gun. It was said that Tara Singh feared that he him self would have to undergo a sim ilar ordeal incase Fateh Singh died without achieving anything. Under public pressure and governm ent’s tough attitude M aster Tara Singh went on fast unto death over the issue o f a 'Punjabi speaking state’, on 15 August 1961. But on the assurance o f the governm ent to appoint a comm ission to look into

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the Sikh grievances Tara Singh got out o f the self-inflicted ordeal on 2 October 1961. Efforts for the Punjabi Suba continued. Jaw ahar Lai N ehru died on 27 May 1964. Lai Bahadur Shastri, the new Prime M inister, appointed a Parliamentary Comm ittee under the chairm anship o f its speaker Hukam Singh, a former president o f the Akali Dal. The Com m ittee unanim ously recom m ended the linguistic division o f the P unjab. B ut before the recommendation o f the Comm ittee reached the governm ent, the C ongress W orking Comm ittee, on the initiative o f the succeeding Prim e M inister Indira Gandhi, resolved with an overw helm ing m ajority on 2 M arch 1966 that out o f the existing state o f Punjab, a state with Punjabi as the state language be formed except for Kharar tehsil w hich the m ajority o f the comm ission wanted excluded and which the governm ent o f India decided to include in the new state. However, the division was awfully unfair, unjust and even communally motivated. It did not demarcate the Punjabi speaking areas from the Hindi speaking ones. It only separated the Sikh dom inated areas from the Hindu populated areas. Even the capital city o f C handigarh and Punjabi speaking areas o f K am al in Haryana, and Shim la and K angra in H imachal Pradesh, were kept out o f the Punjab. K angra was 90 per cent Punjabi speaking in 1951 and had declared itself overw helm ingly Hindi speaking ten years later, due to comm unal reasons. Shim la was also predom inantly Punjabi speaking. The Commission and governm ent divided the Punjab into Hindu and Sikh with vengeance. Even the division o f river w aters becam e a communal rather than a national issue. To-day, we are only harvesting the crop o f injustices, the seeds o f w hich were sown in the past. A nother C om m ission appointed by Indira G andhi, unreasonably recommended the productive areas o f Fazilka and A bohar to be transferred to H aryana in a barter deal o f transferring Chandigarh to the Punjab and this was not acceptable to the Punjab. The controversial issues are hanging fire since the creation o f the Punjabi Suba. The way the Punjab w as sliced into three parts— Punjab, H aryana and Himachal Pradesh and the way the Punjab was wronged against by the central governm ent has no parallel in Indian history. It was a stunning political setback to the cause o f the Punjabi Suba. A rm y a tta c k on the G olden T em ple C om plex (Ju n e 1984) Indian governm ent believed that some Sikh extrem ists were staying

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in the Akal Takht and they needed to be flushed out. The Akalis were also said to be planning a non-co-operation movem ent with effect from 3rd June 1984, as their political demands were not being accepted. An army attack (officially known by the deceptively chastened appellation o f Operation Blue Star) on Akal Takht was ordered. The tanks were employed to demolish the holy precincts o f the Akal Takht and in the military action m ore than three hundred bullets struck the H arm andir— the sanctum sanctorum , one o f the holiest o f the holy tem ples o f the world. Under the orders o f the Indian Prime M inister the army had moved to lay siege to the G olden Tem ple and the Akal Takht. All channels o f comm unication between the holy com plex and the rest o f the world were severed. The entire state o f Punjab was placed under curfew, leaving life in the Punjab in total paralysis. A most strict censorship was imposed on all newspapers in the state before Indira Gandhi, the Prime M inister, made her last m inute ‘ap p e a l’ to ‘accept the fram ew ork o f settlem ent the governm ent had outlined.’20 As soon as she finished her speech at 9 p.m. on 2 June 1984, the All India Radio announced that all m ovem ents in the state were brought to a stand still. Kuldip N ayar and Khushwant Singh took note o f this fact. “ H ow could she first o rd er a m ilitary o p eratio n and then suggest negotiations. And even if the Akalis were ready to talk how could they contact her? All their telephones had been cut off.”21 It is not particularly in the above context but as a general analysis of Mrs Indira Gandhi, N ayantra Sahgal, daughter o f Mrs Vijayalaxmi Pandit ( sister o f Jaw ahar Lai N ehru), w rote in her book ‘Indira G an d h i’s Emergence and Style’ that, “ Mrs G andhi’s style had reduced politics to a state o f confrontation from which nothing but dictatorship could em erge”. Nayantra again wrote about Indira Gandhi in a paper presented in March 1994 to a conference o f ‘Leadership in South A sia’ that, “ I cam e to the conclusion that we were moving inexorably tow ards an authoritarian order not because the Indian situation dem anded it, but because o f the particular character in charge o f us, driven by the needs o f her own nature which had very little to do with the reason and rhyme o f the Indian situation”. In the beginning o f June 1984 a large num ber o f devotees had gathered at the Golden Temple complex to observe the martyrdom anniversary of Guru Arjan Dev. They could not leave the com plex before the army operation started. There were thousands o f casualties but the official figures claimed a total o f 554 civilians/extrem ists dead and 121 injured during the armed action in the Golden Temple com plex between 2 June and 7 June. As against this, according to the official figures again, a total o f four w w w .sikhnationalarchives.corr

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officers, four JCOS and 84 other ranks died, while 15 officers, 19 JCOS and 253 other ranks sustained injuries in the course o f the operation. A total o f 4712 civilians/extrem ists w ere reported to have been arrested including 1592 from the G olden Tem ple complex, 796 from the other religious places and 2324 in operations in the rest o f the Punjab.22 The arm y operation was also conducted against 37 other G urdw aras in the Punjab. Everyw here the people w ere hunted like jungle game and the human loss rose to thousands as against the cooked small figures given above. The exact num ber o f casualties rem ained controversial, as the government did not release information on the identity o f those killed, wounded and arrested. By m odest estim ate this army attack caused the loss o f over 7000 lives and enorm ous dam age to sacred property at G olden Temple complex alone. It w as indeed a great tragedy where arm y was used to attack the holy places and kill their ow n civilian population. This military operation resulted in the universal alienation o f the Sikhs living in India and elsewhere in the world. Khushwant Singh wrote, “W hat I protested against, by returning the Padma Bhushan, was that my w arnings to the governm ent, through my speeches in Parliam ent, had been ig n o red .... A ny action to expel the extremists by force could result in blood-bath, which in turn, w ould hurt and alienate the Sikh com m unity, a large n um ber o f w hom are not concerned with politics. I am not saying that the governm ent’s action was anti-Sikh but it was directed against a shrine which is held sacred by all the Sikhs. The result o f the action, and one, w hich I had been afraid of, has come with a vengeance. Barring a handful, alm ost all the Sikhs are outraged and I can say that this includes the President o f India.”23 Sikh C a rn a g e (N ov em ber 1984) Indira Gandhi, Indian Prime M inister, w as shot dead by her two Sikh body-guards on 31 O ctober 1984, presum ably because o f her ordering an army attack on the G olden Temple com plex and m any other G urdwaras. In retaliation the bloody carnage o f the Sikhs started in Delhi, under the very eye o f the Indian governm ent, in the afternoon o f 31 O ctober, and continued till 4 N ovem ber alm ost unabated. A fact-finding team jointly organized by the People’s Union for D em ocratic Rights (PU D R ) and People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PU CL) in the course o f investigation from 1 November to 10 N ovember, cam e to the conclusion that the attacks, on members o f the Sikh comm unity in Delhi and its suburbs during this period, far from being a spontaneous expression o f 'm ad n ess’ and o f popular ‘grief and anger’ at Indira G andhi’s assassination, as made out by

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the authorities, were the outcom e o f a well-organized plan marked by acts o f both deliberate comm issions and omissions by important politicians o f the then ruling party at the top and by authorities in the administration. The violence that followed, was the handiw ork o f a determ ined group, which was inspired by different sentim ents altogether. The attacks on the Sikhs followed a comm on pattern. The uniformity in the sequence o f events at every spot, even in far-flung places, proves beyond doubt that some powerful organized groups m asterm inded the attacks. The arson was the w ork o f experts. There was also a definite pattern discernible in the choice o f the victims made by the assailants. The Sikhs who were killed in these riots mostly belonged to the 20-50 age group. The official figures estim ated killed to more than 3000 in Delhi alone. No protection was provided to trains carrying Sikh passengers, arriving from the Punjab or other parts o f India. No troops were sent, with the result that every train was left to the mercy o f gangsters w ho dragged out the Sikhs from the incom ing train compartm ents, lynched them, threw their bodies on the platforms or the railway tracks and many w ere set on fire. Scores o f them were done to death in the trains. M any Sikhs were killed in other cities o f India. All through the period from 31 O ctober to 4 N ovem ber— the height o f the riots— the police all over the city uniformly betrayed a common behavioural pattern marked by total absence from the scene or a role of passive spectators or direct participation or abetment in the orgy o f violence against the Sikhs. In certain areas while police pickets sat by idly, hundreds o f young men, armed with swords, trishuls and iron rods blocked the main roads. The Sikh-owned shops were set on fire right under the nose o f heavy para-military and police pickets. M obs burnt the Sikh-owned factories and houses and the inmates were burnt in most barbarous manner. No help came. The adm inistration was a mute spectator to the whole tragedy taking place before their eyes. The unfortunate rem ark o f the slain Prime M inister’s successor— her son— that ‘w hen a big tree falls the earth trem bles’, was widely resented as it justified the violence and the riots that broke out after Indira G andhi’s death. When after the destruction and murders, people went to complain and file FIRs, the police, in m any areas, refused to record their complaints. Men at the top in the administration and the ruling party displayed repeatedly a curious lack o f concern often bo rd erin g on deliberate negligence o f duty and abdication o f responsibility through period from 3 1 O ctober to 4 November. It seemed that the legitimate authorities were

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Historical Background

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superceded and a few ruling party leaders assum ed decision-m aking powers. Report o f a joint inquiry into the causes and im pact o f the riots in Delhi from 31 O ctober to 10 N ovem ber published jointly in N ovem ber 1984 by G obinda M ukhoty, P resid en t, P U D R , and R ajni K o th ari, President, PUCL, under the title, ‘W ho are the G uilty?’ has named the leaders o f the anti-Sikh riots and the perpetrators o f the heinous crimes. The above report discusses the roles o f the police, the adm inistration, the army, the Congress, the m edia and the opposition and the public. The above study gives briefly the chronology o f events in Delhi from 31 October to 6 N ovem ber 1984, along with a list o f people who actively participated in the anti-Sikh violence. The survivors o f the victim s’ fam ilies are still in the position o f the humble beggars o f com pensation, which is eluding them . The role o f the regularly constituted central governm ent vis-a-vis the barbarous genocide o f the Sikhs in the Indian capital itself leaves a big question unanswered for all these years— a decade and a half. A still greater painful thing for the comm unity, that had been the standard bearers in India’s freedom struggle, is that they have still to hear a w ord o f regret in the Indian Parliament for w hat this violence did to the Sikhs. The Sikhs who m igrated to different parts o f the w orld including Canada in the twentieth century have a very vibrant and forceful historical background. The Sikhs have never been a dorm ant society in any period o f history and the impact o f the Sikh activities, that took place in their ancestral land, on the Sikhs in their new hom es abroad, has alw ays been deep and significant as they have never forgotten their ancestral heritage. Thus, to fully understand the characteristics and mould o f the foreignbased Sikhs the know ledge o f their historical background is essential, that has been dealt with precisely in the preceding pages. The Sikhs are a small community with big past and bigger future. REFEREN CES 1.

Francklin. The History o f the Reign o f Shah Aulum , London, 1798, p.73.

2.

Steinbach. The Punjaub, London, 1845, p.53.

3.

A khbar-i-D arbar-i-M ualla. news dated 10 D ecem ber 1710(Persian m anuscript. Dr G anda S in g h 's P rivate C ollection, now at Punjabi University. Patiala) English version by Dr Bhagat Singh, published in The Panjab Past and Present, Punjabi University. Patiala. Vol. XVIII-I1. October 1984. (pp. 1-206). p.49.

4.

Teja Singh and Ganda Singh. A Short History o f the Sikhs. Bombay. 1950. pp. 107-08.

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Canadian Sikhs Through a Century>(1897-1997) 5.

George Forster. A Journey from Bengal to England. Vol. 1. (1798). reprint Patiala, p.272.

6.

Ali-ud-Din Mufti. Ibratnama (1854), The Punjabi Adabi Academy, Lahore, Vol. I, 1961.p.240.

7.

Earnest Trumpp, Introduction, The Adi Granth, London, 1877.

8.

Bhagat Singh. A History o f the Sikh Misals, Punjabi University, Patiala, 1993, p.372.

9.

Bhagat Singh. Sikh Polity in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Delhi. 1978, p.101.

10.

Ibid. p.70.

11.

Victor Jacquemont, Letters from India, Vol. I, London, 1834, p.399.

12.

Alexander Burnes. The Travels into Bokhara, Vol. I, London, 1834, p.33. Bhagat Singh, Maharaja Ranjit Singh and His Times, Delhi, 1990, p.301.

13.

The Daily Statesman, 14 February 1961, ‘Observer.’

14.

F.C. Isemonger and J. Slattery, An Account o f the Ghadar Conspiracy, Lahore, 1921.

15.

R. Fumeaux, Massacre at Amritsar, London, 1963, p. 153.

16.

Jawahar Lai Nehru, An Autobiography, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, Reprint 1982, p.43.

17. 18.

‘Babbar Akali Case’ The Civil and Military Gazette, 10 June 1923. Lord Mountbatten’s broadcast at All India Radio, 3 June 1947.

19.

Indian Government's White Paper, 1984, p. 108.

20.

Kuldip Nayar and Khushwant Singh, Tragedy o f Punjab: Operation Blue Star and After, Vision Books, New Delhi, 1984, cited in 'Operation Blue Star’ The Tribune, Chandigarh, 21 october 1984.

21.

Indian Government, White Paper, Annexure, xi, p. 169.

22.

Khushwant Singh. 'K halistan’s Dawn: A new chapter in Sikh History’, Gentleman. Bombay, 15 July 1986.

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CHAPTER 2

EARLY SIKH SETTLERS AND THEIR HARDSHIPS AND SUFFERINGS

A mong the first Sikhs to visit C anada w ere the m em bers o f the Sikh Regiment who arrived by train in V ancouver from M ontreal, Quebec, during the summer o f 1897, en route home from Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in England. They were seen as soldiers m ounted on horsebacks in the streets o f V ancouver. They seem ed to have been deeply im pressed with the beautiful landscape, rushing brooks and stream s, w inding rivers and interior seas disguised as lakes. They found C anada as a land o f incredible beauty. Its geography shaped it in a manner unmatched anywhere else. Heavens were made in C anada’s image. These Sikhs went home and told adventurous Sikhs about the opportunities C anada could provide. They made travel plans and w ere soon thereafter seen in Alberta in 1903, the num ber o f first batch o f entrants is not known. It is vaguely estimated that about one hundred East Indians, mostly the Sikhs, had arrived in B.C. between 1897 and 1900. They could not settle at one place due to job uncertainties. They w ere shuttling betw een V ancouver and Victoria and were trying to find a satisfactory place to settle down. Before coming to Canada many Sikh soldiers had migrated to M alaya, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Philippines which were under the British domination. They worked in those places as w atchmen, policemen and caretakers. They w ere allured o f the opportunities o f prosperous life in Canada. The new spapers and the posters distributed in the villages o f Punjab also im pressed upon the people to go and settle in Canada. As per the fiscal year reports o f 1904-08 the num ber o f the East Indian immigrants to Canada was as under:

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Canadian Sikhs Through a Century (1897-1997) Year

1904

1905

1906

1907

1908

Total

45

387

2124

2623

6

5185

Amongst these arrivals, 98 per cent were the Sikhs and the rem aining were M uslims and Hindus. Since the natives were called the red Indians, the people coming from India began to be called the East Indians. Though primarily I mean the Sikhs but when I have to include non-Sikh Indians who are hardly 5 per cent, I am obliged to use the term East-Indians. This term is a label used for persons w ith origins in Ceylon, India, Pakistan and Fiji also. It is also applied to persons im m igrating from A frica and elsewhere who trace their ancestry to India. This often led to the m ixing up and confusing identities. In the earlier Canadian governm ent records all the Sikhs who hailed from India were w rongly stated as ‘H indus’. All those living in India are Indians but all are not Hindus. The Indian population comprises various religious groups or communities as the Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus, Christians, etc. The religion o f the Sikhs is distinct and complete in itself as those o f others. I.M. M uthanna absurdly believed and indiscreetly recorded that “all those people who hailed from India were stated as Hindus, and that w as perfectly correct because every nonHindu or his father or grandfather, w as once a Hindu. This applied to the Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and others who are from India and o f the Indian origin.” 1 He lacks even the minim um sense o f history. Regarding the names o f the earlier im m igrants to Canada, we have some scanty information. Vir Singh Majhail o f village G udde ( district Amritsar) is said to have arrived in V ancouver in 1902. A bout h alf a dozen Sikh policemen are also believed to have com e to B.C. in 1902. Ten East Indians came here in 1903. The names o f m any people who cam e to B.C. in 1906 are available in records. They include M ayo Singh Paldi, Hazara Singh Sangha, Waryam Singh Jaura, Partap Singh Johal, Dum an Singh, Dasonda Singh granthi, Bhawan Singh Sihota, Bachan Singh Dhillon and Sohan Singh Bhullar. An old picture shows some Sikh railway w orkers dum ping truckloads o f debris at Frank. Alberta, in 1903. A nother picture show s the Sikhs newly arrived in Canada with their truncks and bedrolls at CPR station, Frank. Alberta, in 1he same year, that is. in 1903. The exact num ber of arrivals before 1904 is not known. The Punjabi im m igrants who arrived in Vancouver in 1904 belonged to the villages o f Sur Singh. Kharaudi. G udde and Halvvara. According to one recent study, the Sikhs had been in Canada b\ 1880 and had a G urdwara established in G olden in BC by 1890.2

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The presence o f the Sikhs in G olden (B .C .) in the 1880s seem s probable from local evidence. In the survey o f the ‘C hurches o f the Colum bia V alley’, on page 57 o f ‘Kin B asket C ountry’, com piled by Miss Heather M iller, she quotes Rev. M cRay, the Presbyterian m inister in Golden (1902-13): “ During the late*r 1880s a num ber o f H indus (as the Sikhs were then called) moved here to w ork in newly developed C.R.L mill. They built a Hindu Temple (G urdw ara) not far from w here the School Board Office is now, around which m ost o f the H indus (Sikhs) built their houses. They were o f the Sikh religion.” When the Rev. invited the Sikhs to church they would take o ff their shoes before entering the church as they do when entering the Gurdwara. The above information was supplied on 4 M ay 1981 to Ray Hundle— a Sikh resident o f Golden, by Fred B jarnason, Secretary, Golden and District Historical Society, G olden,B.C. Ray Hundle w rites that the Sikhs came to Golden in 1880 according to G olden m useum records and oldtimers, through C olum bia River steamship. These Sikhs, in all probability, came there from a route different from the one follow ed by those who came to V ancouver in 1897 and follow ing years. In 1979 Ray Hundle interviewed an 85-year old resident o f Golden, named Billey, who told him that the early Sikh workers o f the mill included Surjan Singh— supervisor in a small sawmill and Hari Singh who was called doctor as he could fix the dislocated legs and arm s o f the mill workers. Both o f these Sikhs left Golden after having w orked in the mill for about two decades and Hardit Singh took over as the foreman o f CRLC lumber mill. Later Hardit Singh shifted to V ictoria and established there a mill named Plum per Bay Mill, Victoria, w hich in 1979 w as being looked after by Hardit Singh’s grandson Piara Singh. 45-50 Punjabis who lived in G olden had moved away from there in 1927 when their lum ber mill was closed due to m assive forest fire. Ray Hundle also recorded interview in 1979 with an octogenerian resident in Golden, named Norm King who rem em bered the names o f Hardit Singh, Wattan Singh, Hari Singh, Arjan Singh and Kartar Singh who w orked in the mill there. Norm King confirmed that the Sikhs lived in Gqlden in 1880 and the Sikh tem ple there. Norm King also told that at the tim e o f leaving Golden the Sikhs dismantled the Gurdwara and gave its floor carpet to the King family. The living o f the Sikhs there from 1880 to 1927 is also supported by the police and hospital records o f G olden and no Sikh lived there from 1927 to 1961. The present Sikh families settled there since 1962. Later the Sikhs o f G olden dem anded the site o f the O ld Sikh tem ple for

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constructing a new one there and they had a tem ple o f worship o f their own. It seems that the Sikh existence in Golden in 1880s was independent o f the Sikhs who cam e a little later in 1897 and after and settled in V ancouver Island. The handful o f the Sikhs at G olden, w ith passive existence, belonged to a different group o f immigrants, without any history to attract notice o f the writers except that they entered C anada a few years earlier. But the main or the exclusive thrust o f the Sikh immigrants stepping on the Canadian soil was via Vancouver Island. W hether the Sikhs o f G olden had any contact with the Sikhs o f Vancouver is not yet know n to history. They were all good w orkers and good citizens as affirm ed by Norm King. These were uneducated and unskilled people. These were uneducated and unskilled people. Their intention was to make money and return to their country. A significant num ber o f these Punjab peasants had mortgaged their land to reach Canada. These early visitors used to sleep on mattresses filled with sawdust. They brought their own quilts or blankets from India to be used in winter. Life was very tough with cold mornings, very chilly nights and an air o f distinct inhospitality. They were offered the most unpleasant jobs that no white man would accept. In lumber mills, in the vicinity o f V ancouver and Victoria, they could get $ 1.50 to $2.00, a day. The lived frugally, three or four o f them sharing a room and thus saving some money. Besides, being needed at the sawmills, these hard working people were wanted by the railway contractors, farmers and fruit-growers and mine contractors. They also worked in dairy farms, fish plants and forests to chop wood. Besides the East Indians, Chinese and Japanese had also entered C anada in larger numbers and with effect from earlier dates. The Chinese were the first o f the Asians to migrate to Canada in 1840. In the census of 1891 there were 9129 Chinese in the whole o f Canada out o f whom 8910 were in British C olum bia alone. In the 1890s there w ere about 1500 Japanese people in British C olum bia and in the first four months o f the year 1900, about 400 new-comers landed on the shores o f Canada. There was a great hue and cry among the different associations o f w orkers that Canada in general and British Colum bia in particular ‘was being overrun by Japanese and C hinese’, and total abolition o f the oriental immigration was demanded through resolutions. In 1900 the total population o f British Colum bia was estimated at three hundred thousand out o f whom 40.000 were working white men and 20,000 Asians. This was not acceptable t'o the working classes o f the Canadians.

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In the light o f this situation we can easily visualise the future prospects o f the newcomers, the East Indians, and the type o f w elcom e aw aiting them in Canada. From 1901 to 1904 the governm ent o f British C olum bia seriously thought about restricting rather abolishing the entry o f the immigrants. The Oriental Com m ission also recom mended strict restriction on immigration. Sometim e later, the K ootney saw m ill’s w hite w orkers refused to allow the oriental w orkers along with them, despite mill officials wanting to have the A sians w ork in the mill. By 1906, 2556 East Indians, alm ost all o f them Sikhs, had entered C anada. They w ere nearly all old soldiers. Som e o f the em p lo y ers sympathized with them and gave them em ploym ent as they had fought for the British Empire, instead o f giving work to the total aliens. M any white Canadians w ere keen to keep C anada a white country. They w anted the aliens to be turned out as these Chinese, Japanese and the Sikhs were not going to adapt to the Canadian way o f life. Henry Gladstone, a nephew o f W illiam Gladstone, the fam ous Prime M inister o f England, came to V ancouver in O ctober 1906. Earlier he had been in India for fifteen years and knew a lot about the Sikhs. He expressed his amazement over the Sikhs doing coolies’ labour. “They are men o f high caste in their own country and have been em ployed in military work. These men w'ork in India as policem en and military patrol. N ot many years ago it was against the rule o f their caste to travel overseas but their work as soldiers o f the empire has taken them away from the idea.”3Henry Gladstone also told the Canadian whites that “they (the Sikhs) will not assimilate in British Columbia. If I have any know ledge o f them they do not want to assimilate. They will make a little money and go back to their co u n try .” In C anada they w ere fee lin g th em selv es as p riso n ers o f circumstances. The largest contingent o f Indian im migrants com prising 901 persons arrived in V ancouver on the C anadian Pacific steam er M onteagle on 12 September 1907. The housing problem o f these earlier Sikh immigrants w as simply miserable and awful. Far from living in comfortable houses they had hardly a shelter that could properly protect them from the cold o f C anada’s winter. The city council came to their rescue. A city official said, "no one desired them to wander about in the streets with no covering for their heads save their turbans or no bed but sidew alks.” The m ayor o f V ancouver ordered to pitch a big tent to sh elte r them from the u n fav o u rab le w eath er conditions.4 The Sikhs were so much pleased with the humane gesture o f the city w w w .siK hnaiiotiala'chives.coir

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council that they decided to meet all the costs o f the shelter without making the city to bear any expenses. This show ed that the Sikhs w ere not monetarily poor but had difficulties in respect o f living accom modation. In the early stages the East Indians, some times, ‘spent the nights in the open air with scantiest clothes, huddled together to keep out the cold.’ One Atma Singh rented accom modation near the Cemetery Road where more than 100 Sikhs ‘swarmed in the stables and chicken houses’. Now and then, ‘the Sikhs died o f cold and these deaths were often concealed from the authorities so that the community was not disgraced for inadequate attention to the insufficiently dressed co-religionists. Most o f them lived in the fields and thick forests o f B.C. and would come to the city to purchase grocery and other necessities o f life. These Sikhs were victims o f racism to the extent that the Sikhs who died there were not allowed to be cremated in the cemetery o f the white people. They were cremated in the jungle away from the gaze o f the whites at odd hours. The whites did not at all socialize with them, thus subjecting them to total aloofness and segregation from the whites. Through their treatment the whites kept the pioneers in a state o f suffocation for decades together. We are unhappy because we are afflicted with adversity. The fact is that the greatest affliction o f life is never to be afflicted. It is like threshing which separates the wheat from the chaff. Afflictions purify and strengthen us. He, who wrestles with you, strengthens your muscles. The Sikhs have alw ay s fo u g h t a g ain st a d v e rsity w ith m a rv e llo u s c o u ra g e , n ever complaining against fate. Leighton has said, “Adversity is the diamonddust Heaven polishes its jew els w ith.” Bad times are a part o f life. No one can escape o f them. No one is an all-time favourite o f God. No one can have all sunshine, and no dark, dismal clouds. “While man sits on the cushion o f advantages, he goes to sleep. When pushed, tormented, defeated, he has a chance to learn som ething. It is in such a situation that he learns o f his ignorance, is cured o f the insanity of conceit, acquires moderation and real skill” says Emerson. Men o f courage do not wait for circum stances to turn favourable; they make them favourable. An ounce o f action is better than a ton of brooding. The Sikhs never keep thinking with heads hanging but act with heads raised. It is not what befalls us that matters but how we react to it. There are millions who have gone under the steam roller o f the fate in one blow. But there are some that, despite repeated blows from misfortune, have stuck to their guns. They have mastered the art o f rolling along with the blow. They stagger but get up. W ho can say that the Sikhs are

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otherwise? They had to go a long way before they had a place in the Canadian sun. They lay on their backs and looked up at the stars. The Canadian w hites have been m aking excuses to get rid o f the East Indians. Sometim es they argued that the clim ate o f C anada was unsuitable to them, so they should go back to their country and save them selves from the vagaries o f the weather, as they w ere accustom ed to the conditions o f a tropical climate. In 1908, the governm ent told the Sikhs that “a large number o f them w ere likely to be out o f w ork during w inter and were liable to becom e p u b lic ch a rg e an d , th e re fo re , m easu res fo r th eir deportation to Hong K ong and possibly to India, will be adopted”5. Their spokesman, Professor Teja Singh, holder o f M aster’s Degree from the Harvard University (USA), an academ ic royalty am ong the Sikhs in Canada at that tim e, told the g o vern m en t th at the S ikhs had fully adjusted themselves to the climate o f C anada and they faced no problem from it. They belonged to Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Ferozepur, A m ritsar and Lahore districts o f Punjab. In order to save the Sikhs from unem ploym ent some o f the Sikhs under the advice o f T eja Singh planned to purchase lands in B.C. and settle them in farming. Starting o f an agricultural colony was contem plated with the purchase o f a tract o f 441 acres o f agricultural land for $41,000, in North Vancouver, located betw een Skunk and Capilano River, in front o f the English Bay. A nother tract o f land w as also negotiated for the proposed market-gardens. The Sikhs agreed to pay the initial cash amount and the remaining am ount in tw o instalments. W hat happened to these deals nothing specific is know n. In the m eantim e. Col. Swayne, who had served in India for m any years, told at a m eeting in O ttaw a that “Am ong the people in the East Indians colony on the W est Coast, first place should be accorded to the Sikhs. This tribe had been the hardiest o f all the Indian tribes to conquer but once subdued they had rem ained steadfast in their loyalty to the crow n.”6 Thus, the Sikhs were alw ays ready to face every eventuality, w hether it is from the climate or from unemployment. The Sikhs w ere C lean B ut th e ir L iving C o n d itio n s w ere U nclean The Canadian whites, time and again, charged the Sikhs o f being unclean which they were not. They would rise early, wash them selves and offer their prayers before going out to work. Physical or bodily cleanliness is one o f the essentials o f their religious code o f conduct. The Sikh religion has a cult o f bathing and they think cleanliness a virtue. Against them, the Canadian or European and English whites would avoid .sikhnationalarcl '■ ss.com

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taking bath in the morning or daily and would carry the laziness o f their night-sleep with them to their jobs. The turbans and un-shorn hair on head and beard bothered the narrow-m inded whites to the extent o f branding them unclean. The British who came in contact with the Sikhs in India knew that keeping them selves perfectly clean w as a religion with them . H enry Gladstone, answering the charge that Indians had filthy habits, said on 18 October 1906, “that the Sikhs are scrupulously clean and I regard them as a very fine race o f m e n /’7 Dr. S.H. Lawson, who was a sh ip 's surgeon on the C anadian Pacific Railway steamers, M onteagle and Tartar, wrote: “ It w as my duty to make a thorough physical examination o f each im m igrant at Hong K ong and, although at first I was strongly prejudiced against them, I lost this prejudice after thousands o f them had passed through my hands and I had com pared them with white steerage passengers I had seen on the A tlantic. I refer in particular to the Sikhs and I am not exaggerating in the least when I say that they were one hundred per cent cleaner in their habits and free from disease than the European steerage passengers I had come in contact with. The Sikhs impressed me as a clean, manly, honest race.”8 Col. John Smith, Political A dviser to the M aharaja o f M ysore, on his way back to India after spending his holidays in England, passed through Vancouver in March 1908. He said, “N early all those I talked with are the Sikhs. It distressed me to hear their tales o f woe. These Sikhs are a brave, sensitive and proud people. I know all these from experience in many campaigns. Have sensitive feelings for th em .... In India it is a common sight in the East Indians washing at the river banks. On the average, I should say they are cleaner than the white men a re .... And they are proudly sensitive to their ways o f life and culture.”9 The Sikhs always honour m an’s laws and also never break G o d ’s laws. The Sikhs know Plato putting laws above man and they respect these laws till they are changed. R egarding their living conditions, undoubtedly, they lived in small and ill-equipped houses. In fact, they did not live in houses rather they lived in dirty matchboxes. As they were the new -com ers it would take some time to be able to earn enough as to build good houses for themselves. In those early days they were living in C anada without their fam ilies who were back in India. W hatever little they saved, they sent it to their families who depended on them. They could not save much from their meagre wages and thus could not spend enough on them selves and naturally they could not maintain a decent standard o f living. The host society w as hostile

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and jobs were uncertain and they were living thousands o f miles away from their home country. The medical officers could not but report about their quarters or shacks in bad condition, ill-ventilated, badly plum bed and damp. To live in the standard o f earlier white settlers was pretty difficult for the new immigrants. The health officers were not incorrect w hen they reported that in the living quarters o f the East Indians the air was suffocating as many men used to live in one room. The health officers som etim es recommended to the city council to destroy those unhygienic houses. The new whites arriving from Europe and the other A sians lived in no better dwellings. Most o f the houses o f the C hinese and Japanese were in no way better than those o f the East Indians. But that provided no justification against criticism o f the East Indians by the city health departm ent. At the mill sites the accom m odation provided to the w orkers was equally sub-standard and unfit for healthy living. The m ills’ bunkhouses were awfully slummy, packed w ith dw ellers like anim als, huddled in an inadequate space. The clothes o f the sawmill w orkers w ere alw ays in very shabby condition covered and soiled w ith a thick layer o f saw dust. They burnt wood in the kitchen. A big group o f them w ould keep a com m on mess, pooled the expenses and had a sim ple repast. They w ore simple clothes and most o f them did not have sufficient warm clothes to m eet the biting cold o f the w inter months. A nyhow , they braved all that and in due course o f time a noticeable change in their condition cam e and they pulled themselves out o f the criticism o f the health officials. A t present, the Sikhs can com pete in living standards favourably w ith any section o f the Canadian society. They alw ays achieve their cherished goals through dedication, persistence and undrooping spirits. T heir motto is ‘never give in’. They know no defeat in their aims. They refuse to surrender. A siatic E xclusion L eague (1907) During these tim es there w as a strong feeling am ong the C anadians that Canada should be preserved as the exclusive heritage o f the w hites and the Asiatics should be totally banned from entry into this country. The Asiatic Exclusion League was formed on 12 A ugust 1907. They tried to create trouble in Vancouver. Some 30 whites from Bellingham, America, a few miles from Canadian border, crossed over to Canada w here they were joined by more rioters. More than the East Indians the Chinese and Japanese suffered the loss o f their goods as their shops were ransacked and their dwellings set on fire, in Vancouver. The Sikh w orkers had to stay inside their houses and they had to go without work for som e time. They avoided confrontationist postures. These riots were know n as the w w w .sikhnationalarchives.com

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anti-Asiatic riots o f Septem ber 1907. In these days a song that becam e popular in British Colum bia was titled as ‘White C anada for Ever’ — This is the voice o f the W est and it speaks to the world: The rights that our fathers have given W e'll hold by right and maintain by might. Till the foe is backward driven. We welcome as brothers all white men still, But the shift)' yellow race. Whose word is vain, who oppress the weak. Must find another place. C h o ru s: Then let us stand united a!l And show our father’s might, That w'on the home wfe call our own, For w'hite m an’s land we fight. To oriental grasp and greed W e’ll surrender, no never. Our watchword be “God save the king” White Canada for ever. This thinking o f the whites added to the w oes o f the Asians. The Sikhs, by their appearance were more conspicuous than the others were. In the Okanagan valley, the Sikhs already em ployed there, lost their work. The white labourers tried to scare them away. These pioneer settlers did not consider it proper to clash with the aggressive whites as the government always stood on the side o f the whites. As a sensible step, under the unfavourable circumstances, the Sikhs bowed to the inevitable and voiced no expression o f anger against anyone. Thus, tactfully they avoided the situations that were bound to damage their interests. At this stage, much against their tribal characteristic o f settling the scores expeditiously, with the help o f their muscles, they preferred recourse to petition and legal procedure. Herbert H. Stevens, an alderman o f the V ancouver City Council, and later an M.P.. was the leader o f the Asiatic Exclusion League. He was an intellectual spark plug, terribly hostile to the East Indians. His rancorous language caused deep resentment among the Indian com m unity. He wanted these foreigners to be shipped home at all costs. He said. "W e contend that the destin\ o f Canada is best left in the hands o f the Anglo-Saxon race, and are ‘unalterably and irrevocably' opposed to an \ move which

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threatens in the slightest degree this p o sitio n .... As far as C anada is concerned, it shall remain white, and our doors shall be closed to the East Indians as well as other O rientals.” 10 Sir Wilfred Laurier, Canadian Prime M inister (1896-1911) also wanted in the heart o f his hearts to get rid o f the East Indians but his office stood in the w ay o f his saying it openly. In a garbled language, and avoiding to look racist, he puts it as under: "T he East Indians w ere unsuited to live in the climatic condition o f British Colum bia, and w ere a serious disturbance to industrial and economic conditions in that part o f the dom inion." Wilfred Laurier further remarked in a letter to Lord M into, viceroy o f India, that "Strange to say the East Indians... are looked upon by our people in British Colum bia with still more disfavour than the Chinese. They seem to be less adaptable to our ways and m anners than all the other oriental races that come to us.” The Prime M inister had to m ove with his flock if he had to be in the saddle comfortably. The British Indian governm ent endorsed all steps being proposed by the C anadian governm ent to keep C anada a white country. The Indian governm ent alw ays gave a cold shoulder to the Sikh im migrants w henever they requested or petitioned for help to be out o f the situ atio n in w hich th ey w ere in v o lv e d b e c au se o f C a n a d a governm ent’s hostile postures. Through orders-in- council in 1908 the new immigrants from India were prevented from entering Canada. The details o f these orders may be studied in the chapter on immigration. C a n ad ian G o v ern m en t’s plan to sen d th e S ik h s to B ritish H o n d u ra s By 1908, the number o f the East Indians in C anada was only 5185. But even such a small num ber seem ed to pose a problem before the Canadian government. They wanted to get rid o f them by all means. The governm ent planned to shift them to British H onduras in the C entral America. But it was a little difficult to throw them aw ay w ithout their consent. William C harles H opkinson. a E uro-Indian, in British C olum bia service, working as V ancouver Immigration official and interpreter, and, co-ordinated a spy-ring w ithin B.C.*s Indo-Canadian comm unity , offered to contact the influential Sikhs in connection w ith their transfer to British Honduras. He. who was bom in Delhi in 1880 o f an English father and an Indian mother, w as fiill\ conversant with Punjabi and Hindi. He contacted Bhai Balwant Singh w ho was. at that time, the first priest at the 2nd Avenue Gurdwara. Hopkinson put the proposal before Balwant Singh, assuring him that the ex-soldiers and pensioners from India would be absorbed in the armed forces and the police in Honduras. T h e\ would also be given

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guard duties there and others would be provided with land to cultivate. The Sikhs will have highly paying vocations as poultry, sheep breeding, piggery and dairying. All the inquiries and objections o f Balwant Singh were duly answered by Hopkinson. In a meeting held on 18 October 1908, in Vancouver, the Sikh leaders decided to send a delegation com prising four person— J.B. Harkin, Secretary to the Interior Ministry o f the federal governm ent, W illiam Hopkinson— the Vancouver official and interpreter, and Nagar Singh and Sham Singh, representatives o f the Sikh comm unity. The delegation reached Honduras on 25 October 1908 and returned to Vancouver on 7 November 1908. In the British Honduras the government members o f the delegation made all efforts to persuade the Sikh representatives to form a favourable opinion about their shifting to the new colony. But N agar Singh and Sham Singh talked to about thirty Sikhs who had been residing there for the last forty years. They had been brought there from India under a contract to work on the plantations with many promises made to them. Those old people told about their pitiable lot, ill-treatment and broken promises. They had been, all through, yearning to return to India but could not, because o f financial stringencies. In the meantime, the media would not lag behind to play their antiSikh role. The editorial o f The D aily Province said that sending the Sikhs to the British Honduras was an extremely good solution (o f getting rid of them). The editor advised the Sikhs not to miss the opportunity. In Canada they could not compete with their rivals in the market and moreover they would be entirely without work in winter and autumn and there would be scarcely sufficient food for them for winter. The climate was warm in that colony throughout the year as they had it in India.11 The government representatives felt that the representatives o f the Sikhs were not likely to submit a favourable report to their community about the suitability o f the colony. Hopkinson, the official interpreter, unsuccessfully tried to bribe the Sikh members with a bag o f $3,000, which they declined to accept. On return from the British Honduras the Sikh members reported as under: 1. The climate o f the colony was unsuitable to the East Indians. The place was infested with mosquitoes and malaria was common everywhere. 2. The saltish sea-water was used for bathing and it was injurious to health.

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Stored rain w ater was used for all purposes and no fresh w ater was available anywhere. 4. Monthly w ages were betw een eight and tw elve dollars. It was very difficult to live in that meagre income. 5. The poor residents could not get fresh m ilk and butter and the available cooking oil was very expensive. 6. The Indians already settled there w ere living a m iserable life. The old Indians there w anted to go back to their country but they had no m oney to undertake journey. 7. Only contractual labour was available there and unless the contract matured they could not take up any other work. 8. They were offered a bribe, for a favourable report, w hich they spurned as sinful. The congregation at V an co u v er G u rd w ara passed a unanim ous resolution on 22 N ovem ber 1908 to reject the offer to go to H onduras. The Sikhs, under Prof. Teja Singh’s m otivation who w as a m an o f vision, a man o f enorm ous talent and a total man o f principles, hijacked this nefarious plan. By disposition he was appeasing rather than a provoking person. A t times he was slightly aggressive but w ithout being hurtful. He had a rare moral force about him, as a result o f which, he foisted his personality On the East Indians. M eeting him w as som e w hat like m eeting a whole Sikh way o f life such as Sikh ethos and Sikh culture. Prof. T eja Singh w ho had com e to V a n c o u v e r, B .C ., on (1897-1997)

discrimination openly displayed by them against the Sikhs would result in unrest in India, thus upsetting the British Indian government. So, the Canadian whites were, at times, a little wary and tried to work their designs secretly. They gave to understand that they opposed Sikh immigration because o f political and cultural differences and economic disparities. But it was not difficult to understand that the governm ent’s legislative measures and white people’s designs to hit at immigration were simply racial in content. The Canadian journalism was no less communal in its writings. They were not anything other than a part o f the white people and the Canadian system, which was embedded in racism. The white colour of the skin had indeed played havoc in the society that brought so much humiliation and misery to the East Indian immigrants. Rarely some sane voices would arise in the country against racism and plead for good treatm ent o f the non-white immigrants, but were soon drow r^d in the din caused by the white racists and were silenced. The Sikhs awaited for the change in their plight patiently but the change came tardily and even today by the end o f the 20th century no one can assure that malady o f racism has disappeared. It is very much there with no immediate or distant prospect o f its ceasing to exist. Speaking in the House o f Commons, Gerry Weiner, Minister of State for Multiculturalism and Citizenship, stated in 1991 that “ in any society plagued by racism and racial discrimination the struggle against these evils is important. Racism and racial discrimination have been and continue to be a burden on the soul o f the nation. It is a disturbing reality that entire cultures are discriminated against, denigrated and exploited. The Canadian men and women treated as second-class citizens, living lives filled with bitterness, frustrated hopes and sorrows or, worse still, accepting that they are somehow deserving o f the dehumanizing wrath o f racism.” The above statement o f the federal minister shows that some of the Canadian whites still stand where they were nearly a century back in respect o f their attitude and treatment o f the non-whites or the visible minorities ( o f the country. In the meantime even the most backward rather savage | communities o f the world have learnt to value and respect people as equal human-beings irrespective o f their colour and creed but these whites have not come out o f their superiority grooves as yet. It is a fact o f history that racism has defiled the heavenly land of Canada. The whites had two faces: one unkind and sombre and the other benign and bright— the first for the non-whites and the second for the whites'. This has been very unfortunate. In the first quarter o f the 20th century the Canadian whites had been

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all through making all-out efforts to keep the Sikhs out o f their country but anyhow, they (the Sikhs) could hold out even under very odd and trying circumstances. They w ere paid less than whites in the mills and other establishments. If there w as a dispute between a white and a non­ white the case w as generally decided in favour o f the w hite by the establishment. If any body w as to be retrenched it was an East Indian. Sometimes, the Sikhs w ere refused adm ittance to movie picture theatres under the pretence o f their turbans obstructing the view o f others. They made a rule that everyone should rem ove his headgear before entering the theatre house to w hich the Sikhs did not agree because o f their religious convictions. The Sikhs often faced such problem s in the second decade o f the 20th century. H. A. Mills, C h ief Investigator o f the Im m igration o f the Pacific Coast, said in 1 9 1 1 ,“ They (the Sikhs) were the most undesirable of all Asiatics, and people o f the pacific states were unanim ous in their desire for their exclusion. The A siatic E xclusion League gave som e alarming figures o f the S ikhs” . T he sam e y ear the N orth A m erica n newspapers wrote that their country was ‘experiencing Sikh invasion’ and ‘a tide o f turbans’. They w anted that the ‘invasion’ and the ‘tide’ should be stemmed w ith all the possible force. There can be no hard and fast rules and m easures to fight racial discrimination. W hen it is ingrained in the mind it is all the m ore difficult to get rid o f it. In that case m uch can be done by the individual’s own efforts. He should him self realize that good or bad human beings can be categorized not by the colour o f their skin but by their personal qualities of goodness or badness. All races have good men as well as bad men. To differentiate their hum an qualities on the basis o f their racial origin would apparently be an unsound and unbalanced judgm ent. A person racially discriminating against others lowers him self to a status that cannot normally be accorded to a human-being. He should be anything but a normal humanbe:ng. The Sikhs in Canada suffered a lot at the hands o f the white racists. In 1912, a British C olum bia journal wrote that “the prejudice against a dark skin, which is the basis o f that cow ardly cry for ‘white C anada’, has forced the Sikh to quarter w here he could and the only places where he could find accommodation have been in the slum districts o f the cities.... Again the fact that the Sikhs have been unable to bring their wives and children lias prevented them from organizing home life.... The cry o f ‘white C anada’ does not commend itself to the clear thinker.... The British Empire has not been reared upon the policy o f "a man is known by the colour o f his skin”.6

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In those days many cases o f glaring racial discrim ination were, from time to time, brought before the British Colum bia courts. One o f such cases was that o f one Bacha Singh who filed a w rit petition in the Supreme Court o f B.C. against the N orthern Railway Com pany and the Steamship Company. He claimed that he could not get his w ife from India because these travel companies refused to sell ticket for her to travel directly from India to Victoria. These companies were charged with racial discrimination against the Sikhs.7 The leading m em bers o f the Sikh com m unity sent petitions and delegations to the Canadian federal governm ent, wrote articles in journals and held mass meetings to get racial discrim ination against them vacated. At the Imperial C onference in 1912 Lord Crew e, Secretary o f State for India, asked the dom inion governm ent o f C anada to make the entrance of the Sikhs more easy and pleasant. He further told them that, “ If it became known that within those limits the East Indian subjects would receive a genuine w elcom e and w ould not be looked upon with suspicion, a great deal might be done to bring about better relations betw een India and the dominions. Until pleasant relations exist between the dominions and India, we are far from being a united em pire.” B ecause o f the rough tre atm e n t o f the S ikhs by the Canadian governm ent, the British governm ent was apprehensive o f unrest in India and so they desired o f the Canadian governm ent to be considerate and not unsym pathetic and racially discrim inating. But the Federal and British Colum bia governm ents did not move from their stand for the time being. D r Sundar Singh, who had earlier accom panied the delegation to Ottawa to m eet the federal governm ent officials in connection with the Sikh demands, was always busy in his efforts to elevate the members of his comm unity in Canada, both on the platform and through the pages of his journal Aryan. Sundar Singh claimed that if a Sikh was good enough to fight for the Union Jack, as he had done, surely he was good enough to live at peace in the dominion o f Canada. The Sikhs were the entire Aryan race, the same as the Canadians, w hereas the Japanese and Chinese were Mongolians. He asserted that he was anxious to establish the principles of British fair-play than to gain admission for an unlimited number of his countrymen. He asked the governm ent again and again to do away with the policy o f racial discrim ination against the Sikhs, but not tc much advantage. T he w h ites w ere not p rep ared to relax th e ir p o licy o f racial discrim ination towards the Sikhs who at times, in moments of intense pain, reacted sharply. The white press did not tolerate and under their

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racial pride hit hard against the Sikh immigrants and their native country India. Hostile Media

The Vancouver Sun was a violent opponent o f Sikh im migration especially inspired by its deep commitment to keep Canada a white colony. Referring to the resolution adopted by a Sikh gathering to protest against the exclusion o f the wives and children o f the Sikhs domiciled in Canada and sending o f its copies to the Secretary o f the Canadian Immigration Committee and to the Indian National Congress the editorial o f this paper, of 25th June 1913, said that the tone o f the letter accom panying the resolution was “ so insolent and threatening that even if the Sikhs had a good case it must have been injured by them since their claim as British subjects, they should be allowed to plant them selves where they please and be considered as valid one.”8 The editorial also quoted the letter that the Sikhs wrote as under: “The Japanese and Chinese empires have protected their subjects by treating them well but the British government o f India have altogether sold us out. In about 1907, one Mr. Mackenzie King, either personally or by negotiations with the government o f India, entered into an understanding which may be called a conspiracy against the whole nation o f India, as a result no steamship company will book any Indian for Canada either at Indian ports or waypoints. Consequently, no merchant, no tourist, scholar, reformer, scientist, artist, educationist— let alone immigrant— has been allowed to proceed to Canada and this first condition o f civilization and progress— namely, the interchange o f ideas and ideals between nations through travel has been denied by the so called civilized British.”9 The Vancouver Sun commenting on the above remarks o f the Sikhs said, “It is going some lengths for members o f a sem i-barbarous race to characterize as— ’so called civilized’— the people who have given India the only stable and enlightened government it ever possessed.... But more startling is the suggestion in the letter to the Indian National Congress that a commercial, social and political boycott should be directed by the East Indians against all British people and particularly against the Canadians, if the demands o f the handful of the Sikhs o f British Colum bia are not complied with.... It is easy to understand that their attachment to British laws and British institutions is o f the slightest and that they would gladly return to the old pre-British system under which justice was dealt out haphazardly.’' 10

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A British teacher’s Indian student laments when he discovers the truth. As a student I sham efully agreed with my British teacher’s view of the British Empire that they had brought the needed civilization to Indian people and had done kindness to them. The truth is that the British empire was based on the w rong and ugly idea that other people looking different and speaking different languages did not exist to be know n as having meaning, hopes, aspirations and fears as real as any Anglo-Saxon but w ere inferior beings who existed, instead, to be used for B ritain’s own power, glory and wealth; and this centuries-old governm ent policy caused horrors through mass-scale murders, hangings, mob-shootings ju st for their request to be liberated from the foreign bondage. And now, this white editor o f a new spaper objects strongly to the use o f an expression ‘so called civilized people’ by an angry sufferer, who pleads for his wife and children to be given to him, who are under indefinite segregation from him. The above quoted editor o f The Vancouver Sun seem s to be suffering from an overdose o f racial prejudice. I wish he had read his prime minister W ilfred L aurier’s rem arks about the ancient civilization o f the Asian countries o f which India com es forem ost in that respect. He said in 1910, “A sia has been the cradle o f the hum an race. There w as a high condition o f civilization when Europe w as a mere geographical expression. There were nations enjoying a highly advanced civilization when our ancestors in Britain, in Gaul, and in G erm any, w ere still naked savages roaming in the w oods. T housands o f years ago som e g reat cities and powerful governm ents in China, India, on the Tigris and Euphrates and other areas had risen” .11 The editor o f The Vancouver Sun called the Sikhs ‘a semi-barbarous race’ but the Canadian Prime M inister W. Laurier called the ancestors of the editor ‘naked savages roam ing in the w oods’. But let me neutralize both the expressions. Both the Sikhs and the C anadian Anglo-Saxons, in 1910, were very respectable citizens o f the world. They were fighting for their rights and privileges to w hich they were entitled in their own ways. Segregation o f the Sikhs

In the first half o f the 20th century, the Sikhs had to face an open racial discrimination against them. This discrim ination was very much there in the second half o f this century also but it was covered under various pretexts. In the earlier stages, the Sikhs faced racial discrim ination and segregation. There can be quoted many exam ples o f naked segregation to

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which the Sikhs were subjected. But a couple o f cases can be cited here. One Mehar Singh came to Canada in 1907. In due course o f time, through hard work and savings, he purchased a twenty-acre orchard in Kelowna. After his death in 1942, his family decided to sell the farm and purchase a house in the city to facilitate the education o f their children. They struck a deal for a house for $ 6000, but they were prevented to shift into the new house because the w hite residents did not w ant the Sikhs in their neighbourhood. But the daring 25 years old daughter o f M ehar Singh defied all the protests o f the racists. The city council, after a heated discussion for weeks, and for fear o f a political fall-out, allowed the Sikh family to move into the house. The media covered the incident as under: “Local residents, backed by several prominent organizations in the city, are protesting over the contemplated purchase o f a house on Wolseley Avenue by a Sikh family on the grounds that if orientals settled in the neighbourhood, it would be the starting signal for more Far Eastern natives to move into the residential district, with the result that the area would slowly grow into a Sikh settlement, thereby lowering property values and causing general unpleasantness in the neighbourhood.... The young Sikh girl is adamant to go ahead and complete the deal....The protesting citizens pointed out that they are alarmed over the future, as the district may deteriorate into a Sikh settlem ent.” 12 The young girl withstood all the pressure to shift over to some other site and ultimately the case was decided in her favour. A similar situation cropped up when one N atha Singh Mattu decided to buy a house in the Shaughnessy area in Vancouver in 1941. His real estate agent told him that he would face resistance at the hands o f the neighbours in completing the deal, because whites were not yet ready to accept the Sikhs as their neighbours. They felt that their security would be threatened and the prestigious status o f their colony would be lowered. The whites belaboured under an absurd notion o f their superiority just on the basis of their white skin. They were jealous and even today also they are when these whites find the East Indians living in mega houses and owning valuable properties. The Sikhs are not to blame if they work hard, earn more and live decently. To put their whole might into their work is an inalienable characteristic o f the Sikhs. They have the natural or instinctive quality o f starting from a scratch and rising to celestial heights. Kapoor Singh went to Canada as an ordinary immigrant and struggled very hard to become a mill-ovvner and an industrialist. When he planned to establish a sawmill in Barnet in 1 9 3 8 he was likely to face opposition

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and racial discrim ination from the whites. He opened the mill in the name o f a reliable w hite friend and named it as Modern Sawmills owned byJ.T. A rm strong who later got it transferred in the name o f K apoor Singh and it was renamed K apoor Sawmills. This is how the racial prejudice had to be encountered by the Sikhs in their early stages. W age Disparity

The discrim ination in Canada was w idespread and covered a lot of fields. In the mid-1930s governm ent o f B.C. stated that through a law they had decided to pay 35 cents an hour as minim um w ages but 25 per cent o f the w orkers would be paid 25 cents an hour. It was a clear racial prejudice against the East Indians as in every mill about 25 per cent of the mill-hands were the Sikhs. Some mills that em ployed more than 25 per cent, the Sikhs found them selves in a strange situation, as Alberta Lumber Company that had employed about fifty per cent non-w hites i.e. Indians. But all the East Indians were paid at the rate o f 25 cents per hour for the sam e w ork. This was a glaring discrim ination. In certain mills this difference o f 10 cents per hour between the wages o f the East Indians and the whites rem ained for quite sometime. Restrictions on the Sikhs’ E n try into Public Places

Some weak-m inded Sikhs who were totally ignorant o f the Sikh code o f conduct w ould go to the barber as soon as they landed in Vancouver or Victoria. They tell us that the white barbers would not cut the hair of the Sikhs because they did not like them and thus they were unfit to get service from the whites. How keenly we wish that the turbaned and bearded Sikhs had, at that m ovem ent, decided not to visit any barber any more in life again. And how w onderfully their humiliation would have permanently ended. The shoeshine men did not shine the shoes o f the East Indians. They would say that they did not like the turbaned people. There w ere certain theatres in V ancouver that would not let the turbaned Sikhs to get in. The Beacon Theatre and the Strand Theatre in V ancouver had signs displayed in front o f the theatres that ‘you are not allow ed in if you have a beard and a tu rb a n ’. T here were certain establishments that refused to serve the Sikhs. Scott’s Cafe on Granville Street did not allow the Sikhs to enter the cafe. Racial prejudice was so high that the Sikhs, generally, would not go alone to the theatres or to the restaurants for meals. They would go in small groups, in the company o f two or three friends.

