The unveiling of a new postage stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Komagata Maru incident is a reminder that overcoming Canada鈥檚 racist past has come one painful step at a time.
The Komagata Maru was a Japanese steamship carrying 376 passengers from India that sailed from Hong Kong to Japan, then to 91原创, arriving on May 23, 1914. Most of the passengers were detained on the ship, as officials enforced federal laws specifically designed to prohibit immigrants from Asia, including the 鈥渃ontinuous journey鈥� regulation that stipulated immigrants must come directly from their country of birth. No ships at that time could make the voyage from India to Canada without a stopover in Japan or Hawaii.
The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled that it could not interfere with the Department of Immigration and Colonization, and after two months at 91原创, the Komagata Maru was forced to return to India.
The previous year, the Panama Maru had docked at Victoria carrying 56 potential immigrants from India, 39 of whom were detained and ordered deported. They were freed when the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that the continuous-journey regulation did not conform to the Immigration Act.
The cabinet of prime minister Robert Borden then passed an order-in-council closing all B.C. ports to immigration, and the continuous-journey regulation was reworded to conform to the racist Immigration Act.
Much has changed since then, and immigrants from Asia have become part of the 91原创 tapestry, but we should not forget what it took to effect that change.
