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Komagata Maru incident commemorated in downtown Vancouver street name

Vancouver's waterfront street Canada Place will now also be known as Komagata Maru Place

Canada Place in Vancouver
Canada Place is gaining a secondary honourary name. Photo by Francis Georgian /PNG

Vancouver’s waterfront street Canada Place will now also be known as Komagata Maru Place as an act of cultural redress for the city’s role in the Komagata Maru incident.

Vancouver city council unanimously passed a motion Tuesday to confer a secondary honourary name on Canada Place, a busy two-block street bounded by Howe and Thurlow Streets.

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Raj Singh Toor, spokesman for the Descendants of the Komagata Maru Society, said he hopes the secondary name will help raise awareness about a shameful chapter in B.C. history and “build a more tolerant tomorrow.”

“We are extremely happy,” he told council in chambers. “We can’t undo the past but we can move forward.

The Komagata Maru arrived in Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet on May 23, 1914 after a two-month journey from Hong Kong. Onboard were 376 passengers, mostly Sikhs.

Most of them were barred from disembarking even though they had valid travel documents that identified them as British subjects and funds to pay a mandatory head tax.

They were kept out due to a federal “continuous journey” policy that required immigrants coming to Canada to arrive directly from their country of origin — a not-so-subtle way to prevent South Asian immigration as non-stop travel from India to Canada was not possible at the time.

The vessel was escorted out of Canadian waters by the military in July. Upon its return to India, 19 passengers were shot and killed while others were imprisoned or placed under house arrest.

A secondary street means residents and businesses don’t have to change their official addresses and emergency services aren’t affected.

The waterfront location was chosen because it offered residents and tourists an opportunity to reflect on the incident, said a city staff report. It is also near the Komagata Maru monument at Harbour Green Park.

An unveiling ceremony is expected later this year.

“Speaking on behalf of my wife’s side of the family, I can’t express how much this means to our family,” said Mayor Ken Sim, whose wife Teena Gupta is of South Asian descent, prior to the vote.

“As a resident of Vancouver and as a human being, I’m glad this is coming to council.”

chchan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/cherylchan

chchan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/cherylchan

  1. A bustling sidewalk along Canada Place in Vancouver.

    Komagata Maru Place? Canada Place could get 'secondary honorary' name

  2. Raj Singh Toor is vice-president of the Descendants of Komagata Maru Society. Toor is standing on Main Street at East 57th Avenue in Vancouver on April 15.

    Descendants of Komagata Maru hopeful Vancouver will finally, after four years of back-and-forth, grant their commemoration wish

  3. On May 23, 1914, the SS Komagata Maru arrived in Vancouver with would-be immigrants led by Indian businessman Gurdit Singh.

    City of Vancouver apologizes for role in the Komagata Maru incident