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There were many parlours that would not serve beer to the turbaned Sikhs, as to them the Sikhs were not desirable people. At certain small beer parlours, the Sikhs were seated in a separate room in the corner. Some big hotels, like the Vancouver Hotel, Ivanhoe Hotel on Main Street in Vancouver, did not serve the turbaned Sikhs. If a group o f four or five Sikhs would go to these hotels the clean-shaven were served and waiters would refuse to serve the turbaned and the bearded Sikhs. Such racial discrimination was widespread in B.C. A rchna Verma writes in her thesis titled ‘Status and migration among Punjabis o f Paldi, B .C.’ that when once Mayo hunted around for a room in a small hotel in Sahtlam, he was refused accommodation. They told him that they did not accept people with beard and turban. He had to pass the night in the woods with one Sunder Singh who worked in CPR Railway. The Sikhs between 1920 and 1940 had suffered all the above discrimination, as some o f the sufferers are still alive to tell the tales o f their woe latent down their memory lane. They lived the moments o f extreme humiliation and harassment hundreds of times. During that period o f time, the Sikhs displayed great capacity to take blows but these blows gradually became unbearable. This apartheid policy was the m anifestation o f certain w hites’ inhum anity that was tolerated to be practised by some o f the so-called civilized people o f Canada. Unlike today, when Sikh women, encouraged by governm ent’s policy of multiculturalism, can wear their ethnic dress in public, they had to wear western dress in the thirties or earlier. They had to keep their Punjabi dresses for use at home only. As was the practice, the Sikh women had to dress themselves like white women and were always required to keep their hair covered with scarf. M ost o f the women did it immediately after landing on Canadian soil. Thus, in dress the Canadianisation started soon after their arrival in Canada. It was believed in Sikh circles that the whites did not like or allow the Sikh women to come out o f their homes in the Punjabi dress. It was probably in a bid to assimilate them in the Canadian society, to start with. It was strange for the white Canadian society even to adjust with the differences in the pattern o f dress o f a community hailing from a different land with their own culture. Right from the beginning o f the entry o f the Sikhs into Canada they were entitled to vote in all elections. The British Columbia governm ent got apprehensive o f the role o f the Sikhs in election and, therefore, through legislation in 1907, they debarred the Sikhs from their right to vote unless they were bom of Anglo-Saxon parents. Till 1947, the Sikhs remained detranchised and excluded from participation in the political process o f

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the province. This was totally an unjustified restriction imposed on the East Indians due to racial discrimination. The Sikh students left schools as soon as an opportunity for a job came their way. They were not sure o f a w ork after com pleting education. Having been defranchised since 1907 many jobs and professions had been blocked to them. Since the whites considered the Sikhs as foreigners and not real Canadians, m ost o f the businesses would not hire them. The discrim inatory hiring practices pushed most o f the educated Sikhs out of B ritish C olum bia or they ended up as saw m ill w orkers. Many Sikh Bachelor o f Arts or Science and M aster’s degree holders from Canada itself pulled tim ber in the mills like illiterate people. It is a pity that even in the first h alf o f the 20th century, when education w as not so wide­ spread in C anada as today, the Sikh doctors, lawyers or engineers could not get jobs especially due to the em ploying authorities’ deep-seated racial prejudice. Sarjeet Singh Jagpal who interviewed m any early Sikh settlers in Canada writes, “The older the Sikhs, I talked to, have lived through decades o f institutionalized discrim ination, and they supported the community’s long fight for the franchise and fairer im migration laws. But they were uncomfortable discussing racism and discrim ination. They preferred not to talk about these things because they felt there was nothing to be gained by bringing up the unpleasant aspects o f the past. The unfairness and injustice had not been directed just at them: “ Look w hat happened to the poor Japanese, who lost everything.” 13 Undoubtedly, racism has disfigured the face o f the fairyland o f Canada. Racism im prints the seal o f ignomy on the societal edifice o f the country that practises it. Lack o f wisdom is racists’ enemy and enmity with the non-whites is their disease. Each pioneer had a bag o f mixed em otions containing some great moments and some bitter experiences as in their laps were hidden countless chilly nights. It was they who scribbled the future o f their progeny with their blood and tears. They always kept their dream s alive. The old days will always remain in the hearts o f the pioneers, in their souls and in their memories. It is not easy to deal with them. When we try to take a pioneer to his earlier days, he reports, “ D on’t connect me to the past— it is not even worth rem em bering.” A little am usingly they say that they will not make a mistake o f being in their 80s again as ill-health bothers them too much. They object too strongly, consult too long, adventure too little and repent too soon. They are now alm ost reduced to old burnt shells ot men. When they fondly look to their ancestral homes back in In d ia they view them as mausoleums o f their early mem ories. With a deep sense w w w .sik h nationa larchives.co m

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of nostalgia they look too much over their shoulders into the past. W hen sitting alone they revisit their old and by gone days w hich are their valuable treasure to live on. W hen they im migrated to foreign countries they left their hearts back in the country o f their birth. In fact, their hom e is w here their heart is. When they are asked about their anger on those w ho hum iliated and tortured them mentally they graciously rem ark that ‘forgiveness given to our tormentors is the gift that w e give to o u rselv es.’ The q uality o f forgiveness is the quality o f great men indeed and not o f ordinary hum an beings. These tottering pioneers, w ho are very conscious o f their health, smilingly tell that their first aim before retirem ent w as w ealth and the first aim after retirement was health. They jocularly rem ark that it is not the death that kills, it is the disease that kills and death is only subservient to disease which results from bad health. W hen told that the governm ent cares about them through their pension, they rem ark that none ever cared for them in life. Their pension is only a delayed portion o f their pay packet. It is not a gift. These older Sikhs need to be expressly told that if they are hiding their past they are unfair to it. The pleasant and unpleasant m em ories o f the past are a vital part o f history w hich is bound to preserve them for future for those who are reaping rew ards o f the m iseries and m onstrous injustices their elders had gone through. T hese elders w ho are now travelling in the fast lane o f their life-journey must open up and divulge all their experiences before they bang into the sunset o f oblivion and the treasure of history within them gets crem ated or buried unknow n. M ost o f the pioneers are gradually disappearing into the portico o f the history o f the Canadian Sikhs. In this distant land most o f the Sikhs did not give up their religion and regard for their ethnic culture. They maintained their moral character and good social and family values throughout their life even in very odd and trying circumstances. T heir devotional attachm ent w ith the moral and religious traditions that had been prized by their society so dearly over a long period of time transparently reflected their character, their personality and their spiritual strength. Those who bowed before pressure against their conscience and conviction and gave up the Sikh rehat (code o f discipline) were weak, undaring and helpless species o f humanity. Soon after the Second World W ar the Canadian attitude began to show a slight change in their racial discrim ination. Prompted by the tragic example of Nazi G ermany, the C anadians began to exam ine their racial

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policies. But it was a transitory phenom enon as it clashed with the whites’ in-born mindset. In the second half o f the 20th century things were no better but the w hites practised racial discrim ination through different methods. They covered their prejudice as if it was not there. But the clouds on the sky during the daytim e cannot m ake people believe that the nightfall was thickening its darkness. H ow ever thick the clouds, the day can never be mistaken into a night. Even today, the racial discrim ination in Canada is as strong as ever. All attempts to conceal it are bound to fail. Do the Sikhs Steal the W h ites’ Jo b s?

Some Canadians are prejudiced against the Sikh immigrants on the plea that they steal their jobs in the lum ber mills and agricultural farms and they are a burden on the c o u n try ’s econom y. B ut they should understand that “a bigger population m eans increased domestic markets for C anada’s industries. A larger home market permits manufacturing firms to undertake longer, lower cost production runs, and it broadens the range o f industry that can be undertaken econom ically; for both these reasons, population increase, in turn, im proves C anada’s com petitive position in the world market. A bigger population also yields low er per capita costs o f governm ent transportation and com m unication, and stimulates the developm ent o f more specialized services” 14. An im migration m inister said that if the C anadians understood that the new -com ers were creating rather than stealing jo b s and that they | enhanced rather than detracted from the econom ical and cultural life of the country they would w elcom e them .15 The Sikh im migrants pay more taxes and use less social program m es. The Sikh im migrants are more qualified and less paid. They are more hard w orking, more honest, more responsible, and more loyal to the em ployer than those who are stricken with racism. Some o f the white racists discrim inate against the new-comer Sikhs in Canada on the plea that they are uneducated people but the statistics demonstrate that the share o f these Sikhs with university degrees is higher than the corresponding share for the Canadian-born people and immigrants from any other part o f the world including the Europeans. But it is not hard to imagine how daunting it is to arrive in a strange country and find that the education and talent that earned a com fortable living at home, back in India, are hardly enough to rate a dishwashing job. Even, engineers, professors, school teachers and doctors cannot find work here in their lields even though they might be happy with the lowest entry-level position www sikhnationalarchi-'es.com

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in this country. But how can they have jo b satisfaction? They cannot get a job because they have no Canadian experience or training. They do not qualify for unemployment insurance because they have not worked yet and they cannot take the training programmes because unemployment claimants have priority. It would not be too much to say that at the back o f it racial prejudice works silently and steadily. If they are not employed from where w ould they get the C anadian ex p erien ce? If all other requirements are more than adequately met can there be more fallacious reason for rejecting an Indian for not having previous Canadian experience? The problem o f re c o g n itio n o f a c a d e m ic q u a lific a tio n s and professional expertise obtained in India is a m atter o f great concern. Immigration from India has been extraordinarily selective. About 60 per cent of them are university graduates, a proportion not matched by any other major community in C anada as referred to above. The smaller employers and private institutions in Canada do not have adequate information as to the quality o f training and qualifications that the Indians possessed before landing in Canada. The Canadian government must have the norm s o f appropriate evaluation o f qualifications from foreign universities and the same must be notified immediately after the arrival of these qualified people from the major sources o f immigration to save them from unnecessary harassment. It is a tragedy o f human talent when First Class First in the University at M.A. level, M. Phil, and Ph. D.s and holders o f other higher degrees from the prominent Indian or Asian Universities come to Canada to be told that their degrees are not recognized. Should I say that this is decidedly to keep the brilliant immigrants out to accommodate their own far less qualified mediocres. Those bright East Indians end up here as taxi-drivers, office secretaries, book keepers, farm and lum ber mill w orkers, bus operators and restaurant waiters. The governm ent o f the country is a mute spectator o f this trag ed y and sh o ck in g w astage o f high academ ic qualifications o f the immigrants. In service or hiring, preference is given to the local grade 12 school chaps over the M.A.s and Ph.D.s from India. Can the Canadian system be more abusive than perpetrating such injustice on these so highly qualified people from outside Canada and ruining all the prospects of their promising careers? Rosa Maria, a foreign-trained doctor said that during a Vancouver interview for a Saskatchew an position in the late 1980s, the doctor interviewer told her, “when we receive applications from foreign-trained graduates, we usually put the applications in the waste paper basket”. The letters she received from various hospitals and the University o f B.C.’s

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department o f medicine were even blunter, stating that there were no residency positions for foreign-trained doctors no matter if they were now Canadians or landed immigrants. The foreign-trained doctors from category I countries— the U.S., Britain, Ireland, Australia, N ew Zealand and South Africa— have never had the trouble the so-called category II country doctors have had in getting placements. Lawyer David Luny remarked that, “The essential characteristic o f all other countries is that they are I non-Anglo-Saxon in nature and they have no relationship with Canada, I the United States or the British comm onwealth white dependency group. The evidence will show that in practice this constitutes discrimination on the basis o f race, ancestry or place o f origin.” The plight o f the foreigntrained doctors first came to light in the sum m er o f 1990, when they went on hunger strike. That spurred the government to introduce two internships a year for foreign-trained doctors, but they are still not allowed to compete for +graduates, even if their exam scores are much better.16 A look at the j educational attainment o f the Sikh im migrant youngsters, 15 to 24 years o f age, shows that their attainm ent is higher than the Canadian average. In school system in Canada they were doing well. In spite o f this, the non( white immigrant parents perceive that a policy o f “demotivation is being L practised by the school system through its counsellors, teachers and ( principals, who advise non-white children to pursue vocational studies e rather than the academic path to a university” .17 From the majority group tj perspective, groups o f racially and culturally different peoples have invaded the majority group’s social and economic space. They are perceived as n inferior ‘strangers’ who are a threat to the majority group’s way of life. g At the university level also, their performance is remarkable. Soon c the plea o f education there should be no prejudice and hostility towards tj the Sikhs. The Sikh im migrants have know ledge o f Canada’s official U languages with 79 per cent conversant in English, four per cent in French and twelve per cent in both Engl ish and French. The East Indian immigrani D women are four times more likely than Canadian-born women to workin product fabricating jobs. Thus we see that the Sikh immigrants, men ana| ^ women, do much better in education and productive jobs as compared! ^ with the Canadian-borns. There is no ground for racial discrimination ^ against them as they are above the Canadian standard o f education ana at quality o f their work. W Some o f the present-day Canadians say that in the last quarter of the ^ 20th century racism in Canada is only individualised, but this idea is.i" jn fact, a myth and racism in this country is institutionalised as ever. Facbi ^ continue to exist as a palpable reality even if they are ignored. It ^ or www.sikhnationalarchives.i

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permeated in the blood o f the whites and is deeply ingrained in the system. The opinion polls and surveys given in the follow ing pages irrefutably establish it. By this, I do not suggest that all the w hites are racists. Some

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of them are multiculturalists and above racism, no doubt. Instead o f racial discrimination, hum an virtues in w hich m ost o f the people are deficient should be institutionalised, in a sacred sense, on G o d ’s fair earth. The whites consider them selves superior to the blacks or other visible minorities on grounds o f colour o f their skin. You do not have to scratch a white too deep to find racist view s underneath. U ndoubtedly, racism is the ugliest manifestation o f discrim ination. A young w hite w oman who was exasperatedly separating two fighting dogs, snapped at the other canine owner, an East Indian w oman: “W hy d o n ’t you go back where you came from?” The instant rejoinder, “W hat are you, a native Indian? W hy don’t you go back where you came from?” drew applause from everybody within ear-shot. All communities perm anently living in C anada m ust be recognized as full-fledged citizens o f the country. They are as m uch residents o f Canada as Pope is resident o f Vatican. One and all should accept this unassailable fact. B ut it is not so. The blacks or A fro-A m ericans or AfroCanadians complain, and correctly so, that in spite o f the im ages portrayed each week on the Bill C osby Show, blacks rem ain outsiders in a country they have inhabited for more than four hundred years. Is it different with the Sikhs even having lived in C anada for a century? The governm ent is not to blame for it. They have understood the reality o f the situation and given equal status to all its citizens. The hard-core racists are not going to change. The only hope lies in the future w hen having played their innings the old racist fogies v acate for the new g en era tio n s th at are m ore understanding than the older ones.

0,1 ^ ;'al icll ani Discrimination in Hiring

An unemployed w om an filled an application at a jo b placem ent agency. The interviewer told her that she should rem ove the reference to her being from Jamaica. “You must not let them know that you are a and black”. The woman had excellent references and had been very successful at her job in Toronto. But in V ancouver the wom an remained outside the work force for sometime since she w ould not rem ove the offending word. Such things happen invariably with all the communities including the Sikhs ln Canada. It is sad th at m ost w hite C an ad ian s are not w illin g to acknowledge the fact that visible minorities are angry over their treatm ent or that there is a problem. They are not prepared to see that there is www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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systematic injustice tow ards the people o f colour. Victor Malarek writes, “But the facts o f the matter in the day-to-day life are that there is as much racism and as much racial discrim ination in em ploym ent in Canada as there is in every major industrial country in the w orld'’.18 To make the Employm ent Equity Act (1986) more effective, from time to tim e businesses have been desired by the respective provincial governm ents to come with specific plans to hire and promote traditional victims o f discrim ination, but not with much advantage to the groups for which this A ct has been enacted. The majesty o f law was violated with impunity. This Act was toothless because sanctions were not attached foF | non-perform ance or non-com pliance. To test the discrimination, two persons with similar qualifications were sent for a gas station job. The w hite applicant was told that there was a jo b and he could leave his application or resume with them . The non-white that had preceded him by five minutes was told that there was no job. Minority-accented callers would not receive the same information about the position o f a job as the whites. Employm ent discrim ination appears not to be the result of a few bigoted employers. It had constantly been a hostage to the conspiracies of a large section o f racists. Rather there is a system -wide bias against hirinf non-whites. The most visible o f the visibles— the Sikhs, are the hardest hit. Even when the white em ployer resorts to de-staffing the first onus falls on the visible minorities. The racists have been always encashing the colour-card. One only w onders how the country’s policy makers expect J to achieve the goal o f speedier socio-econom ic justice without doing a\va\ I with racial'discrim ination which moves on and on without a commaj I semicolon or a full stop. The employers must look beyond the narrow canvass o f racial discrimination. It is clearly noted that, when jo b applicants, who are qualified and well trained for the positions they seek, are denied access to employment because o f the colour o f their skins or their foreign accents, society loses the productive value o f many o f its members ‘and it creates in them deepseated frustration, bitterness and alienation. The long-term effects of these conditions create social unrest and disorder.’ G overnm ent must take note o f it and act stoutly.

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mindedness. Its staff, who are o f a certain age or race or ideology or economic stratum are not without a slant indulged in m ost o f the m atter published in the newspaper. These factors do influence the thinking patterns and sensibilities o f the staff. Most new spapers refer thoughtlessly to the race, religion and country o f the person whom they condem n in the story. A scandal relating to an East Indian is plastered all over the country’s newspapers, specially m entioning the com m unity to which he belongs. Through this m isch ief the m edia m aligns and denig rates the w hole community. It is absurd and m isch iev o u s to iden tify crim e w ith a community. It seldom restrains itself from dum ping garbage on visible minorities. It sparks a firestorm o f public attention. For media good new s isno news, only calamity or defam ation sells. A t tim es certain language is used to convey certain fixed motives in mind. They generally do not get out of it because they have to make their new spapers and TV program m es popular with the majority group o f the society. Prom oting their business outweighs all other considerations. W hen reporting the T hird W orld countries and their people the m otif o f these w esterners is show ing them inpoor and dreadful colours. They are described as having social disorder, political violence, political subversion, m ilitary com bat, governm ent corruption, human rights abuses, flawed developm ent, primitivism and barbarism. These countries are narrated as having no stability, no harmony, no peace, no humanitarianism and no m odernism and they are shown as uncivilized.19 People coming to Canada from these countries are linked with all the abuses that they dump on these countries. M edia’s aim is to sell their commodities in larger quantities. This anti-developing countries stance o f such media is o f poor quality and harmful to the world at large as it awfully disfigures the image o f people com ing to C anada from these countries. The media should stop this colonial ru ler’s strategy o f m aligning the captured countries to justify their rule. The Third World countries are making rapid strides to cover up the gap betw een the developed and developing countries. They need to be projected in good colours. The June 1985 crash o f A ir India plane o ff the Irish coast had devastating effects on the East Indian com m unity. The media speculation relentlessly focussed negatively on a large segm ent o f Indian comm unity. The Canadian media took it easy to condem n a whole com m unity and tarnish its image with total im m unity. The negative im age adversely affected job situations, personal relations and day to day lives o f many members of the community. Even a police officer remarked that some associations in Canada were fronts tor terrorist groups. The media, print vvww.sikhnationalarchives.com

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and electronic, and responsible people have alw ays to function with restraint and not to unleash a campaign o f hate against a whole community for the actions o f a few. This attitude o f the m edia m ust change in the interest o f the country at large. The m edia cannot bring under gun the whole comm unity w ithout bringing in its trail repercussions unwholesome to the w hole c o u n try as the in n o cen t ta rg e ts re a c t sharply, when, indiscreetly, their dignity is hit and their self-respect is impaired. The best we should do now is to confront racism vigorously, squeezing it out to the fringes o f society w here it exists as nothing more than a festering, but m anageable sore. In the 1970s w hen the Sikhs came to Canada in a little larger numbers the whites got violent against them. They faced stark discrim ination in respect o f housing and work. There was a serious row betw een the Sikhs and the Euro-Canadians in Quesnel about the middle o f 1971. There were violent incidents betw een the Sikhs and the whites in Fort St. James and some other places in 1973. The anti-Sikh incidents continued sporadically throughout 1970s. The Sikh schoolboys were harassed in the schools and outside. The cars o f the Sikhs were damaged, their tires slashed, Sikh tem ples vandalized and desecrated, their houses looted and spray-painted with obscure racist rem arks and abuses. The turbaned and the bearded Sikhs had to take special precautions when moving out. In Calgary the East Indian taxi-drivers alleged harassment at the hands o f the police for defending them selves against the attacks of the hooligans. The Sikhs formed defence comm ittees to confront racial riots . and racial prejudice. Surrey (B.C.), V ancouver, and Toronto were, in a | big way, planned targets o f the rabid racists. The Sikhs emerged as strong i defenders as they manly faced the onslaughts o f the rioters. The role o f the media was stinking during these disturbed years. The visible minorities have invariably always been terribly whipped by the media. It always sensationalized the incidents, unjustifiably put blame on the Sikhs for being economically handicapped and consequently raking up trouble. It is unfortunate that in such situations the Canadian media never played a sobering role but took sides and exasperated the situations which is against the journalistic ethic. Anti-hate Law

The British Colum bia governm ent amended the B.C. Human Rights Act in order to clamp down on the hate literature and the hate activities. Anita Hagen, Education M inister and M inister o f Multiculturalism and Human Rights, said in June 1993, “ Racial violence and racially motivated attacks are on the rise around the world. We do not want this kind of ■v/.sik; ,n; onalarchlvfiR.corr.

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hatred to take root in British C olum bia, a province o f ethnic, cultural and religious diversity.”20 Prohibited grounds o f discrim ination in the A ct include race, colour, ancestry, place o f origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation or age. Hate is one o f the ugliest w ords in English language but it is used very carelessly. It really dam ages the one who hates and not as m uch the one who is hated. If the spreading o f hate grounded in racism is allowed togo unchecked, the w hole o f society will suffer in the long term. In fact, the very foundation o f a free and dem ocratic society will be underm ined. Inshort terms, the victim s o f hate are, most often, those who are the least able to defend them selves. H ate is the antithesis o f respect. Respect will bring a community together. Hate will tear it apart. It is the building o f understanding that will be m ost effective guard against hatred and racism. This is where all Canadians m ust make a personal com m itm ent and involve themselves individually. Canada should feel proud o f persons like Burnaby councillor Lee Rankin, one o f those selected to be honoured with a special medal on the occasion of C anada’s 125th anniversary, who said, “No, thanks.” The reason being that one o f the other recipients was a colum nist who regularly attacked minorities, non-w hites and im migrants, in his colum ns. Rankin refused to accept the m edal b ecau se the c o lu m n ist’s co m m en tary , “denigrates the contribution o f non-w hites to C anadian society in a way that appears calculated to foster contem pt and hostility tow ards the non­ whites.”21 In his letter to the governor-general, Ray Hnatyshyn, Rankin wrote: “I am so profoundly disturbed that these medals w ere distributed with apparently so little regard to the credentials o f the recipients, that I wish to dissociate myself from this m edal.”22 Racism strips people o f their dignity. It robs the oppressed o f their strength and their potential o f grow ing to their fullest. It hurts, it w ounds, it maims and it kills. It is a curse that affects both the racist and the victim of racism. To determine the position o f racism in Canada, The Vancouver Sun scanned the electronic libraries o f several newspapers across Canada using the keyword ‘racism’ in English and ‘racism e’ in French, in 1991. The results showed that in the ‘The Vancouver Sun the num ber o f stories about racism increased from 95 in 1990 to 113 in 1991; in The Toronto Star, from 254 to 283; in The M ontreal Gazette from 180 to 236 and in La hesse from 54 to 152. www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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Angus Reid G ro u p ’s Poll on Racism

N ational poll o f this G roup that w as conducted on racism in JuneJuly 1991 gave very alarm ing signals issuing from the C anadian society at large. It revealed that racism w as increasing and governm ent must take steps to curb it otherw ise assum ing larger dim ensions it would create serious concerns for the racial m inorities. A large m ajority o f respondents w ere for the assim ilation o f the ethnic m inorities in the mainstream, forgetting their heritage culture at the earliest. The com m unities with which the respondents w ere not feeling com fortable included Pakistani and Arab M uslim s, the Sikhs and W est Indian Blacks. In view o f the above situation the urgent need o f the hour is that plurality o f the Canadian society m ust be protected. The society needs to be inoculated against racism. The m ajority group m ust say to the ethnic visible m inority groups, ‘we are y o u ’, otherw ise, if the virus o f racism is not stopped it will grow and grow and grow till it becom es uncontrollable. F ollow ing is another recent sam ple o f this terribly dehumanizing malady. D ecim a R esearch Survey on R acism

A new survey conducted by the D ecim a R esearch released on 13th D ecem ber 1993, found that: Eighty six per cent o f the C anadians believe that there is at least ‘some racism ’ in Canada. Three-quarters believe that racism is a serious problem . M ore than h a lf o f C anadians believe that the level o f racism has increased over the past five years. F ifty fo u r p er cen t o f th o se su rv e y ed b e lie v e th a t the current im migration policy allows “too m any people o f different races and cultures com ing into C anada.” The survey finds that, “much o f the concern about racism... stems from exposure to the media rather than direct exposure to or experience o f racism oh personal level.” T elevision w as cited as the major source for racial im pressions. A lthough seventy seven per cent o f C anadians have been exposed to 1 racism through television news reports, “ju st tw enty two per cent have actually w itnessed racism in the w orkplace and only eighteen per cent have w itnessed racially m otivated violence. People o f black or A frican origin face the greater discrim ination, follow ed closely by native people, South A sians and the East In d ia n s and www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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then by other Asians. Eleven per cent believe that the Jews face the most discrimination and nine per cent believe that discrim ination is primarily directed against the M uslims, Arabs and Lebanese people.23 The survey included 1200 respondents in its sample. It is considered accurate 19 out o f 20 times or 95 per cent. The situation as revealed by the above survey sends alarming signals. The government must actively watch it and should not allow it to assume threatening dimensions. Immigration department, judiciary, the police and the teachers and all such departments that have public dealings should set good examples to show fairness to all cultures. Before hiring, the applicants for these departm ents m ust be exam ined through such tests as can adequately and unm istakably discover their mental make-up and their attitude towards racism. Before starting to perform their duties they must have some sort o f training in the principles o f multiculturalism and basic knowledge o f cultures o f various minority groups which must be taken care o f at the time o f dealing with them. Preconceived Notions of the Sikhs

The whites should not have a preconceived notion o f the turbaned and bearded persons. It is a sad com m entary on the officials o f the immigration departm ent that when four or five turbaned and bearded men are travelling in a car, at every check post or crossing between Canada and the United States the car is going to be stopped and pulled out o f the lane for the checking o f documents and search o f the interior o f the car including its trunk. Presumably every group o f the Sikhs travelling together is considered a gang o f smugglers or terrorists. No other car is stopped and checked like this. No doubt, those officials have every right to check a car but is that right meant to be exercised in the case o f the Sikh travellers alone and not in the case o f thousands o f other travellers. Their mental attitude of suspecting all the Sikhs displays their mental sickness and it is sickening to the Sikhs. When is this harassm ent and humiliation o f the Sikhs going to stop? May I assure the immigration authorities that the Sikhs are more responsible and more law-abiding citizens than most o f the other Canadian residents? Is the Sikhs’ living in close neighbourhood o f other comm unities for a century not enough to be able to know them thoroughly? The Sikhs are wonderful people with marvellous goodness and honesty, trustworthiness, hospitality, bravery and sacrifice ingrained in them. What else the white racists want o f them ? Do they still want to hear from a man o f Anglo-

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Saxon race? Sir Lepel Henry G riffin, a K.C.S.I. O fficer, C h ief Secretary o f Punjab G overnm ent (1878) writes: “The Jat Sikh race is, for manliness, honesty, strength and courage, second to no race in the w orld.”24 S um m ing up in the w ords o f M argaret C annon: “C anadians are doom ed to fail if the ex istence o f racism coiled in our hearts is not acknow ledged, frankly and fully. W e cannot otherw ise hope to curb its pow er over us or reduce its violent place in our world. I w ould like to think that my children m ight live in a country that is free o f racism , but I no longer believe that eradication is possible. We can limit the public dam age; we can legislate public decency and put teeth into the laws. If we can, to som e extent, regulate relationships am ong people, w e cannot be so optim istic about m aking radical changes to the hearts and inner thoughts o f men and w om en.... Racism is alw ays there, and the hurt is like a stone in my heart.”25 Som etim es racism is alm ost invisible because it is built into social structures and attitudes. It is an ongoing challenge to educate against it and create aw areness in schools, the com m unity and the media. The whites are cautioned to keep their ego under control. A ny other benefits from its riddance apart, it is for the good o f the country’s social harm ony. B ush fires o f racism have been b urning in this country since the beginning o f the tw entieth century. In term s o f racism, the Canadian white society seem s change-resistant even today. But the East Indians did rise to the challenges o f racism. If C anadian society refuses to be free from the racial discrim ination it will be branded as one o f the m edieval societies of our tim es— an anachronism . As late as D ecem ber 1997, Justice W ally Oppal o f Indian origin and o f the B.C. Suprem e C ourt said, “ Racism is still prevalent. It is probably there more so now than it was 30 years ago. W ith the increased number of our people who have im m igrated to Canada, there is an increased amount o f racism because we are now perceived to be threats to certain segments o f society. For that reason we have m uch to be concerned about.”25 Racists are advised to shun the course o f racism as it is in the interest o f both the racists and the victim s o f racism as it is no m ore acceptable or tolerable to the latter. W hite suprem acy has to die for hum anity to live. R EFER EN C ES 1.

John L a n g o n e, Spreading Poison— A Book about Racism and Prejudice. L ittle B row n and C o m p a n y , N e w Y ork , 1 9 9 3 , pp. 1 3 .1 5 .

2.

M arlen e N ourhe.se P h ilip . Frontiers. Stratford. O n tario. 1 9 9 2 . p. 12.

3.

Frances H enry. 'T h e D em o g ra p h ic correlates o f R acism in T o ro n to ', Black

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Presence in Multi-Ethnic Canada, ed. V. Doyley, Vancouver, Faculty of Education, U .B .C ., 1978, p.385. 4.

Ibid., p.392.

5.

Ibid., p.399.

6.

British Columbia Magazine, 1912, edited by F.B. Vrooman.

7.

The Daily Province, Vancouver, 19 and 22 November 1912.

8.

The Vancouver Sun,25 June 1913.

9.

Ibid.

10.

Ibid.

11.

The Daily Province, Vancouver,7 August

1910.

12.

The Kelowna Courier, Kelowna, British Vol.43, N o.5.

Columbia, 22 August 1946,

13.

Sarjeet Singh Jagpal, B eco m in g C anadians, H arbour P ublishing, Vancouver, B.C., 1994, p. 151.

14.

Victor Malarek, Haven's Gate—Canadian’s Immigration Fiasco, Toronto, 1987, p.33.

15.

Ibid., p.79.

16.

Kim Bolan, ‘Foreign doctors fight for rights’, The Vancouver Sun, 26 October 1994.

17.

W. Pitman, Report on Race Relations in Metropolitan, Toronto, 1978, p .175.

18.

Victor Malarek, op.cit., p.66.

19.

Peter Dahlgren and Sumitra Chakrapani, T h e Third World on TV News: Western way o f seeing the others’, Television Coverage o f International Affairs, edited by William Adams, New Jersey, Ablex, 1982.

20.

‘B.C.’s Human Rights Act to get more bite’, The Link, 9 June 1993.

21.

Lee Rankin, ‘You can keep your medal’, The Link, 14 July 1993.

22.

Ibid.

23.

Decima Research Sum ey, released on 13 December 1993.

24.

Lepel Griffin, The Punjab Chiefs, Lahore, 1890, p.64.

25.

Margaret Cannon. The Invisible Empire: Racism in Canada, Toronto, 1995, pp.272-73.

26.

Surj Rattan, ‘Looking B ack’, M ehfil, An Indo-Canadian M agazine, Vancouver, December 1997, p.42.

www.sikhnationalarchives.com

CHAPTER 8

THE SIKHS VIS-A-VIS CANADIAN MULTICULTURALISM

Definitions of Mosaic and Melting Pot Ideologies

Before discussing this topic it would be worthwhile to define or explain a few terms that are im portant in the context o f this subject as mosaic, multiculturalism, melting pot, assimilation and integration. ‘M osaic’, literally means a picture or painting made by variously coloured material. The mosaic ideology as a model o f reality is— one nation with many people and many cultures, that is, a diversified whole. The mosaic ideal means that members o f all ethnocultural groups can maintain their ethnocultural distinctiveness. M ulticulturalism is a process that relates to diverse cultures. It is a set o f social values that provides a basis for a new kind o f universal ism that legitimizes the incorporation o f ethnic diversity in the general structure of society. M ulticulturalism provides that all ethnocultural groups are held equal. Each individual possesses the right to identify or affiliate with the culture o f his or her choice and yet retain full access to economic and social equality. No cultural identity is viewed as taking precedence over another, rather all are valued and encouraged for the contribution they make to society. ‘M elting pot’ is a procedure through which racial amalgamation and social and cultural mergers are going on at a place. M elting pot ideology is a process that aims at destroying the other traditional cultures and replacing them with som e preferred one. It dem ands absorption or assimilation to the culture o f the host society. And the immigrants must have no ethnic identity at all and they should forget their ancestry. www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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Assimilation as defined by Fleras and Elliot is one-way process o f absorption— deliberate or unconscious, formal or informal, whereby the dominant sector attempts to undermine minority patterns o f living, imposes its culture and institutions as the superior alternative. Assimilation is very much concerned with efforts to strip aw ay the cultural basis o f the subordinate society and transform minority mem bers into patriotic and productive citizens. The cultural values and social patterns o f the dominant group are defined as inevitable or desirable. Those o f the subordinate are disparaged as inferior, childish, th reatening, irrelevant and co unter productive to both minority and societal interests.1 The supporters o f assimilation are violent opponents o f ‘m osaic’ and brand it as a ‘visionless co-existence’ and ‘mosaic m adness’. They believe that ‘mosaic’ creates an increasingly intolerable situation that threatens to dismember C anada into isolated fragm ents. Such thinking is aw fully dangerous for Canada. In the past as well as in the present the two ideologies o f the ‘melting pot’ and ‘multiculturalism ‘ have been working side by side with supporters for both o f them. John Murray Gibbon says, “The Canadian race o f the future is being superimposed on the original native Indian races and is being made up o f over thirty European racial groups, each o f which has its own history, customs and traditions. Some politicians want to see these merged as quickly as possible into one standard type, just as our neighbours in the United States are hurrying to make every citizen hundred per cent American. Others believe in trying to preserve for the future Canadian race the most worthwhile qualities and traditions that each racial group has brought with it.2 How should immigrants be incorporated into the recurring society? For some the melting pot is just another expression o f assimilation to the values o f the host society, for others it m eans that the host and the newcomers all melt into a new people.3 ‘Integration’ is another term used in relation to this subject. Integration is the co-ordination with a society with equal membership or partnership, retaining ones separate identity, and ones cultural baggage. Integration into the society is acceptable to the Asian immigrants and it is desirable also. In the light o f the above ideologies we have to study here the situations faced by the Sikh immigrants from time to time during a hundred years o f their existence in Canada, making strenuous efforts to protect their Sikh identity. When the Sikhs started settling in Canada in the beginning o f the www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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20th century, despite many restrictions, the concepts like that o f mosaic ideology or m ulticulturalism w ere unknow n to the w hite C anadians who held sway over C anada. M ost o f them w ere racist in the extreme and w ould not tolerate the presence o f the A sians am idst them . They wanted the A sians to be out o f C anada and if at all a few o f them were to be allow ed to stay on in their country they must im m ediately transform them selves into the external form s and life style o f the w hite Canadians w ho presented them selves as a m odel for outsiders. But the bearded and the turbaned Sikhs w ould not give up their Sikh code o f conduct to which they w ere religiously w edded. So they began to be m ore intolerable to the w hites. Those A nglo-Saxons, w ho knew the Sikhs due to their earlier stay in India and m ostly w ere sym pathetic tow ards them , told the Canadians that the Sikhs w ould not assim ilate in Canada. The w hite Canadian em ployers could not deny the capacity o f the Sikhs for hard and laborious w ork, though they felt uncom fortable with their Sikh appearance. Their w hite colour o f the skin had a special value w ith the w hite people and their narrow - m indedness w as in the extreme. The m edia was no less hostile to the Sikhs. The editorial o f The Vancouver Sun published in its issue o f 17 June 1913, exhibited the minds o f the w hite people. It w rites that, “there is the..point o f view o f the white settler in this country w ho w ishes to keep the country w hite w ith the white standards o f living and m orality. The vast m ajority o f the intelligent population o f this province w ill realise the d an g er to w hich British C olum bia and more o f Canada too, than British C olum bia, will be exposed if w e perm it the im m igration o f the Sikhs with their fam ilies into the dom inion.... They are not desirable people from any standpoint.... In the first place the w hite population will never be able to absorb them. They are not an assim ilable people. Their religious beliefs render that impossible; their rooted habits are different from ours.... They will disturb the labour m arket here and they will create conditions that will injuriously affect the w hole w hite population.... We do not w ant a part o f the Indian peninsula set dow n on this coast. We do not w ant an increasing colony o f the Sikhs in our province.... They will not be allow ed to obtain any permanent foothold as a race in this country.”4 This new spaper clearly conveys that since the religious beliefs of the Sikhs would stand in the way o f their assimilation into the Canadian society they w ould not be allowed to live in Canada. This is the melting pot ideology or the stark negation o f the mosaic ideology or multiculturalism. w hich was not \e t bom in Canada at that time. Those w ho w ithstooci the

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onslaughts o f the soul-dead racists must have been very brave, tolerant and patiently enduring people. Time and again the C anadian w hites had been hitting very hard in the early years o f the 20th century against the Sikhs. Henry H. Stevens— an M.P. from V ancouver said in 1911 that, “ We in Canada, in com m on with all other self-governing dom inions, have the right to say who shall and who shall not settle here; we contend that if w e choose to say ‘n o ’ to the Hindus (the Sikhs) we are free to do so, and are not com pelled to answ er to any higher authority for our position than that o f our ow n parliam ent.... Further our position or contention is strengthened by this fact, that the Sikhs are o f a different race, standard o f m orals and ethical ideas, mental conceptions, traditions, history and culture, in every way different from us and cannot and will not assim ilate.”5 The w esterners saw their ow n societies as rational, m odern and dynam ic; they saw non-w estern societies as irrational, primitive, parochial and static. W estern societies had evolved into modem nations w hereas non-w estern societies rem ained tribal, mired as they were in their “ethnic” identities. It should not be difficult to see that this way o f looking at non-w estern societies did not betray m erely the arrogance and conceit o f the colonial pow ers, it also facilitated their claim to retain colonies, or to act as “trustees” o f the “ pre-m odern” (prim itive) people who w ere incapable o f governing them selves. The view, therefore, persisted until de-colonization w as forced on these “civilized” countries on a worldwide “civilizing” m ission. Prof.T.L. W alker, o f U niversity o f Toronto, a properly educated man, who should have a w ider vision, m ade a negative approach like so m any others. He said, ‘W hile favouring exclusion, I do so solely on the ground that people so different in race as the A nglo-Saxons and the Sikhs can never live happily together in the territory and the introduction o f such diverse elem ents m ust m ake nation-building exceedingly difficult, if not impossible” .6 Such highly educated snobs, with inflated ego, prom oted racism. In his w hole thesis irrelevance is the only relevance. Exponents o f the melting pot ideology, like John Porter, pleaded strongly for the elimination o f other cultures. If the A nglo-Saxons and the Sikhs could live together in Punjab for a century why could they not live together in Canada. When Prof. W alker m ade the above rem arks the tw o w ere then living together in the Punjab and the A nglo-Saxons, by then, had com e to know' that the Sikhs w ere a great com m unity. N ation-building does not depend on the h o m o g en eity and at the sam e tim e in eq u ality o f its component parts but it depends on their being equal partners in all w alks of country’s life. www.sikhnationalarchives.corr

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I have a few innocent questions to ask the host society in respect to the Sikh im migrants to Canada. Why do you want them to assimilate and thus reject their religious beliefs, their cultural heritage and the life style dear to them for centuries? Do you think that your culture is superiormost and a word from your mouth is a law o f the land? W hy don’t you tolerate the best o f the qualities that they prized in their native land and brought with them to their new homes? W hy do you, so violently, like to strip the life-style o f non-white citizens who are loyal to their new homeland, hard working, law abiding, peace- loving, co-operative, brave, sympathetic, highly honest and hospitable? M ost races o f an average country of the world do not have even half o f these qualities. Come in close contact with these Sikhs and you will discover your baseless prejudice against them and the undignified and inhuman treatm ent you have been giving them over the decades and wonder over how they have been bearing all that with utm ost forbearance and no ill-will against the perpetrators o f all the unhappiness on them. They are saintly human-beings indeed. Their heritage culture has moulded them that way. Try to discover the miracles that their culture has been capable o f unfolding before them. And, so ignorantly, som e Canadians had wanted them to part with that great culture. Tell me sincerely, should they do it? I am sure you will say ‘n o’ and they should not. In the Canadian context, the mosaic was not given due recognition by the charter groups (English and French) in its early stages as pointed above and as applied to the im migrants the mosaic model was relegated to their private sphere o f life. The protagonists o f bilingualism (adoption of only tw o languages, English and French) and biculturalism (acceptance of only the English and the French cultures) relegated the non-English and nonFrench Canadians to the status o f second class citizens. But the immigrants o f the ‘third force’ demanded equal treatment. They vehemently stressed that “two official languages is one thing but to say that there are two cultures in Canada is a complete negation o f the Canadian fact.”7 John D iefenbaker, Prime M inister (1957-63) o f the Progressive Conservative Party o f Canada, said, “Canada was not a ‘melting pot’ in which the individuality o f each elem ent is destroyed in order to produce a new and totally different element. It is rather a garden into which have been transplanted the hardiest and brightest o f flowers from many lands, each retaining in its new environment, the best o f the qualities for which it w as loved and prized in its native land” .8 H enry C abot Lodge has beautifully said. "Let every man honour and love the land o f his birth and race from which he springs and keep their memory green”. www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, announced a multicultural policy for Canada on 8 O ctober 1971. He stated in Parliam ent that, “national unity, if it is to mean anything in the deep personal sense, must be founded on confidence in one’s own individual identity, out o f this can grow respect for that o f others and a willingness to share ideas, attitudes and assumptions, A vigorous policy o f m ulticulturalism will help to create this initial confidence.”9 He did not support the position that language and culture are indivisible. Thus, the federal governm ents rejected the notion that multiculturalism necessitates m ulti-lingualism and proposed that the multicultural policy be implemented within a bilingual framework. Trudeau told the Canadians: “two cultures, two languages, one vision, with room for the rest on the table.” The Royal Com m ission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism in 1965 coined the term ‘m ulticulturalism ’, though the mandate had mentioned the term ‘cultural pluralism ’. The tw o-foundingnation concept p ro jected a co lo n ial im age o f C an ad a, w hich w as unacceptable to all the other im migrants, as this concept was blatantly opposed to the social cohesion necessary for the national harmony. The Constitutional Reform A ct o f 1982 defined and expressed what Canada is; largely the fundam ental character has been defined through the French-English linguistic duality o f Canada. This is just an incomplete definition because it leaves out more than one third o f the Canadians who are neither English nor French. They are disappointed and disheartened but are living with it a sort o f grudgingly. The Federal G overnm ent’s Policy Statem ent on M ulticulturalism ’ (8 October 1971)

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This statement sets forth four objectives: The government o f C anada will support all o f C anada’s cultures and will seek to assist, resources perm itting, developm ent o f those cultural groups which have demonstrated a desire and effort to continue to develop a capacity to grow and contribute to C anada as well as have a clear need for assistance. The government will assist members o f all cultural groups to overcome cultural barriers to full participation in Canadian society. The government will promote creative encounters and interchange among all Canadian cultural groups in the interest o f national unity. The government will continue to assist immigrants to acquire at least one of Canada’s official languages in order to become full participants in Canadian society.

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The opponents o f multiculturalism believe that emphasis on ethnic pluralism will prevent the creation o f a coherent social structure supported by a set o f values and beliefs about what Canada is and w hat it means to be Canadian. But Pierre Trudeau, Prime M inister o f Canada, argued that multiculturalism would be integrative. He said, Canada would become “a special place, and a stronger place as w ell. Each o f the many fibers co n trib u tes its ow n q u alities and C an ad a g ain s stren g th from the com bination” . The principles o f a new multicultural policy included equality of o p p o rtu n ity , p re se rv a tio n and e n h a n c e m e n t o f c u ltu ra l diversity, elimination o f discrim ination against the visible minorities, establishment o f affirm ative m easures, enhancem ent o f heritage languages and support for immigrant integration. But lack o f accountability in the implementation o f the policy o f multiculturalism was openly flouted by the dominant | society. The form er federal minister o f m ulticulturalism , John Munro, said that multiculturalism is an exciting and valid concept. It is recognition of some fundam ental facts about the nature o f Canada. Besides English and French facts there are many more cultural facts. These m any groups with their distinct values, problems and heritages cannot be ignored. In fairness, multiculturalism in C anada should include all peoples, residing in Canada and not ju st a select few ”. A t governm ent level, w ith the passage o f tim e, the concept of multiculturalism acquired strong acceptance though from time to time, it underwent changes at people’s level. To a question Gerry Weiner, federal m in ister o f m u lticu ltu ra lism and c itiz e n s h ip , in th e conservative government, answered, “Pride in our origins, yes. Why not? What is wrong with preserving our cultural heritage; a heritage that enriches our society in so many w ays? But not at the expense o f respect and understanding for the culture o f others” . M ulticulturalism expresses the present reality o f Canadian society, w hich is draw n from m any parts o f the w orld. C anada is a global com m unity— hom e for m any people o f different races and cultures. , Canadians are no longer o f exclusively French or English origins. More than one-third (37 per cent) o f the current population cannot trace their ancestry back to the French or English. Multiculturalism recognizes all Canadians as full and equal partners in Canadian society. The ultimate goal o f multiculturalism is to make the people o f this country fully Canadian and not fully homogeneous. One thing the East Indians or the Punjabis do not want is to be 'dew ww .sikhnationalarchives.com

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East Indianised’ or ‘de-Punjabi-ised’. They do not want ‘to be just like everybody else’. They want to be free to keep as much o f their own way of life as they them selves desire to keep, and to adopt what modern ways of white m an’s civilization as they wish to adopt. Canada is ethnically and culturally a diverse country. In essence, to be Canadian is to be multicultural. Canada’s heritage embraces all cultures. Cultural d iv ersity is one o f th is c o u n try ’s m ost p o sitiv e national characteristics. It is the belief o f the sensible Canadians that more exposure to diverse cultures prom otes tolerance, understanding and co-operation, giving them their Canadian identity. Canada is the world, in one country. It is a mixture o f every race and culture, living together. The g o v e rn m e n t’s c o m m itm en t to the c o u n try ’s d iv e rsity is unambiguous but there are alw ays som e disturbing signals. C ountry’s cherished policy o f multiculturalism failed to destroy the monster o f racism which has been killing innocent visible minorities in the past and is killing even at present unabshedly not by accident but by design. V is-a-v is C a n a d ia n g o v e rn m e n t’s c o n c e p t an d p o lic y o f multiculturalism as enunciated above, we examine below the practice and preservation o f Sikh heritage culture in Canada. Undoubtedly, the federal as well as the provincial governm ents are sincerely committed to multiculturalism but its opposition or disregard to it trickles down to the country’s bureaucracy and officialdom. They, in the heart o f their hearts do w ant the immigrants to lapse into assimilation. They do not cherish immigrants observing their own cultures and their life-styles. They want that the Sikhs should become Canadians but the Sikhs are undoubtedly Canadians. The very fact that they are living in Canada permanently is all that is needed for them to become Canadians. Those whites who are not comfortable with their turbans and beards want them to assimilate by getting themselves stripped o f their turban and beard. These whites either do not understand the Canadian mosaic or refuse to accept it. As the principles o f multiculturalism enunciate the followers o f the dominant culture must show full respect to the peoples with other cultures. The majority culture has no right to dominate the minority culture. Both are equal. The Sikh culture felt honoured when the Punjabi M arket area (at Main Street) was officially recognized by the city o f Vancouver by the installation o f the Punjabi street signs in June 1993. Three blocks between 48th Avenue and 51st A venue, on Main Street, now sport bright yellow and blue signs written in theg itn m ikh i script. The blue and yellow colours are embedded in Sikh psyche as religiously adopted colours. Mayor Gordon w w w .sikhnationalarchives.com

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Campbell looked very pleased as he congratulated the Indo-Canadian com m unity for m aking a positive im pact on V ancouver during their existence in this city for a century. “All o f our (city) council is proud of the contributions you have made, “ he said. Mayor Campbell and his council had shown the Sikh comm unity and the Canadians at large that Canada was a country where all were w elcom e to prom ote their culture. And C an ad a is co m m itted to m u ltic u ltu ra lism to m ake th e country a multicultural wonderland. In Surrey (B.C.) there is an area where mostly the Punjabis who run flourishing business, own shops and businesses. Thi£ market is called the Punjabi Bazaar and the road signs there had been displayed in both Punjabi (gurm ukhi script) and English in June 1996. 'G enerally the press has been playing a negative role in regard to advancing the cause o f multiculturalism. They sometimes link the minoritygroup immigrants to their ancestral country and project stereotyped and distorted stories. Their approach is alm ost alw ays, as ever, negative, unsym pathetic and prejudiced. “T. Joseph Scanlan conducted a study, ‘The Vancouver Sikhs’ on crime stories which were published in The Sun and The Province between 1944 and 1974. There were stories about murder, stories about marriage rackets involving illegal immigration, stories about assault, bribery and rape. There were stories o f fam ilies being evicted, stories about beatings and fights outside the G urdwaras, stories on high level racial tensions in the community. What was missing was the kind o f story to put this situation in context....T he Sikhs were portrayed as a troublesom e group. Scanlan arrived at two conclusions. The tw o newspapers appeared to have ignored a significant portion o f the story o f V ancouver Sikhs. Secondly, the press seems to have emphasized only one aspect o f the story, the story of crime.”10 They depict the Sikhs and their former home country India as very p o o r, p rim itiv e , u n c le a n , u n h e a lth y , u n ru ly and p o litic a lly and economically unstable and infested with so many other social ills. The Canadian media is generally ill informed and misinformed about India. Their sole purpose is to sell their stories about India and the Sikhs. One can test their knowledge o f the Sikhs and Sikhism by putting very simple questions to them. Ask a reporter or an editor o f a Canadian newspaper the name o f the province from which the Sikhs hail and the language they speak there and a little bit about their religion. You will be surprised to know' about their total ignorance. An elementary school boy who came to Canada from India only a few months back knows much more about Christianity and about the Canadian geography, city's super stores and

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the municipalities o f the G reater Vancouver. The dismal ignorance o f Canadian media betrays their lack o f interest in the minority ethnic groups living in the country, their culture and life-style, their hum an qualities and their wonderful courage to have established a home in an alien land. Most newspapers refer thoughtlessly to the race, religion and country of the person whom they condemn in the story. This has been done many a time in the cases o f the Sikhs. When pointed out that they were bringing the whole com m unity into disrepute they promised not to do it again but repeat it. They never do it in the case o f a person from any other community. The press must take care that all comm unities and their cultures must be respected. An individual can com m it faults and for that, only he is responsible individually. His com m unity and its culture should not be blamed and placed under the gun. That is bad reporting and unjustifiable. To promote multiculturalism in C anada the governm ent must involve the schools and other educational institutions that should provide necessary information to the students about all the com m unities living in the country along with the cultures adopted by them. All cultures practised by ethnic groups, however small, deserve full respect from the majority group. At times, the members o f the majority group deny such respect that is due to the Sikhs and their culture is denied to them. A grade four Sikh child who was sporting full-grown hair on his head properly done up under a tightly fixed scarf was regularly bothered by some white chaps for his hair. He complained to his lady teacher about the harassment he was daily suffering at the hands o f his schoolmates. The teacher told the child that the solution to the problem lay in the hands of his parents. How indiscreetly and absurdly she suggested that his parents should go in for the cutting o f their child’s hair and surrendering the child’s religious symbol and pious heritage culture. The teacher displayed utterly unprofessional conduct towards her students. For the teacher’s colossal ignorance o f the religious culture o f her Sikh students and her unwise suggestion to a student under her care, she does not deserve to be a school teacher. She is certainly in the w rong profession. She had undoubtedly abused the mosaic ideology adopted by Canada and supported the melting pot ideology o f absorption and assimilation followed by the United States or the Canadian racists. Racial discrimination is unworthy o f the society that holds its head high in the world community. In pursuance o f the federal governm ent p o lic y o f multiculturalism or mosaic ideology, the Metro Toronto Police allowed the Sikh police officers, in 1986. to wear turbans and the other Sikh religious symbols when on

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duty. The central governm ent permitted the Sikh RCM P to wear turban and other Sikh symbols during duty hours, with effect from 14 March 1990. The Turban Issue

M ulticulturalism wants to preserve for the future Canadian race the most worthwhile qualities and traditions that each racial group has brought w'ith it. But some people want to merge these qualities as quickly as possible into one particular type. Canada has been recognized as a global comm unity home. As told earlier the ultimate goal o f multiculturalism is to make the people of this country fully Canadian and not fully homogeneous. The present opposition towards it comes from the wrong presumption that ethnic groups are outside the mainstream o f the Canadian society. The Sikhs had been fighting for a long time for their right to wear a turban as a symbol o f their religious code o f conduct. Any opposition to it had to be fought against at the comm unity level, as it did not concern an individual alone. The Sikhs know the G uru’s com m andm ents whose observance was sacrosanct with them A Sikh who takes his meals with a turban o ff his head shall be under a Sikh taboo. This impresses upon a Sikh to attach absolute urgency to keep a turban on head while taking meals. And on no occasion he should go bareheaded in public. During the Sikh-Afghan battles in the eighteenth century, as per a practice am ong the Sikhs they did not rem ove a turban from the head of a captured or defeated Afghan as they considered it an act o f disgracing the captive and disrespecting his turban which, the Sikhs held in high esteem. The Sikhs who showed respect to the turban o f the enemy could never tolerate getting their ow'n turban dishonoured. The narrow racial perception o f most o f the people in the western countries has been causing vexation to the Sikh psyche again and again by raking the turban issue off and on. A turban issue raised by the Royal Canadian Legions kicked up a clash o f cultures. The refusal by the Surrey N ew ton branch o f the legion to give admittance to the legion hall for five turbaned Sikh war veterans, all with chestful o f war medals, after the Rem em brance Day parade on 11 N ovem ber 1993, unless they removed their turbans, raised a storm of protest from the well-m eaning people— both the Sikhs and the non-Sikhs. What an enormous ignorance on the part o f the officials o f the legion regarding the Sikh turban. The Sikhs do not wear the turban only as a headgear but as an im portant fundamental symbol o f their religious faith. www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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A Sikh is required to have full-grow n hair on his head properly covered with a turban. The turban is an integral part o f his dress. A ccording to the religious code o f conduct, the Sikh is never to rem ove his turban in any assembly o f people or at any public place. If he does so, it w ould be an utter violation o f his religious vow , disrespect to his hair and the assem bly that he is in. Som e ignorant people advise the Sikhs that “w hen in Rome do as the Romans do. If the Sikhs feel that they have to w ear their turbans then let them go back to their country and do w hat they w ant to do.” Let such Romans know that they are not living in the 17th century Rome, they are living in the 20th century C anada. Som e C anadians advise the Sikhs that if they are not happy with the custom s o f C anada they should go back to their ow n country. W hat custom s are these people talking of, English, French, G erm an, Italian or U krainian or those o f the native people to whom the country originally belongs. If they are not natives, how w ould their own medicine taste in their m ouths if an aboriginal gives the same advice to them as they give to the Sikhs? How many o f these people who cry out for preservation o f traditions have ever cared to adopt som e o f the native practices to enrich C anadian entity. These people should know that they are living in a land w here all but the aboriginals are the recent immigrants. The Canadian custom s worth cultivating are those o f tolerance, compassion, respect and understanding. It is painful that a Sikh veteran w ho lost his com rades in w ar fighting with outstanding valour should be asked to surrender his ow n religious faith in a drinking club m eeting to pay hom age to the dead. These legions were founded as places to rem em ber their old com rades and to raise m oney for their families if they needed financial help. But those feelings are not shared by the legion m em bers o f today. A Sikh w earing his religious headgear is not perm itted inside the legion w here other m em bers can drink themselves to a drunken stupor. These legions are not churches or religious shrines. These are places for veterans to socialize and keep alive the memories o f those w ho fought for their country. The Surrey councillor, Marvin Hunt, rightly said that, “the Sikh turban was never an issue when the commonwealth forces fought in H ong Kong, it w as not an issue w hen they fought in N orth A frica or G erm any, it was not an issue w hen they were decorated by the king or queen for their bravery and heroism in the midst of all the battles and all the w ars they fought” . It becam e an issue only when they cam e to rem em ber and honour the dead. They w ere told that their contributions w ere valuable outside but not inside the b g ic n halls. How sad it is! If the turbaned Sikhs w ere good enough to eat, drink, sleep and fight www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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along side legion m em bers in the trenches why are they not good enough to socialize with them in the legion halls. Some legion m em bers threatened that they would quit the club if the turbaned Sikhs w ere allow ed to enter. There could be no better solution than this. There could be no w orse behaviour on the part o f a legion that could not tolerate to be honoured by the presence o f a 92-year old turbaned war veteran w ith the distinctive title o f ‘O rder o f the British E m pire’ (OBE). due to a preconceived prejudice. Could there be a greater dishonour shown to the British ruler w ho conferred this title? The treatm ent meted out to the retired turbaned Sikh military officers is totally unacceptable to all fair-m inded C anadians. D iscrim ination based on religion is w rong and contrary to the fundam entals o f the Canadian society. N one can m ake all the C anadians hom ogeneous and they will alw ays have cultural differences, so there should be no intolerance. These brave men who have fought battles with courage and distinction to defend liberty all over the world should not be so unjustly denied their fundamental and cherished right o f living by their religious code. If a turbaned Sikh MP can enter the C anadian Parliam ent w ithout a finger rising towards him why can ’t a turbaned w ar veteran Sikh enter a legion hall just to sip a cup o f tea? There have been many sane voices all over C anada against Newton B ranch’s insulting and hum iliating treatm ent o f the Sikh veterans. Those who condem ned their action included prem iers, federal and provincial ministers, M Ps, M LA s, m ayors, teachers, old w ar veterans, human rights com m issions, O ttaw a’s D om inion Com m and (o f legions), legion members and the media. M ost o f the daily new spapers o f the country wrote trenchant ed ito rials.11 The w h ites’ individual voices o f reason w ere not able to com bine into a chorus o f public opinion because m ost o f the whites seemed friendly outw ardly but not sincere inw ardly. W hether the Sikhs are able to go to the legions or not, the most dangerous thing for the C anadian society is the poison that certain people carry in their heads for the people w ho have a different faith and different cultural values. A society or organisation that discrim inates on the basis o f race, religion or gender is in its prim itive stage o f progress. The turban has alm ost alw ays been in the new s at the national level in this country. Even as early as 1914 w hen the K om agata M aru brought 376 passengers (m ost o f them turbaned Sikhs) to V ancouver there was an outcry in the tow n that ‘the turbaned tid e’ should be rolled back from the shores o f Vancouver. The Sikhs had to struggle ceaselessly to get jo b s in the USA, UK and www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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Canada with a turban on head. In 1982 Gur Sant Singh, an American convert to Sikhism, secured for him self and for m any others the right to join the American army and police, keeping their Sikh sym bols including turban intact. Even Sikh children’s parents had to fight to keep their wards in schools in the countries that declared to be supporters o f multiculturalism. Towards the end o f 1993, three retired police officers challenged the 1990 decision o f the federal governm ent allowing the Sikh RCM P officers to wear a turban and its inclusion in the dress code. The plaintiffs clearly seemed to be using it as a cover for what may be called an ‘essentially racist stand’. The turban trial was a judgem ent on multiculturalism or pluralism. It could have a far-reaching impact on the Sikhs. About four hundred thousand Sikhs are living in Canada with more than 70 per cent of them wearing turbans. The case was rejected by the court, allowing the Sikh police officers to w ear turbans. Suprem e C ourt o f C anada’s 15 February 1996 reaffirmation o f a Sikh officer’s right to w ear a turban gave a strong moral and legal strength to the Sikhs to be able to preserve their identity. The Sikh culture and the dom inant society culture are not opposed to each other. They are only different. Do we dislike different flowers, different-shaped houses or people with different hair-colours? No, we do not. Yearning for a uniform Canadianism is im possible to fulfil. So let no such vows be made. God shed his grace on Canada. This grace should never be abused. Hard Hat Issue

A Sikh is prohibited from w earing a hat or cap on head in place o f the turban or on it. Bhai Prahlad Singh’s Rehatnam a explicitly disallows a Sikh to wear a hat on head. Once in the UK, the drivers o f tw o-w heelers were required to drive only with a crash hat on head. The Sikhs objected to it as it was against their religious code o f conduct. W inston C hurchill, the form er Prime Minister of England, supported their cause in the Parliament, telling the members of the House that the Sikhs had fought all the wars for the British with turbans on head, with their performance par excellence. He advised the govemment not to do anything that is in direct clash with their religious practices. Consequently the turbaned Sikh drivers o f the tw o-w heelers were exempted from w earing the helmet. Interestingly, some clean-shaven Sikhs also started w earing turbans to avail exem ption from w earing helmets.

