THE City of New Westminster’s Council  apologized on Monday (September 27) for the role the City Council played back in 1914  in the Komagata Maru incident. The Council  apologized in English , Hindi and Punjabi.

Mayor Jonathan X. Cote and councillors Chinu Das, Patrick Johnstone, Jaimie McEvoy, Nadine Nakagawa, Chuck Puchmayr and Mary Trentadue presented the formal apology to Raj Singh Toor, who’s grandfather was on the Komagata Maru, and Harbhajan Singh Athwal, President of the Khalsa Diwan Society New Westminster (see photos).

According to Wikipedia, the Komagata Maru incident involved a Japanese steamship on which a group of people from British India attempted to immigrate to Canada in April 1914, but most were denied entry and forced to return to Calcutta (present-day Kolkata). There, the Indian Imperial Police attempted to arrest the group leaders. A riot ensued, and they were fired upon by the police, resulting in the deaths of 20 people. The steamship was carrying 376 passengers: 337 Sikhs, 27 Muslims and 12 Hindus, all Punjabis and British subjects. Of these 376 passengers, 24 were admitted to Canada.

The apology reads:

Apology to the community, families and descendants of the Komagata Maru

On March 1, 2021 New Westminster City Council received a report detailing actions of the City during the 1914 Komagata Maru incident. This work was undertaken at the request of Raj Singh Toor of the Descendants of the Komagata Maru Society. The report revealed that Council’s actions of the day were discriminatory and racist. This prompted a motion that the City offer an apology to the community, families and descendants of those who were impacted negatively by the actions and words of the Council of New Westminster during the incident.
The City of New Westminster acknowledges, based on a review of City records covering the period from 1912 through 1916, that it acted in a discriminatory manner towards people of South Asian descent.
The City of New Westminster acknowledges that its formal support of discriminatory, racist and exclusionary legislation contributed to the plight of the passengers of the Komagata Maru, both in Canadian waters and upon their return to India.
The City of New Westminster acknowledges that for over 100 years the South Asian community has been a socially supportive and active part of New Westminster’s community. City actions of the day would have made its South Asian residents feel unwelcome and unsafe in their community. Currently, about 5,790 people of South Asian ancestry continue to call New Westminster their home.
The past actions of Council are not consistent with current Council values and strategic priorities around Reconciliation, Inclusion and Engagement. To this end, the City has committed to naming both the docks of the Q to Q Ferry and the Queensborough River Walk in memory of the Komagata Maru; to act as a reminder its past harmful acts to the South Asian community and to foster respect and understanding for their histories.
The City of New Westminster formally apologizes to the South Asian community and the descendants of the survivors of the Komagata Maru for its past actions which resulted in discrimination and exclusion. The City looks forward to working together inclusively; in the spirit of friendship, community and co-operation to build strong bonds and lasting relations.

ACCORDING to the report, the premier of British Columbia at the time was New Westminster-born Richard McBride. He was quite clear in his declaration that British Columbia should remain white. Those who were not white were not welcome. And people who were not Christian were not welcome.

McBride explicitly stated his racist agenda on the night the Komagata Maru reached Vancouver: “To admit Orientals in large numbers would mean the end, the extinction of the white people.” He added, “And we always have in mind the necessity of keeping this a white man’s country.” McBride used this reasoning to justify his stance against allowing the passengers of the Komagata Maru to disembark in Vancouver, further stating, “we stand for a white British Columbia, a white land, and a white Empire.”

New Westminster City Council passed a motion on June 22, 1914, stating “That this Council go on record as being opposed to this immigration, and that the Clerk be instructed to urge upon the Premier and the Minister of the Interior at Ottawa to use every effort to prevent admission of these people into the Country.”

One week later, on June 29, 1914, New Westminster Mayor A. W. Gray and a majority of City Council attended a community meeting asking “the Federal authorities at Ottawa to invoke the full power of the present statues and if necessary, enact new laws, to effectively deal with the total exclusion of Asiatics from this country.”