KGM14

They were NOT ILLEGAL. They were British Subjects that wanted to travel to another part of the British Empire. There was no such thing as a `Canadian Citizen` at the time. The issue was outright systemic racism by the Government of Canada.

Who is this 'we'? The Canadian Government now and also back then does not and did not include you in the decision making process. This was a major incident in a series of racist policies aimed at visible minorities within Canada at the time. A White person would never understand what racism is like. How many times have a white man had their teeth knocked out (or worse) for calling someone a nigger, a chink, or, pakie or wop etc? What whites were thinking and advocating in 1914 was mainstream throught (racism). Today, such thoughts are limited to a few bigots online who hide behind computers anonymous and lack the balls to go out and say any of these out in the open. If you have balls, go out in the open and advocate your racism there. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms makes it illegal to treat anyone differently due to skin colour, race, ethnic origin, or creed.

I guess dipshit rednecks like you just don't get it. Nothing to do with Sikh-Canadians? 80%+ were Sikhs aboard the Kamagata Maru. Not only does it have to do with Sikh-Canadians, but also Sikhs worldwide. 90%+ of Indian-Canadians (what whites call East Indians) in Canada are Sikhs. What illegal immigrants are you talking about? There was no such thing as a Canadian Citizen until 1947. In 1914, Indians aboard the Kamagata Maru and Canadians were British Subjects. British Subjects were allowed to travel anywhere within the British Empire. The Canadian Government made a law to target and exclude non-whites (specially `Asiatic` people). That was systemic racism. The Chinese headtax and Natives in Residential schools along with Japenese-Canadians interned during WWII all have one thing in common with the Kamagata Maru incident: RACISM. If they are good enough for an apology in Canadian Parliament and if their descendents are good enough for compensation, then the same applies for the Kamagata Maru incident.

More on Shaheed Bhai Mewa Singh: http://bcsikhs.com/2007/commemorating-the-...i-mewa-singh-ji

More on the Kamagata Maru incident and some info on Sikhs and their struggles in Canada: http://www.sikhreview.org/sikh_diaspora1.htm I guess our guys were banging whitees back then too....heh... ------------- Shaheed Bhai Mewa Singh or Martyr Mewa Singh, after whom the langar hall at Ross Street Gurdwara (Sikh Temple) in Vancouver is named after and in whose memory there is a holiday celebrated by Sikhs worldwide every year.: ---- --- Some of the info towards the end hasn't been updated as there are actually even more Sikh MP's and MLA's NOW. There's also more Sikh police officers across Canada who wear the turban with their uniform. Baltej Singh Dhillon has icon status in the Sikh community for taking on racists and beating them at the Supreme Court. complete articles deleted by moderator

Canada at that time was technically not fully independent (not until 1982 at least) and was part of the British Empire. The passengers aboard the Kamagata Maru were from India, a country that was being ruled also by the British Empire. At the time, there was a rule that if a person is a citizen of the British Empire, they have the right to move freely elsewhere in the empire. Sikh soldiers fought for and died for the British Empire during WWI and WWII. They fought in places like France, Germany, Japan, etc. In the 1890s, the first Sikhs to visit Canada were soldiers of the British Empire. When the Sepoy Mutiny took place in 1857, Indians of other religions rebelled against the British. Sikh soldiers stayed loyal to the British Empire and helped to stop that mutiny. Naturally, the passengers aboard the Kamagata Maru were under the impression that they had the right to come to Canada as they were citizens of the British Empire. They were not informed of the racist immigration laws in Canada that excluded anyone non-white from entering. The Kamagata Maru was refused entry due to RACIST immigration laws of the time that were deliberately setup to keep out non-Whites from Canada. If Canada apologized to the Chinese for the head tax and to the Natives for the Residential Schools or the Japanese-Canadians that were imprisoned during WWII for no reason other than their race and ethnicity, they should do the honourable thing and also apologize to Sikh-Canadians for the Kamagata Maru in the House of Commons. Harper should have known better than to try to slip a quick apology in Surrey, BC at a cultural event for Sikhs. This event did not just cause pain, suffering, and insult to Canadian-Sikhs in 1914, but also to Sikhs as a whole. The Kamagata Maru incident is part of any Sikh history lesson. The event that Harper showed up at was full of Punjabi-only radio show hosts and other media personalities. Again, he should have known better. His handellers really dropped the ball. Him and his party probably have lost some seats and votes in BC for good. Like it or not, Sikhs are very politically active in both the Conservative and Liberal parties. This gaffe by Harper will cost votes. It is up to him and his party to try to minimize it. If they don't do a full apology in the House of Commons, it will lead to even the loss of some seats in Sikh areas of the lower mainland. Don't underestimate the voting power of Sikhs in BC. More than 50% of the lower mainland population is either ethnic Chinese (mostly in Richmond and parts of Vancouver) or East Indian (most of whom are Sikh by religion and have population all over the lower mainland, notably in places like Abbotsford, Surrey, etc.). It was only a few years ago that BC had a Sikh Premier (Ujjal Dosanjh - now a Liberal MP). No other visible minority group in Canada can make a similar claim of having a Premier of a major province. Aside from BC, Sikhs have become a voting block in Ontario capable of swinging a few seats either way. Those Ontario seats are ones that Conservatives need. This is the view from the other side of how Canada is viewed by Sikhs for what happened in 1914 in Vancouver: http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/event...magatamaru.html more on the incident: http://www.sikhpioneers.org/komagata%20maru.htm