A Forgotten Ambassador in Cairo, page 13
In order to stem the inflow of Indians, several measures were taken from 1907 onwards:
The Government of India (GOI) issued a warning to potential immigrants that there was no employment available in Canada. Shipping companies were ordered to desist from advertising job opportunities in Canada, or travel facilities to that country. The GOI also invoked the Emigration Act of 1883 whereby emigration was only allowed to those countries that had passed legislation to protect the interests of emigrants and were listed in the schedule. Conveniently, Canada was not listed, as it had not passed the required legislation.
The Canadian government passed two Orders-in-Council in 1908. The first raised the money required to be in possession of any potential immigrant from $25 to $200. The second authorised the Minister of the Interior to prohibit the landing in Canada of immigrants “…unless they come from the country of their birth or citizenship by a continuous journey, and on through tickets purchased before leaving the country of their birth or citizenship”.18
Both these orders-in-council were wholly directed against Indians, as the Chinese and Japanese were exempt at this time from the $200 requirement due to a special arrangement between the respective governments. The ‘continuous passage’ requirement was the most onerous as no shipping company operated direct ships from India to Canada (there was always a change of ship required at one of the Far Eastern ports), and India did not operate any ships of her own. The Viceroy of India, Lord Minto, appreciatively wrote to the Canadian Premier, Lord Wilfred Laurier, saying that “the continuous passage and the $200 regulations are likely to prove effective in putting a stop to immigration of Indian labour”. The Indians were thus discouraged from making the journey at both the departure as well as the arrival ports. As historian Harold Gould points out, “As a vivid example of the moral bankruptcy of colonialism, you had the spectacle of the Government of India, which was constitutionally obliged to see to the welfare of its citizens, colluding with a fellow Commonwealth government that was determined to deny one group of these citizens the civil and human rights to which they were formally entitled!”19
While the new laws enabled the Canadian immigration officials to take a tougher stand by giving them the legal authority to send back those who had not complied with the ‘continuous journey’ rule, these regulations were tested to their limit by potential immigrants (with help from local Indians) whose appeal to the courts against the orders of deportation often resulted in judgments favouring the immigrants. One such case was that of two hundred Indian passengers, mostly Sikhs, who had arrived by the Monteagle in Vancouver in mid-March 1908. The passengers had bought their tickets from Calcutta and had transferred to the Monteagle at Hong Kong. Of these, eighteen were not allowed because they had not come directly from India; another hundred odd passengers were refused entry on the specious grounds that they could not prove that they were indeed the men who had bought the tickets at Calcutta. The passengers were detained pending the disposal of their habeas corpus appeal by the court. On 24 March 1908, Justice Clement of the Supreme Court upheld their appeal and declared that the deportation order was invalid on a point of law and ordered release of the detained passengers.20
The government then tweaked these rules to a whole new level of perversity by insisting that wives and children who wanted to join their husbands and fathers (who were already immigrants in Canada) had to also comply with the ‘continuous journey’ rule and cough up the $200 fee. The unstated objective was to force Indian immigrants to leave the country.21 Canada codified these requirements by amending the Immigration Act of Canada of 1906, and later passed a new Immigration Act in 1910 incorporating both these conditions. The immediate result of these machinations was that immigration of Indians into Canada plummeted from 2,623 in 1908 to just six in 1909. The law also prevented Indians in the United States from entering Canada, as they had not travelled from their “country of birth or citizenship by continuous journey”. The consequent preference for Indians to immigrate to the United States over Canada predictably led to a backlash from the Asiatic Exclusion League which pressurised the United States immigration authorities to stem the flow. The U.S.A. officials, who had adopted a fairly easy attitude till now, subjected new arrivals to more stringent requirements, and turned away intending immigrants using one or more of three reasons viz.: liable to becoming a public charge, suffering from dangerous contagious diseases, or violation of alien contract law. The result was that the rejection rate of aspiring immigrants rose sharply over the next few years.22
The tribulations of the previous few years hardened the view amongst the Indians that racial discrimination abroad was largely a consequence of colonial subjugation at home, and reinforced the feeling that in the absence of support from their own government they had to perforce help themselves. These thoughts fostered a better-educated leadership to emerge that effectively articulated the Indian position, welded the Indians into a cohesive community, and advised potential immigrants on navigating the legal system of Canada for whatever recourse that was to be had from it. One such individual was Teja Singh, a highly educated Sikh hailing from a middle-class family of Amritsar, who arrived in Canada in 1908 after short stints at London and New York. Teja Singh was soon looked upon as a leader of the Sikh community and he affirmed their trust by founding the Guru Nanak Mining and Trust Company with an authorised capital of ₹150,000 and purchasing 180 acres of land as a community resource for its economic undertakings. He also acquired land for Victoria’s first Gurdwara that was founded in 1912.23 In the United States, a spinoff of the toughening official policy towards Indians was the formation of the Gadar Party in 1913 in San Francisco by Har Dayal and his associates.
