Komagata Maru Research Paper

The Komagata Maru was an event in which a boat carrying 376 Punjab Indians from India, stopping briefly in Hong Kong and finally making its way to Canada was denied access into Vancouver. The continues journey regulation stated that immigrants much come straight from their country of birth or citizenship to be allowed into Canada. The people on the boat protested and did not leave the harbor for two months, until they were finally forced out to sea, and back to India. After their arrival in India, they were stopped by a British gun boat and some passengers were arrested, some were killed, and the rest escaped into the local area. There were many laws created, including the one mentioned to not include Indian immigrants in Canada to prevent
Immediately after the event, and continuing for the next few years, the passengers of the Komagata Maru were seen as dangerous rebels. It was not until after the war that the story from the passenger’s point of view emerged. Currently, the passenger’s story is the one accepted and believed by the world. Most of the Canadian population, excluding Punjabi Canadians, forgot about this event for many years. This changed around the 1970’s when the amount of immigrants significantly grew. Up until 1961, the number of south Asian immigrants in Canada was still under 7,000, because of their anti-immigration policies. In 1969, Canada signed the United Nations convention relating to the status of refugees. The convention allowed anyone who was defined as a refugee to seek asylum in countries who provide it. However, Canada did not have a formal way to test refugee claims, so immigrants could claim to be refugees and be aloud into Canada. This caused the immigrant population to rise to 67, 925 in the 10 years following the 1969 adoption of the convention relating to the status of refugees. Most of these immigrants/refugees were Sikh, much like the passengers of the Komagata Maru. By around 1990, Punjab Sikhs had a large enough population to have a noticeable political
Immigrants and refugees from certain countries are still being denied asylum in certain countries as they flee their home country. The Komagata Maru was also an act of racism, which is also a very common issue today, over 100 years after this event. I also believe this event is a very good example of how people were treated, and what was seen as “right and wrong” before the declaration of human rights was created. Laws were created to keep out immigrants, but before the declaration of human rights was created, this was seen as a proper thing to do to keep Canada a “white country.” When the laws were challenged, up to four human rights were violated during the times when the passengers were denied food, arrested, killed, and denied entry into their own country. However, these were not seen as horrible acts to the people who preformed them because the declaration was not made until many years later. The legacy that the Komagata Maru has left shows us that these acts were, and still are bad things to do, causing descendants of the passengers as well as other Punjab Sikhs to push for an apology up to 100 years later. Although the declaration of human rights was not created yet, the laws put up in place to stop immigration, and the multiple violation of human rights were wrong things to do, and this is proven through the legacy and the negative impact that the