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A little earlier, during a battle between the A fghans and the British, the Sikh soldiers were asked to wear hard hats against the Afghan firing which they did from atop a hill. The British told the Sikhs that if they did not w ear hard hats the number o f casualties would be larger and the British would not be able to provide pensions to a larger num ber o f turbaned Sikh soldiers. The Sikhs were said to have given in writing to the British that if casualties occur due to their turbans there would be no pension claims on their behalf. This strong conviction o f the Sikhs against the w earing o f hard hats persuaded the British to exem pt them from wearing hard hats. The Sikhs had to face this hard hat problem in every country again and again. Canada was no exception, but the Sikh struggle against wearing it had been uncom prom isin g ly vehem ent and b itter as the foreign governm ents had been bound by their regulations and the Sikhs had been prohibited by their religious code o f conduct. Kamail Singh Bhinder— an am ritdhari Sikh (one who had taken the baptism o f the double-edged sword) and the UK trained electrician, joined the Canadian National Railways (CNR) in April 1974. The CNR prescribed the use o f hard hat for its employees with effect from 30 November 1978. Karnail Singh refused to w ear hard hat on or in place o f turban as a matter o f his religious faith. He was told by the C N R that if he did not comply w ith the rules o f the Railways he would lose his job. Consequently he w as put o ff his duties with effect from 6 D ecember 1978, In the w estern countries there is hardly any security o f job. The employees can be fired even without notice but in countries like India, the people once entered into jobs become bulletproof. Bhinder complained to the Canadian Human Rights Commission on 7 December 1978. The CNR explained that no discrimination was involved and w earing o f the hard hat was a bonafide occupational requirement and the use o f hard hat was necessary under the Canada Labour Code. It also entailed the safety issue under the Canada Transport Commission. But the emotional involvement o f the Sikh com m unity was a strong factor connected with the case. T he safety expert Dr Neuman whose opinion was sought in the matter told that the turban offered more protection than the hard hat to the front and rear o f the head and the turban also keeps sticking to the head. But in the case o f sharp protruding objects the hard hat could be more useful when the w orker puts his head inside the confines o f a panel. The tribunal delivered a unanimous decision, in September 1 9 8 1 . that the complainant was the victim o f discrim ination because o f his religion, vww.sikhnationalarchives.con

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though this religious discrim ination w as not intentional on the part o f CNR. Bhinder was ordered to be reinstated with com pensation o f S 14,500. The decision was a happy tiding for the Sikh com m unity but a short-lived one. The CNR m ade an appeal against this decision and the Federal C ourt awarded its ruling in a split 2-1 decision on 13 April 1983 that the Canadian Human Rights A ct does not accom m odate religious beliefs and the w earing ofhard hat was a bonafide requirem ent. This decision was in utter violation of the letter and spirit o f m ulticulturalism . It rudely shocked the whole Sikh community. Karnail Singh and the Canadian H um an Rights C om m ission appealed to the Supreme Court o f C anada with h alf a dozen interveners. The appeal was dismissed on 17 D ecem ber 1985 with a 5-2 split decision, announcing that there was no discrim ination against Karnail Singh B hinder w hen he was asked to w ear hard hat by the em ployer as a m easure o f safety. C.J. Dickson, the C h ie f Justice o f C an ad a and Justice J. L am er gave the dissenting decision to the slight com fort o f the Sikhs. A member o f the Federation o f Sikh Societies o f Canada, initiated a press conference with the rem arks: “ We have suffered a terrible blow from the verdict. It will take decades to recover from it, if we recover from it at all. M ulticulturalism is reduced to song and dance and nothing more. The co m m u n ity is u n d er sieg e. T h is d isfu n c tio n a lity o f the government policies to integrate the visible m inorities is obvious. The establishment is too strong for us to fight with and to w in.” The m em ber used all the words to condem n the verdict except to say that it w as a racist decision. The Canadian H uman Rights C om m ission’s C h ief C om m issioner, Gordon Fairweather o f the Canadian H uman Rights C om m ission, w rote to the Minister o f Justice on 10 February 1986: “ It is the C om m ission’s unanimous opinion that the failure o f the Suprem e C ourt o f Canada, in its majority decision in B hinder et al vs the C anadian N ational R ailw ay rendered on 17 D ecem ber 1985, to uphold the principle o f reasonable accommodation, is an urgent matter.... This uncertainty will so significantly impede the C om m ission’s w ork that it is o f the utm ost urgency and importance for Parliam ent to amend the Act to remove any doubt about the Act’s authority in this regard. Therefore, the Com m ission recom m ends to Parliament that a provision be added to the C anadian H um an Rights Act explicitly stating that it is a discrim inatory practice to refuse to m ake reasonable accom m odation for special needs or obligations related to a prohibited ground o f discrim ination.” www.sikhnationalarchives com

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G ordon Fairw eather told the Parliam ent that "equal opportunity will not be established in country unless em ployers are required by law to accom m odate differences.” He said, ‘legislative action is now crucial; The Parliam ent did nothing in this respect. The C anadian Human Rights C om m ission’s support o f Karnail Singh B hinder's taking complaint of religious discrim ination against C anada to the United N ations also did not yield any results as the international body w as o f the view that the Parliam ent o f C anada was the appropriate authority to deal with this matter. The Suprem e C ourt decision in this case w eakened the scope o f human rights in C anada considerably. The governm ent took no initiative to strengthen the legal basis o f human rights through legislation. The political parties o f the country also showed utter lack o f interest in this respect. To the dism ay o f the Sikh com m unity, and the violation and neglect or observance o f the policy o f m ulticulturalism only in the breach, the hard hat Act rem ains unaltered and unresolved even up to the present day. If at places the em ployers exem pt the use o f hard hat in the case o f turbaned Sikhs, it is availed by the Sikhs not as a matter o f right but as a matter of grace or concession. M otorcycle Safety Helmet Issue

M otor-cycle safety helm et issue cropped up in 1994. On 5 August 1994, one A vtar Singh Dhillon w as refused to take test for driving a m otorcycle by the M otor Vehicle Branch (M VB), Surrey, B.C. for not w earing a safety helmet. Dhillon filed a case w ith the B.C. Council o f H um an Rights. He also w rote letters to Prem ier Mike Harcourt, some provincial ministers and M LA s on 17 February 1995, with copies o f supporting letters from 40 Sikh Societies in B.C., telling them that many countries around the world that allow ed Sikhs with turbans to ride m otorcycles w ithout wearing a safety helm et included the United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, Malaysia, H ong Kong, Iraq and Singapore. He pleaded for perm ission to ride a m otorcycle w ithout w earing a helmet. Upon hearing the counsel for the com plaintant A vtar Singh Dhillon and the counsel respondent M inistry o f Transportation and Highways. M otor V ehicle Branch and counsel for the Deputy C h ief Commissioner. B.C. and Human Rights Com m ission on 18th, 19th and 20th March 1997. the H uman Rights Tribunal reserved decision upto 11 May 1999, when it an n o u n c e d th a t the c o m p la in t w as ju s tifie d an d the Ministry ot Transportation and Highways M inister Harry (I larbhajan Singh) Lali. The

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am endm ent allowed exem ption to them from section 221 o f the M otor

Vehicle Act which requires m otorcycle riders to w ear a helmet. Motorcycle Safety H elm et Exem ption Regulation (o f 20 July 1999) reads as under:The following persons are exem pt from the requirem ents o f section 221 of the M otor Vehicles Act. a) a person who i) practises the Sikh religion and ii) has unshorn hair and habitually wears a turban com posed o f five or m ore square m etres o f cloth. Kirpan Issue

The kirpan or sword or dagger is worn by a Sikh as a religious symbol and not as a weapon to be used to attack anybody with it. (O f course, its limited use exclusively in self-protection when attacked by som eone with ! a weapon may not be ruled out). Harbhajan Singh Pandori, a school teacher in the Peel B oard o f Education, was dism issed from his jo b as he refused to put o ff his kirpan while on duty in his school. He lodged a com plaint on 21 June 1988 to the Ontario Human Rights C om m ission under the O ntario H um an Rights Code, 1981. Two Sikh school boys w ere also involved in the case for wearing kirpans. The Com m ission got registered a case in the court against the Peel Board o f Education. The Board o f Inquiry, after due hearing in 1990 gave its ruling on 6 July 1990 that the Peel Board w as guilty o f restricting the religious rights o f the Sikh students and the Sikh teacher. The Peel Board had earlier applied to the Suprem e C ourt o f O ntario to quash the com plaint pleading that the case was outside the jurisdiction of the Board o f Inquiry. The C ourt rejected the Peel B oard’s application. The issue before the court w as o f a very serious nature. Proscribing the wearing o f a kirpan by the Sikhs was tantam ount to depriving the Sikh students from getting education and the other am ritdhari (baptised) Sikhs from pursuing the professions o f their choice. On the other hand the Peel Board pleaded that for the m aintenance o f discipline in the school they had the right to ban all w eapons in the school prem ises. The Peel Board considered the kirpan a w eapon but the Sikhs insisted that it was not a weapon but a symbol o f their faith. It was argued on b eh alf o f the complainants that if at all the kirpan was going to be used for aggression Many more things like knives, blades, forks, screw drivers or cutting instruments from the craftshop, baseball bat, or a hockey stick could be www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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used much m ore easily than the kirpan that was worn under the Sikh w earer’s clothing. The Human Rights C om m issioner observed, “ If society wants to protect the law -abiding above all, then, in my opinion, the Khalsa students rank high on the list o f those to be protected.” So the Peel Board’s ban on the kirpan was a glaring denial o f the constitutional right of the Sikhs to religious freedom. The Com m issioner issued an order that the Peel Board must withdraw the ban on the kirpan and the religious freedom and the safety of the students and teachers should be ensured. The Sikh teachers and students should w ear a kirpan o f a reasonable size and keep it under their clothing, further directing that in the event o f a serious danger o f violence in the school the principal m ay im pose tem porary and sparingly reasonable curb on the kirpan. The Peel Board o f Education desisted from lodging an appeal against this decision in view o f the strong public pressure. The kirpan issue does not seem to have been settled in Canada once and for all. This issue had been raising its head again and again to the annoyance and anger o f the Sikh com m unity. The above judgem ent regarding the kirpan had, unfortunately, no teference to the M ulticulturalism A ct or any other A ct o f Parliament to add strength or due legality to the decision. The Sikhs had to fight it out every time. In the adjoining country US and also in the UK this issue of w earing the kirpan by the Sikh students alm ost alw ays rem ains alive. The kirpan issue has not been exclusive only to the w estern countries w here the Sikhs have mostly chosen to settle but anim ate in their native country India also. The Indian C onstitution (A rticle 25, explanation I) provides that ‘the w earing and carrying o f kirpan shall be deemed to be included in the profession o f the Sikh religion.’ W hen a responsible Sikh elected from the Punjab to the Indian Parliam ent in 1989 with a record margin over his opponent w anted to enter the Parliam ent w ith his kirpan on his person he was not allow ed to do so under a plea that he was carrying a w eapon with him. D espite his arguing that the kirpan w as a symbol of his religion, he was denied his constitutional right and was not allowed in with his kirpan. But Y asar A rafat o f the Palestine Liberation Organisation was allow ed to take on his person a loaded pistol and addressed the Indian Parliam ent. U ndoubtedly, Y asar A rafat is a great and revered leader of Palestine. However, the Sikh MP referred to above was no less respectable Indian citizen w ho co n fid ed the tru st o f lakhs o f people whom he represented. In Indian Parliam entary election o f 1999, the above referred to Sikh was again elected to the Lok Sabha (Indian Parliament) but on the insistence ■• .sikhnavionalarcnives.com

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of his voters, hejdid not take up the kirpan issue. He visited Canada in April/May 2000 and entered the Canadian Parliament along with his kirpan. The Speaker o f the Canadian Parliament expressed astonishm ent over the denial to a Sikh M.P. to carry kirpan, which is the religious symbol o f the Sikhs, to the Indian Parliament. It is a sad comm entary on the Canadian governm ent that when the Sikh community fights for their religious symbols and preservation o f their valuable cultural heritage w ithout causing any dam age to other communities the governm ent that upholds the policy o f multiculturalism does not come forward to support them. They have to fight for their rights without the support o f the governm ent that enshrines in its constitution the protection o f cultures o f all its citizens. This indifferent attitude o f the government loses the lustre o f its policy o f multiculturalism and in due course oftim e this policy o f its great framers like Trudeau would be reduced to a meaningless item in the country’s constitution. Sikh Distinctiveness

Professor John W. Friesen feels that unlike most ethnocultural groups in Canada, the Sikh comm unity has remained unaffected by the traditional campaign for assimilation waged by the dominant society. Gordon has delineated seven stages towards attaining complete assimilation. The Sikhs have essentially remained independent o f even the first stage that suggests that members o f an immigrant group should “change their cultural pattern (including religious belief and its observance) to that o f the dominant society”.12 Friesen says that there are probably two reasons for this, one, having to do with the success o f the Sikh community in trying to maintain their own sub-cultural identity and the second, being the dominant society’s very strong opposition to the Sikh ways. Foremost in the campaign to thwart Sikh assim ilation is the public antagonism tow ards the Sikh ‘uniform’ particularly the practice that the loyal Sikhs are not to cut their hair (kesh) and they are required to carry a ceremonial sword (a kirpan). Growing long hair (including beards) necessitates the wearing o f headgear like the turban, which was long ago, adopted by the Sikhs as a means o f keeping their hair in place. Friesen further remarks that it is difficult to understand why the Sikhs have had to be targets o f such severe forms o f public disapproval when it •s primarily a question o f differences in costume that sets them apart from the rest of the society. For the most part, the Sikhs live like other Canadians. /w w

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They are employed in traditional Canadian forms o f business enterprises and in workplaces. They have good market value and w ork hard for their livelihood. They live in standard houses, engage in regular forms of socialising and like other Canadians attend the church o f their choice. The Sikh tem ples look very different from church buildings constructed by other faiths and they tend to be very well m aintained. The Sikh organizations have contributed heavily tow ards the Canadian national relief, the M exico earthquake relief, the E th io p iaa relief fund and the interfaith food bank, to name a few. Still in a survey conducted among the Sikhs in V ancouver in 1980, 52 per cent said that they had virtually no contact with other Canadians and only ten per cent said that they had a lot. ' Friesen further says that the evidence is clear that the Sikhs are often * targets o f a form o f racism th at is v irtually w ithout any justifiable foundation. It also tends to enlarge th eir social distance from other Canadians.... In Canada it seems that the people are not yet free of the notion that human differences (even in costum e) are always to be feared.13 Baljinder Singh Gill, N acoi National President (1991), said: “I am often told that if the community I represent wants to be Canadian, its mem bers should act like Canadians. We are devoted to our families; we believe in hard work; we share responsibility in our community and participate enthusiastically in the political process; having come to Canada in search o f peace, dignity and security, we are deeply committed to respect individual rights; we willingly make sacrifices so that our children can have a better life and children care for and respect their elder parents. How can these values be inimical to ‘Canadian way o f life’? Surely they are not less important than the clothes we w ear or the religion we practise. In our experience this expression [Canadian way o f life] is most often a coded way o f saying that the quintessential Canadian is white and Christian. Canada cannot be sustained on rhetoric. Talk o f equality is meaningless if 1 individual Canadians are treated in an unequal m anner because of where they come from .” 14 Such a suggestion by the whites would be construed as intending aggression on the cultural freedom and distinct identity of the Sikhs. The conflict o f the future is between the W est and the rest. The West is determ ined to extinguish the diversity. For exam ple, America is exporting its way o f life in order to extirpate or wipe out the world’s diversity. It exports the products o f its mass culture. One religion, one ! way o f life, one entertainment— this is the US objective or their melting pot ideology that designs to underm ine the values o f traditional societies, j T oday’s young people o f Ind ian origin have passports to two different : wvvw sikhnationalarchives.com

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w o rld s — to their own culture and to the w estern culture. O ur regret is that the young are on their w ay to abandoning their own culture. Despite all this the im age o f the Sikhs outside India is not that bad. But there is no denying the fact that the Indian em bassies’ contribution to the image building o f the Sikhs abroad is alm ost negligible and som etim es negative. The Indian m edia abroad also keeps their eyes closed to the qualities o f the Sikhs and they hardly w rite anything to help build their true image reflecting their honesty, hard w ork, sense o f responsibility, dependability, self-respect, bravery, honour, gentleness and hospitality. I have every reason to blam e the Indian m issions abroad and the Indian media there for the poor im age o f the Sikhs if it is depicted w ith biases anywhere in the world. For the Indian im age abroad, as a w hole, the above factors will also share the responsibility equally. The Sikhs in C anada have been constantly m aking efforts for the retention o f their identity. They w ant to keep the Sikh values. R eligion is I a vital ingredient and a source o f internal strength to the Sikh com m unity. Sometimes they feel that the preservation o f the Sikh culture, its values and their identity are under a serious threat from external influences. O ur identity must decay under a system w hich discourages to rem em ber and respect our national past and our cultural values. It seem s that the edifice of society’s tolerance is crum bling. To lim elight th e ir id e n tity , th e S ik h s o ften h old se m in a rs and conferences in different parts o f C anada as well as the U.K. and the U.S. They discuss their problem s and find solutions to them through fruitful deliberations. N ow, m ore than ever, they are conscious o f protecting their | identity and telling the non-Sikhs how dear it is to them . The Sikhs show full respect to other cultures and do w ant that their culture is fully respected. Do not show disrespect to the people w ho do not think as you do. It is the basic right o f everybody to think, as he likes. The attitude o f respect for all creeds is bred into the m arrow o f a S ik h ’s bones by the Sikh traditions. Multiculturalism is a great asset to the C anadian society.

Socialising with the W hites and the O th er Non-Sikhs

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Cultural bias is the horrible bane w ith which Canada rather all the western countries are afflicted. Socially the w hites do not mix with the non-whites or visible m inorities, probably due to some misplaced notion of their superiority based on colour o f the skin. I have seen an undeclared policy of apartheid being practised in these countries. In the afternoons the whites are seen playing soccer or baseball in one corner o f a park, the

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Chinese in another and the East Indians in yet another comer. This presents an awful spectacle to an onlooker or a passer-by on his routine walk. When the whites and non-whites w ork together in a factory or a lumber mill or som e other establishm ent their relationship is limited to their profession or their w orkplace and it seldom d evelops into a social relationship. Even the Sikh people with education and no language problem will find friends among other Punjabis. Their cultural similarity and linguistic sameness make them more com fortable in each other’s company. But it has a drawback to keep them away from other cultures and other people. In a way, they live and grow in isolation. Besides, the Sikhs maintaining a liaison with their own community and its institutions to keep them selves abreast with all that is happening there, they must socialize with other com m unities o f the country as well to gain greater acceptance. The socialization would help understand one another’s culture better and the different com m unities would get friendly, co-operative and more sensitive to one another’s susceptibilities and get much closer. M ixing with other C anadian people would save the Sikhs from living in isolation and would bring them into better recognition. The Sikhs should participate in the meetings o f the whites and the whites should be invited to the Sikh sem inars and other functions. They should be welcomed to the religious program m es at the Sikh temples to listen to the discourses organized there. The whites should be taken to the langar (free comm unity mess) and served with meals there and explained objectives behind it. They should be made to understand the import of the various Sikh religious and social institutions and told as to how many of these are based on the spiritual, material and social requirements of the i needy human beings irrespective o f their caste, colour or creed. Thus, they will have better understanding and respect for the Sikh heritage culture that they want to defend and promote. The whites and the other non-Sikhs should be given a wide idea, about the Sikh Gurus, their teachings, Sikh scripture, Gurdwara, Sikh sangat (congregation), Sikh baptism, sew a (voluntary service), ardas (Sikh prayer), k irta n (recitatio n o f the ho ly co m p o sition s), their Vatican (H arm andir Sahib, A m ritsar) and other im portant cultural institutions. ^ Gradually their discomfort regarding the Sikhs and their culture would change into deep regard and reverence. The w hites' dislike for the Sikhs and their code o f cond u ct aro se from th e ir stark ignorance of the significance o f the same. The senior school, college and university Sikh students can play an

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important role in acquainting their white friends or institution mates with at least the basic know ledge o f the Sikhs and their cultural heritage. The elders can do the same at their level and contribute profitably to the betterment o f their mutual relations. B ut according to the old maxim, ‘Teacher, teach thyself,’ the Sikh students and their elders must be well versed in the Sikh religion, Sikh history and culture and the Sikh values. Since the Sikhs have a different culture and if they w ant it to survive and want it to be preserved in their new homeland, a multicultural country, and desire to find a suitable place for it, they have to diffuse it am on^ all the component elem ents o f the society. If the Sikhs sleep over it their future generations will be won over by others and their ethnic identity would be forgotten and their past ancestry totally lost to them. Despite governm ent’s comm itment to keep Canada a multicultural country the white people are trying to outm atch others and ultimately assimilate all other cultural groups. M any recent opinion polls or surveys deliver this message in clear terms. Canada is as dear to the Sikhs as it is to the A nglo-Saxons or the French and so is the Sikh culture dear to the Sikhs as the English culture and the French culture are dear to the English and the French respectively. Once George Bernard Shaw said, “He is a Briton, he thinks the customs of his tribe are the laws o f the universe.” So the distinct English society boasts of setting the political, social and cultural standards for everybody else in Canada. But they are accused by som e people o f the ethnocentrism and xenophobia, unique to the A nglo-Saxons. The English som etimes express unhappiness, w hen told in the name o f m ulticulturalism , that anything they might do to try to inflict the English culture on others would violate the human rights o f the ethnic Canadians to live, speak, eat, dress, dance and worship as they please. The English culture has every right like other cultures to survive as a sacred culture but has no right to forcibly assimilate other cultures that are also sacred to their followers. We cannot expect people who come to Canada to throw away their cultures and customs that are hundreds o f years old. N either it is desirable in the case of the Anglo-Saxons nor in the case o f the Sikhs. The great policy o f multiculturalism com es to their rescue. Long live the exponents and supporters of this policy! Let me tell the advocates o f the A nglo-Saxon culture alone, that the Canadian fabric does not consist o f only white threads. The British must give up their pretensions to being the dominant culture. There should be no dominant culture in Canada. All cultures have equal rights to survive and flourish. The C anadian society will never lose its m ulticultural

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character. So the Canadians must learn to live with it. W hat was required was the desire on the part o f the majority groups to live with the minorities as good neighbours and to let the benefits flow freely to all people. Sikh Efforts to Prom ote their Culture and Values

In the Canadian Sikh society most o f the Canadian-borns have not acquired the dom inant voice in the families. They listen to their parents and for quite some time live under their care. Under their parents’ guidance they marry within their own community and in most cases the marriage partners are searched from the Punjab. Such partnership lasts much longer and in most o f the cases it lasts till death because marriage is considered a very sacred institution am ong the Sikhs. A ccording to the Sikh rahit (code o f conduct) marriage is a spiritual bond— unbreakable and life-lasting as against the marriage in the west where it is only a social agreement open to break any time. In the western society marriages break more easily than a glass breaks on a marble stone. Despite the fact that there are more than half a million Indians including more than four hundred thousand Punjabi Sikhs in Canada, the libraries here, have alm ost no books on Sikh religion, Sikh history, Sikh culture and Punjabi literature on their shelves. Even the small libraries, if we can name this handful o f books as libraries, attached to the Sikh Gurdwaras, have hardly any good titles in their meagre collections. It is unfortunate that the G urdw ara authorities are hardly interested in the purchase of good books on the above subjects. Library is a neglected part o f their multifarious programmes. There are no other means o f teaching history, culture and philosophy o f Sikhism to the precariously placed Sikh youth than good books on these subjects. Recomm end these books to the libraries and if they have any financial or other bottlenecks, purchase these books with money raised by collection and donate the same to the libraries. To provide some useful glimpses o f Sikh culture and Sikh religion to the non -Sikh Canadians more research should be done in the Canadian universities as is already being done in the University o f British Columbia, University o f Toronto and University o f M ichigan (USA). The Sikhs have done a good job by holding Sikh conferences in Canada almost every year since 1979. The Canadian departm ent o f multiculturalism had been very kind and thoughtful in providing financial assistance to organize these conferences mainly with a view to prom oting Sikh culture and Sikh values and also holding deliberations on the various problems c o n fr o n tin g the Sikh community.

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For decades Punjabi had been taught in Canada to the youngsters at Gurdwara schools. The British Colum bia Sikhs had been impressing upon the government for a long time that though Punjabi language might have been originated elsewhere, it is a language in Canada spoken by Canadian citizens and must not be treated only to be developed at comm unity level. Ultimately the B.C. governm ent included this language in the provincial list of examinable languages and approved a policy and curriculum under which it can be taught in the public schools with effect from the 1996-97 school year. The Sikh children, now, must possess the ability to read, write and speak the language which their parents or grandparents brought with them. They should be able to read their scripture in original through the medium o f gurm ukhi script. Introduction o f Punjabi in schools, along with Japanese and Chinese languages, is a step forward in the developm ent of the policy o f multiculturalism. Thus, the Sikh children will also restore their connection with their only Punjabi-speaking grandparents. They will have access to the literature on their language, religion, culture and customs that have now become a part o f their educational fabric. It is remarked that since racism and lack o f respect for a culture that is different than that o f the majority group has been in the Canadian system for a long time, people require some time to get out o f it. In fact, no effective way was found to bridge the yaw ning gap between the tw o principal ethnic groups, the whites and the non-whites. They need to be educated that the more they respect the cultures o f others the more cultured they will be. Cultural diversity in a society is a more gorgeous phenomenon than cultural uniformity. Let such people shed o ff the narrow social grooves that always keep them tightly entangled and com e into the variegated w orld o f multicultural society. But as things stand at present no miracle is expected to change the attitude of most o f the morbid people. The country has to go a long way before people fully u n d erstan d th e in te n tio n s o f the p la n n ers o f multiculturalism. It is almost tantam ount to a moral crime to pressurize a person to give up his social and cultural values and adopt that o f the others. Even the new entrant with new' cultural behaviour enriches the society that he enters. So long as this truth does not dawn upon the racists and opponents of multiculturalism the bliss o f social grandeur will keep eluding us. How wonderful it is that Canada represents almost every nation o f this planet. It is universal in its composition. Diversity is an important asset. We should learn not to respect only sim ilarities but also the

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differences with others. M ulticulturalism is living with honour when there is no agreem ent on values. It is living well without hurting other people. Share your culture with others and vice versa and both o f you will become culturally richer. The social or cultural system o f the Canadian Sikhs has endured over a century despite numerous strains and stresses. N ow it can be expected that it would not face any danger o f being eroded and replaced because in view o f the falling birth rate and aging population o f the country, the Sikh immigrants devoted to the Sikh code o f culture, will continue pouring into Canada, day after day, month after month, year after year and decade after decade, thus supplying fresh w ater to the pool o f the Canadian Sikhs and their Sikh culture and Sikh values. Their strength lies in their culture. The author does not mean to turn tables on any other culture. He only intends to portray here the Sikh culture which teaches them to always honour m an’s laws as well as G od’s laws. And the governm ent’s policy o f multiculturalism will always aim at integration and not assimilation, at preservation and sharing o f cultural heritage and elimination o f barriers to full participation o f all in the administrative, economic and political life o f the country. The Sikhs have emerged as a global community with strong religious beliefs. They are enriching the larger communities while rem aining true to their own moral and religious ideals. All religions have emphasised some values. Hinduism and Jainism emphasise non-violence, Buddhism com passion, C hristianity love, Islam ju stice and Sikhism truthfulness, love and equality. M ulticulturalism Defended

The Tory G overnm ent’s M ulticulturalism and Citizenship Minister, Gerry W einer strongly criticized the critics o f multiculturalism. He says th a t w e sh ould n o t o v e rlo o k o r b e little w h a t w e have done and accomplished. N or should we abandon our principles and ideals because there are some Canadians who do not know— or who refuse to know— and understand what we are doing and why. It appears that critics o f m ulticulturalism are as loud as ever and they are as w rong as ever. If the governm ent introduces a new tax policy...or . reforms criminal law...critics o f that policy will be expected to argue their case on the facts. But when it comes to multiculturalism, it seems sufficient simply to say, ‘I do not like it.’ Again and again, editorialists and columnists ask, “how can we succeed with multiculturalism dividing us?”

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Gerry W einer says that a few weeks ago, an editorial in a major daily newspaper in Atlantic Canada asked the following question: “Canadians look about the world and see bitter and bloody strife between different ethnic and religious groups, then seriously wonder if it makes sense to promote multiculturalism here. It is a tough question. Does it make sense to import ethnic strife rather than offer a haven for those attempting to escape it?” “ It is not a ‘tough’ question. It is a stupid one! W here does the writer of this editorial get o ff equating multiculturalism with the importation of ethnic strife? W here is the reasoning? Where is the proof?” said Weiner. Another w riter in Vancouver defines multiculturalism as, “agreeing to disagree.” Yet another in Kingston said, “M ulticulturalism should not encourage one cultural group to isolate itself from the rest o f their cultural neighbours.” “These commentators gave no justification for their opinions. But if multiculturalism is so w rong and so disastrous, why are so many others studying us... and copying us? W hy have so many governm ents around the w orld asked us for advice and im plem ented policies and programmes based on our initiatives?” said the minister. Gerry W einer said, “ If we fund ethnocultural organizations— and the communities they represent— to stay apart from other Canadians, to create their own cultural ghettos, we do so because our experience shows that such funding actually helps the process o f integration. Because it is through such com m unity structures that we can identify problem s to integrate, and act to eliminate them. Pride in our origins, yes. W hy not? What is wrong with preserving our cultural heritage... a heritage that enriches our society in so many ways and though not at the expense o f respect and understanding for the culture o f others? That has never been our objective, nor is it the result o f our policies, intended or otherw ise.” “So much o f our work, our programmes, are aimed at integration...and at the removal o f the barriers that stand in its way. Why? Because only through integration can we guarantee equality o f access o f opportunity and of participation that leads to equality o f citizenship. And it is only when you are part o f som ething...that you really care about it and about its future. We still have a long way to go before all Canadians share fully in the equality o f citizenship. So I think we all have a responsibility, those of us, who truly believe in multiculturalism, and what it has given our country—what it has yet to give.” 15 Robert Stanfield, the federal leader o f the opposition referring to the government’s programme as ‘grudging acceptance’ remarked, “Ifw e really believe that Canadian pluralism should be encouraged and not merely tolerated, the governm ent should work together with the various ethnic www .sikhnationalarchives.com

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groups to help them survive, not sim ply as folklore, but as a living contributing elem ent o f the Canadian cultural m osaic.'’16 John Y arem ko, the O ntario Provincial Secretary and M inister of Citizenship said in 1972, at a m ulticultural conference: “N o other part of the globe, no other country, can claim a more culturally diversified society than we have here in this province (o f O ntario). But does everyone really grasp that O ntario has m ore C anadians o f G erm an origin than Bonn, more o f Italian origin than Florence or Rom e, that T oronto has m ore Canadians o f G reek orig in th an S p arta, th a t w e have in our m idst, fifty four ethnocultural groups, speaking a total o f seventy two languages? ... Just as a hundred years ago the C anadian identity w as m oulded in the crucible o f n a tio n a lis m . It is n o w b e in g ta m p e re d by th e d y n a m ic s of m ulticulturalism .” 17 In earlier stages it was taken for granted that in C anada the immigrants w ould be and should be assim ilated through public education as in the United States, and stress should be laid on com pulsory school attendance, D uring that period, in C anada there w as certainly no generosity displayed tow ards other nations and other cultures w hich w ould be necessary for the building o f a cultural m osaic. The editor o f The M ontreal G azette w rote that the people must be aware o f the voices that call ever so patriotically for a homogenized Canada. Those voices dom inate m any o f the hot lines and public meetings of the citizens’ forum s on C an ad a’s future. They speak som e tim es directly and som e tim es indirectly, o f a dream country o f uniform habits in which everybody should w ear the sam e hat, speak the sam e language and love C anada in the sam e w ay. It is an im possible dream and even if it had been possible, every governm ent m ust resist it. There can be no Canadian unity w ithout diversity. The C anadian constitution com m its the country to ‘the p reserv atio n and e n h a n c em en t o f th e m u lticu ltu ra l heritage of the C anadians’. Y earning for a uniform C anadianism is im possible to fulfil. So no such vow s should be m ade. N or should there be any attempts to fit all C anadians into the sam e mould. It ju st would not work. French speaking Q uebecers, for an obvious exam ple, cannot and should not melt in the p o t/A n d neither will melt a lot o f other C anadians with strong and valued heritages from abroad or from their ow n regions. It is a trite, but true, that C anada is a m osaic. Such forum s heed the assertions that bilingualism and m ulticulturalism interfere with a true C anadian identity. They are w rong. Bilingualism and m ulticulturalism are the true Canadian identity.18 To C anadian society’s m isfortune the w hites could not accept the cultures o f the im migrants as a part o f the com posite culture o f the country.

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They chose to practise racism , bias and bigotry against the visible minorities. Because o f their distinct code o f conduct the Sikhs are the most visible minority. The founding-nations branded m ulticulturalism as divisive, antiCanadian and anti-patriotic, but the ‘distinct identity’ status given to one community was bound to be discrim inatory to the other comm unities and harmful for the country also as it show ed them the path to sovereignty— their own separate independent state— cut out o f Canada. There should have been equal status and equal respect for all the cultures. In India and the Soviet Union o f Russia there have been dozens and dozens of different cultures— all enjoying equal positions and equal respect. Why could the Canadian whites not learn a lesson from them and many similar countries? Unfortunately, most o f the whites believe that the colour of their skin gives them divinely ordained superiority to which others cannot lay any claim. Prominent citizens o f the country have time and again, stressed upon the implementation o f the policy o f m ulticulturalism in Canada. John E. Cleghorn, President o f the Royal B ank o f Canada, speaking to the Toronto Board o f Trade, in Septem ber 1993, said that C anada’s mosaic of linguistic, cultural and regional experience constitutes one o f Canada’s strength and is not a reason for division. “Canada has gained an international reputation for being a generous and caring society. But we risk losing this enviable position if we cannot continue to capitalize on our diversity. We must do a better jo b o f living side by side, accepting, respecting and v alu in g d iffe re n c e s as b u ild in g b lo ck s in stead o f barricades”. Cleghorn said, “Respect for others and for their individual differences allows every one to respond constructively and to appreciate and nurture the uniqueness o f each and every one o f us,” he said.19 Unlike Cleghorn there are som e in this country who believe that multiculturalism is divisive and should die. They would try to turn back the tide of reality. But let them be told that multiculturalism will stay alive and well and be preserved by every government. The former Prime Minister, Kim Campbell said, “The objectives o f our government’s m ulticultural policy are to recognize the reality o f Canada’s cultural and ethnic diversity and to respond to it in a way that helps us realise our full potential as a society. Our predecessors did an adequate job of recognizing the reality, but their commitment did not extend to breaking down the barriers that robbed Canada o f the full participation in its social, political and economic life o f people from outside the historic mainstream.... I have always resisted the view that people must conform w w w .sikhnationalarchives.com

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to some theoretical mainstream... to receive first class treatm ent from their governm ent.”20 M ulticulturalism is the state policy o f Canada for dealing with other races and ethnic groups. Most o f the provincial governm ents have their own departments also to deal with multiculturalism. The principles of the policies o f the provinces include encouragem ent to multiculturalism and to provide assistance to individuals and groups to increase opportunities to learn about their cultural heritage and the contributions o f other groups in the province. The provincial governm ents recognize that over 50 per cent o f the population has origins other than British or French. They reco g n ize the eth n ic and cu ltu ral d iv ersity o f th e ir provinces and contribution from th eir pluralistic heritage. They recognize roles in increasing institutions in the provinces both public and private, to acknow ledge and respond to the m ulticultural nature o f society. The governm ents recognize multiculturalism as a province-w ide concern and the need for the co-ordinating mechanism. The provincial governments are required to create climate in which m ulticulturalism readily applies to all constituents o f the society. At 1980 Sikh conference held at Ottawa, the guest speaker, Gordon F airw eath er, C h ie f C o m m issio n er o f th e C an ad ian H um an Rights Comm ission, said in his inaugural address: E very individual should have an equal o p p o rtu n ity with other individuals to make for him self or herself the life that he or she is able and w ishes to have, consistent with his or her duties and obligations as a m em ber o f the society, w ithout being hindered in or prevented from doing so by discrim inatory practices, religion being one o f them and national or ethnic origin as the other— besides so many others. Some well-meaning persons think like this but m any others w ho suffer from attitudinal m orbidity are difficult to tackle.”21 There is no substitute for mutual affection, understanding, tolerance and adjustment for the sake of country’s harm ony and unity. T h reat to M ulticulturalism

It is a sad comm entary on multiculturalism that no legislation could preserve the cultures and languages brought to Canada by the pioneer immigrants from different parts o f the world. O f course, in very recent days some attempts have been made to teach some ethnic languages in some limited schools. It has still to be seen as to how successful these efforts would be. "N or has multiculturalism brought about any equality of www.sikhnati9 nalarchives.com

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opportunity for all Canadians, regardless o f time o f arrival, cultural and linguistic differences and colour.”22 One may w onder w hy there is grow ing intolerance tow ards a policy which, after all, is designed to prom ote harm ony and peace? The answ er may partially lie in the perception that the multiculturalism policies benefit only the n o n -w h ite re c e n t a rriv a ls. M u ltic u ltu ra lism h as b eco m e synonymous w ith ethnic, visible m inorities and recent im m igrants. This is both very unfair and very unfortunate. No one term s the gathering o f Scottish clans in N ova Scotia as a multiculturalism event w hile the ‘C aribana’ in Toronto is perceived as such. The Danish im m igrants in N ew B runsw ick can com fortably live in a town named ‘N ew D enm ark’ w hile a Jew or a Sikh is ham pered from participating in various legitim ate w ork-related activities in C anada w hile sporting required religious sym bols such as the turban.23 The mem bers o f the A ssociation to Preserve English in C anada insist that multiculturalism is no more than a guise to destroy their m other tongue. Margaret Cannon w rites that she m et w om en in V ancouver w ho believed that having turbaned Sikhs in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCM P) was a plot to destroy C an ad a.... “ I had m et people w ho lived their lives in the darkest corners o f the hum an im agination and I thought that 1 had seen it all.... I had seen racism first h an d ... In the great well o f system s racism is thriving in C anada.” Gordon Fairw eather gave a sim ilar exam ple in 1980: “ I could not help remembering o f a conversation that I had a couple o f years ago in Kitchner, Ontario, with a man w ho w as in the Canadian militia, fully dressed in the uniform and all regalia o f Scotland, and he said to me, ‘you at the Canadian H uman Rights Com m ission are ruining the arm ed forces’. You are going to allow people who w ear turban to be part o f m ilitia.’ ‘And I said to him that it seem s to me som ew hat extraordinary that a person in such an extraordinary uniform on, such as you have, w ould complain about your brother because after all we are all part o f hum an fellowship. I said that to m ost o f us that the costum e that you have been allowed to share is a very extraordinary one. It took us little to debate and pushing back and forth and finally I am rather pleased to say that he got the message. But this business o f attitudinal change, having people to understand differences and the differences are a precious part o f o n e’s dignity and it is really what we at the Human Rights C om m ission are all about.”24 The w hites may not be calling people nigger or chink or kike or raghead www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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on the street, but they make it clear that the values they want enshrined in their institutions are the values o f the founding races— whites, Catholic, Protestant, European culture, western philosophy. Margaret Cannon further told.-s Bharati Mukherjee, an East Indian scholar criticizes Canada for being more racist than the United States, but Neil Bissoonda. who was bom in Trindidad and is o f an East Indian origin and an outspoken critic of multiculturalism, does not share B harati’s position. He says, “She prefers the United States because there everything is up front. If an American does not like you for the colour o f your skin, you will know it, whereas in Canada people will smile and be polite and not let you know it. And. therefore, Canada is a more racist country. I would much rather have racists behave in the Canadian way: smile and be polite.... Canadians, even when they are racist, realise that it is not a nice thing to be.” Bissoonda criticizing multiculturalism writes, “ People, who arrive and find them selves living in their little ethnic community, never engage with society. That is what I think has to be avoided because a person ends up in a way caged by their cultural baggage. I know too many people from the Caribbean who insist on living here as if they were still back there, and then resenting being told that there are certain ways o f doing things here.”26 The problem o f adjustm ent in the society is not a one way traffic. Surely the small groups o f society must take an adjustment with the greater society in regard to their life style but the greater society also has to make an adjustm ent with the ways o f the immigrants. Bissoonda’s opinion, that the majority society’s ways, their laws and their social rules should govern the minority society, cannot be popular am ong defenders o f Canadian multicultural policy. Angus Reid Group conducted a national poll in June-July 1991 on attitudes about multiculturalism. The poll revealed many points including the following: Twenty eight per cent Canadians blamed official multiculturalisin for the rising tide o f racism. Seventy nine per cent Canadians feel that schools are not doing a proper job o f promoting ethnocultural tolerance. Ninety percent Canadians blame C anada’s racism on im m igrants who refuse to join the mainstream and, therefore, create ethnocultural ghettos. Seventy seven per cent Canadians believe that multiculturalism will enrich Canadian culture. Fifty live per cent believe that it is best if different ethnic or cultural backgrounds are forgotten as soon as possible.

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Twelve per cent believe strongly that m ulticulturalism will destroy the Canadian way o f life. Sixty six per cent think that discrim ination against non-w hites is a problem in Canada. On the w hole C anadians feel less com fortable w ith people from the following groups: Indo-Pakistanis. the Sikhs, W est-Indian Blacks, A rabs and other M uslim s than they do with people o f other groups.27 A new survey conducted by the D ecim a R esearch for the C anadian Council o f Christians and Jew s, released on 13 D ecem ber 1993,28 found that three o f every- four C anadians reject the notion o f cultural diversity and think ethnic m inorities should try harder to fit into the m ainstream society. They believe that the m ulticultural m osaic is not w orking and should be replaced by a cultural m elting pot o f A m erican style. M elting pot ideology m eans assim ilation, that is, losing or m erging ones identity into that o f another. C anadians are frustrated with the traditional cultural mosaic in w hich ethnic groups are encouraged to retain their distinct cultures. They w ant a more hom ogenized society, the D ecim a report says. “There is a relatively strong view that particular ethnic, racial or religious m inorities m ust m ake efforts to adapt to C anada rather than insisting upon a m aintenance o f difference.” The survey also show s that 74 per cent o f the C anadians think that racism is a serious problem , leading the report to conclude that “w hile the population reports a strong rejection of any racist activity, it m ust balance this rejection w ith som e view s that are apparently... latently racist in them selves.” The president o f the Decima, Ned Goodman, said that he was surprised by the discovery that m ost Canadians have concluded that m uiticulturalism , as a governm ent policy, is not working. This survey was conducted at the end o f O ctober 1993. It included 1200 respondents in its sample. It is considered accurate within 2.8 per cent, 19 out o f 20 times. Despite all the opposition to m ulticulturalism it is going to stay. The well-being o f the country lies in its perm anent and inalienable acceptance by the Canadians. T his policy aim s at assisting the preservation and enhancement o f the m ulticultural h eritage o f the C an ad ian s. A nd it recognizes the C an ad ian cu ltu ra l id en tity o f b ein g p lu ra listic and multicultural. This policy prohibits discrim ination based on race, national or ethnocultural origin, colour or religion, am ong other factors. It is due to this policy, besides som e other factors, that C anada has been declared by the United N ations in 2000 for the sixth consecutive year, to be the best in the world.

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REFERENCES 1.

A ugie Fleras and Jean Leonard Elliot, The Challenges o f Diversitv, Multiculturalism in Canada, Scarborough, Ontario, 1992, pp.60-61.

2.

John Murray Gibbon, Canadian Mosaic, Toronto, 1938, p. vii.

3.

John Porter, The Measure o f Canadian Society, Toronto, 1979.

4.

‘Editorial’, The Vancouver Sun, 17 June 1913.

5.

Henry H. Stevens, Lectures on The Oriental Problem dealing with Asian Immigration, 1911.

6.

The Daily Province. Vancouver, 24 February' 1912.

p. 141.

7.

‘Ethnics attack biculturalism’, Toronto Telegram, 16 December 1968.

8.

Anna Galan (Ed.) Multiculturalism fo r Canada, Edmonton, 1979, p.6.

9.

Pierre T rudeau, 'S tatem en t on m ulticultural p o lic y ’, in Canadian Parliament, on 8 October 197

10.

N arindar Singh, Canadian Sikhs, Canadian S ikhs’ Studies Institute, Ottawa, 1994, p.88.

11.

Bhagat Singh, Canadian Society and Culture, Vikas Publishing House. PVT, LTD., New Delhi, 1997, p.410.

12.

Gordon, Milton M., Assimilation in American Life : The Role o f race, religion and national origins, New York, Oxford University Press. 1964, p.70.

13.

John W. Friesen, When Cultures Clash, Detselig Enterprises Ltd., Calgary Alberta, second edition, 1993, pp. 189-90.

14.

Baljinder Singh Gill, The Forum, a quarterly publication o fNacoi, Ottawa, March 1991 p.5.

15.

Gerry Weiner, ‘M ulticulturalism’s critics are loud but wrong as ever’ (a speech), The Link, 30 June 1993, pp. 17-18.

16.

Robert Stanfield (a speech), The Globe and Mail, Toronto, 1 May 1972.

17.

Press release o f M inister’s address, office o f the Provincial Secretary. Toronto, 20 March 1972 (quoted by John Porter, The Measure o f Canadian Society, p. 119).

18.

Canadian scene, 'Diversity : the key to Canadian U nity’, The Link. 16 August 1991, pp. 1,4.

19.

Canadian scene, 'C anada’s diversity, a strength'. The Link. 29 September 1993.

20.

Kim Campbell, ‘Committed to diversity’. The Link, 19 June 1993.

21.

Gordon Fairweather. Proceedings—Sikh Conference, 1980, The National Sikh Society, Ottaw a, 1983, p.7.

22.

JeanR. Burnet and Howard Palmer. 'Coming C anadians'. A n Introduction to a H isto ry o f C a n a d a 's P e o p le s. M c C lellan d and S t e w a r d . Multiculturalism Directorate. Ministry o f Supply and Services. 1988.

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B. Liddar, ‘Multiculturalism under attack’, The Forum, August-September 1991, p.9.

24.

Gordon Fairweather, op.cit., p.7.

25.

Margaret Cannon, The Invisible Empire : Racism in Canada, Toronto, 1995, pp.266-67, 271.

26.

Linda H utcheson and M arion Richmond, Other Solitudes (Canadian M ulticultural Fictions), Oxford University Press, Toronto, 1990, pp. 314,316.

27.

Angus Reid Group, Attitudes about Multiculturalism and Citizenship, JuneJuly 1991, 5-page report published by Multiculturalism and Citizenship, Canada.

28. Jack Kapica, ‘Canadians want mosaic to melt, survey finds’, The Globe and Mail, 14 December 1993, pp. A 1-2; Allyson Jeffs, ‘Notion o f cultural diversity rejected by most Canadians,’ The Vancouver Sun, 14 Decembe 1993, p.A5.

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CHAPTER 9

PROFESSIONS AND THE SIKH PROFESSIONALS

The first batches o f im m igrants to C anada were o f agrarian background with little education. M any o f them were retired military people who were disciplined and hardw orking. In the beginning o f the twentieth century the people o f Punjab heard that C anada w as a land o f enormous wealth and the C anadians w elcom ed the new im migrants, providing them good opportunities o f lucrative work. They needed people to develop their land. The land was freely available for perm anent settlem ent. But as soon as these Sikhs and others entered Canada they found them selves disillusioned as the w hite population was hostile to them rather than befriending them as co-w orkers in the new land. For their humble living they ended up in railw ay track builders and as w orkers in logging and lum ber industry. Most o f these East Indians were the Sikhs and in the early years their num ber in C anada w as very sm all, hardly a few hundred. Since they were o f enterprising disposition, they did not settle at one place and they were constantly on the move to V ancouver, Victoria, Seattle and Oregon. There w as alm ost no problem in crossing over to A m erica and from there to C anada as they had hundreds o f kilom etres open border between these two countries. Even today there are more than 70 million border crossings each year at about 130 such locations betw een these tw o sovereign states. D uring those early years, the lum ber mills accom modated the East Indians more than any other vocation. L u m b er Industry

Most o f the early Sikh settlers lived in or around V a n c o u v e r so that they could have easy approach to the Sikh tem ple at 2nd Avenue in Vancouver. They found jobs in the lum ber mills located around that area. www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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During the first decade o f the 20th century the wages were very low. hardly ten cents an hour. A house could be purchased for less than three hundred dollars and during the First World W ar the prices for an average house were about five hundred dollars. A few o f these mill w orkers lived in their own houses but m ost o f them lived in the big bunkhouses attached to the mills, having five or six cook houses in each bunkhouse used by forty or fifty dwellers. The sawmill bunkhouse built o f w ood was generally divided into ten to fifteen rooms with two beds in each room. T here w as a big hall in the middle o f the bunkhouse w ith room s on either side o f the hall. A t one end of the hall, there was a sitting area with a w ood burning stove that provided heat to the hall. The ow ner o f the mill, depending on the strength o f the workers needing accom m odation determined the num ber o f the bunkhouses in the mill. People belonging to different com m unities— the Sikhs, Chinese, Japanese, Europeans, etc., lived in separate bunkhouses so that they could easily socialize with their ow n racial or heritage groups and prepare their favourite meals in their separate cookhouses. The cookhouse w as a separate building adjacent to the bunkhouse. An elderly Sikh, w ho prepared the m eals for th e w o rk ers and w as compensated by the w orkers w ho earned wages, generally manned the cookhouse o f the Sikh w orkers. The w orkers shared the grocery and the money to be paid to the cook, as he did not w ork in the mill. The better o ff Sikhs lived in their ow n purchased or built houses. They sometimes rented portions o f their houses to the new -com ers or those who had not yet built or bought their ow n houses. The enterprising Sikhs w ent in for contracts w ith the saw m ills for hauling wood. The first such contract w as executed with the C edar C ove Sawmill. In the beginning they had the horses and buggies to haul the wood. Since 1918 they purchased trucks for the purpose. These truckowners used to purchase the firew ood from the saw m ills and sold it to the users from house to house as the w ood was burnt in the houses in those days. The sawdust also began to be used as a household fuel for cooking and heating purposes. Earlier the mill ow ners burnt the saw dust in the pits dug outside the mills. N ow , a kind o f funnel had been m anufactured which could be fixed to the furnace and stove and the sawduSt was burnt in it. The East Indians purchased trucks for their business. Most o f the fuel dealers were sin g le -tru c k s e lf-o p e ra to rs . S o m e p u sh in g and m ore enterprising people increased the num ber o f trucks. Sohan Brothers in Burnaby possessed thirty fuel trucks. The Sikhs kept up visible presence in the fuel industry in V ancouver for many decades. By 1927 there were

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twenty-one fuel dealers in and around V ancouver and som e five dozen of them operated in B.C. In the early days about tw elve Sikhs w orked in the Cedar Cove Sawmill. Some o f them worked in the Hemby Sawmills, Giroday Sawmills and Alberta Sawmills that were in or in the neighbourhood o f Vancouver. Some o f them w orked in Robertson and Hackett Sawmill Ltd. These mills were located around the Granville Bridge. Robertson and Hackett Mill was on one side o f the bridge and Giroday and Hemby mills were on the other side. These w ere the big mills and there were m any small ones as well. The bigger ones had a variety o f wood materials. The Robertson and Hackett Sawmill Co. Ltd. advertised “save tim e to get your building material in one place. There is a big advantage to you to get all your building material from one source. We are equipped to give you unusually efficient service because we carry 20 million feet o f lum ber in our yards and in addition have tw o huge warehouses stocked with such items as doors, shingles, interior finish, etc. We can give you prom pt shipment by rail or boat direct from our mill or from our up-country retail yards at Kamloops, Penticton and O liver.” 1 This mill was established in 1888, in Vancouver, B.C. The above advertisem ent is quoted with a view to giving the readers an idea as to w hat type o f m aterial these lumber mills manufactured and supplied to the people. Some o f the Sikhs always worked in this mill and helped the newcomers to jo in them. Similarly Alberta Sawmills also always employed the Sikhs along with others. The mill owners had good opinion about the perform ance o f the Sikh workers. They had always one bunkhouse reserved for the Sikhs during the 1930s from which we can presume that at least thirty to forty Sikhs had always been w orking there during this period. The East Indian mill w orkers got 30 to 35 cents an hour about the close o f the first quarter o f the 20th century. And also the records show that the Sikh w orkers at C.R. Lum ber Mill, Golden, B.C. and Lumber Co., Savona, B.C. received from 2.75 dollars to 3.00 dollars a day in the year 1912. The new-comers or workers with less experience were paid $ 2.75 a day and the others $ 3.00 a day; that means for a period ranging between tw elve and tw enty years there was no change in rate of wages to the mill w orkers in V ancouver Island. T hese w orkers did not stick permanently to one place. They were always in search o f better-paid jobs. They often changed their mills. They stuck to the same mills later when the mill workers formed their unions to fight for their rights— higher wages, seniority, medical coverage and some other such concessions. Since during the early stages the main profession adopted by the Sikhs

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was lumbering they tried their hands at, taking on lease the operation o f mills and logging camps or buying smaller mills. Because they had an experience o f running the mills they purchased seven small sawmills and a couple o f shingle mills in the Fraser Valley around A bbotsford and Chilliwack about 1915-16. These mills were, to start with, not purchased by individuals but in partnerships. The partners, who could be twentyfive or thirty, also worked in their mills. They did not get wages on daily or monthly basis like other workers. They shared or distributed the profits amongst themselves. The East Indians were going headstrong into the lumber industry and farming. By 1922 they operated six lumber companies, seven logging camps, two shingle mills, fifty firewood distributorships and twenty-five farms in B.C. In the third decade o f the 20th century many mills were sold out by the white mill owners in B .C .’s distant areas because o f the shortage o f timber and moved to V ancouver Island w here timber was available. Since the mills were sold at cheaper rates the Sikh dealers tried their luck at them, hoping that with their untiring efforts they would convert these deals into profitable business in due course o f time and expand their financial opportunities w hich generally come the way o f ambitious and risk-taking men. As a consequence a Sikh company became operative at Ladysmith and the M ayo Lumber Company was established at Duncan. Some other small mills also sprang up at other sites. K apoor mill w as set up at Barnet. The owner o f Mayo Lumber Company, Paldi, near Duncan, was Mayo Singh Manhas, born at village Paldi in district H oshiarpur in 1890 in a poor Rajput family. In 1906 he came to Canada in search o f an employment with little education. He started as a labourer on railways and sawmills and sometime later along with others he established a co-operative farming in Chilliwack, which w as soon wound up. Gradually he worked out his way and built up in 1918 the m ost successful tim ber operation on Vancouver Island know n as M ayo Lum ber Co. Ltd., which included sawmill, logging and seasoning operations at M cKay Lake near Duncan. A small mill town, named Paldi, after Mayo Singh’s village in Punjab, grew up around the mill. Hundreds o f men worked there and a large number of them were the Sikhs for w hose regular religious service a sm all Gurdwara was built in 1918 and a larger one in 1928. Paldi town had its own school, a church, a Japanese tem ple, and hom es for w orkers, community centre, a store, and its power system. In due course o f tim e M ayo S ingh’s Lum ber Com pany business

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becam e rip-roaring. He became a high substance Sikh industrialist in Canada. In 1925 he returned to India to find a spouse for himself. He married Bishan Kaur— a very charm ing lady, and returned to Canada the same year. In Canada he was known as ‘modest Santa C laus’ and one of ‘the best know'n East Indians in C anada’ due to his philanthropies down the y ears' o f his life. He gave a lot o f gifts and donations to a lot of institutions for which he never sought or desired publicity. The long list o f beneficiaries from Mayo Singh included St. Joseph’s Hospital, Victoria (Canada); Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria; K ing’s D aughters’ Hospital, D uncan; G eneral Hospital in Ladysm ith (C anada); G eneral Hospital N anaim o (B.C.); Q ueen A lexandra Solarium , Mill Bay Children Aid Society (Canada); and B.C. Protestant Orphanage. He built a covered walk from the Nurses Home to St. Joseph’s Hospital and it was known as ‘Mayo W alk’. On his and his w ife’s birthdays he used to donate blankets, linen and one thousand pounds o f turkey, etc., to every hospital for patients. He gifted a lot for the sick children and for their m edicines wishing that no child should die in the dawn o f his life. He gave a large amount to the G urdwara at A nandpur Sahib (Punjab), for building a sarai. He gave lakhs o f rupees to the educational institutions in the Punjab. He donated land and a large sum o f money for a hospital at Paldi, Punjab. Mayo Singh’s wife Bishan Kaur, while on a visit to Punjab, died at Paldi in 1952, due to lack o f medical attention. M oved by the irreparable loss o f his wife Mayo Singh decided to build a hospital at Paldi so that no one else’s dear one loses his or her life in the same way as his wife did. The project o f building the hospital was entrusted to Paldi village com m ittee appointed by M ayo Singh and the D eputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur. But no progress was made till he died in 1955 in Canada at the age o f 65 due to separation o f his most beloved wife, leaving behind four sons and two daughters. In 1956, Mayo family was moved to fulfil the wish o f their late father. The project was taken up and the foundation stone o f the hospital was laid by the then Punjab C hief Minister, Partap Singh Kairon, on 19 May 1957, and later on N.V. Gadgil, Governor of Punjab, inaugurated the hospital. Later the hospital was converted into Primary Health Unit. A memorial bursary (scholarship) in the names o f Cowichan Valley pioneer Mayo Singh and his daughter Joginder Kaur was established for the CJniversity o f Victoria nursing students. His daughter was a longtime member o f the Cowichan District Hospital Senior Auxiliary. The Mayo Lumber Co. Ltd. had three major ethnic groups—the East Indians, Japanese and Chinese, who had developed the township of Paldi.