Though many Indians left Canada for the perceived greater freedom and security of the United States, those who remained continued to appeal against Canadian laws that attempted to prevent immigration, especially the reunification of families. Immigrants from the Punjab as well as Indians from the Far Eastern ports continued to come to Canada, though in much reduced numbers, braving the risk of deportation, and mentally prepared for a legal slug fest with the government for which their fellow countrymen in Canada gave them unstinted support. A few of these cases are notable, not merely for the anger they generated within the Indian community against both the Canadian and British-India governments, but also for the temporary, albeit reluctant, climb down by the government in the immigrants’ favour. In 1911, Hira Singh, a prosperous veteran and a four-year resident of Vancouver, returned from the Punjab with his wife and three-year-old daughter to join him in Canada. They arrived by the Monteagle on 21 July 1911. While Hira Singh was admitted entry as a returning migrant, the officials ordered his family to be deported as they had violated the continuous journey rule. The Indians in Vancouver warned the government of the unpleasant repercussions that this kind of treatment could precipitate. Hira Singh appealed against the order and posted a $1000 bond. After considerable discussions, and intervention by Ottawa, the family was allowed to remain “as an act of grace”.24
In 1912, two Sikh residents of Vancouver, Bhag Singh and Balwant Singh returned to the city with their families from Punjab. These two gentlemen were pillars of the Indian community, being the president and priest respectively of the Vancouver Gurdwara. While the two men were allowed to re-enter, their wives Harnam Kaur and Kartar Kaur were arrested, and ordered to be deported. Even the normally unsympathetic press was critical, declaring that the enforced separation of the families was “unjust and immoral” and describing the government action as “openly racial”. The Indian community of Vancouver again took up the issue with the government; it ultimately gave in and allowed the families to join their men, repeating the stock phrase that this “was an act of grace, without establishing a precedent”.25
A challenge to this law was next attempted in October 1913 when a Japanese ship, Panama Maru, brought a batch of fifty-six passengers to Canada. Predictably, the immigration department detained the ship at Victoria harbour and denied entry to forty-six of them (they being ‘Hindus’) citing the continuous journey order. Equally, on cue, the would-be immigrants hired an attorney to argue their case. Asking the authorities at Ottawa to strictly enforce the immigration regulations concerning the entry of Hindus, the local Member of Parliament, H.H. Stevens, asserted that the arrival of the passengers on the Panama Maru was the “result of a well organized and deliberate attempt to evade the regulations [for] an extensive influx of these undesirable natives of India”.26 The attorney, Edward Bird, filed a writ of habeas corpus and the case went right up to the Supreme Court of British Columbia where Chief Justice Gordon Hunter released the migrants on the largely technical ground of inconsistent language between the orders-in-council and the Immigration Act. The judgment was received with consternation by the white community of British Columbia as well as by the Immigration authorities, who correctly surmised that the “bars have been let down and the Hindus may enter practically unquestioned”. But the government acted quickly to forestall the outcome of what was in their view “a critical state of affairs”, effectively, the complete dismantling of the sluice gates that checked Indian immigration.27 Within two weeks a new order-in-council was passed forbidding the entry of “artisans or labourers, skilled or unskilled…at any port of British Columbia”. A month later, new orders-in-council were passed to be in conformity with the language of the Immigration Act. As Khushwant Singh says, “This time the door to Canada was firmly shut and bolted with a notice in invisible ink reading ‘Only Indians not allowed’ printed on the outside.”28
Yet, the lure of North America was so economically inviting and politically liberating that many intrepid Indians continued to risk the journey despite being aware of the blatant hostility awaiting them at their destination. Nothing illustrates this better than the story of the Komagata Maru.
