It isn’t a well-known fact, but Nelson Mandela once visited our own Dixie Gurdwara.
Even more interestingly, it happened just after he won freedom from prison in 1990.
As Toronto resident Sikh historian Pardeep Singh Nagra relates, the iconic anti-apartheid leader even addressed the congregation at Ontario Khalsa Darbar — which in turn fundraised thousands of dollars for Mandela and the African National Congress.
Said Nagra: “Nelson Mandela came to Canada three times. In 2001, Mandela was the first living person to be bestowed as an honorary Canadian citizen. I am proud as a Canadian to have Nelson Mandela as a fellow citizen, and the ‘honour’ truly rests with us.”
Nagra remembers being so excited at the time that he drove downtown to express publically his great joy in hearing this news. “I entered the City TV/Much Music speaker’s corner booth, put my money in the slot and shared my best wishes to all. To my further surprise, it was played on the air!”
Canada also honoured Mandela in several other ways. “In 2001, Nelson Mandela was also honoured with the renaming of Park Public School, to Nelson Mandela Park Public School in Toronto, with the Toronto District School Board,” added Nagra, who currently works for the TDSB.
But Nagra also wears several other hats — among them being the Executive Director for the Sikh Heritage Museum of Canada. And it is in this context that he dug out several further nuggets about Mandela.
“I have on two separate occasions been in the presence of Nelson Mandela. During Mandel’s visit to Canada in 1998, I got the opportunity to be in his presence, along with thousands of children at the Skydome (now Rogers Centre), when he shared a passionate speech about his journey.”
Nagra subsequently found an opportunity to have an even more intimate presence with the big man on a subsequent visit. This happened Saturday, Nov 17, 2001, when Mandela and wife Graca Machel received their honorary degrees at Ryerson University.
But even at this point, Nagra didn’t know the close interaction Mandela had already had with the Sikh community in Canada — even as the Toronto resident and community advocate wished with all his heart that this kind of close engagement would somehow happen.
Noted Nagra: “When I look back at historic figures such as Martin Luther King, I sometimes wonder how powerful would it have been if he had spoken at a Gurdwara. How even more powerful it would have been to have a statesman the calibre of Nelson Mandela during my lifetime speak amongst my faith community.”
But to Nagra’s surprise and astonishment, he found that such an event had indeed taken place.
“I was in South Africa — Durban to be exact — in 2001, attending the UN World Conference against racism, with some friends and colleagues. As I stayed behind, one of my friends, Bindu Dhaliwal — a Canadian pioneer in her own right — decided to go to Johannesburg and visit Mandela’s house as well as his prison on Robben Island.
“Bindu took several pictures of her visit… and she told me she has one special one for me. It was of a framed letter commemorating Nelson Mandela’s visit to Canada — and, more specifically, to the Ontario Khalsa Darbar (popularly known as Dixie Gurdwara), dated June 18, 1990.
“It read as follows:
‘Presented to Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, on his visit to Toronto, Canada, June 18, 1990.
‘By the Sikh of Canada in appreciation for his continued resistance against apartheid in South Africa and racism in the world’.”
The letter carried the name ‘Ontario Khalsa Darbar’ also with the famous gurdwara’s address on Mississauga’s Dixie Road.
Nagra couldn’t believe his eyes. “Not only did Nelson Mandela speak to the Sikh congregation, the congregation in turn fundraised thousands of dollars to support Mandela and the ANC in his bid to become president of a free and democratic South Africa!”
That image, of the framed letter, now forms part of the archives and collections of the Sikh Heritage Museum of Canada, and is one of the many great stories of the history of Sikhs in Canada.
Nagra, who is also a researcher, collector and curator of various Sikh heritage exhibits, today counts the photo as one among his several prized exhibits at the Sikh Heritage Museum.
For further details visit www.shmc.ca
