Why Canada's saying sorry for Hong Kong-Vancouver migrant tragedy
With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau set to apologise for Canada's role in the tragedy that befell Sikhs aboard the Komagata Maru, which sailed for Vancouver in 1914, Stuart Heaver visits the temple in Hong Kong where the story of the voyage began
Hong Kong's Wan Chai district may be a long way from Ottawa but, next week, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rises to address the Canadian parliament, Gurmel Singh will gaze up with particular pride at a large photographic print mounted on the wall of the Khalsa Diwan Sikh Temple, on Queen's Road East.
Singh is the manager and religious instructor at the Wan Chai gurdwara (Sikh temple) and the grainy monochrome image shows a group of Sikh men dressed in turbans and formal suits, posing awkwardly on a ship's deck in 1914. The ship is the Japanese-owned freighter Komagata Maru and, on May 18, Trudeau will issue a high-profile public apology related to the fate of those on that ship, which departed from Victoria Harbour more than a century ago, bound for Vancouver.
The Sikh community of Hong Kong has contributed tremendously to the history, development and prosperity of the city
"Most of the 15,000-strong Hong Kong Sikh community will know about this incident because the temple is directly related to the story - it is still mentioned a lot here," says Singh.
Hundreds of Sikh passengers and their self-appointed leader, Baba Gurdit Singh, prayed at the temple before boarding the specially chartered ship. It is Gurdit Singh and his seven-year-old son, Balwant, who are staring uncertainly at the camera in the photograph ahead of a voyage that was to end in bloodshed.