15
Komagata Maru
GURDIT SINGH, a Sikh peasant from Amritsar, had done well for himself by going abroad, and had become a wealthy contractor in Singapore. Taking pity on the number of Sikhs in Singapore, Hong Kong, and other Asian cities who wanted to go to Canada but could not due to recent legislation, he decided to charter a ship to take passengers to Vancouver and at the same time test the legality of the Canadian immigration laws and the government’s resolve to implement it. He reckoned that the project, if successful, would allow him to start a regular shipping service to bring immigrants to the Pacific Coast. He therefore chartered a Japanese vessel, the 2900-ton freighter Komagata Maru, at a cost of $66,000, and sold passage in it to those interested in making the voyage. The ship was chartered from Hong Kong for a period of six months from 27 March 1914 with redelivery in Hong Kong, during which period the charterers could take the ship anywhere they pleased as long as they fed themselves at their own cost.1 The ship sailed from Hong Kong on 4 April 1914 and stopped on the way to pick up passengers at Shanghai, Kobe, and Yokohama. The ship also carried a cargo of 1500 tons of coal that was to be sold at Vancouver. During the final leg of its journey, its passengers were made up of 340 Sikhs, 24 Muslims, 12 Hindus (all Punjabis) and a crew of 40 Japanese. All the passengers were men except two women and three children, one of the children being Gurdit Singh’s seven-year-old son. Rumours now began to appear in Vancouver about a large ship from Hong Kong bringing in hundreds of Sikhs.
The orders-in-council passed in December 1913 prohibiting the entry of ‘artisans or labourers, skilled or unskilled…at any port of British Columbia’ had lapsed on 31 March 1914. Taking cognizance of the news of the impending arrival of the Komagata Maru, the government hastily extended the above orders-in-council by another six months and apprehensively awaited the arrival of the ship. The Komagata Maru, under the command of Captain Yamamoto, duly arrived at William Head, the quarantine station near Victoria harbour, on 21 May 1914. The Province covered the event in great detail in its issue of 22 May. “The eyes of India are focused on the outcome of this case. The Hindus believe that they will be admitted to Canada because they are British subjects, but if they are ordered to be deported they are willing to spend both their time and money to force matters in the courts. On the other hand, the Canadian immigration officials have an order-in-council backing them up, and the order for their deportation seems almost a certainty. When informed this morning that the order-in-council relative to the exclusion of laborers and artisans had been extended, the Hindus expressed considerable surprise. They were under the impression that the regulations had expired and that their main point to fight on arriving here would be that they had not come direct from the land of their births. Now that they are here they are preparing to make the best fight they are capable of putting up.” The report continued, “The majority of the Hindus have served in the British army and they are a tall, broad and handsome lot. The Hindus are under the conviction that as British subjects they are entitled to roam throughout the British Empire. When this privilege is denied them they intend to appeal to the Imperial Government in London [and] they will hold the British Government responsible if they are ordered deported. ‘What is done with this shipload of my people will determine whether we shall have peace in all parts of the British Empire,’ significantly declared Gurdit Singh to one of the officials.”
