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Komagata Maru Incident
Here is the preface by Hugh Johnston for his fully revised and expanded version of The Voyage of the Komagata Maru (UBC Press 2014) to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the incident.
"The country would be very different today if the passengers on the Komagata Maru had made their point successfully and been allowed to land."; - Hugh Johnston
The approaching centenary of the Komagata Maru has been an incentive for an extensive revision of a book that I first published thirty-five years ago. Over the decades, fresh material - published and unpublished - has come my way. The Internet has become a great time saver in tracking down small points that sometimes make a meaningful difference. And much has happened since I began my research back in 1975. Subtly, and perhaps not so subtly, the march of events has affected my own understanding of the documentary evidence of this history. Canada has become very different; Indo-Canadians are much more visible and better known and appreciated by other Canadians; and I have had wonderful opportunities over the decades to share time, engage with, and become very close to individual Indo-Canadians, particularly Punjabi Sikhs and their families both in Canada and in India. All of this has affected this revision. The past is something we strive to recapture, but it is always a work in progress.
The events surrounding the Komagata Maru were not acknowledged in mainstream Canadian history until well beyond the 1970s. Even now, they get surprisingly slight attention outside of British Columbia. Thirty or forty years ago, most Canadians were unaware that the country's Asian-origin population had been kept very small as a matter of policy, and because Asian numbers were so small, Asians were easily left out of the national account. It follows that the older histories of Canada by a generation of well-respected Canadian historians such as Donald Creighton, A.R.M. Lower, J.B. Brebner, H.A. Innis, and W.L. Morton
devoted not a line or index entry to the Komagata Maru. Yet, with a little
imagination, one can see that the exclusion of people from the entire subcontinent of India was a major defining fact about Canada. The country
would be very different today if the passengers on the Komagata Maru had
made their point successfully and been allowed to land.
It makes a great difference that Canada now advertises itself as a multicultural
country instead of as a European and British country, which was the commonly accepted characterization a century ago. Multiculturalism gives Canadians an inclusive ideal, along with the challenge of trying to live up to it. Earlier generations did not have that inviting national ideal. But the contrasts between now and then are far from absolute. On the questions of individual freedoms, human values, human rights, national identity, race, and ethnicity, Canadians of a century ago had the same range of ideas available to them as do Canadians of today. And like today, those early Canadians could go to the same sources of inspiration -religion, political theory, self-interest, or science - and draw contrary
conclusions among themselves. The difference is in the consensus then and today: now the Canadian consensus is more open to the inclusion of difference than it was in the past. When it comes to ethnicity, this greater openness is a positive outcome of a reformed immigration policy that has allowed people into the country from all parts of the world. The full history of the Komagata Maru affair, from its origins to its long-term consequences, is an immigrant story writ very large. It has all of the elements of such a story, with its most admirable and least wanted extremes. It is about the remarkable desire of immigrants to reach Canada and North America, and their resourcefulness, determination, and persistence in getting here and in staying. It is also about the discouragement
and hostility that they encountered at the hands of many Canadians. And
it is about the respect, friendship, and help they received from a notable
few Canadians. Critically important was the outstanding success of some
of them - those who entered Canada years before the Komagata Maru arrived,
who witnessed its coming and who were troubled by its going, and who, nonetheless, went on to great personal success. These individuals
were adventurous in travelling at their own expense so far across the
globe in search of opportunity. They were resourceful in making the most
of what they found. And, like the vast majority of immigrants from other
nations, they never forgot their homeland even if they stayed away for
years. Their political life in the early years centred on what was happening in their home country. Some definitely wanted to have a place in the
political life of Canada, but they were all denied full citizenship until they
were elderly. They were, however, extraordinarily persistent in winning
a place for themselves in this country, and they were an inspiration and a
help to compatriots who followed in their path. Their rich legacy is the
sizable Indo-Canadian presence that the country now has.
"The country would be very different today if the passengers on the Komagata Maru had made their point successfully and been allowed to land."; - Hugh Johnston
The approaching centenary of the Komagata Maru has been an incentive for an extensive revision of a book that I first published thirty-five years ago. Over the decades, fresh material - published and unpublished - has come my way. The Internet has become a great time saver in tracking down small points that sometimes make a meaningful difference. And much has happened since I began my research back in 1975. Subtly, and perhaps not so subtly, the march of events has affected my own understanding of the documentary evidence of this history. Canada has become very different; Indo-Canadians are much more visible and better known and appreciated by other Canadians; and I have had wonderful opportunities over the decades to share time, engage with, and become very close to individual Indo-Canadians, particularly Punjabi Sikhs and their families both in Canada and in India. All of this has affected this revision. The past is something we strive to recapture, but it is always a work in progress.
The events surrounding the Komagata Maru were not acknowledged in mainstream Canadian history until well beyond the 1970s. Even now, they get surprisingly slight attention outside of British Columbia. Thirty or forty years ago, most Canadians were unaware that the country's Asian-origin population had been kept very small as a matter of policy, and because Asian numbers were so small, Asians were easily left out of the national account. It follows that the older histories of Canada by a generation of well-respected Canadian historians such as Donald Creighton, A.R.M. Lower, J.B. Brebner, H.A. Innis, and W.L. Morton
devoted not a line or index entry to the Komagata Maru. Yet, with a little
imagination, one can see that the exclusion of people from the entire subcontinent of India was a major defining fact about Canada. The country
would be very different today if the passengers on the Komagata Maru had
made their point successfully and been allowed to land.
It makes a great difference that Canada now advertises itself as a multicultural
country instead of as a European and British country, which was the commonly accepted characterization a century ago. Multiculturalism gives Canadians an inclusive ideal, along with the challenge of trying to live up to it. Earlier generations did not have that inviting national ideal. But the contrasts between now and then are far from absolute. On the questions of individual freedoms, human values, human rights, national identity, race, and ethnicity, Canadians of a century ago had the same range of ideas available to them as do Canadians of today. And like today, those early Canadians could go to the same sources of inspiration -religion, political theory, self-interest, or science - and draw contrary
conclusions among themselves. The difference is in the consensus then and today: now the Canadian consensus is more open to the inclusion of difference than it was in the past. When it comes to ethnicity, this greater openness is a positive outcome of a reformed immigration policy that has allowed people into the country from all parts of the world. The full history of the Komagata Maru affair, from its origins to its long-term consequences, is an immigrant story writ very large. It has all of the elements of such a story, with its most admirable and least wanted extremes. It is about the remarkable desire of immigrants to reach Canada and North America, and their resourcefulness, determination, and persistence in getting here and in staying. It is also about the discouragement
and hostility that they encountered at the hands of many Canadians. And
it is about the respect, friendship, and help they received from a notable
few Canadians. Critically important was the outstanding success of some
of them - those who entered Canada years before the Komagata Maru arrived,
who witnessed its coming and who were troubled by its going, and who, nonetheless, went on to great personal success. These individuals
were adventurous in travelling at their own expense so far across the
globe in search of opportunity. They were resourceful in making the most
of what they found. And, like the vast majority of immigrants from other
nations, they never forgot their homeland even if they stayed away for
years. Their political life in the early years centred on what was happening in their home country. Some definitely wanted to have a place in the
political life of Canada, but they were all denied full citizenship until they
were elderly. They were, however, extraordinarily persistent in winning
a place for themselves in this country, and they were an inspiration and a
help to compatriots who followed in their path. Their rich legacy is the
sizable Indo-Canadian presence that the country now has.
Submitted on March 1, 2014 in By David.