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They had lived in wonderful amity. The Mayo mill which was under the Sikh control had in its employment one hundred and eighty one Chinese, ninety-seven Sikhs, seventy-three Euro-Canadians and forty one Japanese in 1930. The close ties between the Japanese and the East Indians became most apparent during the ‘sorry’ part o f Paldi’s history when the w ar time Canadians regarded the settlement at Paldi, along with other JapaneseCanadian settlements, as shelters for potential spies and enemies. When Mayo Singh learned o f the government order to evacuate Japanese families from Paldi he told the officials that he would take personal responsibility for the conduct o f his friends and co-workers if they were allowed to stay. But none cared for his request. The Japanese were not released from the camps until 1947. By then the Mayo mill had closed down in their absence and the precious comm unity ties fostered with neighbours and the spell o f collective experiences at Paldi had been broken. The Paldi dwellers had dispersed in disgust. The place is now almost in ruins, houses and streets in total desertion. This author visited the place in 1991 and again in 1994 and found the G urdwara in proper shape and functioning. On certain days, the Sikhs from D uncan, which is less than ten m inutes’ drive, come to the Paldi Gurdwara and hold celebrations there. This author found one Sikh family living there besides the G urdw ara granthi. One time pulsating township o f Paldi now presents a ghostly spectacle, drow ning the visitor into the m orose and reflective w aves that sw ept over the hum m ing population o f this hamlet that once enjoyed the warmth o f the nature’s protective hands. Another prom inent Sikh sawmill industrialist Kapoor Singh Sidhu established Kapoor Lumber Company, at Sooke Lake, B.C. near Victoria in the late 1920s. This mill had also a large logging camp at Shawnigan Lake. He had employed three hundred and fifty men in his mill and one third of them were the Sikhs. The workforce comprised the whites, Chinese, Japanese and the Sikhs; each one o f the comm unities was in occupation of a separate camp. The mill had a store and its one-room school, which served the whole mill community. With the exception o f two Sikh families all the Sikhs working there were single men. The sawmill was situated in an isolated place. But it was provided with usual facilities attached to big mills, as bunkhouses, central halls, cookhouses, heating arrangements, washrooms, etc. Kapoor Singh was a matriculate from High School Bajwara (near Hoshiarpur), Punjab, India and came to San Francisco in 1906. In search of employment he moved over to Canada and came in contact with Mayo Singh. Both of them, in partnership with some other Sikhs, bought a failing w w w .sikhnationalarchives.com

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lumber mill in N ew W estminster in 1914. Through hard w ork they got some profit out o f it and also gained experience o f running a lumber mill. Later, both o f them tried their luck in lumber industry separately and became very successful in this business. Both o f them had blazing talent in lumber industry. They planned and moved on, never looking back. Only those people achieve their goals who ignore choice between the risk and reward. K apoor Singh was a highly cultured man with superior qualities of character and head and heart. Both Mayo Singh and Kapoor Singh liberally contributed to the Sikh community. They provided employment to the Sikh workers, always fought for equal rights, provided funds to the Sikh delegations sent to O ttaw a to explain th eir problem s to the federal governm ent. They arranged lectures for the mill sta ff particularly on different aspects o f Sikh religion. The Indian preachers visiting Canada or priests from the V ancouver and V ictoria G urdwaras w ere invited to the mill Gurdwara. W henever India faced a disaster the mill workers raised money to be sent there for re lie f.2 K apoor Singh had tw o daughters, who after having done their pre­ medical courses from the University o f British Colum bia, shifted to the U niversity o f T oronto for further m edical education. A fter becoming doctors they went to India and set up a hospital at their ancestral village Aaur, near Phillaur, in the present N aw anshahr district. Kapoor Singh was always a strong supporter o f attaining higher education and equal rights for all. He w as opposed to distinctions like ‘a privileged class’ and ‘an unprivileged class’ and was an advocate o f equal status for men and women. A nother im portant Sikh comm unity location was Hillcrest, four miles from Duncan (B.C.). A t this place, Carlton Stone established Hillcrest Lumber Com pany in 1912. Soon after he employed the S'khs in his mill he found th at they w ere very hard w o rk in g , h o n est, punctual and dependable people. From today they never mean tom orrow. They do not go to their w ork late or on time but in time. Such punctuality always abundantly pays a man in life. Lord Nelson, the great British naval officer and victor o f the Battle o f Trafalgar (1805) against N apoleon Bonaparte, told in reply to a question regarding the causes o f his remarkable success in life, that he could not rem em ber o f any other thing except his always reaching the place o f his duty fifteen minutes earlier than required. Carlton developed deep faith in the Sikhs. On their request Carlton built there a G urdwara in 1935. Most o f the Sikhs living in B.C. at one time o r a n o t h e r had worked in the Hillcrest Lumber Company. So far as possible a job

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was not refused to a Sikh in that mill. In 1929 about 40 Sikhs worked in this mill. Later, at one time, the num ber o f the Sikhs rose to about 70. Carlton had a heartload o f goodwill for the Sikhs. Besides the Sikhs, there were Chinese, Japanese and whites employed at Hillcrest. All comm unities w ere living in their separate bunkhouses. There were four Sikh fam ilies and all other Sikhs were living single. The owner o f the mill, his manager and some whites lived there with their families. The owner o f the mill had given some responsible jobs to the Sikhs and almost alw ays accepted their suggestions in the day-to-day functioning o f the mill. Carlton also valued their assistance in hiring men from the Sikh community. The Sikhs are straightforward and righteous people. Sycophancy is abhorrent to them as fearless persons never succumb to the demands from unethical ‘superiors’. They rise in public esteem on the basis o f their natural strength and performance. The Sikh w orkers felt that Carlton Stone represented the best qualities o f the British race. He was a rose in the garden o f thorns. The G uru G ranth S ahib in stallatio n cerem ony in the H illcrest Gurdwara on 7 Septem ber 1935 was very colourful, observed with all the decorum suitable to the occasion. The priest o f the Vancouver G urdw ara accompanied by a large num ber o f the Sikhs from V ancouver carried the holy Guru Granth Sahib through the steamer to N anaim o from where they moved towards Duncan in the form o f a big procession with nearly one hundred motor cars following. Passing through the streets o f the town of Duncan the im pressive procession reached Hillcrest. M any whites and members of the other com m unities participated in the procession and later ceremonies, making it a union o f the East and West. The media extensively covered the gala procession and the ceremony. The sizeable num ber o f the Sikhs also w orked in the follow ing sawmills: The Dominion sawmill w as located at the corner o f Boundary Read and Marine Drive. A bout forty Sikhs worked there in the 1920s. The Fraser Mill, which was located in New W estminster near Maillardville, had between two hundred and three hundred Sikhs on its pay roll in 1925. Quite a fair number o f them w orked at the Industrial Tim ber Mills Ltd., Youbou, B.C. and the Bharat Lum ber Company Ltd., Chase Creek, B.C. With the passage o f time the num ber o f mills grew and the grow ing Sikh population found em ploym ent in the mills. They could find work in the mills without difficulty because they had earned recognition and reputation as strong, efficient and trustw orthy workers. Union movement in Canada was an absolute need o f the Sikhs who worked in the lumber industry. They had many problems including low vwvv.s ikh: iation a Ia rch K'es.com

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w ages as compared to those o f the white w orkers, no prom otions to higherpaying jo b s and no security o f service. All these issues had to be sorted out with the em ployers. Individuals could not achieve anything. Only the unions could make a dent into the hard attitudes o f the mill owners. D arshan Singh Sangha, a young and energetic Indian, m ade untiring efforts to unite these Sikh w orkers under the banner o f ‘International Wood W orkers o f A m erica.’ He was born in a Punjab village in 1919 to poor parents, in a peasant fam ily. He intended to com e to C anada to enroll in the U niversity o f British Colum bia. His boat docked at Vancouver on his nineteenth birthday, 9 M arch 1938. He jo in ed the university and later rose to an executive p osition in the International W ood Workers of A m erica. He possessed a charm ing personality, w as a fine speaker and a com m itted trade unionist. The East Indians respected his opinions and he w as accepted as a leader o f the people. He says, “The first tim e I w ent into the mills to reorganize, I went to M ayo’s mill, to Y oubou and H oneym oon Bay. A t first w hen I went into these mills it would seem that the only people that I could talk to were the ones that w ere slightly progressive. It w as in 1944 that I began to infonn people in-groups w hat the union w as and w hat it w ould do and what its achievem ents are and w hy it is im portant to jo in the IW A (International W ood W orkers o f A m erica). This is w hat I did in 1944 and 1945. Before that, in 1942 and 1 9 4 3 ,1 w ould go from one mill to the next mill talking to people individually. I w ould talk to those people that w ere militant and asked them to help me in this cause so that w e could have small groups in these mills. M y specific task for the first three years w as to persuade the H industani people to join the union. O nce I w as offered a very nice job if I w ould agree to cease w orking w ith the union, in M ayo’s mill, a job in the office (w hich I declined). The w o rk er’s trust and belief increased.... In 1946, the union gave the ow ners som e dem ands: that w ages be increased by 25 per cent, a forty-hour w ork w eek, tim e and a h a lf for overtime and vacation time. There w as to be union security, and union dues were to be deducted at the mill. These conditions being dem anded by the union did not exist in any mill at this tim e.... There w as (in 1946) a very big strike in B.C. and it was 100 per cent successful. ! think the strike lasted thirty days.” 3 The Sikhs living in Canada always helped the newcomers in finding a job. They also helped their relatives who needed money urgently in face o f an emergency in the family. Their fellow m ill workers gave their cheques in time o f such needs and this money was later returned to them when a person was in a position to do so. If in any m ill, unfortunately, both parents

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died suddenly leaving behind small children, they w ere entrusted to som e other family to raise them properly. They shared their sorrow s and needs, thus decreasing their impact. In the event o f a loss o f w ork because o f the closure o f mills, during the depression years, the G urdw ara com m ittee advised the Sikhs not to ask for any relief from the governm ent. The G urdw ara w as there to help them in every way including the groceries and food o f w hich the G urdw ara stores never ran short. In true sense, in the early stages, the Sikh im m igrants to C anada lived in a spirit o f a jo int family. W hen Bhag Singh, President o f the V ancouver Gurdwara C om m ittee, and his wife died with a gap o f seven m onths in 1914, another family took care o f their children. That spirit is deplorably missing now and the C anadian Sikh com m unity is not so cohesive as it used to be half a century back. In recent years lum ber industrialists such as Dom an and A sa Singh Johal have contributed considerably to the econom y o f the country and they gave huge donations to m any institutions. The role o f the Sikhs in promoting the lumber industry in Canada, particularly in British C olum bia, has been remarkable. 1 would like to give a brief account o f the life history o f A sa Singh Johal who rose from a hum ble mill w orker to a big saw m ill industrialist, a multimillionaire and a renow ned philanthropist o f Canada. It is the story of a man who rose to the top o f the ladder, m oving step by step, alw ays looking into the aerial space rather than the mud below. It is a typical story of a man who attained em inence through grit and tenacity o f purpose. Asa Singh Johal received an honorary D egree in L aw from the University o f British C o lum bia (U B C ) in 1990. an O rd er o f B ritish Columbia in 1991 and O rder o f C anada in 1992. He was on the Board o f governors at UBC for two and a h alf years and a D irector at C hildren’s Hospital in Vancouver for seven years. He donated m ore than five m illion dollars to various institutions. This account o f A sa Singh Johal is based on the jo in t interview o f Pritam Singh A ulakh and B alw inder Singh Brar with A sa Singh Johal and his wife Kashmir K aur on 9 N ovem ber 1999 at their residence 1026W. 54th Avenue, V ancouver, and a w rite-up on Johat by K hurram Saeed, published in M ehfil M agazine, B urnaby (B.C .). O ctober 1996. Asa Singh was born on 17 A ugust 1922 at village Jandiala in district Jalandhar. Punjab. India. His father Partap Singh, who had been w orking in Canada since 1906. had solem nised his m arriage with Tej Kaur in the Punjab in 1920. Asa Singh w as hardly one and a h alf years old when his w w w .sikhnationalarchives.com

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parents moved from India to Vancouver in 1924 where his father worked as labour contractor. All the labourers lived in a bunkhouse but his father had a three-bed-room quarter adjoining the bunkhouse where they lived during 1926-27. He was doing well and he was one o f three or four Indians who had cars. Despite the fact that his father was well o ff financially A sa Singh had to join a second-rate school that segregated the visible minority students from the whites. The East Indian, Japanese and Chinese students had to go to a separate school because o f racial discrim ination. The visible m inorities had to bear with it. The East Indians kn^w that due to racial discrimination there was almost no chance o f their 'getting a good job even after obtaining a fairly high education. As a result, their main concern was to look for a work and earn money. A sa Singh was not interested in learning and education and he dropped out o f school after Grade-6, as he was mainly interested in making money. In the recession o f the early 1930s A sa Singh’s father lost everything. In around 1930, he moved to W histler to find some regular work. The family lived there for six years. In 1936 Partap Singh shifted to N ew W estminster where he found w ork in the Canadian Western Lumber Company. At the age o f 14, A sa Singh got a part tim e sum mer job at the same mill where his father was working. A little later Asa Singh discontinued his studies and took a job, cleaning up around the plant o f the mill, for 25 cents an hour. Soon after he was prom oted as a lumber grader for 50 cents an hour, eight hours a day and six days a week. In 1939 he purchased his first car for $1000. It was a brand new Chevrolet. At this time he was earning $100 a month, o f which he gave $25 to his parents for his board and lodging and saved the rest. In 1940 he | exchanged his car for a truck to start his own fuel supply business in j which he earned $1000 a month, working more than 12 hours a day. A few months later he bought another truck and employed a driver f o r the same. In 1948 at 26 he sold his business and left for India to find a bride. He married Kashm ir Kaur, a 16-year old Punjabi girl. He had decided to sell his business and to re-establish it after returning from India as no body was prepared to care for it in his absence. ' Because o f his bitter experience o f partnership in the Pioneer Fuel in 1955 he never entered partnership in his subsequent career. At the a g e of 40 (in 1962), he closed his business to find a new way to earn his livelihood, j To the surprise o f some people around him, Johal started the T e r m in a l

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Sawmills on Mitchell Island on three acres o f land owned by his father, with the investment o f $50,000. In the b eg in n in g , the mill started cutting 14,000 feet o f lumber a day or 100 logs, with seven men in his employ. In mid-1990s Johal’s mills would cut more than 400,000 feet o f lumber, a day, or more than 3,000 logs and 300 lumberjacks were employed by him. Since 1969 the Terminal Sawmills started earning considerable profit. In 1972, he purchased the Burke Lumber Com pany on Mitchell Island for $275,000. By m id-1970 A sa S ingh becam e k n o w n as a w e a lth y industrialist. In 1978, he purchased the Transco Mills located close to his first sawmill for $ 7 million. Soon thereafter he purchased property on the southern side o f Ash Street along the Fraser River. In 1986, he purchased the Alan K. Lumber, out o f bankruptcy for $ 11 million. He established another sawmill in 1993 on the other side o f the border, atEvertson (WA) USA, with 26 million US dollars, with the most m odem plant. Johal’s income continued growing and in 1995 he hit $ 103 million isales. “The way things are going now, the tim ber supply is shrinking. His company plants more than 700,000 trees each year,” Johal said in 1996. Johal’s commitment to donations on philanthropy started in 1990 when his youngest grandson, R ajiv, fell seriously ill and rem ained under treatment in B.C.’s C hildren’s Hospital and recovered. The grandfather felt highly grateful to the hospital. “Healthy children are an asset to the country and when I see children in the hospital my heart m elts,” says Johal. Since 1990 he has donated more than $2.5 million to the C hildren’s Hospital including endow m ent o f $1.5 million for research in cancer for children. In addition to his contributions to many organizations, he donates one hundred thousand dollars every year to the C hildren’s Hospital. Asa Singh and his wife Kashm ir Kaur were am ong the 500 guests invited to the White House in 1996, on the occasion o f the C hildren’s Circle Programme w here the donors to various c h ild ren ’s hospitals throughout Northern A m erica were to be honoured by President Bill Clinton and the First Lady Hillary Clinton. The Johal family was pleased to attend the function. He was also invited to similar conferences held annually, in Los Angles (US) in 1997, in Chicago (US) in 1998 and in Montreal (Canada) in 1999 but he could not attend any o f these. Johal donated more than one million dollars to the University o f British w w w .sikhnationalarchives.com

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Colum bia’s (UBC) Forestry Department, most o f the money in the form o f scholarships to students o f Forestry, and fifty thousand dollars fora chair in Punjabi Language, Literature and Sikh Studies, established at the UBC in 1985. He donated $1.6 million to the Indian Culture Centre of Canada, a Richmond G urdwara that was built around 1993. On 6 June 1999, B .C .’s Children’s Hospital honoured Johal and his family and had put up a green chair in the hospital in their name and gave them a small green chair as insignia now preserved in his family room in a showcase. Johal’s two children— his son Darcy born in 1950 and his daughter Jiwan born in 1953, got their education up to G rade-12. For the last many years Darcy has been busy establishing his sawmills in Lithuania, bordering on Baltic, republic o f USSR, 1940-91. He is trying to create his own lumber empire there. Johal says that he wanted his grandchildren to start their careers from a scratch but he thinks he is spoiling them by providing all financial help and comfort w ithout asking them any questions. He does not inquire as to w hat they were studying. He only bothers to pay their bills. Johal is all praise for the pioneer Sikhs who had seen tough times and did wonderful things for their next generations. He says that the total value o f his business in 1999 could be around $200 million in sales. Johal is a generous, unassuming, humble, hardworking, mellowed and a cool man. Today in the end o f 1999, in his 78th year o f life he looks after his w ide-spread business and his word is the final in the major discussions o f his company. He runs his business empire according to his own plans w ithout much advice from outside. With a little education and alm ost no support, Johal w as able to raise high fortunes, which he graciously shares with the needy institutions and individuals. He is a famous but not a hunted man. You can meet him anywhere. The Chinese and Japanese who had been working in the mills side by side with the Sikhs, though slightly in w eaker positions during the first half o f the century, later changed over to other businesses and started paying more attention to the education o f their children, who later found em ploym ents in alm ost all departm ents o f the government and in all* lucrative administrative positions. The Sikhs hardly came out of the mills f and their children, with incomplete education, following them into the lumberyards, remained tied to the wood-logs, generation a f te r generation. Even when the parents realized the importance o f higher and vocational j education for their children they could neither give them guidance I

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themselves nor they could seek guidance from the right quarters. Hence they lagged behind in that respect and could not very much change from the blue collar to the w hite-collar jobs. Farming Most members o f the first groups o f Punjabi im migrants belonged to the Jat Sikh fanning community. They had ample experience o f cultivation of land as their ancestors had been doing it since ages. When they came to Canada cultivation o f land was not a new vocation for them. They already knew how to make the land cultivable and fit to produce various crops. These Sikhs had better knowledge o f agriculture than that o f the work in the lumber mills but they could not afford to purchase land and the equipment required for farming. Consequently, finding a job in a lumber mill became their first choice where they started receiving w ages from the day they entered the lumber mill yard and w ithout any investment, which was needed in farming. Thus, those who decided to take up farming started work as farm w orkers or tenants. They must earn money to be able to purchase land and thus, to start with, they took farms on lease or rent on partnership and co-operative basis. Later on, out o f their profits and savings they purchased land to become owners o f these farms. Though the land was cheap but the money was rare. The Canadian people did not like the East Indians to enter the labour market, as they wanted it to be their own reserve. They had no objection for the Sikhs’ to move to the farmland and develop new sites for cultivation. When Munshi Singh, a passenger o f the Kom agata M aru w as sent as a test case before the Board o f Inquiry, he was denied entry into Canada because he could not prove that he was not a labourer but a farmer. The Court of Appeal also upheld the same decision. These farm hands from the Punjab w orked in Abbotsford, Ladner, Kamloops, Pitt M eadow s and som e other places. The w hite farm ers employed the East Indians at their personal farms and paid them fair wages as they found them hardw orking and dutiful. W herever they w orked they left a deep impact o f their physical capabilities on their employers. Those immigrant farmers who were not ambitious and lacked initiative continued working as farm labourers for decades together on very meagre wages and passed their lives in farm shacks as hum an v egetables. It w as unfortunate that some o f the whites who were impressed by the experience ofthese farmers expressed their inability to appoint them in their farms as they were foreigners, and it was a practice with them not to give work to those who were outsiders.

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Som e o f the w ell to do Sikhs purchased farm s in Mission and Chilliwack. O kanagan Valley also became an attractive place for the farm ing com m unity. The Sikh farm ers undertook fruit-growing and vegetable farming there. They mainly chose Kelowna and its surrounding areas for planting apple-orchards in particular and some other fruits in general about the mid-1920s. They developed the land, cleared the jungles and made it suitable for plantation. Through their hard and untiring physical labour and bending low on the hoe they turned wilderness into abundance. About h alf -a-dozen o f them owned their own farms ranging from thirty to a hundred acres each. In the 1930s about a dozen more farmers joined them and finding their farming profitable more and more continued pouring into Kelowna. Since 1930s was a period o f depression, the work in the sawmills received a setback and some small businesses were closed, thus releasing the workers from the mills. During the harvesting season the unemployed people would go to K elow na and other farming areas to earn their living. K elowna and its surrounding areas including Vernon are still known for producing apples and mixed vegetables in large quantities that are exported to other parts o f the country. Kamloops was another place where some o f the Sikh farmers found a comfortable haven in the-mid-1930s. They had vegetable farms as bigas fifty to a hundred acres and some o f the Sikh farmers rented land for vegetable farming, w hich through their skill and industry was converted into a profitable business. Some o f the Sikhs did farming in the province o f A lberta as well. They, mostly, grew w heat for which the soil of certain areas was more suitable. They laboured on their farms wholeheartedly, making all efforts to have the maximum produce from the land. As farmers there is hardly any com m unity in the world that can match them. They are deeply attached to their land and the hoe and to every little plant that they grow in their land. They can never tolerate their crops being ruined by anybody, may be the royal forces. They would come out to protect them, even by the use o f force and even at the cost o f their lives. The crops are so dear to the Sikh farmers. About the middle o f the century there were about fifty big fanns under the ownership o f the Sikhs in British Columbia. The; farms in the Fraser V alley produced different types o f berries and vegetables that were marketed in various towns and that accrued good profits to the Sikh owners. From 1970s onwards these farmers engaged labour contractors on certain conditions to supply labour during the harvesting seasons, especially when the vegetables and berries were ready to be plucked. The Sikh farmers

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dealt with the Punjabi contractors alone and the contractors dealt with the labour force. The contractors received payments from the farmers for the work done through their labour and made payments as per oral agreements made with the poor labourers. The new East Indian immigrants, particularly the seniors, have no source of income im mediately after landing in Canada and who are in search of work, are hired by the Indian contractors and taken to the farms at sunrise and brought back home at sunset. For the whole day they work on the farms, picking fruits, berries and vegetables. The contractors paid them at low rates under the threat that if they resent or object to low payments they would not receive records o f employment that would enable them to collect unemployment insurance (UI) from the governm ent. The farm labour contractors are supposed to pay the workers before the farmers pay them, in turn. But the contractors violate the rules and the w orkers remain quiet over it. The seasonal Sikh migratory labour comes to the Lower Mainland and to the O kanagan V alley from different parts o f Canada to earn money and then to entitle them selves to unemployment allowance. In a way, these farmers provide work to thousands o f men and women who would be otherwise jobless because o f language barrier and slump in the job market. Close to Canada, in C alifornia (USA) also, the Punjabis established themselves as very flourishing farmers. The Punjabis own about 90 per cent o f the agricultural land and orchards around Y uba City. Didar Singh Bains, a resident o f this tow n, is one o f the richest farm ers o f America. Some Sikh farmers have established large-scale dairy farms and they supply their produces to the near markets. Some o f them set up roadside vegetable and fruit stalls near their farms and sell their produces themselves. The farmers are indeed a very hardw orking comm unity and they utilize every inch o f their cultivable land to supplem ent their income. Transport Industry

The Sikhs are known all over the world as very successful farmers and transporters. In cities everyw here the transportation is a profession adopted by the Sikhs as their first choice. They seem to have a special liking for driving automobiles. In Canada too, in some o f the big cities o f the country the cab industry is controlled and run by the Sikhs. In V ancouver, the Y ellow C ab Company, established in 1923, has been since decades, in the hands o f the Punjabi Sikhs. This com pany has a large fleet o f nearly two hundred

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cabs that are on the road for tw enty-four hours. It has been generally noted that the Sikh operators are more disciplined, paying more regards to the rules and regulations o f the com pany than those belonging to some other com m unities. The w hole operation is run in a scientific way. There is no hassle regarding the fare as all taxis are provided w ith the m etres that keep show ing the fare. Since the Sikh taxi operator is very hard working, he earns an average o f $250 to $300 during his shift, exclusive o f gas and other m inor expenses incurred in connection with the car. The night shift drivers earn m ore as the o th er services o f tran sp o rtatio n are not so frequently available during night and secondly the club-goers travel to and from the clubs in the hired cabs alone as due to drinking bouts in the clubs they are not fit to drive their cars back hom e at mid-night. There is zero tolerance show n to a drunken driver. The police alw ays wants the people to rem em ber ‘drink, drive, d eath ’. It is am using to note that these law -abiding night cab-operators who are alw ays at risk o f facing the roughs o f society are not allowed to keep anything like a w eapon with them for self-protection w hile the offenders alw ays m ove about with loaded guns concealed under their clothes. The police says that in the event o f such a situation their help be sought. The crim inals som e tim es m urder the cab operators and disappear in no time, and in all probability, the police will not be able to catch them. It is not understandable as to why the innocent victim is to rem ain unarmed and the offender freely m oves about with a gun under his arm. Many night cab operators have lost their lives at the hands o f these armed prowlers. The Sikhs have successful taxi business in V ancouver, Calgary, Edm onton, M etro Toronto, M ontreal, O ttaw a and W innipeg. The cab operators have to w ork for about ten to tw elve hours a day and, if they choose as the Sikh drivers generally do they work for seven days a week. Sikh taxi drivers are, by nature, m ore am bitious and moneyminded than drivers are from most o f the other com m unities. They put up m ore hours o f w ork than others did. The w hites earn and spend but the East Indians earn and save. The w hites have a different attitude towards life and living as com pared to the East Indians who care to make their progeny better o ff financially and they live frugally. The whites have, in that sense, no progeny to be concerned about. If the whites have enough for tom orrow they would suspend w ork today but the East Indians will go in for overtim e. They hardly believe that Sunday means Sabbath day—a rest day. But it is a m atter o f pride that the Sikhs seldom bring bad name to the w w w .sikhnatiopalarchives.com

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community, w hatever profession they adopt. They have a sense o f Sikh community’s dignity and honour, and noble trad itio n s o f honesty, responsibility, gentleness and dependability. The cab industry that is mostly manned by the Sikhs is a very well organized public service institution in Canadian cities. In N ew York (USA) more than 10 per cent o f the city’s cabbies are Punjabi. The Sikh drivers have also joined the transit system in all the big cities of the country. At present they have overcom e the hurdle o f turban and beard which earlier debarred them from even applying for the job o f a bus driver. Due to persistent efforts o f the Sikh organizations and arguing with the transit com m issions on the plea o f the governm ent’s policy o f multiculturalism which declares that the m em bers o f all ethnocultural groups can maintain their distinctiveness and yet retain full access to economic and social equality, the Sikhs are accepted with Sikh symbols. During duty hours they have been found capable o f dealing with all emergent situations to the total satisfaction o f the authorities. The qualities of a good driver— the courage, poise, presence o f mind, sw iftness in judgement and prom ptness in taking a decision, are inherent in the Sikh drivers. A lot of the Sikhs are managing an independent profession o f providing truck services in both light and heavy vehicles. These Sikh truckers carry loads from Vancouver to Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec, Winnipeg, Halifax, etc., and back and to distant parts o f the United States and Mexico as an ambitious commercial enterprise. C anada is a land of distances. For exam ple, the distance betw een V ancouver and Halifax is longer than the distance between Vancouver and Tokyo. The Sikhs are very adventurous people and they drive their trucks on the highways covering thousands o f miles in very inclement weathers to which they had not been used in their motherland, India. They are indeed marvellous people in respect o f adjusting them selves to the conditions and circumstances in w hich they find them selves landed. Sometim es one trip alone keeps them on w heels for weeks together. Fatigue is alien to them and they seldom com plain o f the hardships they suffer in the course of their trips in the lands and am ong the people stranger to them. Trucking is a very desirable business with the Sikhs all over the world. Canada is no exception. When w orking locally the individual truckers pool their trucks and form a com pany. Sometim es these truckers own five or ten or fifteen trucks each and their com pany comprises forty or fifh or more trucks. The services o f the Sikh truckers are always considered dependable, punctual and hassle-free. The Sikhs are, indeed, proud o f their excellent

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services in all fields o f their activities. W hoever has had any business with them is never disappointed. Rising equal to the expectations of the people is som ething practised by them religiously. Real Estate

In all the big cities o f Canada the Sikhs and Chinese own real estate business in particular. This business is very popular am ong the educated Sikh immigrants. They make good money through it. A few years earlier anybody could ju st enter the market in this profession but later those desirous o f going in for this business were required to pass an examination conducted by an authorized agency and these days, in the B.C., it is done by the British Colum bia University as it involves property dealings, big am ounts o f m oney, the banks and purchasers and sellers and the gobetween or realtors. In education and passing tests the Sikhs are better than the Canadian-born whites. The deal is struck between the parties through a realtor who gets commission for his services from the parties. Alm ost all types o f purchases or sales are made through the intermediate agents. A realtor, sometimes purchases plots o f land, builds houses on them and sells the same to the customers. At times he sells the plots to the people before or after these plots are developed for the construction o f houses. He also arranges to sell the old built houses and gets his comm ission. This business is not always flourishing and prosperous as the occasional slump or recession in the market affects it adversely. The sale and purchase o f properties get stuck for months and som etimes for years and the realtors become victims o f reduced economic activity. Although the Sikhs, especially the Jat Sikhs are, by nature or instinctive inclinations not fit for real estate business or any business but they have proved them selves very successful realtors and businessmen in foreign lands. They are m arvellously adjustable. They never do things half-heartedly as they put whole heart and soul into what they do and their work is never alien to their minds and in this habit lies the secret o f an enduring success. Police and A rm y

The Sikhs have been known as daring, brave and fearless and for these qualities they had proved their worth as first rank soldiers and warriors. In dealing with the roughs o f the society the Sikh policemen would jum p into hazardous situations not caring for their personal safety. Colonel Eric John Svvayne, governor o f British Honduras, who had

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been in service in India, knew o f the stu ff the Sikhs w ere m ade of. A fter his visit to V ancouver in 1908 he w rote, “ I asked som e leading Sikhs at a conference to engage me tw elve o f their countrym en for the purpose o f doing police duty at Belize, the capital city o f B ritish H onduras, as I had known the capabilities o f Sikh policem en w hile I w as in India.” D espite the tempting term s offered to the Sikhs they refused to go to the unhealthy Honduras. In its issue o f 3 M ay 1945, The Vancouver Sun ran a story o f the bravery o f the Indian arm y as under: Major Richard R. Tew son, Royal A rtillery, speaking at a m eeting o f •the T ransportation and C u sto m s B u reau o f the B oard o f T rad e, at Vancouver, said, “ Indian troops are am ong the finest fighting m en in the world. Indian army numbered 250,000 men. O f these the Sikhs had amazed Europeans by em erging as the finest dive bom ber pilots in the w orld. We had tremendous co-operation from this arm y and there is no reason why we cannot have the sam e co-operation from the sam e people after the war.”4 Despite this w onderful reputation the Sikh soldiers have not been in urgent demand o f the C anadian arm y. In fact, C anada does not need big army, as they have no enem y to fight against. B ut as records show there had been a few Sikhs in the Canadian arm y. To quote one, Joginder Singh Manilas, signalman (K 812858) w as released from the C anadian arm y on 5 November 1964, after a few years o f service. Now in 1990s there are som e m ore people in the C anadian national army , air force and navy, som e in the officers’ ranks w ith turbans and beards intact. W ith the passage o f tim e and th e co u n try ’s policy o f multiculturalism rules have been liberalized and the Sikhs are fully eligible to join the army and the police in their Sikh form. In order to join these forces, as against the past practice, they have not to give up their faith and religious symbols. The Sikhs succeeded in getting this change m ade in the dress code after a lot of efforts. In 1986 the M etro Toronto police allow ed the Sikh police officers to w ear turbans and other Sikh religious sym bols during duty hours. About the m iddle o f 1987 Royal C anadian M ounted Police (RCMP—the national p o lice fo rce) co m m issio n er N o rm an In k ster . recommended a provision for a baptised Sikh to be able to join the police force. Before this recom mendation could reach the Solicitor-General Pierre Blais in June 1989 for further action, three w omen from Calgary started a vigorous anti-Sikh and anti-turb an cam paign. In C algary lhe people clamoured loudly to a picture o f a

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Sikh w earing turban in RCM P uniform with a line draw n across the figure. The anti-turban m ovem ent com prom ising on turban and other symbols spread to d ifferen t parts o f C anada. B ut this n efario u s propaganda disheartened neither the governm ent nor the Sikhs. A Sikh delegation met the Solicitor G eneral again to allow the Sikhs to jo in R CM P w ith turbans and other Sikh sym bols. Prim e Minister M ulroney supported the Sikh dem and. On 14th M arch 1990, the Canadian Solicitor G eneral announced in the House o f C om m ons that the Canadian Sikhs w ould be able to jo in t the RCM P with Sikh religious symbols. On 11 May 1991, the first baptised Sikh Baltej Singh D hillon was adorned as an RCM P officer sporting his turban and Sikh religious symbols at the graduating cerem ony at the R egina Police A cadem y. W hen a turbaned and bearded Sikh w as allow ed to jo in the RCMP in 1990 there were protests from som e w hite racists that the permission to the Sikhs w ould negate and ruin the discipline in police force but the governm ent, the law -court, the press and the sane C anadians stood firmly on the side o f the Sikhs w ho eventually won. The court allowed the Sikh police officers to wear turbans and Sikh sym bols. The Sikh culture and the C anadian w hite culture are not opposed to each other. They are pleasantly different. Y oung w hite C anadians are liberal and very tolerant to different cultures in the country but som e ‘oldies’ are not. At present, the V ancouver Police D epartm ent pursues its drive for recruiting visible m inorities, particularly the Sikhs. The senior police officers com e to the Sikh m eetings and address them on the government's desire o f the Sikhs joinin g the police force. The Sikh police personnel have been found to be m ore dutiful, efficient, daring and at the same time not w ithout the milk o f hum an kindness. They never behave heartlessly rather act with firm ness and hum aneness com bined together as against the police o f the developing countries w here w hen police hauls up a person, he is not allow ed to return hom e in one piece. There, the police behaves as torturers and not as protectors. In Canada preference for their recruitment is grow ing but the Canadian Sikhs are not com ing forw ard in sufficient num bers as needed by the police departm ent. There w ere 54 m em bers o f the visible m inorities in 1131 member V an co u v er p o lice d e p a rtm e n t— 20 C h in e se, 19 Indo-Canadians. 7 aboriginals, 6 Japanese and 2 B lacks in D ecem ber 1993. Prior to 1991 the V ancouver police accepted only Canadian citizens. However, the then new police chief Bill M arshall, took the m ajor step o f allowing landed im migrants also to join the force. C anada’s policy o f multiculturalism is opening doors into all jo b s and econom ic opportunities for the Sikhs and www.sikhnatiqnalarchives.com

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others who had rem ained barred for decades after decades up till the recent past. Education

In the second quarter o f the 20th century som e o f the Sikh boys and girls joined the schools despite the advice o f the seniors that it w ould not pay them in term s o f jobs. Even after schooling they w ould end up pulling lumber in the saw m ills and dishw ashing in restaurants. T hey suffered political and econom ic disabilities and mental tortures even after a stay in the country for decades, by deprivation o f the basic rights guaranteed to a country’s citizen. From 1907 to 1947— for forty long years, they w ere denied the m unicipal, provincial and federal franchise in B.C. and as a result of that many professions were closed to them. They could not become trustees o f schools and other im provem ent trusts and could also not be posted to the provincial public offices. T he p ro fessio n s o f law and pharmacy were also barred to them. Thus, education w as no attraction to the Sikhs and consequently professions relating to education got outside their choice and as such education could not hold out any prom ise o f a good and secure career to them . We know a few nam es w ho w ere adequately qualified to get jo b s in offices, schools or other estab lish m en ts but they w ere refused to be considered. One H azara Singh G archa, w ho arrived in C anada in 1927 and obtained a degree o f M aster o f Science in A griculture, pulled lum ber or worked on green chain like others w ho w ere illiterate. A t that tim e, no Indian could get a jo b even if he w as a law yer or an engineer or a doctor. The Hundal brothers reached C anada in 1913. Iqbal Singh Hundal got a Bachelor o f Science degree in m echanical engineering from the University o f M ichigan in 1925 but could not get em ploym ent in Canada. He got a job as an aeronautical engineer in the U.S.A. His brother Jerm eja Singh Hundal attended the U niversity o f British C olum bia and then the Oregon State C ollege but could not get em p lo y m en t in C an ad a and ultimately found w ork in Indian consulate’s office in Los Angeles. Ranjit Singh M attu— a C anadian-born who graduated from the UBC in 1941 with a B achelor o f Arts degree in business and econom ics and was a national football player and a coach, had to work as supplier o f fuel to industries. Canada had no respectable jo b for him. R anjit Singh Hall graduated from the UBC in 1946, despite all the discouragem ent that he received from his saw m ill co-w orkers. A fter 1947 w hen the ban on franchise for Indians was lifted he got a jo b with the federal governm ent. w w w .sikhnationalarchives.com

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Dedar Singh Sihota graduated in 1949 with a Bachelor o f Arts degree with economics and psychology as his major subjects. Later he got a degree in teaching and became the first Sikh teacher in Vancouver. Mill owner K apoor Singh Sidhu’s two daughters— Jagdish Kaur and Sarjit Kaur, who obtained degrees in medical science from Toronto, went to India to set up a hospital in their ancestral village A aur (Punjab), as their parents had desired. A fter the 1950s some Canadian-born Indians got an education in law, m ed icin e and e n g in ee rin g and th ro u g h th e ir m erit, d espite racial discrim ination, could get jobs in Canada. Some o f them after passing teacher’s training courses join ed the education departm ent as school teachers and som e, obtain in g higher univ ersity education, became professors in the Canadian colleges and universities, some o f them rising to the positions o f chair-persons in their disciplines and deans of the university departments. In obtaining jobs they competed favourably with the whites— Europeans, British and others. But the unfortunate part o f it has been the clear and unconcealed prejudice against the Indian educated immigrants, however highly qualified they might have been, the preference was given to the Canadian whites in admission to the teacher’s training courses and in the appointments as teachers. Despite all this we may find a small percentage o f immigrant Sikh teachers in Canadian schools, colleges and universities. At present we have Sikh librarians, assistant librarians and restorers in the Canadian libraries as well. The ire o f the profession o f education in C anada is that those Indian immigrants who aspire to be in this profession must pass through the Canadian system o f obtaining and imparting education. Sometimes people w ith much higher qualifications and equally higher degrees o f teachers' training courses from India are rejected simply because their education is not in accordance with Canadian system but they do not object to the British or European systems o f education which are no less different from the Canadian system. They also demand C anadian experience. It is ven unfortunate that the Canadian employers both in the public and private sectors follow closed shop practices and unfairly demand ‘Canadian experience* despite the new immigrant applicant's adequate qualifications, as if the Canadian experience is available at a price from the super store. The applicants are wrongly told that their cases have been processed and found unsuitable and rejected. Sometimes their cases are rejected on the plea that they are over-qualified. These practices, to screen out the

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immigrants, are awfully unfair and unhealthy. Such employers must realise that their role is that o f disservice and hindrance to the building o f a strong Canada, through their unjust, fraudulent and racially discriminating attitude towards the new-comers who have adopted Canada as their new homeland. Such unjustifiable prejudice cannot but belittle those white Canadians who under one pretext or another deprive the Indians o f their rightful place in the social fabric o f the country to which these immigrants genuinely belong. The code o f discrim ination is still closely sticking to some whites, while most o f them are trying to shed o ff this evil and inhuman behaviour. But I am sorry to rem ark that this discrim ination ingrained in the psyche of certain comm unities and groups o f people is never going to be non­ existent in all time to come. So we must learn to live with it. Education Funding

The Canadian Society has always placed great importance on the post­ secondary education. They came to realise in sixties that w ithout the help of the parents them selves contributing to post-secondary education costs which are enormous it is very difficult for children to continue their higher education endevours. Keeping this in mind some educationalists started scholarship plans which were deemed tax shelters in 1972. These are savings plans for post­ secondary education. Parents save money through these plans upto child’s age of 17 years. This plan matures at his/her age o f 18 w hen the child graduates from the school. The principal amount returns on maturity and the child reaps the scholarship benefits (w hich include interest on the savings) for second, third and fourth years o f education. G overnm ent also adds 20% on the first $2000, saved during a year per child, which is also used for child’s education. In 1983 a young Sikh man named Teshvinder Singh C hhachhi. a Business M anagement graduate and a great grandson o f a prom inent Sikh Chief Sir Sardar Nehal Singh Chhachhi, came to Canada and found that these education plans had great potential for the progress o f the Indian immigrants and their future generations who could have the opportunities that they never had in India. He felt that there was a great need for these scholarship plans to be given to the Sikh families so that their children could go to colleges and universities without worrying about the cost. Mr. Chhachhi actively prom oted these plans in his comm unity and within a few years, with the help o f his devoted team, he enrolled thousands o f Sikh children in these plans. www.siKhnationalarchives.com

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Teshvinder Singh had a marvellous success in his enterprise. The company promoted him to be an Enrollment director in 1988. At the same tim e a new im proved plan w as launched w hich w as called Heritage Scholarship Plan. Mr. C hhachhi’s team in British Colum bia became the com pany’s best agency. M ost enthusiastic persons on this team for the past 16 years, to whom he ungrudgingly owes credit for his remarkable success, have been his Associate Directors Mrs. Harleen Kaur Brar, Mrs. M ohinder Kaur Bhullar and Mr. Ajit Singh Anand. Soon after, M r C hhachhi w as appointed by the Com pany as its M anaging Enrollment D irector for B.C. operations. His agency was given exclusive rights for British C olum bia because this agency had become the best in the country for its operation. He enrolled the highest number of children each year ever since these plans were started in Canada. O ver a period o f few years a team o f five or six persons grew to over 400 people w orking for his agency which has attained the number one position and has been marked as the best and the most professional one in the country. Teshvinder Singh, with the help o f his staff and co-operation o f the registered children parents, had been able to give tens o f thousands o f Sikh children the opportunity to get post-secondary education, thus making them worthy, useful and very dignified m em bers o f the Canadian society. Professionals

Besides school, college and university teachers there are some other categories o f Sikh professionals in C anada that include doctors, engineers, inform ation technology engineers and Specialists, scientists, lawyers, notaries- public, accountants, pharm acists and nurses. Though the number o f the Sikhs in these professions is small but they are represented in every profession. T hey are enterprising and gifted w ith a strong drive and initiative into new fields. Doctors and Health C are

In th e 1960s and 1970s th e doctors with Indian qualifications settled in Canada without much difficulty. Later in 1980s th e ‘medical apartheid’ came into being in B.C. The Canadian-educated and qualified doctors could straightway take up their profession, whereas doctors from India could not practice medicine in B.C. even though they had a degree in medicine. In 1991 they resorted to hunger strike and filed co m p lain ts with th e B.C. and Canadian Human Rights Commissions b u t to n o effect. These Indian-trained doctors had been required to have two years o f post-graduate

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training, one year o f which must be completed in Canada. The Indian doctors said that this requirement was discriminatory as medical graduates from English-speaking countries like South A frica and Great Britain were required only one year o f post-graduate training. President o f the Committee for Racial Justice, Aziz Khaki, called the process a double standard and said that it w as an exam ple o f blatant discrimination. “If there is a process, everyone should go through it,” 5 he said. Steering Comm ittee for foreign trained doctors spokesperson John Bitonti said that Canada was the only country in the world w here doctors were discriminated against because o f their place o f origin. Forty per cent of the doctors in C anada w ere foreign-trained w hich m eant that this problem was a recent one. In the 1990s about 97 per cent o f foreign doctors, who applied for licensed practicing in B.C. were turned down, D octor Bitonti told.6 Despite all the handicaps suffered by the East Indian doctors we have at present quite a num ber o f them w orking in Canadian cities. There are family doctors, specialists and dentists running their clinics and many o f them are working in hospitals and on the staff o f other establishments. Some of them are very well known for their com petence and high medical skill. There are lady-doctors w ho w ork as fam ily doctors and specialists as well. The clientele o f the Sikh family doctors is mainly from am ong the East Indians. The private practitioners have to be in com petition with each other in the interest o f their business. According to the Revenue C anada’s 1990 list o f average assessed incomes, fees-for-service doctors including the East Indian doctors, were at the very top o f the Canadian pay pile. In the fiscal year o f 1991-92, 10 per cent of B .C.’s 6548 doctors, that is more than 600, billed the medical plan for more than $2,50,000 a year. Sixty-three o f them billed the plan for more than $ 500,000 each and three o f the doctors billed for more than $ 1 million each. The Prime M inister o f Canada w ho fights long and hard to get into the Sussex Drive and who takes huge responsibilities earns $ 157,620 a year.7 Sure, doctors are well educated and they w ork hard but the same is true of many other less lucrative disciplines. Doctors may be im portant in their own way but what about the teachers who get about 40 to 50 thousand dollars a year? Are not the teachers as important as doctors and dentists in their own way? They shape lives and som etimes save lives. I would rate the teachers for worth way more than say the education minister. Do you suppose, I have said som ething unw elcom e? If we desire a teacher to be more a nation-builder than a money-earner, cannot we expect a doctor to srKhna .onaiv. ch iv e s.c o rr

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be a lifesaver more than a coffer-filler? D on’t think I am uncharitable to a doctor. I am very grateful to his services but a little unconvinced of the income gaps between that o f a doctor and a teacher or some one like him. N urses are also a category o f professionals devoted to the service of suffering humanity and doing their utm ost to alleviate the pain o f the sick and the injured. Their services are rem arkable but underestimated, underappreciated and under-paid. M any Sikh w om en are engaged in this profession in the hospitals, nursin g hom es and in-home-supporting services. They are not only assisting the doctors in looking after the patients but also render the real service to the distressed and try to bring a ray of hope and long-forgotten smile on the face o f the bed-ridden with no signs o f recovery. Most o f the Indian young women get education in nursing before their immigration to Canada as this profession is almost always in demand o f qualified and experienced nurses. Pharm acy is also an allied profession. It is a place where medicines are com pounded or dispensed. The East Indian pharmacists have set up their drug stores and dispense m edicines as prescribed by the family doctors. They also sell non-prescription medicines. They hold licenses to sell drugs. In order to obtain licence they have to pass a course in pharmacy from a recognized or affiliated institution. The pharm acists get medicines from the pharm aceutical companies at a discount and sell the same on a reasonable margin o f profit. The Sikh pharm acists generally engage the East Indians as drug dispensers or salesmen to facilitate services to customers from the Indian comm unity. The pharm acists are em ployed in the hospitals also where they look after the stocks o f m edicines and supply or issue the same to the different sections or departments o f the hospital. L aw yers, N otaries-Public and A ccountants

A fter 1947, the Sikh im migrants were allowed to join the law courses and qualified lawyers from outside C anada could also practise in this country. The children o f the old-timers began to study law and adopt the profession but the Indian-qualified lawyers came into disfavour of the white Canadians. Those who came to Canada with a degree in law were not allowed to practise here. They were told by the UBC that their degree in the discipline could, at the most, help them to be admitted to the law courses along with the Canadian students. In early 1990s, the law departm ent o f the University o f C a lg a r y told a Sikh law graduate from the Punjab University that he would be permitted to pass the complete law courses prescribed for a law degree, through vvvvvv.sikhnationala.-chives.com

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correspondence courses and after obtaining the degree from the Calgary University he would have to work with a law firm in Calgary at least for three years before he would have the option to work independently and elsewhere in Canada. He did likewise and took a number o f years to do the same. Such are the hurdles to which the Indians are subjected to keep them away from the profession. But still there are Sikh law graduates both men and w om en from India and C anada th at are successfully practising law in this country. Manmohan Singh (M oe) Sihota says, “Even in law, and I am talking about a decade ago now, if I wanted to phone a senior lawyer and ask him for advice on a particular file I could never find an Indo-Canadian that I could do that with. Today, that is not a problem.... In our era w hen you went to the Sikh tem ple on S undays, m en w ould ta lk ab o u t th e ir experiences in the sawmills. W hen you go to the temple today you can kick the tires with other lawyers or other business people.”8 There are some law firms headed by Sikh lawyers established in Canada, that enjoy reputation for high professional efficiency. There was a Sikh law graduate who was elevated to the position o f a British Colum bia High C ourt Judge. There are many Sikh law graduates from the Punjab who are w orking as notaries- public and accountants in the big cities o f Canada where the Sikhs are living in large numbers. M ost o f the property transactions are done through the notaries. Sem e o f them, starting from a scratch, have now set up big offices manned with quite a sizeable staff. They also help people in preparing and subm itting their income tax returns and look to their allied problems. Sometimes they maintain and supervise the accounts of big firms and institutions. Some o f these law graduates have specialized in immigration law and contest the im m igrants’ cases. Politics and Politicians

As told earlier, from 1907 to 1947, the Indians living in B.C. w ere not allowed to vote in municipal, provincial and federal elections. This ban kept them outside .the political arena o f the province. They took long to get political awareness to be able to fight for their political rights and that fight took decades to get a right to vote. Thus, they had no participation in politics for forty years. This baron franchise was abolished in 1947 and there ushered an era of Sikh interest in the country’s politics, and the candidates contesting elections began to approach the Sikh voters and their worth in the national life began to be recognized. In due course o f time, the Sikhs aligned themselves actively with the www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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political parties and took part in the elections as candidates and as supporters o f others. Politics for Indo-Canadians is not a 100-metre dash. It is a marathon race. To win a marathon race, it is necessary that one is sure-footed, remains cool and maintains a steady progress. As a result of this participation, they became municipal councillors, MLAs and MPs and rose to the positions o f provincial and federal ministers, AttorneyGeneral and mayor and shared power in the government. Naranjan Singh Grewal was the first Sikh elected to a city council in Mission, B.C. as early as 1950. In May 1997, he was the first Sikh M ayor elected to the city council o f Mission. They were able to voice the problems of the m inorities through municipal councils, provincial assem blies and the parliament. Dr Gulzar Singh Cheema, former MLA, M anitoba (elected in 1988), has put it em phatically that "‘Canadians o f Sikh origin, have made tremendous progress in all aspects o f life. Their achievements in public life are im pressive and they have accom plished much needed respect and adm iration in the m ainstream com m unity. C anada is one o f the few countries outside India where during a short period o f time, the Sikhs have reached a stage where being elected at all levels o f government is no longer a dream but a reality. Canadians have shown their generosity and sense o f egalitarianism by electing the Sikhs to represent them from the municipal halls to the House o f Commons. All main stream political parties have established strong relationship with the Sikh community.” Continuing further he remarks, “Many o f today’s political leaders have shown great courage o f their convictions in responding to the Sikh community’s need for representation at cabinet levels. The Prime M inister o f Canada, The Right Honourable Jean Chretien, has given special meaning to the struggle, contribution and com m itm ent by the Sikhs to this country by appointing Herb (Harbans Singh) Dhaliwal as minister o f revenue.”9 Gurbax Singh Malhi, a graduate from the Punjab University, and liberal MP from Ontario, along with (the present) federal Revenue Minister H arbans Singh Dhaliwal and form er Ontario MP Jag Bhaduria made political history in 1993 when the trio became the first Indo-Canadians to be elected to C anada’s parliament. G urbax Singh with his hair and turban gave a new flavour to the House o f Commons. In B.C. Manmohan Singh (M oe) Sihota. Harbhajan Singh (Harry) Lally, Ujjaldev Singh Dosanjli. and Satinder Kaur (Sindi) Hawkins are MLAs and Gurmant Singh Grewal is an MP from B.C. G urbax Singh Malhi was again elected liberal MP from his old constituency. More Indo-Canadian names o f MLAs fromthe other provinces can be added to the list in addition to the many municipal co u n cillo rs from this co m m u n ity . T hey are perform ing their jobs vvw.sik nat;onalarchi' es.com

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wonderfully well. Now the community is no more left under-represented

at provincial and federal levels. It is just in place to give a little detailed account o f Ujjaldev Singh Dosanjh. By becoming the first ever Indian rather the first Asian Premier of British Colum bia— C anada’s third largest province, Ujjaldev Singh Dosanjh, a Jat Sikh from the Punjab, has made history and carved out a niche in the B .C.’s hall o f fame and has become an integral part o f the Canadian history. He took oath o f office on 24 February 2000. Before entering the powerful office o f the Prem ier he had worked as AttorneyGeneral and Home M inister o f B.C. for four and a h alf years in the N ew Democratic Party (NDP) governm ent and had been a mem ber o f B .C .’s Assembly for nine years. At the time o f oath-taking cerem ony he said, “ I started my journey on 31 December 1964, leaving India, little did I know, think or imagine that I would be standing before you being called Prem ier D osanjh.” Ujjaldev Singh Dosanjh was born in 1947, in village Dosanjh Kalan, in district Jalandhar. After his early education at Phagw ara (Punjab) he came to England from where he moved to Canada in 1968, where his life, in the beginning, was tough, awfully hard and uncomfortable. He worked as a janitor to start with. A little later he shifted to a lum ber mill where his back got injured in an accident. He joined law course and obtained the degree of Barrister and Solicitor and started legal practice in Vancouver and also became social justice activist. He has been a self-made man all the way. For his views he was beaten up allegedly by a Sikh with an iron bar in 1985 and had many stitches to his head. During his pre-vote speech on 19 February 2000, he told that “a child from a dusty village in India can grow up to be the Prem ier o f this great province seems a snap.” He obtained victory over his rival contender Corky Evans for the Premiership scoring 769 out o f 1319 votes. The Indian community in Canada took it as a matter o f great honour and pride. Dosanjh is the 33rd Premier o f a province created in 1871 and N D P ’s fourth leader inthe past ten years. Some people think that as the first East Indian Premier ‘he has a chance to improve the image o f an im m igrant group that is often misunderstood and has been repeatedly linked in the recent years to incidents of violence.’ Despite his sw earing in the name o f the freedom fighters of the K om agataM aru some people point out that he was elected to lead the NDP and not represent the Sikhs. The Sikhs are capable, dedicated and sincere people. If they have a Sikh Premier in Canada today why not a Sikh Prime M inister tomorrow. vww.sikhnationalarchives.com

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In the coming years, more people would be coming forward to actively participate in the politics o f the country. The Indo-Canadians are passing through unique historical times. As seen above they are fast entering the decision-m aking agencies and active politics finding suitable berths in the provincial and federal ministries, showing their worth as administrators and dinning their voices into the ears o f the governments. At the governm ent levels they pleaded for the protection o f the ethnic cultures o f the visible minorities and they would make a strong headway in breaking the cultural shell o f the majority groups. The Sikh culture found its place and respectability in the Canadian society. It began to be realized that in the country’s politics an active Sikh involvement was fairly significant vis-a-vis their population o f above four hundred thousand people. The Sikhs currently in C anada constitute the same proportion to the country’s total population as in India in the neighbourhood of 2 per cent. The Sikhs have their roots in a country that has the world’s largest dem o cracy and an adv an ced system o f g o v ern an ce. The political experience o f the educated Indian immigrants stood them in good stead in Canada. The political systems o f both these countries are similar in many respects as they originated from the same British system. The East Indian immigrants had no difficulty in understanding and following the Canadian political system in which they could involve them selves without any problem and ado. The Sikhs do not consider politics as a favourite pastime but a serious pursuit to enter the country’s mainstream and meaningfully participate in its decision-m aking deliberations. Politics in the Indian community is a high form o f calling, says Wally Oppal. The Sikh politicians do not deal only with their own community but they enlarge the sphere o f their activity to engulf other com m unities or sections o f the C anadian society but definitely not on the road to assimilation. Their cultural and religious distinctiveness will guarantee them their Sikh identity and the lack of this distinctiveness will bring death to their identity. The politicians, the world over, are considered low in the estimation o f the people as has been established by the opinion polls many a time. T here is a new class o f u n p rin cip led p o litic ia n s w ho function in opportunistic settings. They make false prom ises and have no qualms to tell lies. They sell dreams o f rosy future. This is their pastime. All they have mastered is the manipulative politics o f votes and notes. Hypocrisy is the hallmark o f w orld’s political culture. At the time o f vote begging, they meet their voters with utmost humility but after the election they www.sikhnatiqnalarchives.com

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would never visit them for their full term, even in hours o f their natural calamities, with a word o f sympathy. They som etimes make indiscreet and contradictory statements, which they deny later. He is not a w ise and tactful politician who says sort o f unpalatable things today and can never take back or from which he cannot wriggle out next day. As soon as one chooses to withdraw from politics or is ignored by his party and the media, he ends up chasing his shadow to beat political isolation and ultim ately rides off into his political sunset and oblivion. Fame in political life is utterly short-lived in this country. If you blink, you are going to miss the politician’s moment o f glory. Canadian politicians, though a much better lot, are sometimes no exception to the above observations. In Canada, the voters eat politicians for breakfast if they once find that they have simply be-fooled them with false promises. They are always under a public microscope. The electors, here, have longer lasting memories and they do not forget and forgive their deceivers. The politicians and members of legislatures in Canada do not sw itch sides to receive extralarge chunk o f the pow er cake as in India. They do not cling to their offices as a life-long business. W hen som e genuine fault-finding finger rises against them they resign and quit politics. They do feel the pricks o f their conscience. They do not believe that politics and pow er can open a magic door to happiness. M ost o f them, in fact, earn more w hen they are outside politics. It is exclusive to the A nglo-Saxon colonial masters, who had, once, been intoxicated with power and who had taste o f authority in their blood, that they are not prepared to abandon politics that brings them power and authority. In Canada, as an instrum ent o f election propaganda there is no practice o f collecting mercenary crow ds officially or by parties. Some of the C anadian politicians are very intelligent and highly educated and qualified people but without any political antenna and not indulging in w heeler-dealer politics. When an active politician, how ever corrupt, mean, racially biased or inefficient dies, it is a big news for the m edia but when the country’s renowned scholar, an em inent w riter or a pro m in en t scien tist or a professional dies, nobody cares to know about him and in most o f the cases he passes away unnoticed, uneuologized and w ithout a w ord o f tribute. The western countries are also guilty o f this indifferent attitude. Engineers, Scientists, Technicians and M echanics

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employm ent in the governm ent and private sectors in the construction of roads, buildings and bridges and factories manufacturing diverse machinery and thermal plants and various other fields. Indian-qualified engineers had suffered a rough deal at the hands o f the Canadians. They had to work in petty repairing garages, in small factories, manufacturing machine parts and in so many small works where illiterate persons would be as good as the qualified Indian engineers ju st to earn a living and the jo b satisfaction awfully lacked. The same treatm ent o f these engineers holds true even today. M any Sikh immigrants, even those who were in professional and highly skilled technical occupations in their home countries have to take lower positions because o f the lack o f recognition o f their qualifications and credentials by th e C anadian gov ern m en ts and em ployers. The immigrants face difficulty in attaining recognition o f professional status based on the past experience and achievements in their native country and their capabilities and contributions to their profession. The ridicule and dow ngrading o f qualifications obtained in India leave lasting scars on the minds o f educated and skilled immigrants. The long-term damage done to the individuals is beyond assessm ent. Some Canadian practices are far behind the time. These practices need urgent revisions to accommodate all the people o f Canada. Indian scientists have contributed to producing new and more useful ap p lia n c e s and to o ls th ro u g h th e ir p e rs iste n t in v estig atio n s and experiments. There are some scientists working in the universities and big research institutes in Canada. A lot o f Sikh technicians are working in hospitals, laboratories, factories and research centres. They compete successfully with technicians o f any other comm unity or country. The Sikhs are very efficient m echanics. They have set up their w orkshops in all the big cities across Canada. They have vehicle-repairing garages. They mend and fix all types o f electrical equipm ent’s, TV and videos, internal heating o f houses, fans, stoves, refrigerators, etc. The immigrants are more mechanical-m inded than education-minded. They seem to be more efficient and sharp in picking up and repairing faults in a big m achine than correcting a small faulty sentence or a wrong spelling of an ordinary English or even a Punjabi word. The w ork situation in Canada has transformed their tendencies and mental attitudes to that effect. They feel that they can earn more through their hands than through the books j they read. In their ancestral country India, these Jat Sikhs hardly undertake the profession o f a mechanic or a plum ber that they adopt with a notable success in Canada.

