VANCOUVER, BC—In the early 1900s, when very few people from India were living in Metro Vancouver, racial tensions were high.
“Boat-loads of Hindus on way to Vancouver” read one headline.
“Hindu Invasion of Canada” read another.
As media and government prepared for the arrival of the Komagata Maru, all Indians were put into a single category, but the ship’s passengers were in fact, mostly Sikh. Nsibe Puri’s father Bagga Singh was one of few Indian immigrants already in Vancouver. He traveled by boat to the US, and then on a warm night in June, 1913, he made his way to Canada.
“When they got to the border, his brother walked him across the border through some side bushes.”
After working at Fraser Mills for some time, he and others who had already settled were met with a dark challenge. They had to find a way to not only raise awareness and lobby the government, but also raise money to help the passengers.
So, they formed a shore committee. “They tried their best legally to work with these people to let them off,” explains Puri. “What a strong person he was and how much he wanted to do.” Five hundred people attended the first meeting, and the were not just Sikhs. Some of those who wanted to help were white. People started generously throwing whatever cash they could onto the table to help. By the end of the day, $5,000 lay in a pile. “You would ask for a story and he used to say ‘Well this is not a story, this is true things that happened. I saw it, I heard it, I was there,’” says Puri.