If the ship was permitted to go to Vancouver, the report said, “arrangements have already been made to have a detachment of police on hand to keep Hindus in this city away from the wharves, and also to secure an additional marine patrol by launches at night. Gurdit Singh declared that he was going to make a desperate effort to land his passengers and added that he was out to ascertain once and for all if Canada had any right to keep out British subjects while she allowed aliens to land.”2 The swords were now metaphorically unsheathed for a momentous duel between the determined Sikhs and an equally obdurate dominion government intent on keeping its land ‘Hindu’ free.
The next day, i.e. on 23 May the Komagata Maru was allowed to proceed to Vancouver and it dropped anchor in the Burrard Inlet, the narrow entrance to Vancouver harbour. None of the passengers were allowed to disembark as a medical team subjected them to an examination. Police guarded the shore while launches patrolled the waters ensuring that no one was able to get off the ship. The Province of 26 May published a group photo (which would go on to become an iconic photo of the incident) of the Sikh passengers aboard the ship, with the tall grey-bearded Gurdit Singh in the foreground, and with a report below it that said, “The whole question has aroused world-wide interest, and newspapers in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are commenting upon the arrival of the Komagata Maru and the fate of her 376 passengers.” All these dominion countries were keenly following the incident as they themselves, like South Africa, were either facing an immigrant problem or would encounter one soon in the future. No less interested in the case was the United States, whose citizens did not quite relish rolling out the welcome mat for Asians at this time. The United States and Canada cooperated closely on immigration issues, and the former was well on its way to formulating policies to avoid becoming a receptacle for Canada’s stymied immigrants. The opinion in Great Britain too was unfriendly; the Pall Mall Gazette summarily dismissed the issue by declaring that, “…Gurdit Singh must expect no aid from public opinion in Great Britain. The Canadians are masters in their own house and have an unqualified right to say who shall not dwell in it.”3
What unfolded over the next two months was an immensely complex saga involving human aspirations, belied hopes, shattered promises, privations, and tragedy. The immigration inspector, Malcolm Reid, with the full support of the Ottawa government and the backing of the law refused to let the ship dock, or allow any of the passengers (except twenty returning migrants) to come ashore. Initially, even their attorney Edward Bird, was refused permission to board the ship to speak to the passengers. The next few weeks were tortuous: the Sikhs in Vancouver raised money to fight the legal battle, and to supply provisions to the passengers on the ship; the attorney and the immigration authorities haggled over the legal process to be adopted; and the passengers were getting frustrated with their confinement to the ship and the increasingly unhygienic conditions they had to endure on-board. Moreover, Gurdit Singh was being pressurised by the owners of the ship for payment of the charter dues (which was dependent on the sale of the cargo of coal), with the threat that the ship would summarily return to Hong Kong with its cargo and passengers if he defaulted. This impasse continued for the whole of June. The Indians on the ship finally agreed to the procedure suggested by the immigration authorities, confronted as they were with the escalating hostility of the local white populace, the weariness that was beginning to set in amongst them, and the dwindling enthusiasm of support from the Vancouver Indian community. When the case was finally heard by the Court of Appeals at Victoria (headed by Chief Justice MacDonald) on 6 July 1914, the court, in an unanimous judgment, “dismissed the Hindu appeal and upheld the validity of the steps the immigration officials took in preventing the landing of the Komagata Maru passengers”.4 Thus the Indians could now be legally deported.
Handing out the judgment was the easy part; implementing it proved to be vastly more difficult. It took another seventeen days involving tedious negotiations, threats, blandishments, passenger mutiny, crew kidnap, and a skirmish with the police before the Komagata Maru left the shores of Canada. The story occupied the front pages of local newspapers for the next fortnight, and the highlights as gleaned from The Vancouver Daily Province from the 7th to the 23rd of July 1914 make for a riveting tale.