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Banking

In recent years the Canadian Sikhs have paid attention to open banks and finance companies. The K halsa Credit Union established in 1986, is a commendable Sikh enterprise, which in a short period, has expanded to its network o f five branches with assets o f over a hundred million dollars. Their business and credits are grow ing by rapid strides. The total staff comprises baptised Sikh officials. The depositors or shareholders have to fill up a form declaring that they are believers in the ten Sikh Gurus and the holy Guru Granth Sahib. This condition may be affecting the num ber of depositors or clients o f the bank adversely but the Khalsa Credit Union is not going to compromise over the bank’s total Sikh complexion. This bank assures all the facilities o f banking as provided by other banks. Its Court of Directors, that takes all decisions regarding its functioning, is a democratically elected body. All its branches are, for the time being, set up in British C olum bia and most o f the Sikhs w ho intend to deposit money in banks patronize this bank in particular. This bank may, in due course o f time, open its branches in other parts of Canada where they can find enough num ber o f depositors. The hierarchy o f this bank co n sists o f th e G eneral M anager— controlling all the banks, branch m anagers, accounts officers and clerical staff. They provide instant service and despite the staff being typical Punjabis they have imbibed extra-politeness from the white Canadians— a quality w hich is m ost im portant adjunct to a successful business, especially in the w estern world. A sizeable num ber o f Sikhs, men and women, are w orking in other banks of Canada also. Every bank will, alm ost invariably, have at least one Punjabi official on their staff to deal with such Punjabi customers as have language problem, com ing to have transaction with the bank. The banks have to do it not with a view to jo b equity but in the interest o f their banking business. Diverse Businesses

Some well to do Canadian Sikhs own hotels, restaurants and motels which are staffed by the Sikh men and women w orking on the jobs o f cooking, serving, dish-w ashing and janitor services. In order to have good business the rooms, beds and furniture have to be kept very neat and tidy and other services up to an acceptable standard known to the users. Cooks and waiters are generally trained persons and the dishwashers, kitchen helpers, hotel workers and the janitors do not need any training and mostly ■vww.sikhnationalarchives.com

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they are from the new-com er illiterate women. They start from the lowest rung in respect o f wages and w henever the business slows down the last on the list get laid o ff and they are referred to the unemployment office to get unem ploym ent insurance (UI). All the hotels and motels managed by the Sikhs have the English speaking whites also on their reception and important service staff to attract customers. Besides the East Indians the whites also visit these restaurants, though in small numbers, many o f them to enjoy the Indian food which is much more spicy and tasty as compared to the w estern food. In these restaurants all types o f food, western, Indian and East A sian, is available to the customers. The hotels and motels are a good source o f employment for the freshly arrived East Indian w om en immigrants and it is next to finding w ork in the Sikh owned farms. Some o f the Sikh women continue w orking in hotels and restaurants for decades as for lack o f know ledge o f English they cannot shift to other vocations. Since 1986, as a result o f ag itation by ethnic communities and immigrant w om en’s and other human rights groups, the federal government has set aside special funding for English language training for immigrant women. Many women complain that these classes provide elementary lessons only that do not facilitate their entry into the labour market. W om en’s experience is, exacerbated due to sex segregation in the Canadian labour market. A female im m igrant’s first jo b in Canada, usually a lowskilled m enial job, is treated as her C anadian experience and she is subsequently locked into similar kinds o f jobs. N on-English speaking Sikh immigrant women take up em ploym ent that is low paid and without labour s ta n d a rd ’s p ro te c tio n . It g e n e ra lly su its th e im m ig ran t women’s requirem ents as it can be fitted into their schedule o f housework and childcare more easily than jo b s with more rigid schedules. They do not have to use English as part o f their work. The East Indian women are recruited to industrial home- sewing, doing piecework in similarly isolated conditions within their own homes. They are also found in the lower jo b s o f m anufacturing industries such as light manufacturing in textiles and garm ents, in plastic factories and in the retail trade. Frequently they are hired either by small operations owned by ethnic entrepreneurs such as small retail stores, super markets, etc., in the ethnic neighbourhoods or by large institutions em ploying dozens o f workers with employees speaking the same language as the new recruits or employees. O ccasionally in the garm ent industry if a woman shows initiative, works hard and learns a bit o f English she may becom e an assistant to the www.sikhn^tionalarchives.com

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supervisor. But m ost often w om en are confined to operating sew ing machines. Men usually occupy the more prestigious positions, such as garment cutting and supervisory positions, and women are rarely promoted to them. Women in the Indo-Canadian society are not given credit for their contributions to the developm ent and enrichm ent o f the Canadian society in areas like child raising and low entry-level jobs they undertake. They are the backbone o f the low paid sectors, such as, caring professions and nursing. The Indo-Canadian w om en need to acquire a position in the household that will enable them to address their concerns. There is a discernible lack o f choice for women in various areas o f the household, finances, decision-m aking and many m ore as these areas have been traditionally male-dom inated. There are m any travel agencies m anaged by the Sikhs and other Punjabis in the big cities o f Canada. Thousands o f the Punjabis who go to India every year purchase tickets from these agencies. As com pared to the travel agencies run by the whites the rates o f the Indian travel agents are comparatively low and competitive. Their services suit the Punjabi passengers. Language barrier keeps m ost o f these passengers away from the English agencies. The Punjabi travel agents talk to their passengers in Punjabi and, as far as possible, they try to accom modate them in respect of their demand for a seat on a particular date or a particular flight. Some well-built men, retired from the Indian army or police, are able to secure jobs as security guards in the offices, factories and stores. A workable knowledge o f English may be necessary for such jobs. Many of those w ho got their education in C anada right from the beginning and are able to match with others in merit can find jo b s in government offices, telecom m unication, railway, immigration and many other departments o f the governm ent. There can hardly be a departm ent not open to the Sikh citizens o f Canada despite racism w orking stealthily or latently. They have only to compete with vigour and assert for their right to equal opportunity for their economic prosperity through jobs and businesses. The East Indians generally man a large num ber o f gas stations owned by the Sikhs. Small grocery stores are also attached to these gas stations that meet the simple needs o f the travellers who stop there for getting gas for their vehicles. These stores generally provide coke, biscuits, juice, milk, coffee and so many other things o f every day use. These stores are also a good source o f income to the proprietors o f the gas stations. Some of them own many gas stations. In the adjoining USA some o f the Sikhs www.siklinationalarcnfves.com

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own a large num ber o f gas stations each. Just to name one, Darshan Singh D haliwal is known as gas station king in M ilwaukee (USA). Those abroad have , by and large, established a good reputation for them selves even in hi-tech areas. Indians abroad are, undoubtedly a big success. W hether they are w orking in sophisticated sectors o f medicine, com puters, space-technology or as entrepreneurs in far o ff places in the USA, Canada and other global centres, they have made a mark. Back hom e, they have not been able to get the right kind o f professional atm osphere for them to show their talent, drive, dynamism, discipline, hard work and overall entrepreneurial qualities. Many East Indian immigrants, w ho entered the USA and Canada with a few dollars in their pockets becam e multimillionaires and billionaires in a few d ecades. W e m ay include in them C hain S ingh Sandhu, an industrialist, ow ner o f NYX Inc., Detroit (M ichigan), Jassie (Jaswinder) Singh, ow ner o f electronics and Com puter Software concerns in California and Jay Chaudhry, a businessm an (U SA) and A sa Singh Johal, Vancouver (Canada). Many such East Indians have created a prominent niche in these countries’ economy and Hall o f success through their indomitable spirit and unlimited dedication to w ork and right application o f talent. Indian brain is am ong the most fertile and sharp in the world. We must find out why Indians could do so well abroad but not in the land o f their birth. The Sikhs are running stores that deal in groceries, cloth, crockeries, videotapes, music cassettes, photography, foodstuffs and a variety of other comm odities. Indian sweets are also available in some shops. There are m any gold and jew ellery shops o f the East Indians. The Sikhs own very large w arehouses hoarding all kinds o f construction material. They are also proprietors o f large furniture and carpet stores in Vancouver, Toronto and in many other cities. The carpets are mostly imported from Belgium. | The middle class furniture is manufactured locally in big cities of Canada ; and the high quality furniture is imported from Europe especially from Italy. In G reater V ancouver quite a num ber o f big stores o f these articles are owned by the Sikhs. The Main Street Punjabi market (Vancouver) that abounds in groceries, cloth, foodstuffs, etc., is exclusively in the hands o f the Sikhs. Similarly there is a Sikh shopping centre or Mall in Surrey. The Punjabis own mega community halls that can accommodate thousands I o f people assembled to celebrate m arriage parties or other functions. The Indian-Canadian com m unity made the most significant progress in the business sector during the last couple o f decades, particularly in small businesses, especially in terms o f creating jobs, higher in Greater V an co u v er than p erh a p s in c e n tral C a n a d a , through their skills. .v'.vv.sikhn^tionalarchives.con-

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entrepreneurial abilities and hard work. They are never satisfied being under-achievers. From the above study it is easy to conclude that there is hardly a profession or vocation that falls outside the reach or interest o f the Sikhs. They have always and successfully tried their hands at multifarious works as a means o f ju st earning livelihood, to start with, and later a decent living. They save even from the little they earn, for the rainy day. They are instinctively so disposed. In business, with the first step secured they proceed further. Economic Contribution to Canada

The transformation o f the Punjabis from a cheap source o f labour to the creators o f wealth is a rem arkable story o f hum an tenacity. Through all the professions practised by the Sikhs as discussed above they have contributed to the country’s econom y in their own ways. The lumber industry, farming, transport, business, real estate, banking and the various vocations discussed in this chapter were productive o f wealth that bettered the economic condition o f the people. The Indian im m igrants have always paid more in taxes than they received in services. In com parison, the Canadian-born families pay less into the treasury in taxes than they use in services. Bluntly putting, the immigrants subsidize the Canadian-born population rather than burden them. They have been out-perform ing the resident-borns in term s o f production that prom otes the country’s economy. O f late, we notice their shift from farm s and lum ber m ills to the com m ercial and business enterprises, comparing favourably with other communities. Indian-trained engineers, doctors, scientists, lawyers, nurses, etc., studied on the resources o f India but their services w ere utilized by Canada—thus draining Indian talent to this country w ithout spending anything on their education and training. In permanent migration o f technically trained professionals from less developed countries to more developed countries India suffered the most. The USA and C anada w here m ost o f scientific research takes place attracted bulk o f India’s best talent for which their native country received little or no return for the highly qualified, quality intellectual products. Imported human capital has made Canada and the USA the richest nations. The factors that compel the highly trained personnel to leave India include inadequate career growth opportunities, limited application o f the acquired knowledge, unsatisfactory living conditions, lack o f recognition and over­ bossing bureaucracy. www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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It is a well-known fact that failure to recognize and reward true talent and merit pushed many scientists, professionals and scholars from India to western countries. Those who look beyond their own country for future advancem ent can be placed in two broad categories: The first category represents people o f high calibre for whom the right opportunities do not exist in India. In the second category are those who have difficulty in finding a suitable opening within the country on the strength o f their qualifications. Some people wrongly believe that brain drain is unnatural, anti-national and unpatriotic. An expert on the subject has drawn an apt analogy saying that, as water seeks its own level, people seek economic parity by m igrating. A s long as econom ic sense prevails people will continue to migrate within their own country and outside. To some there is the ever-present spectre o f unemployment which drives people to seek jo b s outside the country. The lure o f dollars may not be as m uch a reason to m igrate as the corruption in India. Even the university toppers fail to get jobs without proper contact or bribing the selectors. One is made to w ork in humiliating conditions, where initiative and ideals are rewarded with frequent explanations, transfers, suspensions and even dismissals. Let us rem em ber that no one wishes to leave ones country, relatives and friends and live am ongst strangers, in a different, som etim es hostile, socio-cultural enviro nm en t only for the sake of monetary gains. It is social discontent and professional frustration that compels one to leave ones near and dear ones. W hen Indira Gandhi, Indian Prime M inister, complained about brain drain to the form er Indian am bassador to the USA, Abid Husain, he quipped: “Brain drain is better than brain in the drain.” India’s loss is certainly C anada’s gain. This is a tremendous economic advantage or profit to C anada at the cost o f the Indian immigrant’s mother country. By attracting high-ranking professionally qualified and skilled people from the developing countries the western countries are committing a brain robbery. Towards the end o f 1994 the Canadian immigration minister proposed a dramatic cut o f at least fifty thousand in C anada’s annual immigration intake. But more immigrants mean more consum ers and a boost to the economy. The advocates o f increased immigration say, “A big population means increased domestic markets for our industries. A large home market permits manufacturing firms to undertake longer, lower-cost production runs and it broadens the range o f industry we can take economically; for both these reasons, population increase in turn improves our competitive

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position in the markets. A bigger population also yields lower per-capita costs and stimulates the developm ent o f more specialized services.” 10 Canadians must overcom e their resistance to new-comers in order to meet future w orkplace needs and im prove econom ic developm ent. If Canada is to meet its requirem ents in future, its immigration policy needs a renewed economic focus. To rise equal to that position and meet the looming challenge to the country’s econom y, perhaps none are better than the Sikh immigrants. So their sustained im migration will enable Canadians to strengthen the size, composition and structure o f the population and ensure an adequate supply o f w orkers for the future. The Sikh im migrants are a richness that the country can econom ically benefit from. They must have their place in the econom ic set-up o f this land to see them and the country in full bloom. Can majorities learn to value the contribution to national life o f small distinct m inorities? The Sikhs are indeed a unique community and none can match them in hard work, industry and devotion to duty which are gifts they have conferred upon Canada w here they came to start new lives. REFERENCES 1.

Sarjeet Singh Jagpal (quoted), B ecom ing C anadians, Harbour Publishing, Vancouver, B.C. p.60.

2.

Ibid., p.70-71.

3.

Sarjeet Singh (quoted), op.cit., pp. 143-44.

4.

The Vancouver Sun, 3 May 1945.

5.

Stephanie Troughton, ‘Medical apartheid’, The Vancouver Echo, 10 July 1991.

6.

Ibid.

7.

Barbara Yaffe, The Vancouver Sun, 26 January 1994.

8.

Surj Rattan, ‘one hundred years’, Mehfii, December 1977, pp.44-45.

9.

Gulzar Singh Cheema, ‘Contribution o f the Sikhs in the Canadian Politics’, Canadian Sikh C en ten n ial C eleb ra tio n s Sou venir, Vancouver, 1997, pp.33,34.

10.

Victor Malarek, H aven's G ate — C anada's Immigration F iasco, Macmillan of Canada, Toronto, 1987, p.33.

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CHAPTER 10

THE KHALSA DIWAN SOCIETY, VANCOUVER — A POWERFUL INSTITUTION

Presumably the Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver, got its name from the Khalsa Diwan formed at A m ritsar in 1883, jointly by the Singh Sabhasof Lahore and Amritsar. The sponsors o f the Khalsa Diwan Society, seem to have a very clear picture o f the programmes o f the Singh Sabhas and the Khalsa Diwans and later the C hief Khalsa Diwan (formed in 1902). The Singh Sabhas and the K halsa Diwans aimed at introducing Punjabi in G u rm u kh i scrip t, fo u n d in g o f new K h a lsa sch o o ls and colleges, propagating G u ru ’s m ission, to do aw ay w ith B rahm anical rituals, publishing books, journals and newspapers in Punjabi, making translations o f the sacred works and inculcating pride in the Sikh youth in their tradition and history. The Khalsa Diwan Society w ent further in some respects. The Punjab Singh Sabhas and the K halsa Diwans worked in unison with the British rulers. They had no row with the governm ent. But the Canadian Sikh or the East Indian immigrants had a clash with the majority groups and also the Canadian governm ent over very vital issues that threatened the very existence o f the East Indian immigrants. They were deprived o f their rights to vote and debarred from bringing their families to Canada and were given utterly d isc rim in a tin g tre a tm e n t in resp ect o f h o u sin g , job opportunities, many civil rights and immigration laws. For decades together the K halsa Diwan Society worked as the sole representative body o f the East Indians in the dominion o f Canada. This society took upon itself to fight against all the difficulties that confronted the Indians— the Sikhs, the Hindus and the Muslims, relating to political, economic, social and religious problems.

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Establishment of the Khalsa Diwan Society

The Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver, came into being on 22 July 1906, with the special efforts o f Bhai Arjan Singh Malik. It was registered on 13 March 1909. Bhai Sewa Singh was its first president, Bhai Bhag Singh, first secretary-cum-treasurer and Bhai Bhola Singh second secretary and accountant. Sant Teja Singh, who arrived in Vancouver in O ctober 1908, helped in framing certain important rules for the functioning o f the Gurdwara in Vancouver. These rules formed the basis o f the constitution of the Khalsa Diwan Society. Constitution of the Khalsa Diwan Society

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The corporate name o f the society was ‘The Khalsa Diwan Society’. The above office-bearers were to constitute the executive comm ittee o f the society until the first general m eeting o f the society was held. The future annual general meeting o f the society was to be fixed on the first Sunday of April each year or at such other tim e as might be decided by a majority vote o f the members present at any meeting. At the annual general meeting an executive committee consisting o f five mem bers was to be elected as president, secretary, treasurer, second secretary and accountant as referred to above. The executive comm ittee could appoint additional members if needed and the managem ent o f the affairs o f the society w as vested in the executive comm ittee. The society could be dissolved by resolution of a general m eeting supported by the vote o f a majority o f the members of the society present at the meeting. The objects o f the society were: a) To appoint ministers o f the Sikh religion to officiate in B.C. and elsewhere, b) to appoint missionaries o f the Sikh religion to attend to scattered Sikh people in B.C. and elsewhere, c) to manage the affairs o f the Sikh tem ple at 1866, second Avenue, west, Vancouver. The above constitution was approved and signed by the society’s president Sewa Singh before a com m issioner for taking affidavits within British Columbia, in the m atter o f the ‘Benevolent Societies A ct’ and Amending Acts and in the matter o f ‘The K halsa Diwan Society’ (in the Dominion of Canada, county o f Vancouver, Province o f British Columbia) on 13 March 1909. Rules and regulations for the management and conduct o f the property and business of the Khalsa Diwan Society or any branches thereof were www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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framed and approved on 7 February 1915, at a meeting. These were signed by the president and secretary, on 12 February 1915, and got registered in Victoria on 23 February 1915. These regulations comprising 51 items included, in detail, the objects, membership, meetings, voting by members, office bearers, etc., o f the K halsa Diwan Society. The members o f the society could be active or associate ones. Active mem bers had to contribute one dollar per month tow ards the general fund o f the society and the associate m em ber was to contribute fifty cents per month. Only the active m em ber had the right to vote at all general, special, annual or ordinary meetings o f the society provided he had made full payment o f his contribution, at least a day before the date o f such meeting. The executive comm ittee had the pow er to admit or refuse any applicant as either an active or associate m em ber o f the society. The committee could also reduce the privileges o f any active members to those o f associate members. For holding a m eeting seven days notice to its members was necessary. To transact business a quorum o f 25 mem bers was essential. The executive comm ittee was to hold its meetings every three months at 1866-Second Avenue West, V ancouver, or at any other agreed place. If any other society desired to merge with this society it could do so by surrendering all the rights and privileges o f that society to the Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver. The society later named itself as ‘K halsa D iwan Society’ deleting ‘T he’ before its name. Through an extraordinary resolution passed on 13 January 1924, the society decided to hold election o f the committee in future at the occasion o f the anniversary celebration o f the birthday of G uru Gobind Singh in place o f first Sunday o f April. Through an extraordinary resolution passed on 13 February 1932, it was decided that the monthly dues (subscription for membership) should be reduced from $ 1-00 to 50 cents and from 50 cents to 25 cents on account o f very hard times. This was only for the year 1932. Vide an amendment N o. 53, m ade on 19 February 1933, the m em bers o f the executive committee, were required to pay one dollar a month and the other members were to pay only 25 cents a month. Through an amendm ent No. 58 it was passed on 19 February 1933, that the body and existence o f the Diwan (K halsa Diwan Society) and the tem ple be kept functioning as long as there were even forty Sikhs in the province o f British Columbia. A majority vote could not take any other action contrary to the above in this clause and if and when the temple was finally to be dissolved the cash and the property should revert to the ow nership o f the Shiromani G urdw ara Prabandhak Committee, Amritsar. www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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Punjab, India. The said property and cash could not be used for any other purpose. By an extraordinary resolution passed unanimously on 18 June 1933, at an extraordinary general meeting o f the members o f the Khalsa Diwan Society, the by-law no. 58 o f February 1933, which had reference to the transfer o f the property o f the tem ples to the S hrom ani G u rd w ara Prabhandhak Committee, Amritsar (India) was revoked. The m em bers o f the execu tiv e com m ittee o f the so ciety w ere designated as directors o f the society. In the early stages the directors were mostly mill workers or lumbermen, fuel dealers and farm w orkers who had lacklustre personalities which seemingly w'ere not as tall as their interest in the work and sincerity for the community. A lm ost all o f them were illiterate people who could not even properly put their signatures on the papers even in their own m other tongue script. D espite all such handicaps it was really great o f them to have m anaged their comm unity affairs so well. Literacy is indeed a great asset but illiteracy is not so great a drag as to deprive a man o f his inherent intelligence and com m onsense. Those illiterate Sikhs generally took very intelligent decisions that served the interests o f the com m unity in the best possible manner. Some vital changes were effected in the constitution in 1942 and 1952, which resulted in creating unpleasant relationship betw een the principal Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver, and its branches. In due course of time, say from the 1960s o n w ard s, ed ucated and sk illed m en and professionals started com ing to Canada. As a result, the K halsa Diwan Society began to have on its executive comm ittees doctors, engineers, realtors, teachers, accountants, office w orkers, m echanics, insurance agents, besides well- positioned skilled w orkers in the mills and factories. From time to time the am endm ents in the constitution o f the society continued to be made to bring it closer to the tenets and practices o f Sikhism. Through extraordinary resolutions passed on 28 Septem ber 1969, the Khalsa Diwan Society decided that the name o f this body could be called The Society’ where needed. And pursuant to the ‘Societies A ct’ the society altered its objects which in future would aim to foster the spirit o f fellowship and brotherhood amongst followers o f Sikh religion and would create a spirit of goodwill with their fellow Canadians o f all creeds, races and religions. They w ould instruct the children and youths o f the Sikh community in the language o f their ancestors and in history, philosophy, culture, heritage o f the Sikhs and India as a whole. They would run schools for the purpose as elucidated in the aforesaid objectives. They were also www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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to encourage the physical fitness o f the children and the youth, and work for the moral, religious and social welfare o f the members o f the society. The constitution o f the society was modified and redrafted again and again, m aking it every time more comprehensive, defining the procedures o f election, duties, responsibilities and powers o f the office bearers or the directors o f the society. Every time it was the object o f these people to make the rules Sikh-oriented, as far as possible, but at the same time not partisan or against any other religion. These amendm ents included the ones for which resolutions were passed in the meetings o f the society on the following dates: 5 D ecember 1971, 20 June 1975, 27 January 1977, 30 D ecember 1979, 27 December 1980, 18 O ctober 1981, 31 December 1983 and 15 February 1986, some o f which were got registered with the governm ent and some o f them got held up for disputes over them, as some o f the changes effected in the constitution in 1952 and 1969 were not acceptable to many members o f the Sikh sangat. The space here does not perm it detailed discussion o f the various items o f the constitution and the innum erable am endm ents made through extraordinary resolutions. The large num ber o f am endm ents passed in 1969, 1986 and detailed redrafting o f the constitution in O ctober 1993 are available for study. In 1978 the executive comm ittee o f the Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver, was elected for the first tim e by a ballot voting system. Through a special resolution passed in accordance with the by-laws o f the society on 18 O ctober 1981, it was resolved to amend by-laws of the K halsa Diwan Society, Vancouver, B.C. Section 5 o f Chapter X to be replaced as follows: “Sm oking, drinking, gam bling and card playing shall strictly be prohibited in the boundaries o f the G urdw ara and signs relating to it shall be displayed in the boundaries o f the Gurudwara. Persons entering inside the tem ple in the presence o f Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji, with shoes or uncovered head or under the influence o f any kind o f liquor shall strictly be prohibited. The executive shall have full powers and responsibility to enforce these conditions”. In 1970 it was officially endorsed that in future the term ‘the society’ might be used for the K halsa Diwan Society if and where needed. -All such special resolutions had to be sent for endorsement to the Registrar o f Companies, Victoria, as these could be effective only with effect from the date th e R e g istra r sig n ed or accepted them. The incorporation number allotted to the Khalsa Diwan Society was 216 Soc or S 216 under which the society functions and corresponds with the governm ent even today.

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A special resolution was passed in accordance with the by-laws o f the society on 31st December 1983, that the constitution o f the Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver, B.C., relating to section I o f the aims and objects, article-II o f the constitution, be amended by deleting the same and substituting, therefore, as a new section-I as follows: “To promote the teachings and philosophy o f the Sikh religion as contained in Sri Guru Granth Sahib and in the writings o f ten G urus (Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji to Sri Guru G obind Singh Ji) and also to observe, maintain and promote Sikh religion and its traditions in accordance with the Sikh rehat m aryada (the Sikh way o f life) published by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, Amritsar, Punjab, India.” Through a special resolution on 23 April 1986, it was resolved that the constitution o f the society be amended by deleting the words ‘Sikh Temple’ in object num ber 4 and substituting in their place the w ord ‘Gurdwara’, later G urdw ara Sahib. M any changes in the constitution and its by-laws were made in 1986. The constitution was largely improved by am endm ents in 1993. It was made very exhaustive and com prehensive, discussing the society’s purposes, membership (eligibility, qualifications and requirem ents) term of membership, rights and obligations o f mem bers, loss and restoration o f membership, meetings o f members, quorum, adjournment, voting, minutes of meetings, election o f the executive comm ittee, etc. These resolutions and by- laws were passed by the society on 30 O ctober 1993, and w ere got registered in V ictoria on 8 N ovem ber 1993. Financial S tructure of the Society

In the early stages, the receipts or income o f the society comprised the membership fee o f the society’s constituents and the donations o f the Sikhs. Almost always the accounts o f the society were kept above board and annually audited by the chartered auditors. During the early period the income o f the society w as low and so w ere their expenses. The statements were divided into two parts, receipts and disbursem ents. Earlier disbursements included various items as longer, light, heat, water, office expenses, phone charges, religious books, etc., and in the later stages more items came to be included as dharam prachar (missionary work), Punjabi school, stationery and printing and postage, new spaper subscriptions, contributions to certain funds raised for India. From the brief chart below we can discover regular rise in income and often rise in disbursem ents o f the society, despite many handicaps.

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Canadian Sikhs Through a Century (1897-1997) Year 1923 1925 1931 1967 1969 1974 1981 1986 1996

Income $10,424.58 $13,649.22 $17,413.56 $18,494.13 $28,123.22 $100,924.10 $442,886.00 $674,221.00 $2863,645.00

Disbursement $9,014.76 $12,989.02 $ 7,837.94 $11,106.70 $18,883.26 $99,815.94 $449,583.00 $723,826.00 $2980,291.00

From the above figures we notice that until 1974, the expenses were kept below the incom e and with effect from 1981 disbursements were above the income, presumably due to more ambitious development plans o f the society. The Sikhs gave donations generously w henever there was an appeal for money from the G urdw ara rostrum. In the early stages the number o f the contributors was very small. From 1908 to 1941 it fluctuated considerably. The population o f the Sikhs was limited, hence their donations. The offerings made at the Gurdwara had a notable upward rise with the increase o f the Sikh population in B.C. With the passage o f time there was a rem arkable rise in the financial position o f the Sikhs because o f their lucrative professions and higher educational accom plishments. From 1904 to 1908 the number o f the East Indians rose to 5185 and in 1911 the num ber fell down to 2342. In 1915, the num ber o f the Sikhs dwindled to 1099 and in 1918; it came down to 700. The census of 1921 showed their num ber as 951 and in 1941 there were 700 Sikh men and 165 Sikh w om en over 19 years o f age. So it is difficult to imagine how w ith this small Sikh population they maintained their society and the shrines. Even w hen their number was reduced so low they were never disheartened. Undoubtedly, the flame o f faith in their religion burnt within them more florescently than it does today. The income suffered reduction w'hen the jo b opportunities o f the Sikhs declined. B ut their spirit for offerings to the society remained undiminished. That spirit was matchless. The Sikhs should be measured by the size o f their hearts and not by the size o f their bank accounts. The K halsa Diwan Society never turned their back to India — their ancestral land. W henever Indian governm ent or Indian people or In d ian G urdw ara Com m ittees were in need o f financial aid the society never

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lagged behind. W hether there was famine, earthquake, w ar or a morcha, a delegation to be sent back to their home country or London or O ttawa, the society, besides collections and donations from the East Indians at large, contributed from its own funds as well. In various fields— religious, social and political, the K halsa Diwan Society made remarkable contributions, which deeply influenced the life of the Sikhs in particular and other Indians in general. The society served as a cementing force for the Sikh community. It was a centripetal force which kept the Sikhs attracted to it. Even when there were m any more autonomous societies in Canada, the Khalsa Diwan Society, V ancouver, always played the role o f the representative body o f all the Canadian Sikhs. At every forum the V ancouver society, being the oldest in the country, had an edge over all others with its voice heard every where. We may discuss the role o f this society over its long period o f tim e under the distinct categories o f its activities. Religious Role

In fact, to start with, the religious role o f this society was its mainstay. The society built a Gurdwara at 2nd Avenue Vancouver, through the funds raised from the Sikhs, offered from their meagre income and inaugurated it on 19 January 1908. Regular congregations were held in the G urdw ara and the purchase o f grocery and all the necessary arrangem ents o f running the langer there were looked after by the society. Daily free mess was available to every one. Paid priests were employed to perform the routine Gurdwara services. W hen a priest w as called from India his passage expenses were met by the society. Similarly when the tem porary services of the kirtani jathas, parcharaks (preachers) and scholars o f Sikh history to deliver lectures to the congregations in the Gurdwaras were requisitioned by the society from India their journey expenses were paid by the society itself and arrangements for their board and lodging in V ancouver w ere also made by them. As the records point out, the Khalsa Diwan Society contributed $ 148,000 (a rounded figure) to religious and educational funds in India and Canada up to 1921. In 1921, the Khalsa Diwan Society remitted Sri N ankana Sahib shahidi tund collected at V ancouver to the Shiromani G urdw ara Prabandhak Committee, Amritsar. The contributions were remitted telegraphically to the SGPC Amritsar, towards relief fund for the Sikhs who were wounded in the Guru Ka Bagh morcha in 1922.

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C.F. Andrews, an English Christian missionary, saw with his own eyes the police brutalities on the Sikhs, in 1922, being committed during the Guru Ka Bagh m orcha. He was deeply touched by it and pleaded the cause o f the Sikhs with Lt. G overnor o f the Punjab, Michael O ’ Dyer, who stopped the action forthwith. A ndrews was invited to Canada by the K halsa Diwan Society Vancouver, in 1929, and met the expenses of his passage etc., from their funds. Besides contributing to the needy religious places in India the society looked to the financial problems o f the G urdwaras in Canada and the U.S. as well. Very often this society gave financial aid to the societies at Victoria, N ew W estminster, A bbotsford, Fraser Mills, etc., to manage their affairs particularly relating to the G urdwaras. For example, vide entry in the society’s records the society donated $ 1000 to other Sikh temples in British^ Columbia. The Khalsa Diwan Society also contributed to the construction o f the G urdw ara at Stockton, California, in 1927. In all the G urdwaras placed under the care o f this society the recitation o f gurbani or the holy com positions in the m orning and evening was the daily routine. The gurpurbs or the anniversaries relating to the Gurus have always been observed by the society with absolute solemnity. In order to enlighten the congregation with the glorious past o f the Sikh community lectures by the learned scholars were arranged by the society. Amritprachar was often conducted by the society to keep the K halsa spirit in radiant splendour. W hen a ja th a o f ten persons was sent from Vancouver to participate in the Jaito morcha in N abha State (India) their journey entailed an amount o f $ 2889 that was paid by the K halsa Diwan Society. An amount of $ 4000/- was also sent with the shahidi ja th a , through a draft in the name of the jathedar o f Sri Akal Takht, Amritsar. A sum o f $ 700 was also sent to meet the contingent expenses o f the shahidi ja th a . The ja th a comprising I ten men had started from V ancouver on 13 July and from Victoria on 17 July 1924. Thirteen more Sikhs joined the ja th a on their way to India at Shanghai. At Hong Kong four more and at Singapore ten and at Penang a few more joined them. The ja th a reached A m ritsar on 28 September 1924. People gave a rousing welcom e to them at the railway station. This jatha gave a boost to the m ovem ent. T he m o v em en t w as assuming the complexion o f an international problem. A few days later the leader and the deputy leader o f this ja th a , Bhai Bhagwan Singh and Bhai Harbans Singh respectively were arrested and after a brief trial were sentenced to imprisonment for two years on 15 D ecember 1924, and a fine of a thousand rupees each was also imposed on them. The other members of the jatha

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reached Jaito on 21 February 1925, where they were taken into custody. The deadlock finally ended w ith the A kalis com pleting th eir 101 akhandpaths on 6 A ugust 1925. In view o f the stringent financial position o f the SGPC, Amritsar, a sum of $ 5000 was sent to overcome their crisis in 1924. A part o f it was collected from the other B.C. societies. An amount o f S 7700 was sent.in 1924 and $ 3000 in 1927 to the Sikh temples in India as donations. In response to an appeal from Sri Anandpur Sahib, the Khalsa Diwan Society gave financial help to them in 1924. When after the conclusion o f the morcha, an akhandpath was arranged at Gangsar (Jaito) in 1925, the society sent an amount o f $ 200 to meet the expenses of the akhandpath. A delegation was sent to Amritsar on a religious mission in 1982, incurring an expenditure o f $11,981. Very often, Sikh conferences were held at different places in Canada. The Khalsa D iw an Society had been invariably alw ays sending its donations and delegates to attend the conferences where the topics relating to Sikhism were discussed and their problems highlighted. The preservation of the Sikh identity had been the main objective which society had always stoutly advocated. The Khalsa Diwan Society took a great decision in 1969 to undertake a major project o f building a splendid edifice o f a Gurdwara at 8000, Ross Street, Vancouver, and shift to it from the old Gurdwara at 1866, 2nd Avenue, Vancouver. 2.75 acres o f uninhabited municipal land on the Ross Street had been purchased for $ 75,000 by the society a little earlier. The magnificent building o f the Gurdwara was completed in the first week of April 1970 at the cost o f $ 6,60,000. On the Baisakhi day o f 1970 Sri Guru Granth Sahib was brought in procession from the old Gurdwara and installed in the new building. It was a tragic and inexcusable decision on the pari o f the Khalsa Diwan Society to have sold a historic monument o f the Sikh community— the old 2nd Avenue Gurdwara, Vancouver. It could have been retained or preserved as a Sikh memorial o f an indomitable spirit o f a matchless community on this earth. W ith this sacred shrine hundreds o f Sikh | community’s momentous decisions and programmes were linked. This Gurdwara was the priceless repository o f the unforgettable memories enshrined in its holy edifice that gave them strength for sixty long years to | fight the injustice and aggression perpetrated against them by the white

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racial majority. This Gurdwara was the embodiment o f the unique fortitude with which the dauntless pioneer Sikhs, bereft o f their human and political rights, braved the ruthless onslaughts o f the unfavourable times and hostile population. The rem arkable building o f this G urdw ara was sold away for a few thousand bucks and an invaluable place o f w orship to which they had recourse for peace o f mind and recouping o f strength to fight for their inalienable rights was lost to them for ever. Sometimes later in 1979 a big slice o f land measuring 2.78 acres with a building on it, adjoining the Ross Street G urdw ara was purchased fora sum o f $ 5,20,000. The new building was named Guru Am ar DasNiwas, which began to be used as a Punjabi school, a Sikh library, a Sikh museum and the G urdw ara guest house. A part o f it was m arked to be used as a parking lot. 8000 - Ross Street Marine Drive, Vancouver, B.C. Sikh Temple, has always been the hub o f all Sikh activity. M ost o f the programmes relating to Sikh religion and Sikh com m unity w ere conducted there till more Gurdwaras in the G reater V ancouver w ere built. These Gurdwaras began to have their ow n independent com m ittees and separate management. But for more than h alf a century the K halsa Diwan Society held its total sway over the entire Sikh population o f B.C. Voters cam e from distant places— som etimes covering hundreds o f kms to cast their votes to elect the office­ bearers or directors o f the Khalsa D iw an Society. Despite so many other Gurdwaras in G reater V ancouver and adjoining areas o f B.C. the K halsa Diwan Society o f Ross Street enjoyed a distinct status am ong the Sikhs and the B.C. governm ent. The glory o f the Sikh panth in a foreign land remained preserved in the hands o f the management o f the Khalsa Diwan Society for nearly a century. The nagarkirtans or religious processions started since 1979, are organized by the society. The local Sikhs and the people from the adjoining areas participate in the processions in thousands, displaying notable Sikh presence in Canada. These processions also give the non-Sikhs an idea of Sikh unity and an inalienable attachm ent with their religion, which they hold so dear to their hearts. The nagarkirtan displays a unique gaiety and splendour *is participants w ear their choicest and most colourful clothes. As the p ro cessio n m arches on its m arked route, the non-S ikhs, particularly the w hites >vho come out o f their houses and line up on the road to have a full view o f the wonderful procession headed by a number o f glam orously decorated floats, simply feel enchanted and en th ralled by the celestial and unending rippling waves after waves o f th o u sa n d s and

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thousands o f devoted m archers. M any o f the view ers say that they had never seen such a spectacular procession m oving in such a disciplined manner, every m archer brim m ing with a sort o f divine bliss. The society also organizes gurm at camps w here they involve the young boys and girls w ho otherw ise are likely to go astray under the influence o f western culture. From tim e to tim e the K halsa D iw an Society has been publishing and distributing Sikh literature, free o f any charge, in the form of small booklets and m agazines. For the last m any years, the society’s magazine, K halsa D iw an Gazette, has been publishing articles on Sikh religion and Sikh history. The Khalsa Diw an Society V ancouver’s R esource Centre, first o f its kind in Canada, built by the Sikhs, w as constructed at the cost o f about five million dollars and opened for use in July 1996. It com prises a Sikh library named G uru H argobind Sahib Library to m ark the 400th birthday of Guru Hargobind Sahib. This library sized 8004 square feet includes a slide room, audio visual room , a private study room , stacks for 15000 books, study carrels and read in g areas. T h ere is a Sikh m u seu m , a commodious well furnished lounge for senior citizens with seating capacity of about 150 persons, to sit and chat over their past experiences in their new adopted hom e— Canada, and a little bit o f their dom estic problem s which deeply bother som e o f them . This lounge includes a service kitchen as well. These senior citizens, w ho are held, as against the w estern society, in high esteem in Indian culture, alw ays receive respectful treatm ent at the Resource C entre and are often rather alm ost alw ays entertained with tea and various types o f eatables. The centre is provided w ith dorm itories/ residence including private accom m odation for the granthi and ragi Singhs and visiting guests from aroun d the w orld. T he R eso u rce C en tre is dedicated to the first Sikh visitors to V ancouver in the year 1897. The society has been purchasing, for its sm all library, religious books and calendars alm ost ever since its inception, spending hardly a few dollars every year as the records show. Though the necessary attention could not be paid to the library but it continued its existence over the decades. The main reason o f inattention to the library could hardly be any other than the lack of readers— m ost o f the im m igrants being illiterate. U nluckily most of the Canadian Sikhs are not library - m inded even today. High scholarship is alm ost rare am ong them . * Throughout its long history the purchase o f the grocery for the langar has been one o f the m ajor expenses o f the society. The langar is a very important institution o f the Sikhs and its im pact on the Sikhs and the nonSikhs has been enorm ous and its role has been w idely revolutionary.

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Most o f the records o f the income and expenditure o f the society year-wise are available with the society duly audited by the chartered accountants. The major items o f expenditure have been listed below in a sample study: Distribution

1982

1983

1984

Deg and Langar

$65,455.00

$73,300.00

$79,543.00

Dharam Parchar

14,930.00

16,936.00

15,719.00

Donations to other Institutions

17,063.00

24,547.00

33,941.00

Procession

13,286.00

13,387.00

9,758.00

Punjabi School

28,092.00

25,891.00

21,992.00

In the early stages also w hen there was no Punjabi school and no processions w ere taken out, lan g a r w as one o f the m ajor items of expenditure. For example, $ 2200/- (on langar in 1924), $ 984.28 (in 1925), $ 1721.39 (in 1929), $ 847.58 (in 1931) and $ 422 (in 1934). Social Role

The social w orks also actively came within the purview o f the Khalsa Diwan Society. The social services were extended beyond the limits of their religious and territorial boundaries. W henever there was an appeal or need o f financial help anywhere in this country or in the outside world, the society responded readily. Despite their scanty resources, their liberality' was, allow me to say frankly, much more generous and instantaneous in those earlier times as compared to the society’s response at present. It may be due to the present society’s larger expenses in their multifarious activities regarding their shrines, the com m unity and their financial constraints. The old spirit o f sym pathetic consideration o f the needy has been undoubtedly slackened with the passage o f time, though not totally missing. When there is an appeal to help in the calamitous situations caused by the nature’s furious and unbounded wrath in any part o f the world, this society and the Sikh com m unity never fails to rise equal to the occasion They have been told by Sikhism that it is more blessed to give than to receive and the hands that help are holier than the lips that pray. To give a deeper peep into the generous hearts o f the pioneer Sikhs a few o f the decisions taken by the society in the course o f their c h e q e r e d span o f life over the decades are given below. This information is based

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on the Khalsa Diwan Society’s records. I suggest that records properly arranged, year-wise, filling up the gaps by tracing the missing links, may be kept in the library maintained in the Resource Centre. A few photocopies may be prepared for the use o f the readers in the library itself. It is a very valuable record o f the Canadian Sikh com m unity’s history. It must be treasured most carefully for future generations. A comm unity w ithout its old records is w ithout its past. How would that past be built w ithout the old records? Every nation has its past and future and w ithout it their existence is ephemeral and volatile. Through their orders o f disenfranchisem ent in 1907 the Canadian government had deprived or strongly discouraged the East Indians from the study o f law, pharm acy, m edicine and engineering. It was really thoughtful o f the K halsa Diwan Society, V ancouver, to decide in 1909 to send Sikh students to the United States for higher studies in medicine, chemistry, engineering and agriculture on scholarships from the society. The names o f such students w ho w ere o f high m oral character and upholders o f the Sikh traditions were invited from the C hief Khalsa Diwan, Amritsar, to be supported for higher education. To promote education, the Khalsa Diwan Society had earm arked 200 dollars for the Sikh Kanya M ahavidyala, Ferozepur, in 1910. Bhag Singh, President o f the K halsa Diwan Society, V ancouver, lost his wife on 30 January 1914, and his daughter Karam Kaur was announced to be looked after by the society but a lady named K artar Kaur took responsibility to raise her. She refused to accept any help from the society in the form o f an allowance for bringing up the girl. On 5 Septem ber 1914, Bhag Singh was shot dead by Bela Singh and the Khalsa Diwan Society took upon itself the duty o f looking after the education and all other requirements o f his daughter from their own funds. She was sent to the Punjab to receive education at the Sikh K anya Vidyala, Kairon, district Amritsar. The Khalsa Diwan Society met her expenses. Similarly two Sikh families suffered tragedies in the 1930s. Both parents lost their lives in these families and on the appeal o f the K halsa Diwan Society many members of the comm unity came forward to look after their children. A childless woman took the girl to her family and raised her as her own while some other families raised the boys. Shortly thereafter the Khalsa Diwan Society constituted an Orphans Committee to look after the upkeep and education o f the orphan children. In 1914, famine broke out in U.P. (India). Under the leadership o f this society a U.P. Famine R elief Comm ittee was formed in V ancouver that collected and remitted sums o f money to India. /w w .sikhnationalarchives.coir

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The Khalsa Diwan Society sent financial aid to the anti-apartheid movement in South A frica in 1914 and more help was promised to them to be sent after collection from the people. This society sent a sum o f 2,000 dollars as financial assistance to the California Diwan Society to meet an em ergency requirem ent o f funds for constructing approach roads to their G urdwara at Stockton in 1918. The executive comm ittee o f the Khalsa Diwan Society duly passed all amounts sanctioned as assistance to various institutions or individuals before these w ere sent. The general house o f the society sanctioned an amount o f $ 500 to be donated to the General Hospital, Vancouver in 1919. Besides that contribution many individual mem bers also donated liberally to the hospital. Jallianwala Bagh (Amritsar) massacre was a turning point in Indian history. From 13 April 1919, a new chapter in India’s freedom movement started. H undreds o f unarmed and innocent people were shot dead by the orders o f a mad military officer Brigadier R.E.H. Dyer. It is a lesson of history that the unprovoked suppression or the bullet that kills an innocent man ignites fire o f rebellion, w hich cannot be extinguished easily. Jallianwala Bagh M emorial Fund was instituted to help the families whose bread-earners had been killed. The K halsa D iw an Society sent their contribution to this fund in 1920. The K halsa Diwan Society remitted a sum o f one thousand dollars to the Sikh League tow ards its Prisoners’ Families R elief Fund in 1920. The Khalsa Diwan Society came to the rescue o f the students in Canada or the United States w henever Indian students were in trouble. In 1921, the students from Punjab (India) studying in Seattle were ordered by court to deposit certain amounts immediately. Those students were detained behind bars. They were likely to be deported in the event o f their failure to deposit the amounts against their names as bail securities. The Khalsa Diwan Society, V ancouver, im m ediately discussed the matter. Many m em bers o f the society came forward to deposit the amounts as bail securities and the students were got released on bail. The K halsa Diwan Society sent in reply to a telegram from Pardesi Khalsa an amount o f two thousand rupees telegraphically in 1921, to assist the paper that had fallen on bad days for want o f funds. In 1922, two Sikh students from the Punjab, namely, Kehar Singh Dhudeka and A chhar Singh Dhutt were detained by the government. The society arranged their bail security with the help o f a lawyer. The funds were raised by the society to deposit the security amount and pay the lawyer’s fee, keeping in view the welfare and education o f the Sikh students wVi/vv .sikhnationalarchives.com

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from the Punjab. It was really admirable for the society to com e to the rescue of the needy when none was there to help. The same year, that is, in 1922, it was decided through a resolution by the society to provide a room as lodging to the students from the Punjab. This was in line with the society’s policy o f prom oting education both in Canada and in India. Donations were sent to the Earthquake R elief Fund, Japan, in 1923. And also as per 1923 report an am ount o f $ 1851.30 w as given for charitable purposes. It was resolved by the K halsa Diwan Society to donate 2000 dollars to the General Hospital, V ancouver in 1924, in response to their appeal for financial help. According to the report o f 1925, disbursem ents show an am ount o f $ 3,800.27 under the item ‘O rphans’, a contribution made to orphanages. In 1925, the society stood bail security o f 500 dollars for one Bhai Aya Singh who had trouble with the C anadian law. It was resolved at the m eeting o f the Khalsa Diwan Society by a majority vote to send a sum o f 3000 dollars to the K halsa High School, Sri Anandpur Sahib, as financial help in 1926. The money was immediately remitted to the said school. When the Sikh population in Vancouver was reduced to a considerable extent and many o f the Sikhs had shifted over to the USA due to econom ic crisis in Canada, the K halsa D iw an Society was constrained to pass a resolution in March 1927 that no societies, ja th a s or organizations should be sent from anywhere, particularly from their home country to collect funds from Canada, as m any Sikhs leaving C anada had caused dw indling of their income to a great extent. Besides that, they needed money for some of their own projects to be accom plished. They expressed regrets to their Indian brethren for their helplessness to raise funds for them and to send donations just on asking as they did earlier. This situation did not last long, nor did the fund-raising agencies take it seriously. They continued making requests for financial help and it continued to be given to them. In 1929 the society donated a sum o f 100 dollars to the G eneral Hospital, Vancouver, and told them that if possible, this financial help o f one hundred dollars would be continued regularly in the years to come. Some individual philanthropists like Mayo Singh donated very liberally to the hospitals. His beneficiaries included hospitals at Victoria, Duncan, Ladysmith, N anaim o, etc. He sent large am ounts to G urdw aras and educational institutions in the Punjab. K apoor Singh Sidhu also liberally contributed to the Sikh com m unity. His tw o daughters, who were doctors, w w w .sikhnatlonalarchives.com

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set up a hospital at their ancestral village Aaur near Phillaur, in Nawanshahr district (India). A t present i.e. in 1990s A sa Singh Johal is n atio n ally known philanthropist. He donates millions o f dollars to the hospitals and other denominational institutions in Canada. He was awarded the order o f British Colum bia and the order o f Canada. In 1935. the Khalsa Diwan Society sent donations to the Shrom2ni G urdwara Prabandhak Committee, Amritsar, to be forwarded to the Quetta Earthquake R elief Fund. The society sent contributions o f $ 1500 to some societies in India in 1940. From time to time people from the Punjab had been visiting Canada for co llectio n o f funds fo r v ario u s p u rp o ses in c lu d in g education, construction o f G urdwaras. raising o f mem orials, etc.. and returned home with bulging purses. Such groups continued com ing w ithout any break and receiving large donations from the society and from the people on the society’s appeal. On the initiative o f the K halsa Diwan Society, G uru Nanak Temple Surrey sent 2100 dollars in 1978-79 tow ards Flood R elief Fund in India and also sent 3000 dollars to the Family R elief Fund o f Baisakhi 1978 martyrs (Amritsar). In the year o f 1978, on the appeal o f the Khalsa Diwan Society, funds were raised and an am ount o f $ 8930 was sent to the governm ent o f India tow ards the Cyclone R elief Fund. The society had also contributed $ 2000 towards Indira R elief Fund to help the refugees from Bangladesh. As a measure o f relief for the fam ilies o f the Sikhs martyred in April 1978 at A m ritsar, all societies and organizations of Canada raised a substantial am ount o f $ 60,000 and sent the same to India for distribution am ong the suffering families. In com m em oration o f the B abbar A kalis who laid down their lives in the Punjab in 1924-26 the Khalsa Diwan Society holds games in Vancouver annually since 1933 inviting team s to participate in the tournament from India, the U.K., the U.S. and other countries besides team from different parts o f Canada. Trophies are given to the w inning teams. Earlier, more stress was laid on the Punjabi game o f kabbadi. But o f late, the society has introduced more games as volley ball, basket ball, soccer, floor hockey, field hockey, badm inton, tennis and w eight-lifting. These games are normally held on long weekend in May every year. There is always aver}' good arrangement o f free mess (langar) close to the playgrounds, for the view ers and visitors. The expenses o f the games, the board and lodging of the teams and some times their tickets to and from Canada are borne b) the Khalsa Diwan Society. The bills generally rise to thousands of dollars.

