E-Paper
Vancouver's sad memories linger on
Memories of the A-I bombing ('85) still haunt Indians, writes Gurmukh Singh.
Vancouver will always stir painful memories for Indians back home and the Indo-Canadian community in this country because of its association with the 1985 Air-India bombing plot and the recent trial.
Though the two suspects — Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri — got acquitted, it was proved during the trial that the bomb that blew off the Kanishka flight 182 off the Irish coast killing 329 people originated here.
This is another chapter in Vancouver's bittersweet association with India going back more than a hundred years.
What New York was to European immigrants to the New World, Vancouver was to Indians seeking passage into North America in the late 19th century.
It was here that the first Indians landed in the 1890s to work in lumber mills.
It was here that these early immigrants set up a settlement (on Vancouver Island) after the name of their native village Paldi in Punjab.
It was here that North America's first Indian body — the Khalsa Diwan Society of Vancouver — and the first Gurdwara came up in 1907.
It was here that the (in)famous Komagata Maru incident happened when this ship bringing 376 Indians to Canada was turned back after two months' stalemate in the harbour in 1914. Many of the passengers were killed by the British troops when the ship reached Calcutta. Canada apologised for this sordid episode during the 1999 Khalsa tricentenary celebrations in Parliament. A plaque was also erected in downtown Vancouver where the Komagata Maru ship had anchored.
It was here that the first killing of a British official by Indian revolutionaries abroad took place when police officer William Hopkinson, who was sent from India to spy on the Indians, was killed by Mewa Singh in 1914. Mewa Singh became the first Indian revolutionary to be hanged abroad.
It was from here that Indian immigrants responded massively to the Gadar Party's call to go back to India and drive out the British.
It was here that the first Indian baby — Hardial — was born on North American soil in 1912. The baby's father, Balwant Singh, was later hanged in India for his role in the freedom movement.
It was here that a timber tycoon — Mayo Singh — probably became the first Indian millionaire in North America.
After 1947 when Canada gave the Indians voting rights, Vancouver became the first place in North America to see the establishment of a big community. Of course, there were other places like El Centro, Stockton and Yuba City in California, which had some Indian presence.
It was here that the political consolidation of Indian immigrants began with the formation of the British Columbia Organisation to Fight Racism under Charan Gill and others. This consolidation soon got translated into political clout.
In the 1980s, Indo-Canadians themselves became candidates. Moe Sahota became the first MLA and provincial minister of Indian origin in Canada. He was followed by Ujjal Dosanjh, who went on to become the first coloured premier in Canada in Feb 2000. Herb Dhaliwal became the first coloured cabinet minister anywhere in the western world.
In the last British Columbian 79-member assembly, there were seven Indo-Canadian MLAs. Currently, about 20 Indo-Canadians are the fray for the May 17 elections.
Of the seven Indo-Canadian MPs in the current parliament, three come from the Vancouver area, including health minister Ujjal Dosanjh.
Every year, more than 30,000 new Indian immigrants make this area their home. Vancouver's next-door city of Surrey already has the largest concentration of Indians in North America.
With about 20 gurdwaras and temples and as many ethnic papers, this place has an obvious imprint of India.
As usual, the immigrants (have) brought their baggage with them. If the Punjab violence in the 1980s cast equally dark shadow anywhere oversees, it was Vancouver. And its deadliest consequence was — and is — believed to be the Air-India tragedy.
