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Punjabis were later faced by one of the most infamous racial exclusion acts in Canadian history. In 1914, The Komagata Maru, a steamliner carrying 376 passengers from Punjab docked in Vancouver. Of them, 24 were admitted to Canada, but the other 352 passengers were not allowed to disembark in Canada, and the ship was forced to return to India.
Punjabis make up approximately 2.6% of the Canadian population as per the 2021 Canadian Census. [23] The largest Punjabi community in Canada is in Ontario, with 397,867 Punjabis as of 2021 (making up 2.84% of the overall population), while British Columbia is home to approximately 315,000 Punjabis (making up 6.41% of the overall population).
Punjabis were accused of having a caste system, an idea that goes against the foundations of Sikhism. They were portrayed as being riddled with trachoma and as being unclean in general. To strengthen these racist characterizations, a song called White Canada Forever was created. All this eventually led to a boat of Sikhs arriving in Vancouver ...
The passengers were 337 Sikhs, 27 Muslims and 12 Hindus, all Punjabis and British subjects. [4] Of these 376 passengers, 24 were admitted to Canada, but the other 352 were not allowed to disembark in Canada, and the ship was forced to leave Canadian waters. The ship was escorted by HMCS Rainbow, one of Canada's first two naval vessels. [5]
Having seen Canada for themselves, Punjabis sent home letters to their fellow countrymen, recommending them to come to the 'New World'. [39] Though initially reluctant to go to these countries due to the treatment of Asians by the white population, many young men chose to go upon the assurance that they would not meet the same fate. [38]
Toronto — Canada and India have expelled each other's senior diplomats in a growing diplomatic standoff sparked by the murder of a prominent Canadian Sikh activist last year. The tit-for-tat ...
After the partition of India in 1947, unity among Punjabi Sikhs and Muslims in Vancouver wavered; few Pakistani Punjabis began to have any sense of affinity with Punjabis from India. [33] The immigration patterns of South Asians arriving to Canada changed by the 1960s, with Ontario becoming a secondary centre of immigration.
This was a theme amongst most early Punjabi settlers in Canada to find work in the agricultural and forestry sectors in British Columbia. [17] Punjabis became a prominent ethnic group within the sawmill workforce in British Columbia almost immediately after initial arrival to Canada. [18] Punjabis aboard Komagata Maru in Vancouver's Burrard ...