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This two or three-day game festival is a great attraction for the G reater Vancouverites in particular and the people o f B.C. in general. In 1982,the K halsa Diwan Society purchased 28 acres o f land in Richmond, B.C. to build a sports complex. But for reasons best known to the organizers the building o f the com plex could not materialize so far. The people or institutions in distress seeking immediate help from the Khalsa Diwan Society received instant attention. In the earlier stages, if some of the fresh im migrants were w ithout any em ploym ent and had no means to fall back upon, they were advised by the society not to beg any help from the governm ent. They should rather come to the society and get the needed help, free mess from the G u ru 's langar and other assistance from the society. For individuals and also for the whole comm unity, the K halsa Diwan Society did all the necessary com m unications with India, O ttaw a or the B.C. government. The society took care o f their people’s employment, housing, health and welfare problems. It actively helped the Sikhs to change their economic fortunes for the better. In the earlier days when the num ber o f the Sikhs in B.C. was small, the Sikhs o f different tow ns generally shared the celebrations o f their religious festivals. For Baisakhi they would assem ble at Victoria, for Guru Gobind Singh’s birth day celebrations they would assemble at Vancouver and for the celebration o f Guru N anak’s birthday at Abbotsford. This was not a regular practice. They did it only sometimes. In 1965 the society sent blankets worth $ 973.46 for distribution among the poor and needy in India. G iving charity, donations or contributions to the people in need is prized as a religious duty o f the Sikhs. They must share their income with those who badly need it. This practice, am ong the Sikhs, seems to be a m otivating im pulse for sarbat da bhala (m ay peace and prosperity come to one and all). Almost every annual report o f disbursem ents o f the K halsa Diwan Society has on its list an item o f ‘donations’ which som etimes amounts to thousands of dollars. For example, in 1981 the society sent donations o f $ 31,367 to Gurdwara Hazur Sahib (India) and $ 27,505 to G urdw ara Tam Taran (India) besides donations to other institutions to the tune o f $ 13, 471. the same year— total yearly donations being $ 72.343. In the annual ; rePort of expenditure under the year 1984 the donations given amounted to S 33,941/- and in the year 1987 to $ 20.346/-. The Khalsa Diwan Society is never to refuse help w henever a needy person comes to them. This is one o f the cardinal teachings o f Sikhism that they observe in letter and spirit. w ww .sikhnationalarchives.com

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In 1993 a group o f Sri Lanka tourists had to wait for four or five days at Vancouver before they could get flight for their return journey. The airport authorities sent them to Ross Street G urdwara (Vancouver) where the Khalsa Diwan Society made free arrangem ent o f their stay and food. T he G u rd w aras alw ays p ro v id e free food to the h u n g ry and free accom modation to the homeless all over the world. Their holy Gurus had enjoined this noble practice upon the Sikhs. The other Sikh societies, such as, the G uru N anak Sikh Temple Society, Surrey, the Akali Singh Sikh Society, Vancouver, the Khalsa Diwan Society, A bbotsford, the K halsa D iw an Society, Victoria, the N anaksar Gur Sikh Temple Society and many others also help in religious as well as social programmes in India and in Canada. Since this chapter deals primarily with the activities and achievem ents o f the Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver— the oldest society in Canada, much has not been said about the other G urdwara societies in this study. Their role in the prom otion and preservation o f the Sikh values in true and pristine form is equally com m endable. I w ish, I could incorporate a chapter on the invaluable service rendered to the Sikh comm unity by these societies. The Akali Singh Sikh Society sent to governm ent o f India, during Indo-China war in 1962 a contribution o f 25000 dollars. This society also sent 7000 dollars as help tow ards A ndhra Cyclone Fund in 1978 and also contributed help o f 4800 dollars to the fam ilies o f A m ritsar Sikh martyrs o f Baisakhi 1978. The Khalsa Diwan Society is always ready to take part in any social w ork that can help the Sikh com m unity in any way. The departm ent o f the RCM P started vocational training courses for visible m inority sum m er em p lo y m en t p rogram m e in recen t years. On the sponsorship o f the Khalsa Diwan Society, V ancouver, many Sikh boys and girls got train in g and c o n seq u en tly w ere successful in getting employment. T he K h alsa D iw an S o c ie ty , w ith th e c o -o p e ra tio n of Health Departm ent, started a training course for running day care programmes in Guru Amar Das Niwas in V ancouver in 1995 w here 19 Sikh girls received training. The society had also organized a successful seminar for such training in 1996. Many Sikh women participated in it and it helped them to run day care programmes, making it a good source o f income for them. To have better relations with other religions and com m unities the K halsa Diwan Society alm ost invariably always sends its delegates to participate in interfaith and race relation programmes. At such functions the Sikh speakers explain the import o f Sikh faith and tell them how i Sikhism wishes well o f everybody in the world. They profess friendship | ■■v'A'w.sikhriationalarchives.com

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with everyone and hostility with none. They show full respect to every religion and in return expect full respect for their own. Political Role

The pioneer Sikhs had to suffer innumerable physical hardships for a number of years. It is most regrettable that the restrictions on the Indian people, who chose to make Canada their home like the A nglo-Saxons, Germans, Italians, Ukrainians, Chinese, etc., continued to be slapped for decades after decades. All the above comm unities were free from any restrictions or prohibitions. Those who professed to be a very civilized nation of the world subjected the East Indians to such indignities, inhuman and barbaric behaviour as is totally unworthy o f civilized people. Can a citizen of a country be deprived o f his right to vote for forty long years? When a perpetrator o f indignities loses a sense o f justice his conscience dies and he becomes insensitive to the pricks o f his conscience, which if preserved in an unimpaired form alw ays gives the best m essage to the man. Conscience is the keeper o f a virtuous m an in a hum an body. Whenever you feel, you can listen its voice bringing to you the most virtuous course to follow. The next step or the choice to follow rests with you. For full four decades, the Sikhs fought incessantly for their basic right of franchise. The K halsa Diwan Society spearheaded the m ovem ent for franchise and pursued it with undim inished passion. They sent delegations to Ottawa, London and Delhi with ice-cold response to their vigorous demands. The society spent thousands o f dollars on these trips. They argued for their rights fruitlessly at every level o f government. But ultim ately the good sense dawned on the Canadian governm ent in 1947 when India won its independence. The Komagata M aru was another confrontational issue that jolted the Sikh conscience all over the world. The refusal to the Kom agata M aru passengers to land on the Canadian soil had political and social overtones. The Canadians wanted to keep their country white even by throw ing to the winds the British citizens’ (Indians’) right to enter a British colony. Under the guidance o f the K h alsa D iw an S ociety the w h ite s’ conspiracy to rid them selves o f the East Indians by sending them to Honduras was foiled by vigorous opposition o f the Sikhs. The whites considered their skin-colour divinely superior to that o f the blacks and browns. This concept o f the whites gave a crushing blow to the conscience o f the non-whites over the centuries. The non-whites had to wage a ruthless struggle against this un-Christian, unethical and w w w .siK hnajonalarchives.com

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inhuman behaviour, which most unfortunately their white parents had instilled in their blood. The fight against racial discrim ination was bitter and prolonged though the society’s struggle promised them a victory in the end. But alas! The fight is still halfway. The discrimination based on colour o f the skin still persists. It may be on its last legs as some optimistically feel, but it is there. It is difficult to predict as to when this ugly blemish and accursed stigm a would disappear from the face of this earth. We discuss below a few examples o f the Khalsa Diwan Society’s role in various fields just to give an idea as to how much our predecessors possessed the political acumen and how valiantly they fought and how with their slender resources they helped the movem ent for India’s freedom and their struggle for their rights in their new homeland— Canada. The K halsa Diwan Society’s records point out that during the Sikhs first quarter o f a century in Canada, they were said to have spent around $ 147,463 until 1921, as assistance to the families o f political prisoners (S 2100), to political sufferers, ($ 30700), for the K omagata M aru affair ($ 50,000), on immigration cases ($ 30,000), and expenses on the deputations sent to Ottawa, London and India ($ 12000), on newspapers from India and Canada ($15000), the Congress— Tilak Swaraj Fund ($ 3333), and on sufferers from m assacres ($ 4330). For a tiny com m u n ity in a fo reig n land not properly settled, contributing such huge am ounts over a period o f few years reflects their noble spirit o f sharing their earnings with others and readiness to contribute to religious, social and political causes so dear to their hearts. If any other comm unity in such circum stances had done so much for their people they might have received a much more glorified ovation and appreciation at the hands o f their successors than these pioneers or our ancestors have received at our hands. I am simply charmed by their spirit o f sacrifice and achievements in the face o f horrifying odds. I salute them with all humility and respect at my command. It is due to their sufferings that our present generation enjoys opulence and abundance. It w as resolved in July 1920 by the K halsa Diwan Society that contribution should be sent to Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Fund for the suffering families. A sum o f ten thousand rupees was remitted for the purpose. M any people also rem itted their contributions individually through cheques. In June 1923, it was decided by the society that financial aid be sent to those such Sikh families in the Punjab whose bread-earners had been interned by the government in connection with the country’s independence

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m o vem ent. For larger collections appeals w ere generally m ade to the co n g reg a tio n s in the Gurdwaras for contributions which were readily given by the members o f the sangat. On an appeal from Sikh League, Jalandhar, for a donation o f S 1000 to defray the expenses o f the League whose session had been proposed to be held on 17-19 O ctober 1923, the amount was sent by the K halsa Diwan Society Vancouver, im m ediately.'O ther Gurdwaras were also requested to earmark amounts for such conferences. Similarly, the Swaraj Sabha approached the society for financial assistance which was remitted expeditiously. The Khalsa Diwan Society had never used the w ord ‘n o ’ for any appeal for financial aid from whichever com er o f the world it came. This was extrem ely noble o f the society; its liberality, generosity and humane approach had hardly any parallel in the world. Sare ja h a n ka d ardham are dil mein hai (The distress in the world pains our hearts). The Akali morchas in the Punjab in the tw enties o f the tw entieth century 'had both relig io u s and p o litical o v erto n es. G o v e rn m e n t’s interference in the affairs o f the Sikh G urdwaras was totally uncalled for and their attempt to put their own touts in control o f the religious institutions of the Sikhs was tantamount to blasphemy. The Sikhs wanted to bring the Sikh shrines under the control o f their own chosen or elected members, committed to the Sikh faith, and wanted o f the governm ent to make a law to this effect. The m ovem ent for such a dem and entailed sufficient funds, which the Canadian Sikhs shared adequately. In December 1925 the society unanim ously resolved that funds raised towards the political and religious prisoners’ relief fund be equitably distributed among the affected families o f the Doaba, Malwa, M ajha and the Babbar Akalis. During this period thousands o f dollars were sent to the ghadar party for their journals - G hadar and Ghadar di G oonj by the K halsa Diwan Society. Such donations were not recorded in the minute books. It seems that separate accounts were m aintained and w ere not produced before the auditors, for checking, or if at all such contributions were placed under the item ‘donations’ w ithout specifying the details o f the donations, as some of the donations could be placed under objection by the chartered accountants or the government. In May 1926, it w as resolved by the society that in future the okhandpath of Sri Guru Granth Sahib would be performed in Vancouver on 23 May every year in memory o f the Babbar Akali martyrs and the offerings collected on the occasion would be remitted to the families o f \aa .sikhi -atio idia ci .ives.com

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the Babbar martyrs. On the first akhandpath held on the above date, total offerings were over 1000 dollars. The amount was sent to the families of m artyr K ishan Singh Barring, D istrict Jalandhar, and his companion martyrs. The society decided in June 1926 that a sum o f 45 dollars be sent to each o f the B abbar families whose addresses were available. Efforts were made to trace the addresses o f other families o f the Babbars so that they might also be helped. In June 1927, the Khalsa Diwan Society unanim ously decided that a sum o f $ 500 be rem itted to the ghadar party. The money was sent immediately. The society decided unanimously in Septem ber 1927 that an amount o f $ 1000 be sent to the Sikh League, Hoshiarpur, and another $ 1000 be sent to the N abha internees. The compliance was made immediately. In January 1928 a sum o f $ 500 was sent by the society to the families o f the Babbar Akalis out o f the R elief Fund raised in Vancouver. In March 1929 a sum o f one hundred dollars was sent to the families o f the Babbar Akalis out o f the Babbar Akali R elief Fund. Again in May 1929 the Khalsa Diwan Society decided to send money to all the families o f the Babbars whose addresses had been traced by that time. It was desired by them that the families deserved maximum help and everybody should contribute as much as he could possibly do. A list o f fifty families of the Babbars came up for consideration before the society. They decided to send 1500 dollars to these families and compliance was made immediately. In January 1930, the society sent Rs. 1000 tow ards the 44th session of the Indian N ational Congress that was being held at Lahore. In 1930, a sum o f 100 dollars was also donated towards the General Hospital V ancouver, B.C. and it was decided that if possible financial help o f one hundred dollars be continued to be given to the hospital every year. In May 1931 the son o f Basant Singh K angniwala had trouble with the immigration department. The Khalsa Diwan Society stood immigration security o f 500 dollars for him. In May 1 9 3 1 the society unanimously decided to remit 5 0 0 dollars from the Babbar Akali Fund towards financial help o f the B abbar Akalis in the Punjab. It seemed that the K halsa Diwan Society was disposed towards the Babbars very emotionally and felt the pangs o f the fa m ilie s of the Babbar martyrs very deeply. They were always ready towards rendering maximum financial help to their suffering families. These funds h a d been collected from the people in Canada and the USA and such f u n d s as referred

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to earlier, presumably were kept outside the purview o f the auditors as the same could create problems for them and the Indian governm ent could list them as anti-governm ent activists. But there was no doubt that alm ost every Sikh in C anada and the USA was anti-British and keenly aspired fo r their country’s freedom from the yoke o f the foreign rule. And since all could not jum p into the battlefield they helped their liberation struggle through financial assistance without which no movem ent could carry out its programmes w hether peaceful or violent. The Khalsa Diwan Society remitted a sum o f $ 1001.25 in 1971 for the Indira Defence Fund during Indo-Pak War. A large number o f distinguished people visited V ancouver and they were duly honoured, as was the practice with the Khalsa Diwan Society. A few of them may be briefly referred to here. Annie Beasant, who was the President o f International Theosophical Society based at Madras, visited V ancouver in 1909 and pleaded the cause of the East Indians’ rights as citizens o f Canada. Dr (M rs.) Annie Beasant was probably the most rem arkable w om an on the w orld’s surface at that time. She was an extremely cultured w om an who knew and practised the best that has been said and thought in the world. She w as a great, religious, cultural and educational reform er in England from 1875 to 1892 and in India from 1893 to 1913. Later she becam e the president o f the Indian National Congress in 1917. She was appalled the way her own countrymen were treating Indians. Long before she came to India she had observed “ We exploit Hindustan not for her benefit but for the benefit o f our younger sons, our restless adventurers, our quarrelsom e and never-do-well surplus population. At least for the sake o f com m on honesty, let us drop our hypocritical mask and acknow ledge that we seized India from lust o f conquest, from the lowest and paltriest o f desires” . Her ideas moulded the lives of thousands o f people. ‘To hear her speak in public was to hear one of the most remarkable public speakers o f the w orld’. H er w ords and voice could mesmerize her listeners. H. H. Gaekwar o f Baroda, M aharaja o f Baroda, visited V ancouver in June 1910. Since he was a staunch supporter o f the British raj, the Sikhs boycotted his visit and did not call him to the Sikh temple. The M aharaja of a minor state o f M ourbhang in Bengal also visited Vancouver in 1910. He took no interest in the problems o f the Indians and the Sikhs ignored him as well. Ravindra Nath Tagore and Rev. F. A ndrews visited V ancouver and Victoria in 1929. The Sikhs gave them rousing receptions. They were asked by the East Indians to see for them selves the unfair treatm ent given

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to them by the Canadian governm ent. The Khalsa Diwan Societies of V ancouver and Victoria honoured them with siropas (robes o f honour) and praised their contributions to the cause o f the Indians in their country. But unfortunately they could not do anything positive towards softening the attitude o f the governm ent towards the Indians. Pandit Jaw ahar Lai N ehru, Prime M inister o f India, accompanied by his daughter Indira Gandhi, visited British Colum bia in 1949. The Sikhs felt elated on their Prime M inister’s visit to their adopted country— Canada. He was honoured by the Khalsa Diwan Society and was given a siropa at the Gurdwara. Pundit Nehru addressed the Indians at some places and pleaded strongly for their causes and problems but Canadian government had never been so soft as to make a change in its policy just for asking. They do things in their own tardy way. B ut with India having become independent changes had started taking place though slowly. W hen M rs. Indira G andhi, Prim e M in ister o f India, landed at V ancouver airport on 23 June 1973, she is said to have straightaway driven to the Sikh temple, at Ross Street, Vancouver, and offered $ 500 before the holy Guru Granth Sahib. Later she addressed a big gathering at Queen Elizabeth Theatre. M any Akali leaders, jathedars, ministers, prom inent Sikh historians, scholarly preachers, ragis and dhadis visited V ancouver in the 1970s and later. Vancouver is one o f the most beautiful cities o f the world with its top-class living standard. The visits o f these dignitaries have been more with a view to having a look at the western life than to study the Sikh way o f life in a bid to keep them on the right track if they happened to have gone astray. At that time, the Canadian Sikhs used to sit on chairs with uncovered heads in the holy presence o f G uru Granth Sahib in a manner violative to the tim e-honoured Sikh m aryada (code o f discipline). These leaders and upholders o f the Sikh m aryada did not raise even their small fingers against the violations o f the sacred Sikh practices. History never spares the errors o f any body including its heroes who wrote it even with their blood. Jathedars and preachers— the custodians o f the Sikh rahit maryada and Sikh religion who visited Canada from 1970s to 1990s were f o u n d to be ju st ordinary men afflicted with ordinary human failings. H u m ility , selflessness and nobility o f Sikh spirit deplorably lacked in them. None of them was even remotely associated with the spiritual stage that rad iates the holy light o f which they talked in the Gurdwaras. Sikh religion needs enlightened men to keep it am ong the top world religions. Those jathedars

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were more o f politicians than o f holy souls. My close contact with some of them disillusioned me horribly. I pray that the Sikh code o f conduct may be observed in letter and spirit and any violation o f the same would lead to more violations and ultimately that may profane our holy traditions and damage the sublime dignity and supreme honour o f our religion which we hold so dear and for which our ancestors m ade supreme sacrifices to save it from any sacrilege and blasphemy. We all are brothers-in-faith and we have to take all our religious decisions collectively and according to the accredited traditions laid down by our great mentors— our holy Gurus. We do not have a licence to change the Sikh code o f conduct or its practices introduced by the Gurus, hundreds o f years earlier. These practices w ere marked with universality in their application and not left to the choice or convenience o f those who observe them. W hen once prescribed, the Sikhs resented violently even if the Guru him self— the creator o f the order, happened to slightly violate any of them inadvertently to test his followers as to how strictly they complied with them or if they could note them being violated. About the rehat (code o f conduct) Guru Gobind Singh is said to have told his Sikhs: Jab lag Khalsa rahai niara - tab lag tej diao main sara (So long as the Khalsa keeps a separate identity I shall confeY all powers on it). Jab eh gahe bipran ki reet, main na karon in ki parteet (W hen they adopt anti-Sikh practices I shall cease to have faith in them). The challenge o f m odernity to Sikh religion has to be resisted otherwise, in due course o f tim e, the Sikh religion and its reh a t as propounded by our holy Gurus would change out o f recognition. That would be the greatest tragedy in the realm o f Sikhism— a world religion. Many Sikhs in the world are in a defiant mood with regard to their religious practices and many o f them are well on the path o f rebellion. Right, it is an age of reason and one is inclined to believe things if logically satisfied but spare the religion, which is only a matter o f faith beyond the bounds of reason. The Guru further said: Rahni reha soi Sikh m era - oh sahib main us ka chera {Rehatnama Prahlad Singh) (He who lives according to the code o f conduct prescribed for the Sikhs is my real Sikh. He is my master and I am his servant). In the light o f the G u ru 's above observations we are required to respectfully observe the rehat prescribed by our holy Gurus. w ww .sikhnationalarchives.com

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The K halsa Diwan Society has been honouring visitors with siropas, purses, gold m edals and kirpans at the G urdw aras. The recipients of honours included Pandit Jawahar Lai Nehru, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, S. Kharak Singh, Chaman Lai G oswam i, Bhai Piara Singh Langeri, Dr. Ravindra Nath Tagore, Rev. F. A ndrews, Bhai Randhir Singh, Bhai Chet Singh Granthi, Dr D. P. Pandia and the Akali leaders and many more people whom the society found worthy o f honour. Smt. Vijay Laxmi Pandit, sister o f Pundit Jaw ahar Lai N ehru, w ho had come to the USA could not come to Vancouver because o f certain restrictions imposed on her, was presented a robe o f honour and a purse o f $ 2000 at a conference held at San Francisco in 1944, by the Khalsa Diwan Society A bbotsford (Canada). The Khalsa Diwan Society made strenuous efforts to make her visit at Vancouver possible but the Canadian governm ent stood in the way. The dream o f Gurdit Singh, the organizer o f the Komagata Maru voyage to C anada in 1914, cam e true in his third generation when his granddaughter-in-law, Balbir K aur Sandhu, landed on Canadian soil on 16 October 1996. The K halsa Diwan Society honoured her on 3 November 1996, at the Ross Street Gurdwara, Vancouver. The Khalsa Diwan Society, V ancouver, spent thousands of dollars on the reception and hospitality o f the honourable visitors and on journey fares o f many o f them. As pointed out earlier, the records o f the Khalsa Diwan Society were not maintained in a systematic manner. Probably the managers or directors o f the society did not realise that the history o f the society and community to be written in the future would have to be based on the authentic records maintained by them. Role o f the K halsa Diwan Society in many important events have not been discussed in detail in this chapter as these had been copiously referred to in other chapters. For example, the society’s role in the KomagataMaru incident has been widely mentioned in the concerned chapter. The financial and legal assistance along with the supply o f necessary food-stuffs and holding o f meetings to arouse public support for the passengers of the K om agata M aru has found prom inently conspicuous mention in the relevant chapter. The long-draw n stru g g le o f the K halsa D iw an Society for the abrogation o f orders-in-council debarring the Indians from entering Canada and waging an incessant fight for their right to vote for forty years is a woeful history. At every stage the society fought tooth and nail, never losing heart despite facing repeated discomfiture in achieving success in

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their objectives but feeling sure that ultim ately the victory w ould be theirs and the rabidly disposed opponents would bow out o f the field finding that the ceaseless struggle o f the Sikhs for a right cause they w ere sure to meet their W aterloo on the Canadian soil. The Sikh struggle for franchise waged by the K halsa D iw an Society w ith all the vehem ence at their command and their final victory has been adequately discussed in the relevant chapters. The ghadar m ovem ent had its birth in Canada, though later its tem po was built up in the adjoining country, the U.S. But the share o f C anada in the movement and the sacrifices suffered by the Sikhs from C anada w as no less. C anada supported the m ovem ent through men and m oney under the guidance o f the K halsa D iw an Society, V ancouver. D etails have been discussed in the chapter on the ghadar m ovem ent. In fact, the K halsa Diwan Society, V ancouver, had been the hub o f all the religious, social and political activities. All the problem s o f the individuals or, those o f the com m unity w ere referred to the society that deeply involved itself in them to find suitable solutions w hether the cases were resolved at individual or com m unity or court level. The K halsa Diwan Society, was the only or the m ost effectively m oving force in the total spectrum o f life o f the Sikh com m unity in British C olum bia. They have, undoubtedly, done the m ost to glorify and preserve the true im age o f Sikh identity. Its present status is no less im pressive and effective than ever. When politicians or other social organizations plan to have a contact with the Vancouver or B.C. Sikh population the most efficacious forum to meet them is the Khalsa Diwan Society, that uses the G urdw ara’s rostrum to appeal to the congregation for their propaganda. U ndoubtedly, the Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver, is at present, as ever, the most powerful institution o f the Sikhs in C anada and a m essage from its stage has the largest appeal and the deepest effect. In fact, the history o f the C anadian Sikhs and the history o f the K halsa Diwan Society, V ancouver, are synonym ous or one and the sam e thing. Have 1 said too m uch? The driving force o f every Sikh m ovem ent in Canada, right from the tim es o f the pioneer Sikhs to the present day emanated from none other than the K halsa D iw an Society, V ancouver. All other Sikh societies cam e into being or started functioning effectively in the 1950s or after when most o f the hardest battles had already been won by the V ancouver society. It never lost its initiative and m aintained >ts status of leadership to w hich it has its rightful claim. It has been a permanent source o f financial help to all the needy organizations the world

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over and particularly in India. It is am using to note that as seen above the Sikh organizations in India had periodically sent leaders to obtain financial help for projects in India but no project has so far been thought of for the benefit o f the Sikhs in Canada. The traffic has been one way only. For alm ost the whole century the Indian Sikh organizations have made no systematic effort to supply to libraries abroad books on Sikhism. Whatever little has been done by the non-resident Indian Sikhs it has been done through their individual or collective efforts. Kartar Singh, an educated man, who periodically published in Canada a journal from June 1929 to Septem ber 1936, in English and Punjabi, titled, India and Canada: A Journal o f Interpretation and Information ,wrote in 1929: “ It is a great joy to me to find that here in this distant land you still keep up your own religious faith and do not neglect your Sikh religion. That is the right thing to do if you want to remain in a distant country with moral character and good social and family traditions such as those which still remain in India itself. “ I am so glad to find that the K halsa Diwan Society is the centre of your own life in British Colum bia. That is quite right and proper and good. For without that binding link you are bound to fall to pieces. But if you keep this binding force o f your own pure religious faith intact, then you will preserve your character also and your family life will be good and pure. You must cling together and help one another. Do not let any m em ber o f your comm unity come to grief and ruin through your neglect.” This message is as apt today as it was in 1929. May I venture to remark that w hatever the reasons, undoubtedly, the flame o f faith for their religion and its practices burnt more brightly and radiantly within the pioneer Sikhs than it burns within the Sikhs of the present day. At present, efforts to prom ote and preserve Sikh religion in their new home land are som etimes more vigorously pursued than before but irrefutably the Sikh spirit in the earlier settlers was much more deepseated in the recesses o f their hearts than we find it in the hearts of the present generation Sikhs. It is my painful regret. The earlier Sikhs had been staunch believers in their faith. They insisted that faith never fails a person. It is we who fail, when we give up on our faith. Having faith in ourselves and our convictions gives the weakest o f us the inner strength to endure and persevere in moments of adversity. It motivates us to do our best. When all else fails, it is only faith and prayer that we can turn to. In

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moments o f grief and pain, when there seems no light in the end o f the tunnel, it is the faith that takes us through. O f all the virtues, faith helps us bear the pain and uncertainty o f life. For it is faith that stands firmly rooted, unshaken by doubt and death. The Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver, invited messages from some Canadian ministers and mayors for inclusion in its souvenir published in 1994. Giving a few words herein from their com m unications would not be out of place as these have direct bearing on the subject under discussion. Jean Chretien, Prime M inister o f Canada wrote: “This publication will undoubtedly be a source o f great pride as you reflect upon the K halsa Diwan Society’s proud history. M oreover, it will serve not only to educate Canadians about the Sikh comm unity, but also to preserve vital cultural links from generation to generation. It is my hope that you will continue to foster fellow ship am ong the mem bers o f your community, w hile at the same tim e contributing to a strong and harmonious Canada.” Herb (Harbans Singh) Dhaliwal, M.P. then Parliam entary Secretary to the Minister o f Fisheries and Oceans, Federal G overnm ent o f Canada said, “We owe a great debt to these pioneers for the difficulties they endured and challenges they met while settling in a new country. They are a vital part of our history and we are part o f their legacy.... As a proud m em ber of the Sikh community I congratulate the Khalsa Diwan Society...on the contribution they have made to C anada.” Mike Harcourt, then Premier o f British C olum bia said, “As Premier of British C olum bia I am pleased and honoured to salute the Sikh community as it com m em orates a century o f events and accom plishments in Canada. “This souvenir publication docum ents im portant developm ents in the Sikh community since the Khalsa Diwan Society’s 1906 inception. It also celebrates the traditional, social, econom ic and religious roots o f one o f British Columbia’s earliest immigrant comm unities. Indeed, we are proud of the leadership roles taken on by the Sikhs in B .C .’s social, economic and political life. The Sikh comm unity has made and continues to make many positive contributions to our province” . Moe (Mamnohan Singh) Sihota. then Minister o f Environment and Multiculturalism, B.C. Canada, wrote: “It is indeed a tremendous pleasure for me to honour the achievements °f the Khalsa Diwan Society. The Sikhs have reason to be proud o f their accomplishments and the contributions that they have made to British

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C olum bia since the first settlers arrived on its shores at the turn of this century. The Sikh presence has clearly enriched this province, and the lives o f all British Colom bians. “Since its inception in 1906, the K halsa Diw an Society, served as the beacon which guided the Sikh pioneers through the arduous first decades o f the 20th century” . “The society fought for social and econom ic justice for fellow Sikhs at a tim e w hen racial intolerance and indifference w as prevalent in our society. With determ ined and persistent efforts these pioneers were able to overcom e these obstacles to win over their dem ocratic rights and yet m aintaining a pride and dignity that all British C olom bians can be proud of” . “ Future generations should never forget the hardships and challenges faced by our forebears, the Sikh pioneers, who settled in this province. T he K halsa D iw an Society w as an integral p art o f th at history. Its contributions as well as the contributions o f its individual members can never be forgotten. I applaud the Sikh com m unity and the Khalsa Diwan Society.” Philip W. O w en, M ayor o f V ancouver, said, “ V ancouver is a city that is blessed not only by a beautiful physical setting, but also by the strength and spirit o f the early pioneers who settled here. “O ur early Indo-Canadian im m igrants who chose to make Vancouver their home played an im portant role in V ancouver’s development as a truly international city. Since 1906, the K halsa Diw an Society has helped , m aintain a strong religio us and cultural base for V ancouver’s Sikh com m unity” .. We often borrow from our tom orrow s to pay our debt to our yesterdays. O ur present and next generations are m orally bound to pay our debt of gratitude to our pioneers who suffered im m ense m isery and untold and incalculable hardships. The Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver, celebrated its 90th anniversary on 26 Septem ber 1996. It was very thoughtful o f the society to honour 43 men and w om en who had either com e to C anada before 1936 or were born in C anada before that year, that is, those who had lived in Canada for 60 years or more. O f late, the K halsa D iw an S ociety, has been very conscious of maintaining and prom oting the distinctiveness o f the community in C a n a d a as the Sikh image is creating its recognition all over the world very rapidly. Perhaps there is no pail o f the world w here a Sikh in his full Sikh form is

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not known as a Sikh. The Sikh comm unity is now a world comm unity not exclusive to India or a few countries w here they are living in larger numbers. People all over the world are keen to know more and more about them. In 1995-96, besides others, students from Q uebec (Canada), Japan, Korea, China, W ashington U niversity, A ustralia, N ew Zealand, and some groups of native students and Christian school students, came to the 8000 Ross street G urdw ara, V ancouver, to have deeper understanding o f Sikhism. They were acquainted with the main teachings o f Sikh religion and Sikh practices. The visiting groups enjoyed Guru ka langar immensely and admired the practice of free mess in the Gurdwaras. In response to the Fraser area secondary school administrators’ request, a meeting with the representatives from the K halsa Diwan Society, in order to begin a dialogue as to how to help Indo-Canadian youth to be more successful at school w as held on 16 O ctober 1996. At the m eeting it was decided that there is a need to w ork together in order to better understand school and community expectations pertaining to young people. This meeting was held in the Board Room o f the Sikh Community Resource Centre, Vancouver, in which 25 mem bers from both sides participated. The growing rapport betw een the school board and the E ast Ihuian community or the Khalsa Diwan Society was especially fruitful and gainful. The schools try to understand the problems o f the East Indians in respect of their education and m ake efforts to rem ove their handicaps. Canadian Sikhs have the great honour o f having enjoyed the exciting occasion (10 O ctober to 13 O ctober 1997) o f the centennial celebrations of our pioneers com ing to Canada. The Canadian whites w ho opposed the East Indian immigrants tooth and nail in earlier stages have now realized it full well that they are a richness that this country profits from. They are not just the people who snatched jobs from them or corrupted their life-style by introducing their own ways of living in the society. N ow they feel that they have gained much from them in terms o f hard work, honest dealings, utmost patience, super-gentleness, hospitality, and sense o f self- respect and dignified behaviour. The story o f the Sikh pioneers to C anada during the early part o f the twentieth century is at places horrifying and at places charm ing but this author lived with them for a century through records and their innocent self-told tales o f living in Canada. I have never been at times more amused and at times more grieved in life than when listening to their bewitching and shocking experiences. ■7\v\A

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To link it with the centennial celebrations, I venture to repeat as already m entioned that the javvans o f the Sikh regim ent after participation in London in the celebrations o f Queen V ictoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, while on their way back home, reached Montreal by sea and from there arrived in V ancouver by train in the first week o f O ctober 1897. They moved about in Vancouver and the surrounding areas on horse-back. After a w eek’s stay here they resumed their journey for India via Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore where som e Sikhs, mostly retired army men were already living. These returning jaw ans met them and admired the scenic beauty o f Canadian landscape and the prosperous living conditions of the people here and motivated and urged them to shift to Canada to better their prospects. Since then, the Sikhs started migrating to a new land in groups unmindful o f the extreme difficulties that awaited them here. But the Sikhs being very hardy, enduring and adventurous people they did not bow or surrender before the hazardous odds confronting them in the new country. They braved hardships valiantly and w eathered all storms almost always sailing against the winds. They seldom evade an impregnable situation but tear through it. It is their inherited trait. The 100 - year of the Sikhs in Canada is a living witness to it and a glow ing tribute to their indom itable pow er o f determ ination. Tw o big and im pressive statues show ing two Sikh soldiers riding horses have been installed near 8000 Ross Street Gurdwaras parking lot. These were built in imitation to two of the four Sikh horse-riders w ho w ere photographed m oving about in Vancouver in 1897. These have been built by sculptures— Tara Singh and his son— on the request o f the Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver. The inauguration ceremony o f these statues was performed on 31 March 1996. During the celebrations organized by “Canadian Sikhs Committee for Centennial Celebrations” which included the Khalsa Diwan Society o f V a n co u v er and o th e r S ikh S o c ie tie s o f th e L o w er Mainland organizations jointly from 10 October to 13 O ctober 1997, the government o f British Columbia and local governm ents o f Lower Mainland recognized and declared as centennial celebration w eek o f ‘com ing o f the Sikh pioneers’ to Canada and the 50th anniversary o f enfranchisement. Proclamations to this effect were put on record by the B.C. government and by the mayors o f the cities o f V ancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster. Surrey. Richmond. Abbotsford, Delta, Coqitlam, Port Coquitlam, Langley. West Vancouver, Pitt M eadows and Chilliwack. And just as a specim en, a copy o f V anco u v er's proclamation is included in this book, as V ancouver has been the main centre of major

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activity of the Sikh comm unity throughout the century o f their stay in Canada. Office o f the M ayor City o f Vancouver BRITISH COLUM BIA Proclamation “COMING OF THE SIKH PIONEERS TO CAN AD A W EEK ” WHEREAS The first Sikhs arrived in British C olum bia over a hundred years ago (1897) and contributed to the economic and social developm ent o f the Province; AND W HEREAS These early Sikh pioneers faced many challenges and hardships in their efforts to building their comm unity and contributing to Canada; AND W HEREAS The Sikhs were finally extended the right to vote in 1947; AND WHEREAS The City o f Vancouver, British Columbia, recognizes the contributions ofthese early pioneers, along with succeeding generations o f South Asians, to the social, cultural, political and economic life o f the province; AND WHEREAS The City o f Vancouver, British Colum bia, w ishes to join with all citizens of the Province to recognize the 100th anniversary o f the arrival of the Sikhs and the 50th anniversary o f enfranchisem ent:

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NOW, THEREFORE, I, Philip Owen, M ayor o f the City o f V ancouver, DO H ER EBY PROCLAIM the w eek o f O ctober 10th to O ctober 17th, 1997 as “COMING OF THE SIKH PIONEERS TO CANADA W E EK ’ in the City o f Vancouver. Philip W. Owen MAYOR Summing up I have to rem ark th at the K halsa D iw an Society, Vancouver, was not only a comm ittee that looked after the Vancouver Gurdwara but it was an institution that looked after the w hole Sikh community. This society has led the Sikh com m unity out o f the valley o f discrimination and gross injustices to a life o f dignity and honour. It

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encompassed the Sikhs not only living in Vancouver but in the whole of North America and India and elsewhere. Its members remained linked with their roots, their culture, their language and religion. If a community or a nation loses its culture and its language they are lost to the world at large. Their identity would be lost. The K halsa Diwan Society has been doing its utm ost to save the Sikh identity, Sikh heritage and its culture. In the future too they are believed to follow and preserve Sikhism, its practices and its values o f social life. Besides the language o f the country they live in they must not allow the m other tongue o f their ancestors to disappear from use in their homes. If you are equipped with more languages you will surely be more cultured and to care for ones m other tongue is your moral and ethical duty. I never mean to suggest that the Sikhs should live in Canada as an isolated comm unity in respect o f their language and culture. They must consider them selves as active mem bers o f the Canadian mainstream, integrating themselves in its programmes and social life but not assimilating them selves in the cultural mess o f this country. They are not to divorce them selves from their ancestry and forget or replace their heritage values with those o f the adopted country. W hen their culture is at divergent variance with that o f the whites they must show full regard to theirs. They must respect and follow their ow n noble values o f life, many o f which, for their goodness, would be emulated by the non-Sikhs. Let the Khalsa Diwan Society be the flag-bearer o f Sikhism and all the righteousness and the superb values that the Sikh religion embodies or enshrines in itself. Sikhism has emerged as one o f the great religions o f the world and the Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver, must keep its flame in its full glow and its glory ever in undim inished splendour. The sweeping remarks about the Sikh community by Gurcharan Singh, form er secretary o f the Federation o f Sikh Societies o f Canada, need consideration here. We must sympathize with the inordinately disappointed and dejected writer who sounds a note o f despondency and warning. On the superficial reading, the follow ing lines about the Canadian Sikhs may not find favour with the Sikh com m unity that is alw ays wedded to optimism. But the note is an eye-opener and it intends to sound warning to the community. “The Sikh comm unity is poorly organized. Its building blocks—the G urdw aras— w hich are situated across the country, need a stronger consolidation. The attempt made by the Federation o f Sikh Societies of C anada need to be redefined more strongly — a type o f a Canadian G urdw aras Act like the one proposed by the Ontario Council of the Sikhs, www.sikhna1jionalarchives.com

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required. The other detriment for the Sikhs is the lack o f intellectualism the community. A cursory knowledge o f social, cultural and religious matters is neither enough nor adequate to serve the com m unity needs. Persons, w ith th o ro u g h , h is to ric a lly an d tr a d itio n a lly c o rr e c t (uncontroversial) and authoritative and specialized know ledge o f social, cultural, religious and philosophic issues, relating to the comm unity, are required. These people must be good, able and honest managers, teachers and communicators. W hen a professor o f agriculture claim s to be an authority on the Misal period or a doctor o f psychiatry claims to be an expert on Sikh spiritualism many things can and do go wrong. There is a need of trained personnel in the art o f management o f G urdwaras and propagation. Both scholarship and intellectualism is required. There is a remarkable lack o f community spirit am ong the Sikhs. Loyalty to the cause is a rarity. Sheer opportunism and unscrupulous greed have becom e a norm. Quality in leadership is no longer a desirable or saleable commodity. Vulgarity, unethicalism and insensitivity have become the currency o f value. Another aspect o f im pedim ent that the com m unity suffers from is the lack of a defined objective and strategic planning. N o goal is ever defined or stated and if it is there it is so broad and meaningless that it can hardly be considered as a challenge or a target. There is no sense o f planning for any activity. “Another fact is that there is no spirit o f charity or philanthropy in the community. Their contribution to the public good is limited to the raising of Gurdwaras. The poor quality in the m anagement, administration and maintenance o f the G urd w ara does not pertu rb them . T here is no accountability o f any official o f the G urdw ara which causes endless problems.”1 The writer o f the above lines is neither totally correct nor totally w rong in the context o f present situation in Canada. His tilt to stark criticism o f the community seems to have sprung from the unfulfilled high expectations that he nursed in the deep recesses o f his heart. Generally our dreams never come true to our visualization fully. The comm unity moves on and on towards the attainm ent o f a goal set before it. The emotional agony o f the writer is due to his deep reverential feelings for the community and we have every regard for these feelings. In this article the w riter has made a scholarly attempt to deal with some of the problems o f the Sikhs but his approach slightly lacks optimism which is necessary to pull the comm unity out o f its shortcomings, if any. To brand a community suffering from all the ills present under the sun and to ignore its most valuable qualities may not be fair to it. is

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Let me say in the defence o f the Sikhs that they are gifted with superb qualities o f gentleness, honesty, self-respect, reliability, hospitality, humaneness, hard work, integrity and undaunted bravery that make them a people par excellence on this planet. R EFEREN CE 1.

Gurcharan S in gh , ‘T h e S ik h s and M ulticultural C anad a’ The Journal of Religious Studies, V o l. X X IX , N o .l . S prin g 1 9 9 8 , Punjabi University, Patiala (Ind ia), p p .8 5 -8 6 .

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CHAPTER 11

SIKH IDENTITY AND ITS PRESERVATION IN CANADA

Sikh I d e n tity

It is a matter o f history that Guru N anak’s mission has been regarded as the promulgation o f a new religion that remains distinct and complete in itself. The pattern o f religious life produced by him endured unaffected over the centuries. The Guru did not identify him self with the existing fonns of religion. The author o f Dabistan-i-M azahib (1645) informs us that “the disciples o f N anak do not read the mantras (scriptures) o f the Hindus. They do not venerate their tem ples or idols nor do they esteem their avtars. They have no regard for the Sanskrit language which according to the Hindus is the speech o f gods.” 1The Sikh insistence on the unity o f God distinguished them from the H in d u s and the S ikh b e lie f in transmigration distinguished them from the Muslims. In the eyes o f the author of Dabistan, the Sikhs o f Guru N anak or the N anak pa n this were a distinct entity. Their identity w as based on their different doctrines, institutions and social attitudes including their sense o f com m itm ent to matters spiritual as well as temporal. This identity o f the Sikhs was neither Hindu nor Muslim. Guru Nanak discarded the contem porary forms o f religious belief and ritualistic practices o f the Hindus after he was convinced that he had something more valuable to offer. He adopted for him self and for his followers his own revealed compositions. This clearly meant the rejection of the old Hindu scriptural authority and also the Hindu deities and the scriptures of the contem porary religions. According to Daljeet Singh. Sikh religion is independent and perfect >n itself. To Guru Nanak, God is the ruler and protector o f the universe. www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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He is the source o f all values and virtues and He has interest in human life. To the Guru human deeds becom e all im portant: truthful living is higher than truth. The goal o f life is not m erely nirvana but carrying out the altruistic will o f G od. The gurm ukh is the person who carries out G o d ’s w ill. T hus, Sikh ideology explains the dynam ism and ethical activities o f the G urus and their follow ers. This gives distinctive identity to Sikhism and the Sikhs.2 G uru N anak’s highly sophisticated doctrine w as that o f naam simran (m editation o f God) which reveals the presence o f God all around and within oneself. It rejected idol w orship, tem ples, pilgrim ages, incarnation and the existing sacred scriptures. The m essage o f naam simran was reinforced by the first four successors o f G uru N anak and consequently it w as em bodied in the A d i G ranth Sahib. It gave them strength in all situations. Robert E. Hum ane said, “The Sikhs are a deeply devoted people and faith is an essential trait o f their nature. An immense reserve o f spiritual energy has been their strong asset in m any a crisis during their 500 years old history.” We again refer to D aljeet Singh who believes that Sikhism is a class by itself. The Indian systems are dichotomous, drawing a clear line between sp iritu al an d em p irica l life. T h ese sy stem s e n c o u ra g e asceticism, withdrawal and monasticism; they regard celibacy as a virtue, they consider w om an as tem ptress; they value ahim sa\ and they support the system of caste, untouchability and pollution. Islam and Judaism are a whole life system s, not dichotom ous. B ut later in their history monasticism and asceticism appear as an im portant phenom enon. C hristianity preaches involvem ent in life but prescribes non-resistance to violence and evil. Later on in its history we see m onasteries and nunneries and still later a sort o f dichotom y betw een religious and em pirical life. Sikhism is a w hole life system , like Islam and Judaism but it is free from exclusiveness and leaves no room for w ithdraw al and monasticism. The Sikhs rejected the idea o f renunciation. That was why they took either to agriculture or trades or services i.e. em ploym ent. Being productive, they could contribute towards G u ru 's treasury. ‘Deliverance from the cycle o f transm igration was to be achieved by rem aining in the world not by w ithdraw ing into ritual or ascetic seclusion’. This path to emancipation was open to men and wom en o f all castes. The concept o f miri pin and the ideal ofsant-sipahiare an integral part o f S i k h i s m . A s c e t i c i s m , celibacy and dow ngrading o f w omen are rejected in Sikhism together with caste ideology and ahiinsa. G uru N anak organized a whole life system ot householders participating in all w alks o f life and remaining socially www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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responsible. Thus. Sikhism from the very beginning was different from

both the Indian and Semitic religions.3 In Sikh thought right or wrong are absolute and not relative concepts. In the sublime vision o f the Gurus there is no room for ethical dualities, polarities or moral relativism. No particular doctrines and devotional practices by them selves could create followers. The primary basis o f the com m unity o f followers that gathered around Guru N anak w as his religiosity and personality that inspired veneration. His hymns had an attractive quality. To this legacy was added his decision to choose or nominate a successor, thus establishing a lineage and ensuring a succession that was recognized as legitimate till the death of the Tenth Master. This decision gave rudimentary organisation to the panth o f Guru N anak and ensured its continuing existence beyond his lifetime. The nomination o f A ngad to the G uruship was in the words oflndubhusan Banerjee “a fact o f the profoundest significance.”4 Trumpp writes, “the disciples o f N anak would, no doubt, have soon dispersed, and gradually disappeared...if he had not taken care to appoint a successor before his death.” 5 Guru Angad took the holy com positions o f his Master, Guru Nanak, and got them recorded in a special script called gurm ukhi. A modified form of bhatakshri w'as adopted by Guru N anak and was popularized among the Sikhs by Guru Angad as gurm ukhi as it was used in recording the words fallen from the mouth o f his G uru. Thus, the adoption o f gurmukhi as the script for the sacred scripture w'as a prom inent mark o f distinction. From the repeated references to the erection and use o f dharm salas it is clear that these buildings stood at the centre o f the corporate life o f the panth and much activity must have been conducted within them. These buildings o b viously c o rresp o n d e d to the m o d ern G u rd w a ra .6 T he dharmsala conferred a distinctive identity on the N anak panth. The Vaishnavas had their tem ple, t h e j ’og/s had their asat 7 , the Muslims had their mosque, and the N anakpanthis had their dharmsalas. The dharmsalas of the early Sikh tradition developed into the Gurdwara o f the eighteenth century. Erecting Gurdwaras at locations associated w ith particular events m the lives of the individual Gurus became common, particularly, after the establishment o f the Sikh rule under the Sardars o f the Sikh Misals. The dharmsalas continued as the centres for kirtan (singing o f gurbani). Eventually, the term G urdwara came into common currency. This was because the sangat that met in the dharm salas came to be looked upon as the Guru. Guru Granth Sahib, that was ordained to be the Guru, came to www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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be installed in the dhannsala and the place appropriately became the Guru's door (G urdw ara).7The change in term used for the sacred space reflected its enhanced im portance in the eyes o f the Sikhs as it got more intimately linked with the Guru. W herever, G uru N anak w ent during his missionary' travels he established sangats, 8 with the instruction to his followers to build a place o f congregation or d h annsala w here they could regularly m eet and sing the L ord’s praises. Thus sprang up a netw ork o f sangats and dharm salas that becam e centres o f Sikh m issionary activities. These centres w ere established in K am rup (A ssam ), B ihar, Cuttack, Surat. N anakm ata (in the Kumaon Hills), Khatmandu, Jallalabad, Kabul and many other places. These sangats w ere supervised and presided over by persons generally appointed by the G uru him self. 9 These centres and sangats w ere established to ensure that practical shape w as given to his ideals, through w ider netw orking. The idea behind all this was to knit the Sikhs together as a separate p an th or people. This system w as unique in its form ation and appeal. The m em bership o f the sangat organisation w as open to all persons, m en and w om en, w'hatever their social position. As these sangats grew w ith the passage o f time, people hailing from different faiths, castes and w alks o f life cam e into their fold. Men belonging to high and low castes sat together w ithout any distinction. The casteless assem bly o f the sangat gave it a distinct identity. The G uru gave the sangat a status superior to him self. A nother institution, that o f p a n g a t or langar (free common mess), originated alm ost sim ultaneously with that o f sangat. It imparted a secular dim ension to the sang a t; added to the functional efficiency o f the Sikh organisation; it translated the principle o f equality into practice, making it obligatory for all people, w hatever their status in life, to sit on the ground and eat together and finally it served as a cem enting force among the follow ers o f Sikhism . This institution o f langar was w holly revolutionary in G uru N an ak 's times. N ot only shudras but also the Muslims could sit at the sam e level. This practice struck at a m ajor aspect o f caste, thereby advancing the process o f defining a distinctive Sikh identity. The process o f integration o f Sikhism w'ent hand in hand with the enlargem ent o f its ranks. As early as the time o f Guru Amar Das— the Third N anak, tw enty-tw o m anjis or dioceses w ere created which were centres for the spread o f Sikhism. From the time o f Guru A m ar Das, it began to be felt that the Sikhs should have their own seats o f religion and pilgrim age so that it might not be necessary for them to go to the tiraths (the holy places of Hindus). A www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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baoli (a well with pacca staircases reaching down to the w ater surface) was constructed at Goindwal under the instruction and personal superv ision of Guru A m ar Das. The w ater o f this baoli w as consecrated and a bath with this w ater w as regarded as an act o f great spiritual merit. Indubhusan B anerjee w rites, “ G uru A ngad had, no doubt, done something to give the Sikhs an individuality o f their own but it w as under Guru Amar Das that the difference betw een a Hindu and a Sikh becam e more pronounced and the Sikhs began, gradually, to drift aw ay from the orthodox Hindu society and form a class, a sort o f new brotherhood by themselves” 10Thus, we see that with rapid strides, right from the beginning, the N anakpanthis w ere assum ing a distinct Sikh identity. The fourth G uru, G uru Ram Das, founded the tow n o f C hak Ram Das which subsequently got its present nam e, A m ritsar, from the holy waters o f Pool o f Immortality built there. The w ork on this tank comm enced by Guru Ram Das, reached its com pletion under his son and successor Guru Arjan Dev, w'ho, as w ell, built a G urdw ara in the centre o f the tank calling it H arm andir that is, G o d ’s H ouse. Thus, the Sikhs got a rallying centre at A m ritsar w here they could occasionally m eet and m aintain closer relationship w ith th e ir b ro th e rs-in -fa ith . T h e G u ru had c o n c e iv e d Harmandir, as the seat o f spiritual pow er o f the Sikh faith. It is a Sikh Vatican or Sikh M ecca w ith all the spiritual glories and divine aura surrounding it. H arm andir gave the Sikhs a distinct place o f pilgrim age providing a noble Sikh identity to the Sikh religion. Some Sikhs lived outside the Punjab or at distant places. O ut o f reverential feelings they m ade offerings to their spiritual guides. W hen they could not personally come to the G uru they sent their offerings through accredited m issionaries called masands. The w ord m asand is from Persian masnad meaning an elevated seat for w hich the gaddi was also used. As the Sikh preachers, being representatives o f the Gurus, were offered higher seLts or gaddis in congregations, they w ere called m asnads or m asands. With the extension o f Sikh circles m uch beyond the Punjab, the m asand system had come to replace the m anjis o f G uru A m ar Das, which had been mostly confined to that province. The m asands w ere not only collectors of offerings or dasw andh but were preachers o f religion is evident from the D abistan.u As the fifth G uru had undertaken to raise public works of enormous dim ensions that were sure to require and attract money, its collection and conveyance needed careful attention. The m asand system was a distinct m easure adopted by the Guru and it was discarded later when it became unnecessary or unwanted. The Sikh scrip tu re. G u ru G ra n th S a h ib , is the m ost em p h atic w w w .sikhnationalarchives.com

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pronouncem ent about the distinct and independent identity o f Sikhism. Such an authentic compilation was needed because the Guru had ‘a new thesis’ to give to mankind. It closed the door to all possible controversies, and embodied a complete and final message. I2. In the words o f Arnold Toynbee— a great British historian, “TheAdi Granth is remarkable for certain reasons. O f all known religious scriptures, this Book is the most highly venerated. It means more to the Sikhs than the Quran means to the M uslims, the Bible to the Christians and the Torah to the Jews. The A di Granth is the Sikhs’ perpetual Guru (spiritual guide).... The Sikh religion and its scriptures, the A d i Granth, will have something o f a special value to say to the rest o f the w orld.” 13 The Sikh scripture prom ises support for the spiritual emancipation of the devotee if he has unflinching trust in God and the Guru. Sikhism believes in the unity o f God, G od’s self-existence. God as infinite, eternal and absolute, His omnipotence, His omnipresence, and His omniscience. To Sikhism everything in the universe is according to the Divine Ordinance or His hukam. Guru N anak says: W hat He wills He ordains, To Him no one can give an order, for He, O, Nanak, is the king o f kings. As He wills so we must live. {Guru Granth Sahib , p. 6). That is, there is absolute suprem acy o f Divine Will. Good and evil, happiness and misery, ignorance and enlightenm ent, ugliness and beauty are there, because the Lord wants them to be like that. The concept ofthe Divine rule working in every particle and every incident o f the universe is precisely what is meant by the doctrine o f hukam. The Guru in Sikhism is a perfect prophet or messenger of God, in whom the light o f God shines fully and visibly. He is not God but he is as perfect and sinless as God is. A ccording to Guru Nanak, “The mysteries o f God and His creation are known either to God or to the Guru (Karteki m it karta ja n a i ke ja n a i g ur sura) (Guru N anak, Onkar-3). The word Guru, etym ologically means, Gu: darkness, nr. light or revelation. Thus. Guru means dispeller o f darkness, revealer of light. In the True Guru He has installed His own spirit. Through him. God reveals Himself. (G uru Nanak, Asa di var. 6).

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under His shelter but to do so w ith the conviction that He is the ocean o f mercy and so can be expected to redeem us.

The concept o f grace is delineated in gurbani through various terms such as kirpa, nadar, mehar, prasad, day a, bakhshish, karam and so on. The Gurus impress upon their followers to take refuge in Him alone who will liberate them from all sins. The gurbani puts forth the view that prasad (grace) is given by the Lord to His devotees for the sheer joy o f helping them. His mehar (kindness) is given free as a gift. M an’s experience o f grace comes, as an ever operating blessing o f God which is a ray o f divine beauty. When He casts His glance o f power (nadar) the consequence for man is tranquility, mitigation o f suffering and blissfulness. The gurbani also clearly holds that an im portant pre-requisite for obtaining a vision o f God is the true G uru’s grace which sets the individual on the road to the consummation o f his destiny. A ccording to the Sikh scripture, our life itself is a gift o f His kirpa (kindness). Therefore, it must be properly lived, that is, in a spirit o f devotion and gratitude to God. The Sikh Gurus are clearly o f the view that the grace o f God can override the operation of the law o f karma (actions or deeds) by which a man is destined to be rewarded or punished for his actions. Guru Gobind Singh vested the spiritual part o f Guruship in the A di Granth and the secular one in the Khalsa or the Guru panth. The tenets enshrined in the Guru Granth Sahib were final and inviolable fundamental laws of Sikhism to be in no case altered. N one could scrap the injunctions of the Guru G ranth Sahib, and had, therefore, to rem ain w ithin the framework o f their holy teachings. To grow as an independent community and a distinct religion, the Sikhs needed scripture o f distinct identity for all time to come. The compiler o f the Adi Granth had ail this in mind and his work was more than equal to his plans. Undoubtedly, it is unique and par excellence in its aim and appeal. A fter Guru G obind Singh breathed his last the Guru Granth Sahib provided an alternative to the living Guru to ensure the continuity o f GurusHip as it carried the seal o f the G uru’s approval. Guru Hargobind, the sixth N anak, raised the institution o f the Akal Takht. He blended religion and politics into one. The Guru told his Sikhs that as long as he was in the Harmandir he should be treated as a saint and when at the Akal Takht he should be looked upon as the temporal leader of the community. This clearly indicated the characters o f the two places lying opposite each other. The Harmandir had been set up exclusively for spiritual programmes and the Akal Takht for secular matters. With the martyrdom o f Guru Arjan. under Guru Hargobind. the Sikhs ■vww. sikhnationalarchives.com

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assum ed additional responsibilities o f self-defence. The Guru had to pla\ a dual role o f a m ir (an army leader) and a p ir (a Guru). It added a new dim ension with a new identity to Sikhism. The Sikhs called the Guru the sachha padsha/u the true king, as against the tem poral king who ruled only by the force o f arm s and concerned him self with the w'orldly actions o f the p e o p le .14 He introduced congregational prayers which added further religious fervour and social cohesion am ong the Sikhs and strengthened unity and co-operation betw een them .15 With the adoption o f m easures o f self-defence by the Sikhs, tension with the state grew and led ultim ately to open clashes. The ninth M aster, G uru Tegh Bahadur, by offering him self to the M ughal tyrant’s sw ord at Delhi, registered his peaceful resistance against the policy o f forcible conversion. The execution o f the G uru was a staggering catastrophe in Sikh history and the m inds o f the Sikhs were rudely shaken. “G uru Teg B ahadur’s was not a passive submission but a positive decision to confront an existing situation. A most comprehensive genius o f the age undertook to answ er the challenge o f the time with all his m oral strength. He b rought to his response spiritual insight and discipline o f the highest order. This martyrdom was no small happening. It w as som ething o f im m ense m agnitude, o f im m ense consequence.”16 G uru T egh B a h a d u r's ex ecu tio n “ u n d o u b ted ly strengthened the resistance against the religious policy o f A urangzeb and at the same time prepared the w ay for the final stage in the evolution o f Sikhism.”17The Sikh com m unity, at the m artyrdom o f G uru Tegh Bahadur, could hardly be expected to m eet the challenge o f the m ighty M ughal government. A state o f confrontation with the governm ent w as there and if the Sikhs were to survive, they could afford to ignore it only at their own risk. C onsequently, the Sikhs im bibed a spirit o f sacrifice for a noble cause for all tim e to com e. H istory bears w itness to the fact that when there is need for sacrifice w hether for religion or for country’s freedom, the Sikhs would alw ays be found in the front ranks. Readiness for sacrifice for a genuine cause becam e a distinctive feature o f the Sikh com m unity. G uru G obind Singh strongly felt that the Sikhs needed further internal cohesion and external defence. He planned a m easure to be executed in a dram atic m anner that gave the Sikhs the final and distinct shape to their identity. R etaining the basic idea o f adm inistering p a h u l (baptism) to the Sikhs a new cerem ony o f giving the nectar o f the double-edged sword (khande ki p a h u l) was introduced in place o f the old practice. Guru Gobind Singh strengthened the organisation o f the com m unity by making steel an integral limb o f a Sikh to fight tyranny and injustice. He invested the www.sikhn^tionalarchives.com

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initiant with personal obligation o f five Ks: kesh (hair duly covered with a turban), kangha (w ooden comb w orn in the hair), kara (a steel bangle), kirpan (a sword or dagger) and kachha (a pair o f breeches w hich m ust not reach below the knees). This external rahit (code o f discipline) gave the Sikhs an unalterable distinct identity for perpetuity. Within a few days o f initiating the K halsa a little less than a lakh o f people hailing from different parts o f the country got them selves baptised. Thus he ‘brought a new people into being and released a new dynam ic force into the arena o f Indian history.’ Guru Gobind Singh invested the p a n th with his personality. He told the Sikhs, ‘K halsa is my very self and I shall alw ays live in the K halsa’. The creation o f the K halsa was the crow ning event in G uru G obind Singh’s life from th e s ta n d p o in t o f b o th o rg a n is a tio n an d id e o lo g y . Organizationally, it com pletely elim inated the need o f the order o f the masands that ‘had becom e corrupt, decrepit and creaky and needed to be replaced by a better system ’. Ideologically, the creation o f the K halsa aimed at a w ell-balanced com bination o f the ideals o f bhagti and shakti o f moral and spiritual excellence and militant valour or heroism o f the highest order. The use o f a double-edged sw ord in the preparation o f the am rit (baptismal nectar) w as a psychological booster. The changing o f nam es at the time o f adm inistering am rit w as intended to revolutionize the psyche of the Sikhs.18 The nam es o f all the baptised Sikhs w ere now to end in the uniform appellation o f ‘Singh’ m eaning lion, “thus m aking lions out o f humble disciples and raising them with one stroke to a position o f equality with the noblest and m ost w arlike class in India, for up to that tim e only the Rajputs bore the exalted title o f Singh.... They w ere now' to feel as good and as great as the m em bers o f the solar and the lunar dynasties.'’19 The co m p u lso ry w e a rin g o f k irp a n (sw o rd ) b e in g one o f the injunctions o f the K halsa prom oted the spirit o f martial valour am ong the Sikhs. “They were taught as an article o f faith to believe that God was always present in the general body o f the Khalsa and that w herever even five Sikhs were assem bled, the G uru would be with them .”20 They were also told that they were bom to conquer. The new salutation given to the Sikhs w'as ‘ W aheguru j i ka Khalsa, w ahegunt j i ki fateh ' (The Lord's is the Khalsa and the L ord’s is the victory). With the d istin ctiv e c h ara cte r and identity the S ikhs faced the challenges o f the eighteenth century, retaining in full bloom the Khalsa features of Sikh identity and further made every effort to retain it w henever there was any threat to its form and distinctiveness. Throughout the eighteenth century it was the Khalsa identity that had www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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become the predom inant Sikh identity. Harjot Oberoi wronglx believes that the Sikh peasantry resisted the mainly evolved Sikh norms of the K halsa q u ality .21 This author seem s to have ignored the marvellous contribution made by the Sikh peasantry to the cause o f Sikhism throughout the span o f Sikh history. When B anda Singh Bahadur, after having been duly baptised at the hands o f G uru G obind Singh, cam e to the Punjab from the Deccan, he carved out a strong base in the villages to fight against the repression o f the M ughals and to m ake a determ ined bid for the liberation o f the land from the oppressive masters. W e find a marked role o f the peasants and the zam indars in the activities o f Banda Singh who moved alm ost unchecked in the m ajor parts o f the Punjab. When he was captured in 1715 and taken to D elhi, all o f his 740 baptised companions, who w ere mostly peasants, refused reprieve contem ptuously whenever offered. They were deeply attached to Sikh code o f conduct. The Sikh peasantry mainly m anned the Sikh m ovem ent, during the tim es o f Z akariya Khan, M ir M annu and A hm ad Shah Durrani. All the m em bers o f the dais and the Dal K halsa w ere the Sikh peasants, who were, along w'ith their leaders, baptised Sikhs. N one could join their derails w ithout having been duly initiated to Sikhism . All the Sardars (rulers) of the Sikh Misals, including M aharaja Ranjit S ingh’s predecessors, belonged to peasantry. At no stage o f Sikh history we find the Sikh peasantry faltering in their faith in Sikhism . To argue arbitrarily that after rising to the top by a ladder o f religious faith and distinct identity the Sikh peasantry kicked the ladder dow n is historically unacceptable. Harjot Oberoi suggests that there w ere vague and unclear identities o f the Sikhs till the closing years o f the nineteenth century. If the Sikhs had no clear identity then to whom E m peror Bahadur Shah referred w hen he gave his follow ing edict on 10 D ecem ber 1710, that: N anak pra sta n ra har j a kih ba-yaband ba-qatl rasanand.22 (An edict ordering a w holesale genocide o f the Sikhs (the w orshippers o f N anak) w herever found). The sam e order was repeated a few years later by Em peror Farrukh Siyar.23 W ho were these people, who under Banda S ingh’s leadership, shook one o f the m ightiest em pires in the w orld to its very foundations with such terrible force that it was never able to re-establish its authority as firmly as before? W ho were these people for w hose heads prices had been fixed under Z akariya Khan (1726-45)? For whom did the punitive parties o f Z akariya Khan com b the villages and forests and who were the people brought in chains every day. batches after batches, and publicly beheaded at Lahore at nakhas (horse m arket) now called Shahidganj? How could they be identified? W ho were these people, when captured and offered www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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choice between Islam and death chose the latter? And who were these people about w hom once Z akariya Khan said. “ By G od, they live on grass and claim kingship.” 24 It is a pity that certain writers cannot understand about the Sikhs today w hat Qazi N ur M uham m ad understood in 1765, when he was in the Punjab for a short time during Ahm ad Shah D urrani’s seventh invasion, that “G uru N anak wras not a m ere reform er but the founder o f a new religion. The Sikhs are not from am ong the Hindus. They have a separate religion o f their own. They are courageous like lions and do not m ake friends with adulterers and housebreakers. They never slay a coward and they are not plunderers.” 25 W ho were these people before whose religious zeal and determ ination the tact and skill o f tbe greatest military genius o f the tim e in A sia (A hm ad Shah D urrani, 174867) gave way and at w hose hands, the Durrani bow ed out o f the province in abject hum iliation w hile m eeting his W aterloo in the Punjab? W ho were these people w ho expelled from the Punjab its three masters: the Mughals, the A fghans and the M arathas and established their principalities and later under R anjit Singh a kingdom as big as that o f France? Did these people have vague and unclear identities? As referred to e a rlie r the K h a lsa id e n tity re m a in ed d o m in a n t throughout the eighteenth century with great em phasis on the K halsa rahit. The Khalsa tradition w as carried forw ard into the nineteenth century w hen Ranjit Singh became the M aharaja. The spirit and attitudes o f the eighteenth century informed his adm inistration. His coinage bore the image o f Guru Nanak and his ad m in istratio n w as know n as Sa rka r-i- K halsa. The Maharaja being the offspring o f the eighteenth century his state was an authentic extension o f the eighteenth century K halsa ideals. W hen Ranjit Singh became the M aharaja it must have seem ed to m any a fulfilm ent o f Raj karega Khalsa prophecy, a final vindication o f the eighteenth century belief that the K halsa w ould rule.26 For Joseph C unningham (1849) as m uch as for John M alcolm (1812), the Sikhs were distinct from the H indus, if anything Cunningham is more emphatic about the predom inance o f the K halsa identity am ong the Sikhs. This perception, says M cLeod, is strongly supported by the contem porary Sikh literature.27 Rattan Singh B hangu’s Prachin Panth Parkash (1841) vigorously affirm ed the distinctive nature o f the K halsa identity and claimed that this w as the identity w hich G uru G obind Singh had his followers to adopt. Giani G ian S inglvs Panth Parkash (1880) and his Tuwurikh Guru K halsa (1919) are a kind o f extension o f Rattan Singh Bhangu's work. Gian S in g h 's w orks can be regarded as an exam ple o f the sustained predom inance o f the Khalsa identity'. Similarly the Prem w w w .sikhnationalarchl-es.com

