Komagata Maru: Continuing the Journey

05/18/2016

Two Simon Fraser University alumni, Milan Singh and Naveen Girn, are in Ottawa to attend a formal apology by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday, May 18 related to the 1914 Komgata Maru incident.

05/25/2015

Launched on May 23rd, the 2015 Komagata Maru Collection allows Simon Fraser University to continue the journey in cataloguing, digitizing, and sharing resources central to the story of the Komagata Maru. Sponsored by the Government of India’s Ministry of Culture, the project is part of a yearlong series of events, talks, tours, and exhibitions that are taking place in Canada and India to commemorate the 101st anniversary of the Komagata Maru.

The Collection provides an opportunity to delve even further into public and private archives across Canada via the Komagata Maru: Continuing the Journey website. Newly added material includes: over 50 new photographs of the Komagata Maru and the pioneer South Asian community in British Columbia; 4 diaries related to the Komagata Maru, including excerpts from the rare autobiography of the passengers’ lawyer J. Edward Bird and, for the first time ever, English translations of two Punjabi diaries; rare books highlighting the lives of community pioneers; and over an hour of video documenting the story of the Komagata Maru and Mewa Singh, supplemented by the voices of scholars, academics, and artists. Through this endeavour we hope to provide scholars, students, and those interested in the history of the Komagata Maru a wealth of resources to explore this important story to Canadians and South Asians around the world.

Description: Item is a page from Neil Gilchrist's 1914 diary containing the entry for July 21, 1914. It describes the scene at the Vancouver harbour after the H.M.C.S. Rainbow's arrival, from the viewpoint of a spectator amongst the crowd watching from shore.

01/08/2015

This Sunday, January 11 marks the 100th anniversary of the ex*****on of Mewa Singh for the murder of William Hopkinson. There will be several events taking in place in New Westminster to commemorate the centennial.

07/23/2014

A Historical Walking Tour of the Komagata Maru Episode tonight at 5:00 pm. See details below.

07/23/2014

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Komagata Maru's departure from Vancouver and the beginning of a long journey back to India for its passengers. This July 23, 1914 Vancouver Sun newspaper clipping from a scrapbook in the Arjan Singh Brar Collection at SFU Library illustrates the media's response to news of the ship's impending departure. The scrapbook is currently on display at the Museum of Vancouver, as part of its exhibit Unmoored: Vancouver's Voyage of the Komagata Maru. http://komagatamarujourney.ca/node/8242?display=fit

Subject: Admission of Indian women; Immigration regulations, Canada; Indian independence movement; Japanese squadron; Murder of W. C. Hopkinson; Komagata Maru; Singh, Mewa; Voting rights in Canada

07/21/2014

From the H.H. Stevens fonds held by the City of Vancouver Archives, an unsigned account of a conference onboard the Rainbow, Tuesday morning July 21, 1914: http://komagatamarujourney.ca/node/552

06/13/2014

This wonderful video telling the story of the Komagata Maru episode was produced by Tell Your Story Productions for the Komagata Maru 100th Anniversary Commemoration http://vimeo.com/94927008. Many of the photographs, documents and video footage used in the video are available on the Komagata Maru: Continuing the Journey website.

www.tellyourstoryproductions.ca www.komagatamarujourney.ca

05/27/2014

A great article in Saturday's Globe & Mail by Michael Bird, great-grandson of the lawyer for the Komagata Maru passengers, J. Edward Bird: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/komagata-maru-100-years-later/article18830049/ A letter from J. Edward Bird concerning a request from Balwant Singh, son of Gurdit Singh, for records pertaining to the Komagata Maru has recently been digitized and added to the Continuing the Journey website: http://komagatamarujourney.ca/node/15591

Dark chapter in Canadian immigration history included an unsung hero, among the first who can be called a defender of civil rights

05/23/2014

Photographs from this morning's Simon Fraser University commemoration event for the 100th anniversary of the Komagata Maru's arrival in Vancouver. Photographs by Naveen Girn.

04/11/2014

A century ago today, the passengers of the Komagata Maru were one week into their journey to Canada, after leaving Hong Kong on April 4, 1914. Who were the passengers on board the ship? Find out more about the lives of these individuals both before and after the incident with this interactive Passenger List: http://komagatamarujourney.ca/km_passengers

Who were the passengers on the Komagata Maru? This question has challenged historians for decades because there has never been one definitive list. Instead, what we have are multiple passenger lists with varying degrees of "authenticity" that feature inconsistencies in everything from the spelling o...

01/10/2014

Tomorrow marks the 99th anniversary of the ex*****on of Mewa Singh for the murder of Immigration Officer William Hopkinson. A photograph of Singh's funeral procession on January 11, 1915 was recently discovered at Simon Fraser University Library's Special Collections and Rare Books division. Read more about the photograph and its discovery in this article.

Melanie Hardbattle on a discovery from the history of Asian immigration into Canada, made in the Special Collections and Rare Books department at Simon Fraser University Library

01/09/2014

Here's another resource about the Komagata Maru. If you're in the Toronto area, you may be able to attend some of the events.
http://www.komagatamaruweek.com/