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Sumarg and the Sau Sakhian also emphasized the importance o f the Khalsa identity. As against the Khalsa the Sahajdharis cut their hair; they do not earn' arms; they had a radically different line o f succession; they did not accept Guru Granth Sahib as Guru, they had their own pilgrimage centres at places like Hardwar and Benaras. The model o f Sikhism they enunciated diverged considerably from that o f the K halsa Sikhs. They had different codes o f dress and modes o f salvation. So what sort o f Sikh identity can they project? They may be partly believers in Sikhism but not the followers o f its code o f conduct. The Gurus gave their Sikhs an identity with its final form o f the Khalsa. They gave them a form and a practice to preserve that identity throughout all times; it may be seventeenth century or the twentieth century; it may be in India or Canada or UK; and it may be times o f peace or times o f war. The problems o f identity are being created by people who only want to believe in Sikhism but do not want to live according to the tenets and practices o f Sikhism. By some ill-informed and prejudiced writers the use o f terms like religious diversity in Sikhism , religious fluidity in the Sikh tradition, multiple or plural identities in Sikhism, is irresponsible and misleading. They try to awfully blur the Sikh identity and make a strenuous bid to disintegrate, disorganize and dem olish the distinct Sikh identity, the doctrine enshrined in the Sikh scripture and the glory o f Sikh history created by a determined comm unity steeped in its religious direction and inspired by unshaken constancy in Sikh heritage. D istinguishing character or personality o f an individual or a com m unity or the sameness forms the basis c f an identity. The negation o f the sam eness is the negation of an identity. But in the field o f Sikh religion and that o f its social growth the Sikh identity was unquestionable. ‘The Sikh identity is not in any manner artificial, it is the one that was clearly created and proclaimed by the Gurus them selves’. An independent Sikh identity was fully formed in the Khalsa once for all. The Sikh identity took two centuries in its metamorphosis to assume its final shape in 1699. In the w ords o f Gokal Chand Narang. “The seed which blossomed in the time o f Guru Gobind Singh had been sown by N anak, and watered by his successors. The sword, which carved the K halsa’s way to glory, was. undoubtedly, forged by Gobind (Singh) but the steel had been provided by N anak.”2RAll the Sikhs who wanted to be recruited in the British army had to undergo the Khalsa baptism and uphold the five sym bols o f the Khalsa. The British had realized that the Sikh soldiers were best in their perform ance when they were in their true form and spirit. Hence the British em phasized the real Sikh form for them. www.sikhn^tionalarchives.com

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The Sikhs have to keep their ideological base intact. They cannot allow itto be eroded. Any dilution, distortion or erosion o f the Sikh identity [ may have a disastrous effect on the Sikh psyche. In the current socio| religious milieu in the foreign lands the Sikh traditions, values, culture and identity are, som etim es, confronted with a threatening spectre. In order to maintain their true and natural stature, the Sikhs have to salvage their identity. Their socio-religious existence has to be safeguarded. It is necessary to sim ultaneously pursue both the existential and universal concerns o f Sikhism . One cannot be pursued at the cost o f other. A cursory glance at the Sikh history reveals that the Sikhs have fought and laid dow n th eir lives for u n iv ersal causes. T hey have su ffered innumerable m artyrdom s and m ade im m ense sacrifices to uphold certain fundamental and abiding values o f hum an life like peace, harm ony, love and freedom o f conscience. It w as only through the preservation o f their identity and ideology that the Sikhs have pursued their cherished universal goals. P re se rv a tio n o f Sikh Identity

In Canada, the Sikhs are conscious o f the onslaughts on the Sikh identity from som e people w ho w ant Sikh assim ilation into the m ajority ! group of the Canadian society. U nder the w estern influence the Sikh youth is not only breaking w ith the tradition bequeathed by the Sikh G urus but is also opting out o f the Indian way o f life. M any Sikh boys use anglisized names as a mask to hide their identity. Particularly appalling is the trend marked among the children o f highly educated and prosperous classes. But the Sikhs, as a w hole, have already passed through difficult stages and are now out o f any danger to their ancestral heritage because o f the government's enlightened policy o f m ulticulturalism . If the Jew s have maintained their identity even after 2000 years o f stresses and strains why not the Sikhs who have no such strains, rather have the support o f the government. Sikhisms’ originality and distinctiveness is unm istakable. The Sikh Gurus adopted a critical attitude tow ards H induism , the Vedic scriptures, caste system and priesthood. U nder G uru N anak and his successors a new' code of conduct and the revealed scripture, later enshrined in the Guru Granth Sahib, guided the Sikhs socially and spiritually. The Sikhs divested themselves o f the H indu code o f conduct and em erged as a distinct community with a perfect religion o f their own. The Sikhs adopted A nand M arriag e instead o f V edic m arriage ceremony and performed their ow n rites and practices on nam ing o f a w w w .sikhnationalarchives.com

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child, turban-tying o f a boy and baptising o f their men and women. The\ discarded the Hindu kirya (death cerem ony) in respect o f the death of a Sikh and distributed sw eet pudding after the bhog cerem ony. The Sikhs carried a kirpan on their person instead o f the Hindu sacred thread and a m ark on the forehead. The Sikh am rit cerem ony w as perform ed w ith the double-edged sword. The G uru told them that the baptised Sikhs should totally break aw ay from their previous occupation, religion, ancestry and past actions and becom e new hum an beings. The G uru further told them that ‘caste is non-sense’ and no body should be asked his caste. But sadly enough, the castes and sub-castes did not die am ong the Sikhs. The Sikhs not only assum ed a distinct faith but also a distinct social structure and a distinct culture or a life style. In his outw ard appearance a Sikh is unique in the w orld, none can ever m istake him for some one other than a Sikh. W ith unshorn hair on his body and a turban on head he has a globally know n appearance. A young turbaned Sikh boy presented a garland to the crown prince Charles o f England during the 300th year o f the Khalsa celebration function in London 1999. The prince said, “My son alw ays keep and respect your Sikh identity.” This is a regardful recognition o f the Sikh identity by the future K ing o f England. They have a com m on surnam e ‘Singlv or lion and the Sikh ladies have ‘K aur' or princess at the end o f their name. They have a different mode o f salutation: W aheguru j i ka K halsa w aheguru j i ki fa te h (The Sikh or the Khalsa belongs to the w onderful Lord to whom also the victory belongs.) Their w ar cry is: Jo bole so nihal sat sri akal (He, who shouts loudly that God is true, will obtain His bliss.) In their native province— Punjab (India) and also everywhere in the w orld, the Sikhs have their ow n first language— Punjabi and their own script— gurm ukhi. They have their own daily prayer in w hich they remember their Ten M asters and Holy Scriptures and they repeat the tale o f joys and sufferings and achievem ents o f the Sikh community. They rem ember every day "those who allow ed them selves to be cut limb by limb, had their scalps off. were broken on the w heel, were saw-'n or flayed alive and all those who with the object o f preserving the sanctity and independence o f the Sikh shrines perm itted them selves to be beaten, im prisoned, shot, maimed or burned alive." The Sikh prayer crystalises the h isto n o f the Sikh communit). O ver the centuries their prayers have com forted the tortured hearts and www.sikhnptionala.'chives.com

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have given them strength to face hardships with unparalleled fortitude and perseverance. The Sikhs urgently needed to be integrated for the preservation o f their culture. If unfortunately, they fight am ongst them selves over their religious m aryada and get disintegrated, their precious and glorious culture and distinct identity will get shattered. Efforts have been continuously underw ay in C anada to preserve their identity through various m easures as have been discussed below. Gurdwara-based Activities

The G urdwara has been the nucleus o f Sikh religious and cultural activities. W hen a num ber o f Sikhs start living at a place their first requirements include a G urdw ara w here they may be able to m eet in the morning and evening for their prayers and singing o f L ord’s praises. The Gurdwara literally means the abode o f the G uru or w here the G uru Granth Sahib is installed. It becom es a rallying place for the Sikhs. It is here that they also discuss problem s relating to the com m unity, its developm ent, and the retention o f their religious rehat (code o f discipline). In 1904 one Bhai Arjan Singh C heem a brought G uru G ranth Sahib to Canada and located it at a house in Port Moody. He belonged to village Malak, district Ludhiana. The old reports o f the K halsa D iw an Society reveal that he was a devoted Sikh who w orked very hard for the community. He passed away at young age, on 22 July 1907. His early death was cruelty of fate and a great loss to the com m unity. He had som e know ledge o f English, which he used in finding jo b s for the new im m igrants. He was an active member o f the com m ittee constituted to co llect funds for the construction o f a G urdw ara in V ancouver. But unfortunately he could not live to see it built. Since the Sikhs first settled at V ancouver they laid the foundation stone of a Gurdwara at 1866 west, 2nd A venue, in 1907. On 19 January 1908. the first nagarkirtan (religious procession) took place to celebrate the opening o f this G urdw ara. Shortly thereafter, the G urdw aras were built in Victoria. Fraser Mills and A bbotsford in 1912 and the Sikh tem ples at Paldi near D uncan (1918), H illcrest (1935) and 8000-R oss Street. •Vancouver (1970) w hose foundation stone w as laid on 30 March 1969. and officially opened on 25 April 1970. At present there are about a hundred Gurdwaras across Canada, nearly h alf o f them in British Colum bia. In every G urdwara there is recitation o f gurhani (holy com position the Guru) in the m orning and evening everydax. Most o f the Sikhs. men and women, who are daily free or have time to attend the religious , /.sikhnationalarchives.com

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services there, may be for a short time, do attend the same. GeneralK there are brief program m es o f expositions from the Holy Scripture every evening by a Sikh— a man or a wom an, w ho has thoroughly studied the bani. On Sunday there are larger gatherings in the G urdwaras where kirtan, katha, dhadi program m es and a couple o f lectures, on Sikhism or Sikh history, are arranged. The G urdw ara organizers may place before the congregation any problem s confronting the com m unity and after discussion may put the sam e to vote for decision which is alw ays held in veneration as it receives the endorsem ent o f the G uru (G uru Granth Sahib) in w hose presence it is taken. G enerally there is an akhandpath bhog on Sunday at the Gurdwara. The akhandpath is eifher sponsored by a family or by the Gurdwara itself. In the congregation the sangat— men and w om en, may have a mixed seating arrangem ent but for the convenience o f both, one side of the hall, generally the right side, facing the G uru G ranth Sah ib , is marked for the men and the left side for the women. In conducting the programmes in the Gurdwara, reciting from the holy Granth Sahib, perform ing kirtan or katha, both men and w om en have equal rights. It is in conform ity with the teachings o f the Sikh G urus who proclaim ed w om en as equal partners of men in all social and religious matters. A fter the conclusion o f the bhog o f akhandpath and other items of the program langar is served in the basem ent hall o f the Gurdwara. The food served in the G uru’s langar is considered holy, and every Sikh keenly w ants to partake o f it. Contribution to the langar is taken as an act of religious import. A lm ost always, after religious functions or ceremonies in their fam ilies, the Sikhs arrange G uru’s langar at their places, deeming it blissful and to the G u ru ’s pleasure. At the big and historic Sikh shrines the individual Sikh fam ilies take upon them selves the sewa (voluntary service) o f running the langar for the whole day at their personal expense. , G enerally the people have to wait for months for their turn because for such a holy service they have to be on the list which is sometimes very long one. This unique institution o f free mess has earned the Sikhs a wide appreciation from all religious and social organizations or denominations o f the w orld. It was unfortunate rather sacrilegious that a few decades back some o f the Canadian Sikhs used to sit in the G urdw ara on chairs in f r o n t ot the holy G uru G ranth Sahib w ith heads uncovered. It is not definitely known as to when this grossly non-reverential and outrageously unholy practice started in som e G urdw aras in C anada. A photograph o f 1949 shows www.sikhpationalarchives.com

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Jawahar Lai N ehru. Prime M inister o f India, addressing a congregation in a G urdw ara in Canada, in the presence o f the holy G uru G ranth Sahib with his head uncovered. Later he was presented with a siropa (role o f honour) including a kirpan by the G urdw ara Prabandhaks or caretakers in the same position.

The practice to enter a Sikh tem ple with head covered w as revived in 1974 by a special resolution, w hich was strictly applicable. The irreligious practice has now alm ost faded aw ay w ith the ex cep tio n o f a single Gurdwara in B.C. In the G urdw ara, sitting on the carpet w ith head covered is an expression o f respect for the Guru. I hope the G uru G ranth, in the Gurdwara referred to above, will soon receive its due traditional respect from all its w orshippers. All the Sikhs should venerate the tim e-honoured practice prescribed by the G urus and follow ed over the centuries. The Christians have their separate religious concepts and practices and the Sikh practices should not be contused with theirs. The gurpurbs, that is, the anniversaries, relating to the G urus including the birth days o f G uru N anak, G uru G obind Singh, the Baisakhi— the creation of the Khalsa, and m artyrdom anniversaries o f G uru A rjan, G uru Tegh Bahadur and Sahibzadas (sons o f G uru G obind Singh) are observed in all the Gurdwaras in C anada with due solem nity. Lectures regarding the anniversaries are delivered and people are linked with their glorious past. The Khalsa Diwran Society celebrated the quincentenary birthday o f Guru Nanak at its new G urdw ara at 8000-Ross Street, V ancouver, on 23 November 1969: In 1995, in the Ross Street G urdw ara, V ancouver, G uru H argobind’s 400th birth anniversary was celebrated with great enthusiasm and devotion. Kirtan darbars, sem inars, poetical sym posium s, com petitions on topics on Sikh religion and lectu res on S ikhism m arked the c ele b ra tio n s throughout the year. On Baisakhi day, the n a g a r kirtans or religious p rocessions are organized by the big G urdw aras all over Canada. The annual Baisakhi nagar kirtan started in V ancouver in 1979 on the 500th birthday o f Guru Amar Das Ji (the third N anak o f the Sikhs). Besides the local people, the Sikhs from the nearby tow ns participate in the procession. In Vancouver, the procession starts from the Ross Street Sikh G urdw ara and m oving along a certain route, it reaches the Main Street market and returns to the staning point from a different route. The procession is headed by dozens of floats of different Sikh organizations. A large num ber o f people join the procession on the route. They are lavishly entertained with juice, coke www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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and other soft drinks besides various types o f eatables on the way. The n u m b er o f p a rtic ip a n ts could be m o d estly e stim ated at a hundred thousand— men. w om en and children. This procession displays a unity of the com m unity, a rem arkable Sikh presence in the society and the distinct identity o f the grow ing Sikh population in Canada. The Sikh procession deeply inspires a sense o f wonder and splendour in the hearts o f the viewers. On B aisakhi day, a m rit cerem ony is conducted in alm ost all the G urdw aras and hundreds o f devoted Sikhs join the ranks o f the baptised Singhs. The first am rit cerem ony took place in C anada in 1908. According to the K halsa Diw an Society’s old records Bhai M ew a Singh Shaheed took am rit on 21 June 1908 and B alw ant Singh, Bhag Singh and Waryam Singh were baptised on 28 June 1908. On 11 April 1909, eight men and tw o w om en took amrit. On the sam e day, that is on 11 April 1909, the m arriage o f Gian Singh (earlier named M unsha Singh) and Labh Kaur (earlier A nnie W right) was solem nised in the presence o f Sant Teja Singh, according to the Sikh rehat. This w as the first m arriage that took place on the soil o f C anada according to the Sikh rites. The am rit ceremony is not only exclusive to the Baisakhi day; it is performed on many other occasions and days o f the year as well. In V ancouver, 95 Sikhs took amrit in 1995 and 130 people in less than a year in 1996 at the Ross Street Sikh Gurdwara alone. The amrit is prepared w'ith double-edged sw'ord by five beloved ones and the initiants take a pledge to keep five Ks and abide by the K halsa rahit in letter and spirit and take a vow to maintain the distinction o f their identity to their last breath. A lm ost all the big G urdw aras in C anada arrange periodically gurmai cam ps w hich p rovide ed u catio n in Sikh relig io n , its teachings and philosophy, especially for the sch o o l-g o in g boys and girls who are otherw ise very likely to go astray from the path o f Sikhism. These camps are arranged during the sum m er vacation. The Sikh scholars are invited to address the students on different topics o f Sikhism and the Sikh history. D uring the lectures the participants are encouraged to ask questions to rem ove any doubts in their minds. Since the young men and women are more inquisitive and skeptical every effort is m ade to satisfy their queries. In the end the participants are given prizes and medals for their performance. These cam ps are a regular annual feature o f many Gurdwaras in Canada. The Singh Sabha m ovem ent centenary w as celebrated in 1974 w ith a tour o f Sikh dignitaries around British Colum bia. The aims and objects oi the Singh Sablui w ere w idely propagated in Canada by scholarly discour>e> and lectures in the G urdw aras and at other forums. By a special r e s o lu t io n

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passed in 1974. it w as decided that as against the irreligious practice followed in the past few years, all people entering the G urdw ara were strictly enjoined upon to cover their heads. Ragis (reciters o f bani) and kathakars (expositors o f Sikhism ) are called from In dia for a sp ecific p erio d to perform kirta n and giv e expositions on Sikh religion and its philosophy and enlighten the faithful in the G urdw aras. The Shirom ani G u rd w ara P rabandhak C om m ittee (SGPC) sent the first ragi ja th a , led by Bhai B akhshish Singh, w hich came to Canada, in 1975. In 1975 the tercentenary o f Shri G uru Tegh Bahadur was com m em orated w ith due solem nity. W hen the ragis are in greater demand in various G urdw aras, the G urdw ara sponsors get their visas extended. Almost daily, they recite the hymns from the Holy Scripture in melodious and com forting tunes. The G u ru ’s hym ns are devotional in character. The kirtan arouses the listeners’ feelings o f devotion and creates oneness with God. Through kirtan (singing o f gurbani), the Sikhs are kept tuned with their religion, and katha instills in the listeners the real import of Sikhism. W ith effect from 1993, a 24-hour radio program m e featuring Sikh religion and gurbani kirtan started its transm ission from Vancouver. It broadcasts across C anada and A m erica via satellite. T heir impact on the listeners is unique and it m akes them distinctive in identity— people with matchless devotion and spiritual inspiration. Y oung boys and girls are also given training in kirtan. The akhandpath and Baisakhi day celebrations were held at the Parliam ent Building in O ttaw a in 1994. At the G urdwaras an arrangem ent is m ade to give lessons in kirtan especially to the younger generations. To arouse further interest in them competitions in kirtan are held and prizes given. In 1993, 70 boys and girls participated in kirtan com petition. Some G urdwaras provide lessons in reading the Guru G ranth Sahib correctly. All these m easures aim at prom oting deep reverence for the Sikh tenets and practices. A m ong younger boys turban-tying com petition is held and prizes are aw arded to inspire due respeci for the turban, w hich is worn not only as a headgear but also as an important fundamental symbol of their religious faith. The turban is a prom inent sym bol o f Sikh identity. In 1993. 25 boys took part in the turban-tying com petition. To preach Sikhism, the Ross Street G urdw ara. V ancouver, has been publishing and distributing, in thousands, free o f any charges, a m agazine titled Khalsa Diwan gazette for the last m any years. Its published special numbers include Baisakhi N um ber, m irip iri N um ber. Dashm esh N um ber and gaddi-nishini Num ber o f Guru Granth Sahib. Through valuable articles by scholars of Sikh religion and history its readers are kept abreast o f www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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know ledge o f Sikhism and its distinctive features. Such literature is of highly persuasive value. The G urdw ara is the hub o f all religious and cultural activity. Almost all Sikh m arriages are solem nised at the G urdwara. The akhandpathw sahajpath, after the death in a fam ily, is perform ed at the G urdwara where the bhog cerem ony is attended by a large gathering, follow ed by kirtan ardas and distribution o f karah prashad. All cerem onies are conducted strictly in accordance with the Sikh m aryada (code o f conduct) and now here the Sikh identity is allowed to be alloyed, know ing full well the instructions o f G uru G obind Singh that so long as a Sikh keeps his identity distinct he w ould be given all the powers. “A nd w hosoever lives according to the rahit prescribed for him, he is my m aster and 1 am his se rv a n t/’ said the G uru so graciously, ennobling his hum ble follower. The K halsa D iw an Society, V ancouver, has recently constructed a big Sikh com m unity R esource C entre adjacent to the Ross Street Sikh Tem ple, V ancouver. Its foundation stone w as laid on 24 July 1994 and its inauguration cerem ony took place on 28 July 1996. Besides provision for m any other things Sikh library and Sikh museum are also housed in this centre, w hich cater to the needs o f the indulgent Sikh readers. A Sikh library is a m ost valuable asset for the prom otion o f the study of Sikh religion and the m useum brings before the eyes o f the viewers what happened aw ay from them in the distant past. The contribution o f the G urdw ara in preserving the Sikh identity is undoubtedly the m axim um as it covers m any aspects o f religious life ofa Sikh and its im pact on the com m unity is deeper and longer-lasting as the G uru is central in all com m andm ents issued to the Sikhs. The Gurdwara never means only the building in w hich the G uru Granth Sahib is installed, it also means the w ord o f the G uru that rem oves darkness and provides light to the devotee. N one can flout an edict issued from the Gurdwara as it is the M aster’s w ord and is infallible. Sikh Societies

There is a w idespread netw ork o f Sikh societies all over Canada. In British C olum bia alone, there are more than forty Sikh societies which have been formed alm ost in all cities and tow ns that have some Sikh p o p u latio n in clu d in g V an co u v er, B u rn ab y , N ew Westminster. Pitt M eadow , A b b o tsfo rd . M ission, V ictoria. N an aim o . Duncan. Paldi. C am pbell R iver. M erritt. K am ploops. K elow na. Vernon, Penticton. W illiam s Lake. Prince G eorge. Kitim at and Q uesnel. www.sikhrjiationalarch'ves.com

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Often, one common goal that these societies had before them was. to with, to build a Gurdwara for the Sikh community and organize regular religious functions and promote Sikhism. The Sikh conference held in T oronto in 1979 records that "It is unanimously adopted at the plenary session that the planning committee for the conference shall assume the responsibility o f a Task Force and work towards establishing a mechanism whereby the Sikhs in various centres can communicate on regular basis.” This resolution w as vigorously translated into action and such conferences became a regular feature o f the Sikh community in Canada. Gordon Fairweather, o f Canadian Human Rights Comm ission said at the Sikh conference held in O ttaw a in 1980 in his inaugural address, "W e at the Canadian Human Rights C om m ission are particularly interested in the fact that from this meeting may well come a Federation o f Sikh Societies of Canada, in other words a national group. I think that is important. If that goal is reached we at the Com m ission would be very happy because it will be important to us in the ongoing work that we have to do together.... I will set aside my notes and would say that from a national group and from the Canadian Human Rights Comm ission we surely together can pursue something. It will be a relentless battle because attitudinal changes are difficult.”29 These societies hold frequent meetings to consider problems facing their particular localities or the Sikhs living in other parts o f the country. They make united efforts to undo the injustice done to them . These societies, at their individual level, make plans, from time to time, for the protection o f their ethnic identity. W hen the Sikhs are confronting a cause at national level these societies chalk out strategies collectively and plead their cause v ig o ro u sly . F or e x a m p le, th e K h a lsa D iw an S o ciety Vancouver’s role in fighting for the rights o f the Sikh comm unity and in preserving the Sikh values has been marvellous, right from its inception in 1906. Now when the Sikhs have a sizeable num ber in the country and the Sikhs to represent them in the legislative assemblies and parliament they are deemed to have become a force to reckon with. In the past, for decades after decades, they had mutely suffered or their grumble was not audible to the authorities, and ultimately they created a place for them in the country's mainstream. Their Sikh identity has all through been in a grave d an g er o f obliteration at the hands o f the hostile elem ents o f the population but they could defend it with all the moral and spiritual strength at their command. The Federation o f Sikh Societies was formed in 1981. The principle start

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objectives o f this federation w ere to promote and preserve the Sikh religious values, its doctrines and practices and also to retain the cultural heritage o f the Sikhs through co-ordination o f various religious, cultural. Punjabi language and educational needs o f the Sikhs in Canada. The federation was to take up the Sikh cause w ith the governm ent w hen the occasion arose. Sikhism w as to be preached am ong the Sikhs and vigorous efforts were to be m ade to save them from straying aw ay from Sikhism under extraneous influences. It w as not an easy jo b to fight against the strong tides o f social change capable o f sw eeping aw ay the existing social and religious values. This federation m ade m any briefs on visible minorities, the Sikh turban and kirpan issues that w ere vital to the Sikh identity, to the relevant com m issions and com m ittees. In C anadian courts, in cases w here the Sikhs were involved and w ere required to sw ear by their Holy Scripture the volum es o f the G uru G ranth Sahib w ere being used for the purpose. The Federation o f Sikh Societies passed a resolution at the All C anada Sikh C onvention (1983) in O ttaw a that this court practice was contrary to the Sikh faith and should be discontinued forthw ith. The courts were implored to return the volum es o f the G uru G ranth Sahib to the nearest Gurdwaras or the Federation for keeping them respectfully in proper places. The Federation o f Sikh Societies w ith the support o f the Sikh com m unity across C anada and the Secretary o f State for Multiculturalism established a C hair in Punjabi Language, Literature and Sikh studies at the University o f British C olum bia w here close to 100 students take the Punjabi Language courses for cred it’at different levels A fter a prolonged correspondence w ith the A ttorney- General of British C olum bia the K halsa Diw an Society, V ancouver, retrieved thirtysix volum es o f the G uru G ranth Sahib from the courts o f B.C. From some courts, copies o f Sundar G utkas w ere also collected by the society. Thus, with the efforts o f the Federation o f Societies, w rong and disrespectful practice o f using the G uru G ranth Sahib for sw earing in the courts was stopped. The International Sikh Y outh Federation w as established in Canada in 1984. The principal object o f this federation w as to spotlight the mission o f the Sikh ideology, faith and life. They are com m itted to jealously guard their culture and faith as they have done during the last five hundred years. It was involved in preaching Sikh initiation or am rit prachar a m o n g the Sikhs. This Federation m ade frantic efforts to prevent the Sikh youths from com m itting crim es and indulging in the use o f drugs. The World Sikh O rganisation (W SO ) u a s conceived in 1983 in Ottawa and given shape in January 1985. In C anada the W SO pleaded s t r o n g ly . w .n sikhna.ionalarch *os.c«*m

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on behalf o f the Sikhs, with the Human Rights Organisations and such other committees that dealt with racial justice, Sikh em ploym ent and refugee issues. This organisation stood very forcefully and effectively for the preservation o f the Sikh sym bols and Sikh distinctiveness. They pursued the G urdwara-based activities vehemently and their thrust on the retention o f the Sikh values has been intensely powerful and fervid. In 1985 some educated Sikhs had set up the Macauliffe Institute o f Sikh studies, in Toronto. This Institute aim ed at serious scholarly pursuits in Sikh studies and educating people about Sikhism. It explained the importance o f the Sikh rehat and salient doctrines o f the Sikh religion to the Toronto police and to the school boards, to start with. The Institute impressed upon these departments to keep in view as to what Sikhism is and who the Sikhs were, while dealing with them. It also m eant to make them aware o f their own and other people’s conscious and unconscious biases, behaviours and attitudes and the way in which they might adversely affect the Sikh community. In 1987, this Institute helped the Toronto University in organizing the Sikh Conference. In 1988, the Institute itself organized a conference with the theme, “Sikh Canadians: The prom ise and the C hallenge,” in Toronto, primarily with a view to m aking the Sikh image distinct and worthy of respect. The Canadian Sikh Studies Institute was established in 1989. This Institute presented a case on the Royal Canadian M ounted Police (RCM P) turban issue to the Solicitor- General, Pierre Blais, in February 1990, and through a symbolic signature cam paign five thousand signatures were submitted to the Solicitor-General. This Institute also presented a paper on ‘Canadian Sikhs’ to the mem bers o f Parliament, enlightening them on the distinct Sikh identity over which no compromise could ever be made. The Sikh presence in Canada is becom ing increasingly visible. In order to know about Sikhism and its practices a large number o f non-Sikh groups of students and teachers had been visiting the Gurdwaras very often. I have available with me a report o f 8000 Ross Street Gurdwara Vancouver, for the year 1993. According to it about 50 groups comprising 1300 students belonging to different rel igions o f the world accompanied by their teachers came to this Gurdwara in 1993. Fourteen o f these groups belonged to the University of British C olum bia with about 200 visitors. Four groups consisting of 190 students came from Colum bia Bible College. A single big group of Saint Andrew School com prising 60 students and teachers also visited the Gurdw'ara. Besides them, students and teachers from Simon Fraser University, Langara College, Coventery College, Capilano College, www.siKnnr j o i idlarch iv esx o ri

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University Women Club. Senior Citizens groups o f New Westminster. T rin ity W estern U n iv ersity L an g ley , H illcrest com m unity chapel Bellingham and Bellingham High School students had the honour to have visited the 8000 Ross Street Sikh Gurdwara, Vancouver. All the students and teachers visiting the Gurdwara were curious to know about Sikhism and its practices. Invariably for every group coming to the G urdwara lectures were arranged, free discussion conducted so that they could know as m uch as possible about Sikhism and about the community that professes this religion. These programmes were extremely fruitful for both the visitors and the hosts, in developing an understanding betw een them . In the end all the visitors w ere entertained with the sum ptuous Indian meals at the Guru ka langar which they extremely relished. They admired the practice o f free mess in the Guru ka langar and appreciated many other practices o f the Sikhs. During the same year, the Khalsa Diwan Society arranged the meetings with the School Board, Race Relations Comm ittee and Canadian Racial Justice Committee, on the prem ises o f Guru A m ar Das Niwas, where the attending members were fam iliarised with the teachings o f Sikhism and the code o f conduct that the Sikhs were enjoined upon to follow strictly. The Khalsa Diwan Society is never to refuse help whenever a needy person comes to them. This is one o f the cardinal teachings of Sikhism, which they observe in letter and spirit. A ny violation o f the Sikh practices m ay not be taken lightly but as very deplorable negation and an anti-Sikh stance. National Association of Canadians of Origin in India (Nacoi)

Nacoi was established in 1976 in O ttaw a to provide a single common platform to voice the follow ing concerns o f Canadians o f origin in India: to encourage Indo-Canadians to participate fully in Canadian society; to provide a forum for exchange o f ideas, issues and common problems and protect their rights, to facilitate com m unication within the community and with other organizations; to assist them in the orientation and adaptation to Canadian milieu and also to bring about a better u n d ersta n d in g of Canada and the Canadians; to formulate guidelines for improving th eir collective image and ensure due recognition o f their contribution to Canada. Indians may be o f several different origins including the Punjabis, Bengalis, Tamils and the Sikhs in particular. They may have t h e i r own sectarian associations for purposes o f their social, religious and cu ltu ral program m es. But Nacoi professes to be a cosm opolitan o r g a n i s a ti o n representing all groups w orking for the good o f all Canadians of origin in www.sikhr^ationalarchives.com

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India. The founders o f this organisation primarily aimed at having the ear of the government to resolve their concerns. It is a m atter o f history that N acoi has alm ost alw ays been headed and dominated by the S ik h s w ho are a lw ay s th e re to sp e a rh e a d such organizations and movem ents. Nacoi is having a large num ber o f chapters spread across C anada from coast to coast, from V ictoria (B .C .) to St. Johns (N ew Foundland). Delegates hailing from all parts o f the country attend its annual general meetings. In these meetings, spread over different sessions, discussions are held on various problem s facing the Indo-C anadians. The annual conference or congress o f N acoi is held at a different place every year, lasting for tw o or three days. Nacoi claim s to have em erged as the national voice o f the IndoCanadian com m unity as a whole. B ecause o f the cultural, linguistic and religious d iv e rsity w ith in the In d ian co m m u n ity m any in d iv id u al organizations cater to different aspects o f the com m unity needs. But Nacoi claims to be an um brella organisation that brings together all the divergent groups in pursuit o f the com m on goals set before them . This organisation is not expected to be critical o f the activities o f any other association o f any other Indian ethnic or religious group, because all those groups look to the interests o f the C anadians o f Indian origin, how ever limited their works or interests may be. So N acoFs concerns are not supposed to com e into clash with the concerns o f any other group o f the Indo-Canadians. Nacoi has been vehem ently pursuing with the federal or provincial governm ents th e p ro b le m s fa c e d by In d ia n s as th o s e o f u n d e r­ representation on co m m issio n s, b o ard s and se n io r p o sitio n s in the bureaucracies o f all the governm ents and their agencies and decision­ making authorities. Nacoi is also concerned about the invisibility o f the visible m inorities, immigration, em ploym ent equity, language, m ulticulturalism and racial discrimination. This organisation is seized o f unity am ong the Indians to realise their objectives by changing the traditional attitude o f the Indian community as many o f them are still living mentally and em otionally in their native country and not recognizing them selves as Canadians. The Nacoi wants the Indians to becom e a part o f the C anadian m ainstream keeping intact their cultural heritage and their identity as distinct as ever, demonstrating their desire to be directly involved in the political, social and administrative structure o f the country. The membership o f this organisation is open to anyone who belongs to any Indian community or religion as Sikhism or Hinduism or Christianity www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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or Islam. All Indo-Canadian organizations can get them selves affiliated to local chapters o f Nacoi. There are a large num ber o f organizations in cities like V ancouver and Toronto, which have thousands o f members who are affiliated to the local chapters. Even religious groups are affiliated to N acoi at local levels and are a part o f the organisation. N acoi has been lobbying all levels o f governm ent and presenting briefs to various com m issions, legislative com m ittees and task forces. This organisation has been striving for the recognition o f the Indian degreeholders for em ploym ent in C anada in all fields as the talents o f the IndoCanadian doctors, engineers and other professionals and skilled workers are w asted because they cannot get accreditation to w ork in their field of expertise. N acoi has been trying to create m utually respectful relationships betw een the Indian ethnic com m unities and the police as incidents over the p a st m any y e a rs in v a rio u s u rb an c e n tre s h av e resulted in a confrontational attitude betw een com m unity groups and the police force. To im prove relations the best course is to hire more young members from these com m unities with diverse backgrounds, thus m aking police force to be multicultural. N acoi has been involving the young, both male and female, in the activities o f the com m unity’s program m es by organizing youth seminars at different places in the country. This organisation has been pursuing w ith the E thnocultural C o u n cil the sp eed y d isp o sal o f all cases of discrim ination. N acoi believes that unless more visible minorities are seen in g o v ernm en t and the private sector, discrim in atio n against visible m inorities will continue unabated. Nacoi has been again and again declaring that it belongs to all the Indo-Canadians who can m ake a difference by their involvement in it. All should w ork together for a better, stronger and united community. This organisation has been expressing deep concern that Indo-Canadian women face, in their society, domestic violence and battering within the household. It is a major problem and, unfortunately, transition houses in the big cities are filled regularly by w om en from this com m unity. This organisation is m aking all-out efforts to reverse this trend. Nacoi believes in persistent efforts to solve the com m unity’s problems, o f course, never hoping for m iracles to happen in this regard. Nacoi brings out a quarterly Forum from Ottawa. It is just a leaflet or a new sletter o f average ten pages. Such a large organisation, as Nacoi. should publish a periodical journal containing scholarly articles on different aspects o f problem s faced by the Indo-Canadians. A strong print m e d i a or www.sikhipationalarchives.com

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hiehly informative literature is a great asset for any institution that deals so widely with the concerns o f so potent a com m unity. Sikh Conferences

The Sikh conferences played an im portant role in focussing attention on Sikh problems and Sikh identity in Canada. The first Sikh C onference in Canada was held in T oronto in 1979. A large num ber o f papers w ere read on issues relating to Sikh identity, Sikh professionals, Sikh w om en, relations o f the Sikhs w ith other com m unities and education o f Sikh children. This conference w as follow ed by other Sikh conferences alm ost annually or with an interval o f a couple o f years. The Sikh conferences held on the soil o f C anada in 1980s and 1990s w ere as under: Sikh C onference, O ttaw a (1 9 8 0 ), A ll C an ad a Sikh C o n v en tio n , Calgary (1981), The H eritage C onference, O ttaw a (1981), All C anada Sikh Convention, O ttaw a (1983), Regional Conference at Kam ploops (July 1984), Regional C onference at T oronto (22 July 1984), Sikh W om en’s Seminar, Toronto (23 M arch 1985), Sikh sym posium Toronto (25-26 May 1985), All C anada Sikh C onvention, V ictoria (9-10 N ovem ber 1985), North A m erican Sikh C o n v en tio n E d m o n to n (1 S ep te m b e r 1985), Academic C onference on Sikh Scholarship, T oronto (13-15 February 1987), ‘Sikh C anadians: The Prom ise o f the C hallenge’— A sym posium , Toronto (12-14 A ugust 1988). International C onference on Sikh Studies, University o f Toronto (24-25 N ovem ber 1990). International C onference on Sikh Studies, U niversity o f British C olum bia. V ancouver (2 D ecem ber 1990) and some more conferences in V ancouver and T oronto in 1990s and many such conferences across the border in the U.S.A. Scores o f Sikh societies or organizations from across C anada sent their delegates to participate in these conferences. The delegates took with them to their respective societies the m essage o f the deliberations o f these conferences. Thus, the tem po o f building and retaining the unm istakably conspicuous image o f the Sikhs w as kept. The papers presented in the conferences exhibited a diverse range o f topics relating to the religious and cultural needs o f the Sikh com m unity. These papers included: H eritage o f Sikh culture. The problem s o f Sikh youth, Teachings o f Sikhism . T eaching o f Punjabi to Sikh children in Canada, Preservation o f Sikhism in N orth A m erica. Position o f the Sikhs in the Canadian M osaic, D ifficulties faced by the c o m m u n ity to maintain Sikh symbols and traditions. R esponse to negative cov erage o f the Sikhs mmedia. Role of w omen in Sikh so c ie t\. The Khalsa and its universality. The Sikh D iaspora— its possible e ffects on Sikhism . G uru N a n a k 's www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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ideology. C oncept o f m irip iri. C oncept o f charhdi kala. Sikh identity—a continuing feature, kirpan and turban issues, Sikh practices, the Sikhs and racism. Sikh institutions. Spiritual concepts o f Sikhism and Status of Sikh w om en in Canada. It is gratifying to note rather it is a m atter o f pride that so many Sikh conferences had not been held anyw here else in the w orld in such a brief span o f time. This reflects deep consciousness o f the Sikhs in Canada regarding their serious concerns about their identity, their religion and their com m unity as a w'hoie. S ikh E d u catio n Since 1970, the K halsa D iw an Society, V ancouver, had been making arrangem ents for the teaching o f Punjabi (in g urm ukhi script) at the Ross Street Sikh Tem ple, V ancouver, to the young Sikh children. In September 1972, Punjabi classes w ere started in the evening at David Thompson Secondary School, V ancouver. L ater on. the K halsa Elementary School, with a regular school board curriculum , w as started in 1986, in Vancouver (and now with the addition o f K halsa High School in Surrey since 1992) w ith special arrangem ent o f teaching Punjabi to the students and enjoining upon them and the school teachers the observance o f Sikh rehat (code of conduct), thus encouraging and enabling the school children to grow up as com m itted Sikhs. On sim ilar lines, the D ashm esh Khalsa School is functioning in A bbotsford. A lthough C hinese and Punjabi are claim ed to be in second and third places as m other tongues w ithin the high school population of British C olum bia, behind English, these had been relegated to after-school classes as if the Punjabi and the Chinese kids w ere going to stay an hour later for a language lesson. But they did. W ith the co-operation o f the Vancouver School Board, after the school tim e, from 3.15 p.m. to 4.15 p.m. an arrangem ent was m ade to teach Punjabi in the follow ing schools: Walter M oberley School, John H enderson School, Saxsm ith School, Mackenzie School, Flem ing School and D ouglas School. The Khalsa Diwan Society arranged the Punjabi teachers. In 1993 about 500 Sikh students were studying Punjabi in these schools including those o f Guru Amar Das Niwas School students. Punjabi and C hinese are the languages spoken in the homes and businesses o f the C anadians who form a significant part o f the population o f British C olum bia and som e other provinces. These are. in fact, the C anadian languages spoken b\ the C anadians: these might have originated elsew here, ju st as other languages have. It is pleasing to note that British

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C olum bia reviewed its language polic\ so that people c o u ld move with the times and bring their language instruction in line with the changing face and needs o f B.C. The British C olum bia governm ent included these languages in the provincial list o f exam inable languages from grade five to grade tw elve. The governm ent’s com m itm ent to teaching Punjabi in the schools will not only help protect and enhance the Sikh culture but through Punjabi C anada w ould be m ade richer culturally w ith the addition of one more language to the school curriculum . On the British C olum bia governm ent’s decision, in 1994, to introduce Punjabi in the school curriculum , M anm ohan Singh (M oe) Sihota M LA, then minister in the B.C. governm ent, said, “At the top o f my list in things I wanted to acco m p lish d u rin g th is N ew D em o cratic P arty (N D P ) government’s days in office w as to m ake sure that P unjab language instruction be available for future generations, so that those generations will have the ability to speak the language o f their culture and w ould be able to pass it down to their children, so that those values are not lost. If you lose your language you lose your culture. It is a step tow ards true multiculturalism” . He continues further, "T his is a historic, unprecedented and a very courageous decision on the part o f this governm ent and one that w as long overdue. This decision says to the people o f C hinese. Japanese and IndoCanadian origin that there is a place for them in British C olum bia. Things that are im portant to them — their language, culture and custom s— are now part of their educational fabric, preserved forever.” He especially looks towards the Punjabi youngsters for whom the language policy is crucial in maintaining their culture. Tragically, there are many second and third generation people from India, who have lost their ability to speak and write Punjabi, thus losing their touch or connection with their only Punjab speaking grand-parents. That is a trem endous loss, he said. “O ur children need to know about our values in order to properly understand that they must possess the ability to speak the language which their parents brought to Canada.”30 Punjabi w as started in the schools with effect from the 199697 school year. O f late, it has been an encouraging developm ent that the Sikh parents take their C anadian-borns to India along with them , very often, to acquaint them with their parents' and grandparents' ancestral land and culture. These children visit the G urdw aras there and fam iliarize themselves u ith the Sikh code o f conduct and imbibe interest and respect for the same. Now. more than ever before, they are grow ing as Punjabi and Sikh children, though in a different environm ent, with the full or sufficient know ledge o f their ethnic roots. It is hoped that the Sikh identity

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will be safe in their hands in the days to come, provided their parents pla\ their wholesom e role vigorously. In 1983, the Federation o f Sikh Societies o f Canada conceived a plan o f setting up a chair o f Sikh studies at the University o f British Columbia. The governm ent o f Canada promised to contribute matching financial assistance up to $ 350,000 to the collection o f funds by the community. The Sikh Federation raised an amount o f $ 350,000 and a chair in Punjabi Language, Literature and Sikh Studies was established in 1985 with the announcem ent o f a Sikh chair by the M inister o f Multiculturalism, David Crombie. Similarly professorship in Sikhism was set up at the University of Toronto in the Departm ent o f South East Asian Studies, on the condition o f raising $ 30,000, a year, by the Sikh community. These departments of Sikh studies were established with a view to prom oting Sikh studies and Sikh culture. Due to some internal problems these chairs are in rough w aters at present. T he old in cu m b en ts w o rk in g on these teaching assignments were made to quit as they fell short o f the expectations of the Sikh comm unity that raised funds to finance them. Sikh Media

The media always plays an important role in awakening people to their rights and privileges. Right from the beginning o f the twentieth century the leaders o f the Canadian Sikhs have been making strenuous efforts to bring out w eekly, fortnightly and monthly papers, highlighting their demands and injustices and prejudices suffered by them at the hands o f governm ent and the majority' groups o f the society. Since most of these papers did not enjoy sufficient patronage o f the Sikh population in terms o f financial help they could not survive long for want o f funds. But efforts continued to be made through print again and again and generally byindividuals through their limited resources to voice the grievances in respect o f racial discrim ination and denial o f the very basic rights to which as mem bers o f society they were entitled. A few o f papers that made their appearance in Canada during the twentieth century and disappeared in due course o f time for want o f readers and due to financial constraints may be listed below: Dr Sundar Singh started a journal titled Aryan in 1909. Dr Sundar Singh and Kartar Singh published a journal, S a m a r in 1912. In the fifties. Inderjit Singh Kohli started the Indo-Canadian Times magazine, which he continued to publish for 15 years until his retirement. Giani Tara Singh brought out a monthly magazine in Punjabi titled "The Canadian Khalsa.

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Gian Singh published a quarterly m agazine named The Canadian Sikh in Punjabi and English in 1961. Tara Singh Bains brought out a Punjabi weekly in 1969. It was closed after publishing 36 issues. Some others were: The C anadian Q aum i Sandesh, Ekta, Lok Awaz, Purab Prakash, Lokta, Parivartan, Desh Sewak, The P unjabi A sia Times, Wangar, Watano Door, Pardesi Punjab, Western Sikh Sam achar, Sikh Sansar and m any more. Some o f these papers were in Punjabi alone and som e o f them in both Punjabi and English. Because o f limited circulation most o f these papers were not financially viable. At present, in G reater V an co u v er, eig h t p ap ers in clu d in g In d o Canadian Times, Punjabi Tribune, C harhdi kala and Sangarish in Punjabi (gurmukhi script) and The L ink and the Indo C anadian Voice in English are published regularly. T hese papers are w eekly, bi-w eekly and bi­ monthly and often give the com m unity new s, new s from India and a lot o f advertisements relating to Indo-Canadians. These papers also publish some good articles on Sikhism a rd its practices, concerns o f the Sikh youth, Sikh identity and m easures to retain it. T hese papers w hich are the spokesmen o f the Sikhs adequately bring to the Sikh readers as to w hat the Sikh community is up to and how the Sikhs have to m aintain them selves in a dignified manner. Some o f these papers subsist on advertisem ents and are available to the readers at public places, free o f any charges, and some o f them are priced. As referred to e arlier, th e K h a lsa D iw a n S o c ie ty G a z e tte , Vancouver, is periodically published, in thousands, and distributed w ithout any charges. It. prim arily, focuses on preaching Sikhism , its doctrines and practices; lives o f Sikh G urus and such events from the Sikh history as duly glorify the Sikh character and Sikh chivalry. This journal serves as a torchbearer o f Sikh values. It contains articles both in Punjabi and English. It is heartening to know' that m ost o f the Sikh fam ilies have a copy o f these papers in their hom es and at present, more than ever, they are anxious to remain abreast, in respect o f inform ation, o f their com m unity and the Sikh values. The Sikhs also arrange to relay their religious and cultural programmes through TV cable channels. Since 13 April 1996. the Khalsa Diwan Society. V ancouver, placed its Web Page on the Internet and is probably the first society am ong the Gurdwara Societies in Canada to have established the Web Page in 1996. Through Internet, the Khalsa Diw an Society is able to reach the sangat all

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over the world. It provides an opportunity to reach the younger audience that is possibly not present at the Sikh G urdwara. This society's Home Page comprises four sections: (1) the Khalsa Diw'an Society— that provides inform ation about the G urdw ara, the K halsa Diwan Punjabi School and the K halsa Diwan Day Care Centre, the Sikh Com m unity Resource Centre and the Sports Centre (2) the C anadian Sikh Pioneers— provides a historical perspective through biographical backgrounds on pioneers like Bhai Mewa Singh, Bhai B hag Singh, Bhai Balw ant Singh and Professor Sant Teja S in g h (3 ) H u k a m n a m a (E d ic t)— p ro v id e s th e H u k a m n a m a from H arm andir Sahib (Am ritszx). And (4) Inform ation— provides the latest inform ation on program m es and events happening at the Khalsa Diwan S o c ie ty , V a n c o u v e r. T h is H om e P ag e is a c c e ss ib le from : http:// W W W .K halsa Diw an Soc.V ancouver.bc.ca/. Isolated Sikh Fam ilies B rough t within Fold

‘Isolated Sikh fam ilies’ here m ean fam ilies living in small towns or places w here the Sikh population is sparse and they do not form a viable unit. In such places, the Sikhs have their ow n problem s. The children tend to forget their language, religion and culture sooner than the children living in larger centres o f Sikh population, w here they have the Gurdwaras duly provided w ith kirta n , lectu res on S ikhism and the Gurdwara-based program m es and celebrations o f the Sikh anniversaries. The Sikhs living in sm aller places rem ain deprived o f the above Sikh activities. Bettereducated people living in small tow ns are considered to be more vulnerable to their new environm ent and they change their culture and life-style faster than the less educated people w ho take longer to integrate or assimilate into the new culture. In an environm ent o f different culture and different pattern of life­ style only a person strongly com m itted to his ow n ethnic culture can stand unaffected. The others need to be supported to w ithstand the pressure of disparate or un-Sikh culture. Efforts have been m ade by larger Sikh population centres to involve in their Sikh com m unity program m es, the Sikhs living in isolated places. Those people are invited to bigger centres to participate in their religious and cultural functions. The ragis and kathakars are sent to these smaller places. The new spapers dedicated to the spread o f Sikh religion and its practices are supplied to these people. Books on Sikhism are also sent to them from the libraries o f main Sikh centres. Thus, they are made to realise that they belong to the Sikh com m unity at large and it cares for their religious and cultural needs, and is deeply interested in the maintenance

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of their Sikh identity. The concerns o f these scattered and marginalised families have been voiced during the various Sikh conferences and measures have been adopted from time to time to keep these families linked with the Sikh associations. It is larger com m unity's duty to inform them that they might be ‘lonely’ but they are not ‘alone’, as they are a part of the larger comm unity— only living at a little distant place. Creation o f such a feeling will not allow them to drift away from their comm unity. Summing up, it is worthwhile to look at the whole range o f a century that witnessed diverse changes in the Sikh identity in this country. As we see from the old pictures, the Sikh pioneers to Canada reached this new land with sabat surat dastar sira (untampered Sikh appearance and a turban on head). These enterprising im migrants, with irrepressible spirit and undying power o f human endurance, maintained the Sikh form for decades. Up to 1940s majority o f the Sikhs retained most o f their Sikh symbols including hair and turban. They bore the brunt o f discrim ination o f the racists for their religious symbols bravely but when they gained some rights and privileges and white racists began to accept them with Sikh symbols in 1950s and onwards, the Sikhs unfortunately started discarding their valuable sym bols o f Sikh identity. I have before me an earlier photograph album o f the generation that is now bordering on 70 or 80 years of age. M ost o f them remained in Sikh form for many years but now, sadly enough, most o f them present un-Sikh appearance. It may be said after Bhai Vir Singh that koi haria boot rahio ri (only some rare plant remained green, all others dried up). The author is constrained to point out this change when he is writing on the Sikh identity and its preservation in Canada. He has to study the stages through which, the Sikhs passed. He does not nurse any unpleasant feelings for this change but decidedly he is all respect for those who maintained their distinctive identity over the decades. Then, in the 1980s and further the tide reversed its course and thousands of young men emerged in the Sikh form. The Gurdw'aras became the focal points o f Sikh solidarity after June 1984. A feeling o f distinct Sikh identity grip p ed th e ir m ind and im ag inatio n . T he C an ad ian government also needs to be thanked for removing ail restrictions that barred the Sikhs from many public services on account o f their Sikh symbols. If multiculturalism can have full play in Canada then this country is on its way to become w onderland. The W estern countries - the USA. C anada. UK and E uropean countries, such as. G erm an). Italy. France, etc.. as well as Japan and Australia have been obliged to relax their immigration rules for future in w w w .sikhnationalarchives.com

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respect o f the traditional cultures o f the immigrants in order to increase their working populations. According a UN study, European countries as well as Japan would need significant migration streams to maintain the size o f their working age population over the next half a century in the face o f a predicted birth rate decline and aging. Many Western countries will need thousands and thousands of new immigrants annually. The Sikhs are advised to keep their identities intact in view o f these added opportunities as there will be no external pressure to erode their cultural heritage.

REFERENCES 1.

Ardistani (also ascribed to Mohsin Fani), Dabistan-i-Mazahib (Persian. 1645), Nawal Kishore Press. Cawnpore, 1904, p.233.

2.

Daljeet Singh, ‘The Sikh Identity', Essentials o f Sikhism, Singh Brothers, Amritsar, 1944, p. 255-58.

3.

Ibid., pp.259-61.

4.

Indubhusan Banerjee, Evolution o f the Khalsa, Vol. 1,2nd ed. Calcutta, p .146.

5.

T rum pp, A d i G ra n th , LX X V II, quoted by Indubhusan Banerjee, op.cit.,Vo\.\.y. 146.

6.

W. H McLeod, The Evolution o f the Sikh Community, Oxford University Press, Delhi. 1975, p.31.

7.

W. H. McLeod. Who is a Sikh ? The Problems o f Sikh Identity, Oxford Clarendon Press. Oxford. 1989, pp.56-57.

8.

Ghulam H usain Khan. Siyar-ul-M utakherin (Persian), 1781, Nawal Kishore Press, Cawnpore, 1897 (First printed in Calcutta. 1836),p.401: Bhai Gurdas. I 'ar 1, Pauri 27.

9.

Bhagat Singh, Sikh Polity in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Oriental Publishers, New Delhi, 1978, p.25.

10.

Indubhusan Banerjee, o/?.c/7..p,183.

11.

Dabistan-i-Mazahib. p.233.

12.

Daljeet Singh, op.cit., p. 161-62.

13.

Arnold Toynbee, Foreword to the Sacred Writings o f the Sikhs, (Jodh Singh, Trilochan Singh, et al (ed.). G. Allen and Unvin Ltd., London.1960.

14.

Dabistan. p.233.

15.

Dabistan. p.239.

16.

Harbans Singh. Heritage o f the Sikhs. Delhi. 1983 (2nd ed.). p.84.

17.

Indubhusan Banerjee. op.cit.. Vol. II. Calcutta. 1947, p.63.

18.

Fauja Singh. Trilochan Singh, et al (ed.) Sikhism. Punjabi University. Patiala. 1969. p.32.

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19.

Gokal Chand Narang. Transformation ofSikhismi 5th ed .). Tribune Press. 1960, p.84.

20.

Ibid., p.83.

21.

Harjot Oberoi, The Construction o f Religious Boundaries : Culture, Identity> and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition, Oxford University Press. Delhi. 1994. pp.47-48.

22.

Akhbar-i-Darbar-i-Mualla. 10 December 1710. The Persian manuscript is preserved in the private collection o f Dr Ganda Singh. Patiala, now shifted to Punjabi University. Patiala. Translation into English by Dr Bhagat Singh, published in The Panjab Past and Present. Punjabi University, Patiala. Vol. XVIII-I1, October 1984.pp. 1-206.

23.

Miftah-ul-Tawarikh (Persian) p.398.

24.

Khushwaqat Rai, Tarikh-i-Sikhan (1811). MS..GS.. Punjabi University, Patiala, p.44.

25.

Qazi N ur M uham m ad, Jangnam a (1765). edited by G anda Singh, Amritsar, 1939,pp.6,12,55.57-58.

26.

W. H. McLeod. Who is a Sikh ? The Problems o f Sikh Identity, Oxford Clarendon Press. 1989. p.62.

27.

Ibid., pp.66,67.

28.

Gokal Chand Narang, op.cit.,p. 17.

29.

Proceedings — Sikh Conference, 1980, The National Society o f Ottawa, Ontario, 1983, pp.6 and 8.

30.

Paul Dhillon. "Sihota on Language Policy'. The Link. Vancouver. 20 July 1994, p. 12.

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CHAPTER 12

NEXT GENERATION SIKHS IN CANADA

Next generation Sikhs mean the Sikh children and youth o f the present generation. The present day youth will replace the present growing old generation. Here the future means ‘now ’. So what would be the next generation like will not be different from what we plan to make of our children at present. It is the parents and teachers who have to groom them into befitting successors o f the present generation. Besides the roles of the teac h ers and p aren ts, th e re are m any o th er factors that will imperceptibly influence the next generation. The society and state polity is never static, it is always in the process o f change and all individual Sikhs and non- Sikhs receive the impact o f change. In this chapter the whole spectrum o f Sikh community is brought under review and an endeavour has been made to depict the emerging Sikh society in its multifarious activities with its positive and negative forms and trends. Since the author has tried to foresee the future of a community, he could have, under his personal biases, likes or dislikes, erred, at places, slightly, as the future is always uncertain and unpredictable. But let him assert that a historian is a prophet who knows the past, understands the present and can, more than anybody else, divine the future, well-nigh, correctly. To have historical perspective is the privilege, or more bluntly speaking, the monopoly o f a historian. The author has also, at places, attempted to mark the path and set the trend for the next generation. Education of the Sikh Youth

Language and culture are those two things as keep a c o m m u n ity ora nation alive. In the earlier stages the Canadian government enlisted the

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services o f the schools and the School Boards, as a plan to assimilate the Sikhs into the Canadian cultural mainstream.Education is the basic need of ones life right from the beginning. Sociologists believe that the mother tongue is the most important influence upon the development o f our thought processes and perceptions o f the world. Language is the basic factor in the growth o f individuality. The m other tongue is the most effective medium in expressing ones needs, emotions and desires. C hild’s brain is gifted with a specialised capacity for learning languages. This specialisation begins to decrease after the age o f nine. Dr. B. L. W horf thinks that the social and cultural patterns o f society determ ine the language styles. It has been found that children experience the least amount o f difficulty in learning the language o f their parents. This is the correct method o f language learning. Language does not have to be taught, it em erges in response to social needs. The translation m ethod o f language learning has many shortcomings. Aldous Huxley holds a different but a plausible view. To him, every culture is rooted in a language— no speech, no culture. The universe, inhabited by accultured human beings, is largely homemade. Language is a device for denaturing N ature and making it com prehensible for human mind. Thus, language conditions a person to a culture and a user or speaker of its language. So, according to Huxley, the Sikh children who do not learn' Punjabi will remain stripped o f lineal consciousness about Sikh culture. The ‘realities’ o f these children will be different from the ‘realities’ of their Punjabi-speaking parents whose language was shaped by Punjabi culture. These children will have Punjabi genes but Canadian ‘realities’.1 In a Canadian setting, the teaching o f Punjabi to the children may not be possible to the extent that their conditioning could not be the same as that of their Indian-born Punjabi-speaking parents. But the parents can transmit their cultural heritage or conditioning to their children to a large | extent. You cannot separate language and culture. The children are very susceptible to learning. Their education should j not be ignored. T e a c h e r’s role in c h ild ’s life is v ery v ital. The | impressionable mind o f the child accepts the view s or perceptions o f the teacher at once. So the teacher has to be very conscious o f the learning needs of the child. The first need o f the Sikh student is the learning o f Punjabi, which cannot be under-estimated. 1 suppose, Quebec has not been fighting fo.- a separate state to win battles, subjugate people and make conquests over the territories of others. Their struggle has been to save the French culture,

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which is closely linked with the French language. Their first demand in their battle was the French language, which they won and got it a place along with English and their next and continuing fight is for the protection o f their culture for them selves and for their future generations. When the Jews immigrated to Palestine their first creation there was the Hebrew University to develop their language and culture. Canada and the USA have a closer link with each other and with the UK through the common language and common culture. I am not suggesting linguistic segregation but the developm ent o f a particular language and culture. As the English language and culture are dear to the Anglo-Saxons, French language and culture are dear to the French, so are the Punjabi language and the Punjabi culture dear to the Sikhs. In the early stages o f the 20th century the Canadian government practised policy o f cultural imperialism in respect o f Canadian immigrants. One o f the historians o f the Toronto Board o f Education wrote: “Free schools would m ake new arrivals into C anadians through coercion if necessary. The im m igrant child would have to be separated from the influence o f his parents between the ages o f roughly five and twelve.”2 Some decades later the School Board adopted a policy of cultural assimilation which was expressed by one o f the officials o f the Education Board as under: If im migrant children, o f nations not Anglo-Saxon, were to be assim ilated and m ade good citizens, it must be largely through education. Those children must attend their schools.”3 Under the cultural assimilation policy the Sikh students were obliged to shave beard, remove turbans and have hair close cropped, to graduate from a Canadian school. In so m any picture album s o f the Sikhs we can see the Sikh children grow ing into boys, sporting Sikh symbols, hair duly covered with turbans 1 or scarfs. But w hen w e see them in schools they are with distinct Sikh identities disappeared. Education was imparted through local day schools and residential schools. A ccording to L. R. B ull’s article ‘Indian (native) residential schooling: The native perspective’, published in the Canadian Journal o f N ative Education, 18 supplem ent, 1991, the schools which I had been made available to the native people had been set up to eradicate I native culture by changing the children and the adolescents. The students were often sent to schools located at long distances from their families with usually little contact between the students and their parents or relatives. Many old students o f those schools recall that their culture, fam ilies and elders were unremittingly ridiculed. In many o f these schools speaking an , indigenous language was prohibited. These residential schools brought about a painful alienation to many

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native students. Ovide Mercredi, Grand C hief o f the A ssem bly o f First Nations, while making a study o f the impact o f residential schools, in August 1994, remarked that the Indian residential schools were like the Nazi extermination camps for the Jews. He rejected the plea o f the Catholic Church that the public opinion supported the residential schools at the time. This was like saying that the G erm ans supported what the N azis did to the Jews,4 he said. Bob Overwald describes a very shocking experience at a residential school. He says: “I have become almost totally conditioned to fit into southern society. On the other hand, for these many years have taken away from me, it has caused irrevocable damage to me as a Dene. It has caused a split between my parents and m yself and that may never be healed; it has caused me to lose my Dene language and most significantly, it has left me in som ewhat in a limbo — not quite fitting into Dene society and not quite fitting into white society either. These are just some o f the many by-products o f the system. God knows I would not wish them on a n y o n e/’5 The National Indian Brotherhood (NIB) clearly told the Canadian government that “the tim e has come for a radical change in Indian (native) education. Our aim is to make education relevant to the philosophy and 1 needs of the native people. We want education to give our children a strong sense o f identity with confidence in their personal worth and ability. We believe in education as a preparation for total living; as a means o f free choice o f where to live and work; and as a means o f enabling us to participate fully in our own social, economic, political and educational advancement.... D ecisions on specific issues can be made only in the context of the local control o f education.”6 Then came a change in the attitude o f the C anadian governm ent announcing the policy o f m ulticulturalism in 1971 by Prime M inister Trudeau, declaring that there was no official culture in Canada; nor did any ethnic group take precedence over any other. He assured the cultural freedom of Canadians within a bilingual framework and also told that all cultural groups would be helped by the government to overcome all barriers to full participation in Canadian society. Thus the governm ent promised that henceforth no ethnic group would be considered more important than another in the cultural, social, political and economic structure o f Canada.

J

George Bancroft quoted in his paper read at the Sikh Conference (1979) at Toronto, the remarks o f the Director o f Education for Toronto. Duncan Greens, m ide at a Conference on M ulticulturalism in Education

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in 1 9 7 7 . The director said that their support and encouragem ent o f various cultures does not mean that they value their languages and cultural histories and that would be taught in schools and their national holidays would be celebrated and that these groups would represent on their decision-making bodies. Bancroft told the director that the im migrants do feel and mean that their languages, their national holidays and cultural histories are important. To them English is no more im portant than Punjabi and Shakespeare is no more important than Tagore. O f course, the schools may not have enough time to teach the im m igrants’ languages in the Canadian schools. It may also be impracticable to celebrate every holiday in schools. It cannot be disputed that most o f those holidays would lose their emotional and spiritual impact when one is out o f the cultural milieu that celebrates them. The immigrant com m unity or the ethnic group should celebrate them at their own level and their cultural histories should be provided in the schools as part o f the total tapestry o f hum an history. And the im migrants also unhesitatingly mean that the various ethnic and racial groups must be represented in the im portant decision-making positions in the society. W hy the ch ief o f police in Toronto or Vancouver is not a Sikh Canadian? If he holds that position only then the AfroCanadian boy or girl, every C hinese or Japanese will know that the AngloSaxon stranglehold on this position is broken and every Canadian can aspire to such positions. The immigrants also do m ean to get equality o f opportunity. When a C hinese C anadian is appointed a High Com m issioner to London or a French know ing Sikh C anadian to France, multiculturalism would be a Canadian reality.7 I believe that men or w om en from am ong the next generation Sikhs would be posted to such positions as referred to above. Things are swiftly moving in that direction. The next generation Sikhs need only to properly gear up, as these opportunities will certainly come their way. The Sikh youth that are to succeed to the next generation will not have a com fortable walk over. To grow into a committed Sikh he has to strengthen his faith in the Sikh culture and the Sikh values. Besides his regular studies he has to furnish him self with literature on Sikhism. In Canada, he is handicapped considerably in that regard. Just a few titles on Sikh history and Sikhism may be available in the libraries here. A large number o f books are published in English and Punjabi on this su b je c t every year in India. There seems to be no arrangement o f getting at least some o f them on the shelves o f the libraries in Canada.

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There are small libraries attached to the big G urdwaras but these are not properly equipped. The G urdwara m anagement generally does not spare or earmark funds for the books annually. The books on Sikh history, culture and religion are a great asset to the G urdwara library and indeed, it is a crying need. Arrangem ents should be made to keep these books in circulation. For the benefit o f the next or prospective readers these books should be received back in a stipulated time. To keep the library functioning regularly a person can be appointed on a monthly salary basis. The funds so spent would be a very creative or productive investment to attract the young readers. The library section o f the Sikh Community Resource Centre, Vancouver, is indeed a rem arkably thoughtful addition to the Resource Centre. Needs o f the library— its proper equipment with up-to-date Sikh literature w ould require the* regular attention of some scholarly person or a comm ittee o f adequately educated persons. Efforts should be made to make library a proud institution o f the community so that for all necessary references scholars should visit the library. The Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver, should aspire for the credit or distinction o f making this library the largest collection o f books on Sikh history, religion and culture in Canada and America. The true University o f these days is a collection o f books. H abit o f learning should be a life-long passion. The excitement o f learning separates youth from old age. As long as you are learning or have lust for knowledge, you are not old. Your thirst for learning will not let your years overtake you. Books are more than kings’ treasures that are filled not with gold, silver and precious stones but with riches more valuable than these— knowledge, noble thoughts and high ideals. The Sikh youth should be encouraged especially by the parents to visit the Sikh libraries to draw books and journals on Sikhism and Sikh history. The study o f these books would certainly strengthen him as a Sikh and inspire great confidence in him. These books will help him to comply with advice o f Herb (Harbans Singh) Dhaliwal that “You do not I know where you are going until you know where you came from .”8 First, the Sikhs o f Canada should know who they are and then make the Canadians learn who the Sikhs are, as most o f them know nothing about them. The parents owe it to their children to be able to explain to them their roots and the culture and traditions that define their personality. Parents who were born in Canada have roots both in India and Canada, hence they were Indo-Canadians and they do a disservice to their children if they can not explain to them why people w ear turbans or who Guru Nanak was or explain to them the struggles o f their grand-parents.9 www.Sn^hnatioi ularchives.cori:

358 ' Canadian Sikhs Through a Century (1897-1997) Indo-Canadians must "not deny their roots because by doing that they would be subscribing to white dominance. To identify as Indo-Canadians or Sikhs would have much more pow er as a group if they do that. It is not to suggest that they are to prom ote ghettoisation. They need to strengthen themselves against racial victimisation and to find an equal status in society by discouraging the overw helm ing preponderance o f the majority group over others. A m ong the Sikhs the aspirations for the retention o f heritage is very strong. The transmittal o f Sikh heritage background and religious beliefs and practices to the Sikh children is an indivisible part o f their parental responsibilities. If the domestic environm ent is deficient in instilling the traditional and religious values in the Sikh youth no am ount o f external compensation would be sufficient. The youth should be grounded into very capable and comm itted m em bers o f the community. If the parents and teachers miss their duty today the youth will not find themselves equal to the challenges o f tom orrow . They will remain teen-agers even at fifty. Their faith in the moral and religious values o f Sikhism must be kept alive in the day to day functioning o f the Sikh family life. The parents should converse with the children in Punjabi— their mother tongue and the children should also com m unicate with each other in Punjabi, at home. Their ability in speaking in English while at school, in the market and in office is not going to get a setback at all, rather they would be adding another language, their m other language, to their knowledge of languages. The more languages they can fluently converse in, the more gifted or qualified they would be considered. N ever feel shy to speak in your own mother tongue, which has a better claim on you than any other language. It must have been noted that all independent nations are not only privileged to speak in their mother tongue rather they are proud o f it. Why the Punjabi youths fight shy o f speaking in their m other tongue? Will the parents share some responsibility for it? If you are not show ing respect to yourself and your language, others are not going to show respect to you and your language. This respect will start from you. A lw ays be proud o f yourself and your language, your religion and culture, o f course, never denigrating religion and culture of others. In order to overcom e their lack o f confidence vis-a-vis the majority group youths the Sikh boys should play the same games that the others play. They should make full use o f the community centres, sports functions, debates, cultural activities, camps and get-togethers in order to boost their confidence in their distinct identity. www.si|o f the Sikh Misals, Punjabi University, Patiala, 1993, p.394.

42.

Khushwaqat Rai, Tarikh-i-Siklian (Persian 1911) MS., Ganda Singh Private Collection, Punjabi University, Patiala, p. 147.

43.

Bhagat Singh, Sikh Polity in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Oriental Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi, 1978, p. 178.

44.

Bhagat Singh, A History>o f the Sikh Misals, Patiala, 1993, pp. 384-85.

45.

Bhagat Singh. Sikh Polity in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, New Delhi, 1978, pp. 109-10.

46.

Malcolm. Sketch o f the Sikhs, London, 1812, p. 115.

47. Franckiin. 'The Sikhs and their Country', reprinted in the Early European Accounts o f the Sikhs, (ed. Ganda Singh). Calcutta. 1962. p. 105. 48. Gordon. The Sikhs, London, 1904. p.84. 49. Lepel Griffin, Ranjit Singh. Oxford, 1905. pp.62-63. 50. Ahmad Shah Batalia. Appendix to Sohan Lai's L’m dat-ut-Tawarikh. Dafter L Lahore. 1885. p.25.

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430

Canadian Sikhs Through a Century (1897-1997) 51.

Ibid.

52.

Sita Ram Kohli, Ranjit Singh, Allahabad. 1933. pp.33-34.

53.

Gian Singh, Tawarikh Guru Khalsa, Patiala reprint, 1970, p.253.

54.

Ibid., p .2 3 1.

55.

Ibid., p.294.

56.

Lepel Griffin op.cit.,p.61.

57.

J. Pool, Women ’s Influence in the East, London, 1892, pp. 234-37.

58.

Lepel Griffin, op.cit.,p.93.

59.

Teja Singh and Ganda Singh. A Short History o f the Sikhs. Bombay. 1950. p.69.

60.

J. I). Cunningham, A History o f the Sikhs (1849), Delhi, 1955, pp. 63-64.

61.

Teja Singh and Ganda Singh, op.cit.,pp.71-72; cf., Ali-ud-Din Mufti, Ibratnama (1854), Vol. I, Lahore, 1961, p. 344.

61 A. Quoted by Mary Pat Fisher 'Living Religions, 4th Edition, Prentice Hall, '1999, p. 401. 62.

Guru Gobind Singh, Gian Prabodh, Padshahi 10, Sawaya 545.

63.

Senapat, op.cit., Chhands, 129-30, p. 21.

64.

Gokal Chand Narang, op.cit., p.33.

65.

Muhammad Latif, H istory o f the Punjab, Lahore, ed. 1916, pp.46-47.

66.

J. D. Cunningham, op.cit., p.75.

67.

Guru Gobind Singh, Vachitra Natak, Adliya 1, Chhand 2.

68.

Guru Gobind Singh, Zafarnama. Verse 22.

69.

Qazi N ur M uham mad. Jangnam a (1765), (edited by Ganda Singh), Amritsar, 1939, p p .6 ,12,55,57-58.

70.

Indubhusan Banerjee, Evolution o f the Khalsa, Vol. II, Calcutta 1947. p. 119.

71.

Ibid., p. 119.

72.

Ibid., p.52.

73.

Ibid..p.2\.

74.

Irfan Habib, Proceedings o f Punjab History Conference, Patiala. 1971, p.54.

75.

Zulfiqar Ardistani Maubid (Mohsin Fani) Dabistan-i-Mazahib, (1645), Cawnpore. 1904, p.233.

76.

Indubhusan Banerjee. op.cit.. Vol. II. p. 124.

77.

Irfan Habib, op.cit.,p.54.

78

khusw ant Singh. History o f the Sikhs. Vol. 1.Princeton. London (chapter on Banda Singh).

79 80

1964.

Ahmad Shah Batalia. appendix to the first daltar o f Sohan Lai Suri s I'm dat-ut-Tuwahkh. Lahore. 1885. p. 13. William lr\ inc. Later Mughals. Vol. I. ( I 707-1 720). Calculia.1922. p.83.

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Religious H eritage o f the Sikhs and Their Transformation through It 81.

431

George Campbell, Memoirs o f My Indian Career, Vol. I, London, 1893, p.42-43.

82.

Ibid., pp.52-53.

83.

Ibid., p. 82.

84.

Ibbetson, Census o f Punjab,, 1881, Vol. 1, Book-I, Lahore, 1882, p.229.

85.

W. H. McLeod, The Evolution o f the Sikh Community, Delhi, 1975, p.96.

86.

Khushwant Singh, A History o f the Sikhs, Vol.2, 1839-1964, Princeton, New Jersey, 1966, p. 120.

87.

Lepel Griffin, The Punjab Chiefs, Lahore, 1890, p.64.

88.

Rattan Singh Bhangu, Prachin Panth Parkash (1841), Wazir Hind Press, Amritsar, ed. 1939, p.204.

89.

Ramjas, Tawarikh-i-Riast Kapurthala, Vol. I, 1897, p. 150.

90.

Sohan Lai Suri, op.cit., Daftar-II, p.5; Bute Shah, Tawarikh-i-Punjab, Daftar V (1848), MS., Ganda Singh, pp.2-3.

91.

Qazi N ur M uhammad, op.cit., MS., Ganda Singh p. 158.

92.

Polier, ;An Account o f the Sikhs ’, reproduced in the Early European Accounts o f the Sikhs (ed. Ganda Singh), Calcutta. 1962. p.61.

93.

Brown, ‘Introduction, History o f the Origin and Progress o f the S ik h s’ reprinted in the Early European Accounts o f the Sikhs, edited, Ganda Singh, Calcutta, 1962. p. 17.

94.

Ludhiana District Gazetteer Lahore (1888-1890), p.72.

95.

Montgomery District Gazetteer Lahore (1833-84),p.34.

96.

Gujrat District Gazetteer (1892-93), Lahore, pp.21 -22.

97.

Dalpat Rai (ed.) Amir-ul-Imla or Muntkhab-id-haqaia, MS., Ganda Singh Personal Collection, Patiala, (now at Punjabi University, Patiala).

98.

Faqir W aheed-ud-Din, The Real Ranjit Singh, Karachi, 1965, p.29.

99.

Bhagat Singh, Maharaja Ranjit Singh and His Times, New Delhi, 1990, pp 173-74.

100. George Campbell, op.cit., Vol. 1, p. 180. 101. Ali-ud-Din Mufti, Ibratnama (1854) Lahore, 1961, 2 Vols, Vol.I,p.240. 102. Francklin, Memoirs o f George Thomas, Calcutta. 1803. p.75.

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GLOSSARY

Abhyasi Adi Granth Ahimsa Akal Takht

Akali Akhandpath

Amrit

Amrit prachar

Arashtra Ardas

Arzdasht As an

One who is regularly given to meditation. The Sikh scripture, the holy G uru Granth Sahib. Cult o f non-violence. The throne o f the Almighty, the highest seat o f authority in the religious hierarchy and temporal and political matters o f the Sikhs. It is built in Amritsar. A member o f the Akali or Nihang order of the Sikhs, literally meaning ‘an immortal’. Non-stop recitation o f the holy Guru Granth Sahib perform ed by a team o f granthis or pathis as readers. S ikh baptism o f the double-edged sword, nectar o f immortality, also called khande ki pahul. Sikh missionary activity for initiation to the Khalsa fold, holy ceremony o f administering amrit. Kingless, people who spurned to be ruled by a ruler or king. A p ra y e r, s u p p lic a tio n , representation, solicitation, a request or offering made by the Sikhs to the Guru. A representation, petition to a superior for grant o f some favours. Yogic posture, a body posture, abode of yogis. www.sikhnationalarchives.com

Glossary> 433

Ashram Babbar Akali

Bagh

Bahadur

Baisakhi

Bande matram

Bani Baoli Bhagti/Bhakti Bhai Bhangi

Bhangra Bhog

a seat, a carpet or rug on which some people sit to perform their worship. Abode, hermitage, residence o f men belonging to a certain cult, institution o f a religious order. A radical section o f the Akali reformers who organized them selves into a m ilitant group w ho plan n ed to p araly se or liquidate the supporters o f the British bureaucracy. This m ovem ent lasted from 1922 to 1925 in a few districts o f the Punjab. A garden, in context o f Akali movem ent in the Punjab it relates to a particular bagh (Guru Ka Bagh), Amritsar. Brave, courageous, high-spirited, champion, a hero; also a title o f honour affixed to the names as Banda Singh Bahadur. The first day o f the m onth o f B aisakh, an important festival o f rural Punjab, celebrating the advent o f harvesting season, generally falling in the second w eek o f April. It w as the national anthem o f the ghadar party, m e a n in g ‘h ail m o th e r’, a sa lu te to *he motherland. Holy hymns, G uru’s word recorded in the A d i Granth. A well with stairs going down to the water. The doctrine o f worship o f God through loving adoration. Literally a ‘brother’, also a title o f sanctity and respectability among the Sikhs. A n a d d ic t to b h a n g (M a riju a n a ) - an in to x icatin g prep aratio n o f hem p. Bhangi Misal took its name from its leader’s nick name Bhangi — an adict to hemp. A particular type o f dance o f joy performed by the Punjabi youth. A ritu a l o r a c o n c lu d in g p art o f a holy cerem ony, conclusion o f path (recitation) of Guru Granth Sahib. www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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Bible Chachi Charhdi Kala Chauri

C hhota ghallughara Dadi Dal Khalsa

D aswand/Daswandh

Degh Derah Dhadi D haram /Dharam a Dharam prachar Dharamsala

Dharamyudh Diwali

Doaba

Christian scripture. Aunt. Being in high spirits. A fly-whisk generally made o f long white hair o f the tail o f yak. It is used as a mark o f respect for royal or holy persons or holy scripture to be waved over them. Small holocaust in which about seven thousand Sikhs were killed in June 1746. A grand-mother. The word dal is a Punjabi expression meaning a horde and suggests the notion o f a group with a definite m ission o f fighting against their enemies. Dal K halsa means the Sikh force or their national army. A Sikh term for tithe (one tenth o f the income) paid by the true Sikhs for the G uru’s fund or an offering made by the Sikhs for charitable purposes. Holy pudding or holy food. An abode, a camp, barracks o f Sikh troops or a place where sadhus or fa q irs live. One who plays on a kind o f tambourine, the ballad singer. Righteousness, the moral law, code o f conduct in life that sustains the soul, the doctrine. Preaching religious or holy teachings. The abode o f dharam a, generally the Sikh G urdw ara or Sikh place o f w orship, a place of religious assemblage, a rest house for pilgrims. Crusade, a holy war. The Indian festival o f lights celebrated in com m em oration o f the return o f Lord Rama from h is e x ile and th e re le a se o f Guru Hargobind from the fort o f Gwalior, usually falling to w ard s the end o f O ctober or the beginning o f N ovem ber. A territory lying betw een two rivers; in the Punjab particularly the one between the rivers Satluj and Beas.

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Glossary Durbar/Darbar Farman Fateh Gaddi Ghadar Ghadar di gunj Ghallughara Ghee Giani Gidha/Giddah

Got/gotra Granth/Granth Sahib Granthi

Gurbani Gurdwara Gurmat Gurmata

Gurmukh Gurmukhi

Gurpurb

435

A court, an elevated place, a government. A Royal comm and, an order, a mandate, an edict. Success, victory. A dignified place or a place on higher plane for the G uru or a ruler to sit on, throne. Rebellion or revolt. Echoes o f rebellion, a call for revolt. Holocaust, destruction or loss o f human life in an attack or battle. Purified butter. One possessing gian, knowledge or wisdom; a Sikh theologian, a reputed Sikh scholar. A popular dance, accom panied by clapping o f hands, perform ed by the young Punjabi girls with vigorous physical movements. Sub-caste. Literally a book but here used for the holy Book o f the Sikhs. The reader or reciter o f the holy Granth o f the Sikhs. The Sikh priest; the functionary in charge o f a Gurdwara. G uru’s w ord, the sacred hymns o f the Sikh scriptures. G uru’s abode, Sikh temple. G uru’s com m andm ents, G uru’s philosophy, religious ideology o f the Sikh Gurus. The word m ata in Punjabi language means a resolution. When it is passed in an assembly o f the Sikhs in the presence o f the holy Guru G ranth Sah ib it is believed to have been endorsed by the Guru and is called gurmata, a resolution o f the Sarbat Khalsa. A p io u s m an , on e w ho fo llo w s G u ru ’s comm andments. P ro ceed in g from the m outh o f the G uru, Punjabi script, modified and popularized by G uru A n g ad for the w ritin g o f the Sikh scriptures. C o m m e m o ra tio n o f b irth and d eath www.sikhnationalarchives.com

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Canadian Sikhs Through a Century (1897-1997)

Guru Guru gaddi G urughar Guru Granth Sahib

Guru Ka Bagh Guru Ka Langar Guru panth

Hakam Harm andir Sahib

H ukam nam a Id Inqlab Zindabad

Jagyasi Jangnam a Jat

Jatha Jathedar

Kabbadi

anniversaries o f the Sikh G urus and other events in their lives. A spiritual preceptor or a guide, a religious teacher, title o f the founders o f Sikh religion. Spiritual throne o f the Sikh Gurus. G uru’s abode, Gurdwara, a Sikh temple. The holy book o f the Sikhs called the Adi Granth/Guru Granth Sahib compiled by Guru Arjan Dev in 1604. The garden planted by the Guru or planted in his name or named after the Guru. Free com m unity mess attached to the Sikh Gurdwara. Collective community o f the Sikhs vested with powers o f Guruship after Guru Gobind Singh’s death. An officer, a magistrate, a ruler. The temple o f God, the central Sikh shrine in Amritsar, also known as Golden Temple, also called D arbar Sahib. Letter, epistle, order o f the Guru, an order, a decree,com m and, a letter issued by the Guru. A religious festival o f the Muslims. M ay the cult o f revolution be ever alive, a slogan adopted by the revolutionaries during India’s struggle for independence. One given to meditation. A diary or record o f a battle. A virile com m unity in the Punjab. They are mostly the Sikhs. There are Muslim and Hindu Jats also who live in the western or Pakistan Punjab and in Rajasthan and U.P. respectively A band, a group, military detachment. A group leader, com m ander o f a band. At present a leader or an organizer o f the Akali Dal or Akali Party. A sports gam e p articu larly popular in the villages, involving strength o f the players' muscles.

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Glossary Kachha Kangha

Kara Karah prasad Katha Kathakar Kesh

Keshdhari Khalsa

Khalsa Diwan

Khalsa panth Khande ki pahul

Kirpan Kirtan

Kirtan Darbar Lambardar/N um bardar

Langar

437

A pair o f shorts, m andatory for a baptised Singh. It is one o f the five Ks. A comb used to clean the hair on the head o f a Sikh and to impart an orderly arrangem ent to it. Steel bracelet, one o f the five Sikh symbols. Sacred pudding dispensed in the Gurdwaras. E x p o sitio n o f re lig io u s te x t, p re a c h in g , explaining the holy scriptures. One who gives an exposition o f a religious text. One who explains the ideology o f a religion. The unshorn hair on the head o f a Sikh, one o f the five Sikh sym bols w hich the Sikhs are required to keep. One who has uncut hair on ones head. T he b ro th e rh o o d o f th e b a p tise d S ik h s, p a rtic u la rly th o s e c o n fo rm in g to th e instructions o f Guru G obind Singh; The land held or administered directly by government or the sovereign. The K halsa Diwan (formed in 1883) was the general sa b h a or asso c iatio n o f th e Sikh so c ie tie s fo rm ed fo r th e p ro p a g a tio n o f Sikhism. The Sikh community. In itia tio n o f th e d o u b le -e d g e d sw o rd , particularly in reference to the Khalsa initiation or baptism. A sword, particularly one worn by the baptised Sikh. D evotional music, singing o f holy hymns in praise o f God, generally by a group to the accom paniment o f musical instruments. A program organized for singing o f holy songs. The village official who collected the revenue from the farmers and deposited in the state treasury. C om m unity kitchen, free m ess, generally attached to a Gurdwara where food is served to all regardless o f caste or creed.

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Canadian Sikhs Through a Century (1897-1997)

M ahant

Maharaja M ahatma M ajha

M alwa

Manji

Manji pratha

M antra M arjada/M aryada Masand Masnad

Masnad-i-ali Mata Mata M aya

Miri piri

The in-charge or a superior o f a religious institution, m anager and head o f a religious centre. T he g reat king, king o f kings, a supreme sovereign. A saint, a saintly person. Literally the middle country, usually referring to the territory o f Lahore and Amritsar districts lying between the rivers Beas and Ravi. Land o f the M alweis or Malois, the plain tract extending to the south and south-east o f the Satluj river, particularly the areas occupied by Ferozepore, M uktsar, M oga, Ludhiana and Patiala districts o f Punjab. L ite ra lly a co t, a S ik h p re a c h in g centre established by Guru A m ar Das — the third Guru, a diocese. A system through w hich the areas o f Sikh population were divided into 22 parts, each part placed under a preacher appointed by the Guru. Scriptures, hymns, spiritual instructions. A code o f conduct, basic tenets o f a religion. An agent or representative o f the Sikh Guru, the holder o f a diocese or manji. It is a Persian word, m eaning an elevated seat. As the Sikh preachers, being representatives o f the G urus, w ere offered high seats they began to be called m asnads or masands. A representative o f a higher authority or the Guru. C ounsel, advice, decision, opinion. M other, a title o f respect given to elderly ladies. C osm ic illusion, delusion, a power o f nature which veiis the reality and thus produces an illusion or an error in ones mind. M iri sig n ifie s tem p o ral and piri signifies spiritual authority. M ir means an army leader or a general and pir means a spiritual leader or a saint. Guru I largobind assumed the double

www.sikhnationalarchives.com

Glossary

Misal

M isaldar

Morcha Mufti Nagar Kirtan Nakhas Naam Naam Sim ran Nanak prastan Nawab Nirvana

Nishan Sahib Pacca/pucca Padshah

Pagri Pahul Panch/punch

439

role o f a temporal and spiritual leader o f the Sikhs. The Sikh confederacy, Sikh military band in th e eig h te e n th cen tu ry , also used for the territory or troops o f a Sikh Sardar, an equal, a file. Belonging to a Sikh Misal; holder o f a portion o f a M isal, th e ru ler o f th e M isal b ein g designated as Sardar. A g itatio n , organized political or religious campaign. Pronouncer o f a fa tw a or verdict according to M uslim religious law. A Sikh procession to the accom paniment o f singing holy songs or hymns. A horse-market. The divine N am e o f God. Repeating the holy Name o f God or meditating on the Supreme Being. W orshippers or follow ers o f G uru N anak, believers in the teachings o f Guru Nanak. A noble, the governor, the viceroy, a lord, an influential man. A state o f oblivion to care, pain, or external reality, the final beatitude sought especially in Buddhism through the extinction o f desire and in d iv id u a l c o n s c io u s n e s s , sa lv a tio n , or liberation from the cycle o f birth and death. Sikh flag flown over a Gurdwara, a standard or flag. Solid, built o f baked bricks. King, sovereign, lord, also Supreme Being, an epithet used by the Sikhs for addressing their Gurus. A turban. T he rite o f Sikh baptism , Sikh initiation, baptism o f the Khalsa. A m em ber o f the p a n ch a y a t, a prom inent person in a village or a community, an elected representative o fth e people. vww.sikhnationalarchives.com

440

Canadian Sikhs Through a Century (1897-1997)

Pane hay at

Pangat Panj piaras/pyaras

Panth Parchar Parcharak Pardah/purdah

Parsad/Parshad Path Patwari Pauri Pir Pitaji Punjab

Punjabi Punjabi Suba Qazi Quran Rag Ragi

A court o f arbitration consisting o f five or more members chosen by the parties themselves, the lo w est ru n g in th e h ie ra rc h y o f ju d icia l administration. A row, particularly for inter-dining. The five chosen ones who w ere given the first p a h u l at the inauguration o f the ceremony of this practice by G uru G obind Singh on the historic Baisakhi day o f 30 M arch 1699 at A nandpur Sahib. A sect, a com m unity, this title designates the Sikh comm unity. P u b lic ity , p ro p a g a tio n o f an y m a tte r or religion, propaganda, religious publicity. A person engaged in religious publicity or propaganda. A curtain, a screen, screening women from the sig h t o f m en, v eil, se c lu sio n particularly observed by Muslim women. A food or sw eets offered to God or a deity. Reading or reciting the holy Book as an act of devotion, also to study a lesson. A village accountant, a revenue official. Staircase, steps, a stanza. A spiritual guide am ong the Muslims, a Guru. Father. ‘Punj’ means five, ‘ab’ means water or ‘waters’ and Punjab m eans a land o f five rivers, an area or territory through which five rivers — Satluj, Beas, Ravi, C henab and Jhelum flow. Language spoken by the people o f Punjab, a person belonging to the Punjab state. Punjabi-speaking state. A judge, a magistrate who administers justice according to Islamic law. Holy scripture o f the Muslims. A musical note, a tune. A m usician, a singer o f ra g a s, a musician employed to sing holy hymns in the praise of God in the Sikh G urdwara. www.sikhnationalarchives.com

Glossary Raj Raja Raj Karega Khalsa

Ramgarhia

Rani Ranjit nigara Raptia Rehat/Rahit Rehat m aryada Sabat surat

Sacha Sacha padshah Sadh Sadh-sangat Sadhu Safed Safedposh/safaidposh

Sahib

441

A kingdom , governm ent, rule, sovereignty. A king, a prince, a title o f high rank. The K halsa shall rule. This slogan refers to the days o f the iater Mughals, first sung during the days o f Banda Singh Bahadur (1710-16) and continued to be sung during the Sikh struggle for independence in the first h alf o f the eighteenth century and made a part o f the Sikh prayer by them. First used for Jassa Singh, occupant o f the fortress o f Ram Rauni and later began to be used for all those people who belonged to his sub-caste. Flence a misnomer. A queen, a princess. A drum beaten during Guru Gobind Singh’s time was named as such. A reporter-cum-watchm an. Rules or code o f conduct o f the Khalsa, way o f living, morals, principles. R ites, ritu als, custom s, m ode o f w orship, religious observances. An appearance (o f a Sikh) that is untampered with, hair on head and beard unshorn, with turban on head. True, just, righteous. The true king as against the temporal king, as the Sikhs called their Guru by this designation. A saint, a holy person, a religious person, a fa q ir , a righteous and virtuous man. The assem bly o f the sadhus or saints. A m endicant, renunciant, ascetic, a saint. White. A person w earing white clothes, an influential man, a governm ent protege during the British rule, who had an eye on a number o f villages and secretly reported to the government about the anti-B ritish activities if any in the area under his surveillance. He was a government agent. An ow ner, possessor, a gentlem an, chief,

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442

Canadian Sikhs Through a Century (1897-1997)

Sangat Sant Sant-Sipahi

Sarai Sarbat da bhala Sarbat K halsa Sardar

Sarkari-i-K halsa

Sarover Sati Satsang Sewa Sew adar

Shabad Shahidganj Shahidi Shahidi jatha

Shakti

governor, ruler, lord, master, a title o f God. Congregation, a holy assembly, company, a place o f meeting. A holy man, a sadhu. A saint soldier, one who combines in him a double role o f a saint and a soldier, as was adopted by Guru Hargobind— the sixth Nanak. Inn. The welfare and w ell-being o f all. The whole Sikh comm unity, the entire Khalsa panth. Chieftain, head o f a M isal, the term is now comm only used as title o f address for all Sikh men. G overnm ent o f the Khalsa, in referring to his governm ent M aharaja Ranjit Singh always used the term Sarkar-i-Khalsa as he felt that he was the founder o f a kingdom which derived its legitimacy from the Khalsa commonwealth. A tank, a holy tank, attached to a Gurdwara. Self-im molation, a wife who bum s herself on the funeral pyre o f her deceased husband. The fellowship o f true believers, congregation, assembly o f true ones. D ed icated c o m m u n ity serv ic e, voluntary service. O ne who renders voluntary service, a servant to his superiors, a G urdw ara attendant, also an em ployee o f a Sikh temple. A hymn, a holy song. A place w here com m itted men or devoted Sikhs had been martyred. M artyrdom, to obtain the status or degree of m artyrdom. T he Sikh v o lu n te e rs w ho jo in e d various agitations launched by the Akali Dal from time to time with a solemn vow to stake their life for their mission. Power, to use force to attain ones objective, physical prowess, spiritual energy or potency. www.sikhrpationalarchives.com

Glossary SGPC

Shudra

Sidhi pag Sikh

Singh Singh Sahib Singh Sabha

Siropa

Suba Subedar Subedari Sudharanpath/ Sadharanpath

Sunder Gutka Swaran Mandir Takht Tegh Tirath Torah Trishul

443

Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Comm ittee, the highest administrative body to m anage the G urdwaras. A serf, slave, a person doing menial work, the lowest caste in the caste hierarchy in India, untouchables, scheduled caste or harijans. Straight turban, turban tied in a particular style by the Kukas or Namdharis. Sikh (Sanskrit shishya) means a disciple, a learner, a follow er o f the Sikh religious order founded by Guru Nanak. Lion, the title assumed by all m em bers o f the Khalsa. A respectable title o f a baptised Sikh who strictly observes Sikh rehat. A m ovem ent com prising several local Sikh societies dedicated to religious, social and educational reforms amongst the Sikhs. The first Singh Sabha was founded at A mritsar in 1873. A robe o f honour given by the Gurdwaras to V IP v is ito rs o r by S ik h a s s o c ia tio n s o r fo u n d a tio n s to em in en t p erso n s for th e ir outstanding contributions to the community or the Sikh religion. A province, a state. The governor o f a suba, the chief o f a province. Governorship. Recitation or reading o f the complete Guru Granth Sahib without fixing any time limit. Interruption is permissible as against the non­ stop akhandpath. A portion o f G uru G ranth S a h ib , printed separately in the form o f a pothi or a book. Golden Temple. Throne, seat o f royal or spiritual authority. A kirpan, sword. A sacred place, a place o f pilgrimage. Scriptures o f the Jews. Three pronged sharp iron javelin kept as a www.sikhnationalarchives.com

444

Canadian Sikhs Through a Century (1897-1997)

W adda Ghallughara

W aheguru Wak

Yogi Zaildar

Zam indar

religious symbol by certain Hindu cults and used as a weapon when so required. Great holocaust which entailed huge human loss o f the Sikhs on 5 February 1762, fighting ag ain st A hm ad Shah D uranni the Afghan invader. W onderful Lord, God, Supreme Being. A random read in g from the G uru Granth Sahib, taking that shabad or stanza as Guru’s com m andm ent for that time or occasion. One w ho practises self-discipline, also one w ho belongs to one o f the sects o f yoga. One who looked after the activities o f a group o f villages; he attended on higher officials of the governm ent. A landlord, a farmer, land owner.

www.sikhnationalarchives.com

SELECT INDEX

A

Abbotsford, 87, 253, 288, 336

Army Attack on Golden Temple, Amritsar, 27-29

Ahmad Shah Durrani, 4-6, 326-27, 416

Asa Singh Johal, 249-53

Akal Takht/Akal Bunga, 288, 323, 387, 406-09

Asiatic Exclusion League (1907), 41-43

Akali Movement, 17-19

Asiatic Riots, 181

Akbar. 1, 399

Aurangzeb, 324, 391

Ala Singh, 6, 424

Australia, 173, 194, 220

Amar Das, Guru. 320-21, 386, 394-95

B

American War o f Independence. 88

Babbar Akalis, 20-21

Amritsar, 105, 280. 288, 386

Badan/Battan Singh. 49

Anand Marriage. 329

Bahadur Shah, Emperor, 326

Anandpur, 244. 399

Baldev Singh (Minister), 128

Andrews Rev. Charles, 19, 288, 303, 306

Baltej Singh Dhillon, 260

Angad, Guru, 319, 321, 385-86, 398, 399 Angus Reid G roup's Poll Survey, 200, 236 Anita Hagan (Minister). 198 Anti-Hate Law, 198-99

Bancroft, George W., 355-56 Banda Singh Bahadur, 4, 326, 399, 404.419 Bande Mataram. 95, 98 Bangkok. 106

Anup Singh Dr., 132

Barkat-Ullah-Muhammad, 62, 97

Arafat Yasar, 222

Battle o f Burrard Inlet, 73-74

Ardas (Prayer). 400-404

Baxter (Mayor), 63

Arjan, Guru, 18, 323, 333, 386. 389. 394, 395, 405 Arjan Singh Malik. 281. 331 Armstrong J.T.. 188

Balwant Singh Atwal, 62, 65-66. 100-01, 161-62

Bela Singh. 49-50, 52-53. 100. 101 Belize. 259 Bellingham. 41

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446

Canadian Sikhs Through a Century (1897-1997)

Berkeley, 102

Campbell. Kim. (Prime Minister), 233

Berlin, 106

Canadian Human Rights Commission. 218-20

Besant, Annie. 70, 303

Canadian National Railways, 218-19

Bhag Singh Bhikhiwind, 49, 65, 72, 94, 101,293

Canadian Transport Commission, 218

Bhagat Singh Haripur, 53

Carson, R.H. (Delegate), 142

Bhagat Singh, Martyr, 21-22

Cassidy, Robert (lawyer), 71

Bhagwan Singh, Giani, 50, 62, 68, 78, 97-98, 110

Ceylon/Sri Lanka, 34, 298

Bird and Bird (Barristers’ firm), 122

Chander Kant Chakravarty (Revolutionary), 106

Bird, Edward J., 63, 65

Charlottetown, 171

Blais Pierre (Solicitor-General), 259, 359

Chet Singh Granthi, 306

Board o f Inquiry, 66, 70-72, 151, 153, 221

Chilliwack. 2 4 3 ,2 5 4 ,3 1 2

Board ofT rade, 69

C hief Khalsa Diwan, 111, 293

China, 94

Bombay, 162

Chretien, Jean, Prime Minister, 172, 268, 309

Bonaparte, Napoleon, 8, 246

Christ. Jesus, 424

Borden, Robert, Prime Minister, 74, 76, 77

Churchill, Winston, 16, 148, 217

Bose. Rash Bihari, 105 Bose, Subash Chander, 22-23 Bowser, 117, 119

Cleghorn. John, E, 233 Clinton. Bill, President o f USA, 251 Committee o f Racial Justice, 265 Continuous Voyage, 151-52

British Honduras, 43-46, 181, 259 Buckingham Palace, 67

Cook, A.E.. 136

Budge Budge riots. 79, 80-81

Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), 136

Bune A. (Shipping agent), 60

Coqitlam, 312

Burrard Inlet, 62, 83

Court o f Appeal, 71

Burrell Martin. 74-76

Crewe, Robert, Secretary of State for India, 65, 153, 157, 184

C

Caesar, 424

D

Calcutta. 55, 71. 80, 94. 106, 147, 150 Calgary, 171.257. 259

Dalhousie. Lord (G.G. oflndia). 13. 149

California, 88. 93. 96, 154. 288

Daljit Singh o f Kapurthala. 81

Campbell. George (Civilian Officer), 420

Daljit Singh o f Muktsar. 60

Campbell. Gordon (Mayor/MLA). 211-12

Darshan Singh Dhaliwal (Gas station king). 276 Darshan Singh Sangha. 248

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Select Index Dasam Granth. 391

447

G

Decima Research Survey. 200-01. 237 Dedar Singh Sihota. 262

Gadgil, N.V., (Governor o f Punjab). 244

Delhi, 93, 174, 2 9 9,324

Gaekwad, M.F1. o f Baroda, 303

Denmark. 220

Gandhi, Mahatma, 16, 81, 110

Dharmsala. 319-20

Geneva, 48, 93

Dhyan Singh (P.M .), 425-26

George V, King, 58. 110

Diaspora, Sikh, 9-10

Germany, 89, 186, 215

Dickson, C.T. (C hief Justice of Cu*.uua),219

Ghadar Party, 90, 118

Didar Singh Bains, 255

Gladstone, William, 37

Diefenbaker, John (P.M.), 208

Glasgow, 60

Dirk Gerald, 173

Gobind Singh, Guru, 6, 297, 305, 323-26, 333, 336, 384, 387-88, 390, 396-97, 399, 401,413-17, 422, 426

Douglas (Senator), 157 Duleep Singh, Prince, 8 Duncan, 243, 295, 336

Gladstone, Henry, 37, 149

Gokhale, G.K., 110-111

Dyer, R.E.H. General, 16-17, 294 E

Golden Temple (See Harmandir) Goodman, Ned, President Decima. 237

Eastwood, J.H. (Police Supdt.), 80

Gordon, Captain, 46-47

Edmonton, 171, 257

Griffin. Lepel, 412-413, 422

Elizabeth II (Queen), 17

Gurdit Singh o f Komagata Maru, 59-83

Emigration Act o f 1883. 151

Guru Dutt Kumar/Guran Dutt. 48, 49, 91, 118

Employment Equity Act, 1986, 196

Guru Granth Sahib. 329. 335, 338. 3 8 4 .3 8 8 -9 1 .4 0 1 .4 0 8 . 423

F

Fairweather, Gordon, 220. 235. 337

Guru Ka Bagh Morcha. 18-19, 287

Federation o f Sikh Societies o f Canada. 337-38

Guru Nanak Jahaz. 60 Guru Nanak Steamship Company. 60

Feroz Shah Mehta. 162 H

Fiji. 34, 151 Fitzgerald. H.M.. 65, 68

Halifax, 171. 257

Flood. Bernard, J., 88

Hall. L.W.. Rev.. 118. 155

France. 102. 173

Hamilton. 171

Franchise. 116. 145

Haramba Lai Gupta. 106

Frank (Alberta). 34 Fraser Andrew. 157

Harbans Singh (Herb) Dhaliwal. 268. 309. 357*

Frederick o f G ermany. 7

Harbhajan Singh Pandori. 221

Friesen. John W\. Prof.. 223-24

Harcourt. Mike (Premier). 220. 309

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448

Canadian Sikhs Through a Century ( t$97-!99~>

Har Dayal (Ghadarite). 92-95. 98. 110

Indira Gandhi. 27. 278. 304. 306

Hardial Singh Atwal. 162

Ingress to Indian Ordinance. 104

Harding Lord (G.G. o f India), 15. 78, 100, 156

Inkster Norman. 259

Hargobind, Guru, 323, 333, 386. 395. 406

International W oodworkers o f America, 125. 130, 248 Ireland, 194

Harish Chander (Revoluntionary), 107 J

Harkin. J.B., 44-45 Harkrishan. Guru, 387 Harmandir Sahib/Golden Temple, 323, 390, 404-06

Jacob (MP). 120 Jahangir, Emperor, 407 Jaito Morcha, 19-21

Harnam Singh Kahri Sahri, 91, 101-02, 108

Jalandhar, 112, 301

Harnam Singh Kanvvar, 162

Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, 407, 423-24

Harnam Singh Tundilat, 96

Jat Sikhs, 3-4. 181.417-22

Har Rai. Guru, 387

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, 16-17, 294

Harrison Hot Springs, 143

Javvala Singh (Potato king), 92, 96, 104

Hart (Premier B.C.), 123, 125, 133

Jermaja Singh Hundal, 127

Hazara Singh Garcha, 129

Jindan, Rani, 412

Hnatvshyn (Governor-General o f Canada), 199

John Smith, Col., 40

Hobson, J.B., 150

K

Kabul, 96, 320

Holland, 173

Kamloops, 171, 242, 253-54

Hong Kong, 55, 59-61, 67, 78, 90, 94, 104, 151, 153,215, 220, 228 Hopkinson, William Charles, 43-44, 50, 65, 72, 7 4 ,9 1 ,9 4 Hoshiarpur. 70„ 100, 102, 244-45 Humphreys (D.C., Hoshiarpur), 80 Hunt. Marvin (Councillor), 215 Husain Rahim, 65, 72. 79, 91-92. 101-02. 119 Huxley. Aldous Robert. E., 353

Kaplan, Elinor. 177 Kapoor Singh Sidhu (Industrialist), 143-44, 187, 262 Kapur Singh Nawab, 424 Karnail Singh Bhinder. 218-20 Kartar Singh Sarabha. 86, 92, 96, 107 Kashmir, 7 Keenlevside. H.L. Dr., 133. 163-164 Kelowna. 171, 187. 254 Khalsa Credit Union. 273

I Immigration Act. 1906, 151 Indian National Arm\ (I.N.A.). 22-23 Indian National Congress. 14. 66. 105. 162.1 85.3 02

Khalsa Diwan Society. 65. 68, 77, 87. 90. 96. 118, 1 2 0 /124-125. 127, 129. 130. 132, 136. 142. 160. 280316. 336-37. 344. 357

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Select Index King. Mackenzie (P.M.). 86. 120. 133. 148. 150. 169. 185 Kingston. 171 Kishan Kaur Tumowal (Passenger K.M.). 61

449

— Mayo. 243-44 — Paldi. 243 — Robertson and Hacket. 242 — Savona, 242 — Terminal, 250-51 — Transco, 251

Kishan Singh Birring, 20-21, 302 M

Kitchner, 171 Kobe, 79

Macauliffe, 389

Komagata Maru, 59-83

Macauliffe Institute o f Sikh Studies, 339

Kuka/Namdhari Movement, 11-13, 93

Macdonald, W. (Opp. Leader), 117

Kunzro, Hirday Nath, 136

Macnicol, Robert (Canadian Legion), 130

L

Lady Smith, 295

Madan Mohan Malvia, 162

Lahore, 93, 280

Madras, 162

Lahore Conspiracy Cases I, II, 111, 107-08

Maguire, Dr., 63

Lajpat Rai, 21, 87, 90, 109, 110

Militia Regiment. 46-47

Lamer (Justice), 219

Mandalay Conspiracy Cases I and II, 108-09

Laurier, Wilfred (P.M.), 43, 75, 148, 153, 186

Maitland, R.L. (Attorney-General), 130

Manila, 104

Lawson, S.H., 40

Manitoba, 177, 268

Lefeaux, W.W. o f C.C.F., 126, 136

Manji System, 320, 386

London, 69, 147, 117. 150, 299-300

Manmohan Singh (Moe) Sihota, 267-68, 309, 345, 364

Loutet (M ayor), 144 Lumber Sawmills, Alan K.. 251, — Albeta, 242 — Bharat, 247 — Burke, 251 — Cedar Cove, 241-42 — Doman, 249 — Dominion, 247 — Duncan. 243 — Fraser. 243, 247 — Giroday, 242 — Golden. 242 — Hemby, 242 — Hillcrest, 246 — Industrial. 247 — Kapoor. 245 — Kootney, 37

Marshall Bill (Police Chief), 260 Masand System, 321 May, F.W. (Governor), 61 Mayo Singh (Industrialist), 143-44, 243-44, 246, 295 Mac Bride, Richard (Premier), 120 Mckeen, Fergus (labour leader), 127. M ehar Sing o f Kelowna. 187 Meighen, Arthur (P.M.). 204 Melting-Pot Ideology. 204 Mercredi Ovide. 355 Mewa Singh. Martyr. 50-52 Military Servicc and Franchise. 121-22

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450

Canadian Sikhs Through a Century (1897-1997)

Mills. H.A. (Chief Investigator). 183

Nelson. Lord. 246

Minto. Lord. 43. 153

Neuman. Dr. 218

Mission (Town). 254. 336

New W estminster. 87

Mir Mannu, 326

New Zealand, 194

Mit Singh, 79

Nova Scotia, 71, 235

Moji, 61-62

Nur Muhammad, Qazi, 327, 416,423

Montreal, 171,2 5 7 ,3 1 2

N ur-ud-Din (Faqir), 426

Morrison (Justice), 51 Mosaic, 204

O

Mountbatten (Viceroy o f In d ia ), 23-24

O ’Dwyer, Michael (Lt. Governor), 16, 17, 79, 100, 107, 111-12, 288

Muller, Max, 385

Okanagan, 255

Mulrony, Brian (P.M.), 260

Operation Bluestar, 27-29

Multiculturalism, 204-39

Oppal, W ally (Justice), 202, 270

M unro John (Federal Minister), 210

Ottawa, 117, 147,155, 158, 234, 257, 299, 300, 338

Munshi Singh (Passenger K.M.), 70, 72, 253 Mutiny (1857), 65

Ottawa Dominion Command o f Legion, 216

Mysore, 150

Overwald, Bob, 355 Owen Philip W. (M ayor), 310, 313

N

Oxford. 93

Nacoi, 174, 340-43

P

N adir Shah (King o f Afghanistan), 5 N agar Singh (Delegate), 44

Paldi, 244-45, 336

N agindar Singh Gill (Secretary, Kh. Diw'an Society ), 120-25, 127, 129, 135. 137, 142-43

Pandia D.P., 132,143-44,306

Nanaimo, 247

Pangat or G u rr Ka Langar, 398-400 Paris, 48 Parmanand, Bhai, 92, 97

Nanak, Guru, 297, 317-20, 328-29 333. 339, 357, 384-85, 394-95, 398,405.410 Nand Singh (Delegate), 161 Nankana Sahib Massacre, 287 Narain Das. Mahant, 17-18 Narain Singh (Delegate). 161 Natha Singh Mattu. 187 Natson. 162

Partap Singh Kairon. 26.244 Partition o f Punjab, 23-25 Pearson, S. George (Minister), 123, 125-27, 137 Penang (M ala y sia), 56 Perry. H.G.T. (M inister), 126. 129, *137. 139 Philippines. 33 Philpott. Klmore (editor), 145

Naujawan Bharat Sabha, 21 Nehru, Jauahar Lai. 17. 20. 174. 304. 306. 333

Piara Singh Lengeri. 306 Pitt Meadows. 253. 312

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Select Index Plato, 424

451

Reid Malcolm J.S.. 50. 63. 67. 70. 72. 100

Polak (Barrister). 124 Polak. H.S. (MLA), 133

Remembrance Day Parade. 214

Pope, 195,372

Renouf (Commissioner, Jalandhar). Ill

Prince George (Town). 171, 336

Rome, 232

Pritchett, Harold, 128

Ross Street Sikh Temple. 289. 290, 333

Privy Council, 77 Punjabi Language, 229, 353 Punjabi Market, 212

Rowlatt Act, 16 Royal Canadian Legion, 214

Punjabi Suba, 25-27

Q

S

Quebec, 257, 353

Sada Kaur, Rani, 412

Quesnel, 336

Sangat and Sadh Sangat, 393-98 R

Sahajdhari, 328

Racism, 180,202

Sahib Kaur, Rani (P.M.), 413

Racism and Discrimination, 181 — Individual, 181 — Institutional, 181 — Structural, 181

Saint Catherine, 171 San Francisco, 88, 90, 94, 98 Sarbat Da Bhala, 297, 402 Sarbat Khalsa, 403, 406-07, 410

Radhakrishnan, 414 Raghunath Singh, Dr., 61-62, 73, 100

Saskatoon, 171 Scalan T. Joseph, 212

Rainbow (Cruiser), 74 Rajah Singh, 65, 118, 155

Scott, David (Police Inspector,) 54 Scott (Supdt. Police). 21

Raj Karega Khalsa, 404 Rambhuj Dutt, Chaudhari, 81, 162 Ram Chandra o f Peshawar, 107 Ram Das, Guru, 321, 386, 396, 399, 405

Scott, W.D. (Supdt. Immigration ), 67 Sea Lion (Tug), 73 Seattle, 240 Sham Singh (Delegate), 44

Randhir Singh, Sant, 106, 306

Shaw, George Bernard. 227

Ranjit Singh Hall, 261

Shore Committee, 66-67. 72-75

Ranjit Singh. Maharaja. 1, 3, 7. 8, 326, 407-08. 421, 422^ 425-26

Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee. 127. 282. 285. 287-88

Ranjit Singh Mattu, 261

Shyama Krishan Verma. 48

Rankin Lee (Councillor). 199

Sikh Ardas (Prayer). 400-404. — Carnage. 29 —Character.316, —Conferences. 343-44.

Regina. 171 Regina Police Academy. 260

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452

Canadian Sikhs Through a Century• (1897-1997)

— Cultural Values. 228-30. 383-85 — Distinctiveness, 223-25. — Education. 344-45. — Farmers, 253-55, — Five Ks/ symbols,325, — Gurus.385-88, — Heritage. 383, — Identity, 317-349. — Immigrant Women. 273-75, 277 — Immigration, 147-78 — Institutions, 392-410 — Jats. 3-4,417-22, — Kirpan, 221-23 — Media, 346-48 — Panth, 388 — Parents, 358 — Pharmacists, 266 — Pioneers, 33-57 — Presence, 339 — Priests. 392 — Processions 290-91 — Professionals, 264-73 — Rehat Maryada, 317-29 — Religion, 317-25, 410 — Schools, 344-45 — Scriptures, 388-93 — Settlers. 33-37 — Societies, 336-40 — Struggle for Independence, 4-8 — Students, 353-62 — Turban, 214-17 — Women, 274, 410-13, 427-28 — Youth, 357-58 Singapore, 90,94, 100, 288

Stockton. 96, 98. 288 Stone. Carlton, 246-47 Sunder Singh Dr., 91-92, 118, 155, 184 Supreme Court o f Canada, 77, 160, 217 Surrey, 312 Swayne, Col., E.J.E. (Governor), 39, 46, 258 Sweden, 93, 173 Switzerland. 94, 98, 110 T Tagore, Rabindra Nath, 303, 306 Tarak Nath, 48, 49,91,110 Tam Taran, 105, 395 Tegh Bahadur, Guru, 324, 333, 335, 387 Teja Singh, Prof., 39, 45, 118, 155, 158 Tewson, Major Richard, R., 259 Tilak. B.G., 90, 110 Tisdall, G.E., 63 Tokyo, 91 Tolstoy, 91 Toronto, 171,195, 2 33,257, 259 Toynbee, 322 Trudeau. Pierre (P.M.), 209-10, 355 Turkey, 110

Singh Sabha, 13-14

U

Smith. John, Col., 150 Sohan Lai o f Shore Committee, 65

Udham Singh, 17

Sohan Singh Bhakna, 78, 89, 92-93. 98

Ujjal Dev Singh Dosanjh (Lawyer and Politician ), 268-69

Srinivas. Sastri. V.S., 120. 132

United Nations. 220.237, 380

Stanfield, Roberts (Federal Leader), 231 Stevens. II.H. (M.P.). 42. 48, 6 3 .7 4 . 76. 77. 152-53. 158-59. 207

V Vancouver. 33. 36, 37. 41-42. 44-47, 50, 52. 57. 62. 65-66, 69, 74. 75.

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Select Index 77. 79. 87. 91. 94. 97-102. 108. 118-19. 123, 134. 143. 147. 148, 154. 156. 158. 195. 198. 212. 231. 240. 257, 260.282-83.2 8 9 , 291. 295, 297, 306-07,309-10,313, 3 3 1 ,3 3 6 ,3 3 9 Vatican, 195 Vernon, 254 Victoria (City), 71. 87, 120, 125, 147, 164, 171, 240. 282. 295. 341

453

Whorf, B.L.. 353 William Lake. 336 Winch, H E. (M.L.A.). 122-125 Winnipeg. 257 Woodsworth. J.S. (M.P.), 120 World Sikh Organisation (WSO). 338-39 World War-I, 103, 110, 137, 241 World War-I 1. 120, 137

Victoria (Queen), 13,312 Y

Vijalakshmi Pandit. 128 Yamamoto, 76

Visa Problems, 174-77 Voting Rights in B. C., 116-145

Yaremko (Minister), 232 Yellow Cab Company, 255-57

W

Yokohama, 61. 73, 78, 98

Wage Discrimination, 188 W asakha Singh, 96

Yuba City, 255 Yugantar Ashram/ Ghadar Ashram, 92

Washington, 154 Z

Waterloo, 114, 327 Weiner Gerry (Minister), 182, 210, 230-31

Zakariya Khan (Governor), 326-27 Zimmerman (Minister). 106

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THE CONTENTS AND THE AUTHOR Historical background; Early Sikh Settlers and their Hardships and Sufferings; The Komagata Maru — A Challenge to Canadian Immigration Rules and Racism; G hadar Movement in Canada and America; Fight for Franchise or Right to Vote; The Sikhs and Im migration; Racial Discrimination — A Stigma on Human soul; Sikhs vis-a-vis Canadian M ulticulturalism; Professions and the S ikh P ro fessio n als; K halsa D iw an Society, V ancouver— A powerful Institution; Sikh Identity and its preservation in Canada; Next Generation Sikhs in Canada; Religious Heritage o f the Sikhs and their Transformation through it. DR BHAGAT SINGH, holds M aster’s Degrees in four subjects and Ph.D. in History. He received his education at three leading Universities o f India. He worked for a long time as Head o f the Post-graduate D epartm ent of History in a Punjab Government Institution and for some years he was on the staff of the History D epartm ent o f a University. His thesis for Ph.D. — Sikh Polity in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, was adjudged by his British examiners as a work of outstanding merit and was equated with the famous work — A H istory o f the Sikhs (1849), o f an eminent British historian J.D. Cunningham. D r Bhagat Singh is a distinguished historian, an em in en t so cio lo g ist, a b rillian t sch o lar o f comparative religion and a renowned linguist. He lived a num ber o f years in Canada and deeply probed the problems and activities o f the Canadian Sikhs about whom he chose to write. He travelled w idely in the western countries to study the Sikh diaspora. He has authored more than two dozen books and about ten dozen research papers. H e has contributed about 200 entries to the Encyclopaedia o f Sikhism, prepared by the Punjabi University, Patiala, and about 100 entries to the World and the Punjab Encyclopaedias com piled by the Punjab Government Languages Department.

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