Sikhs in Canada

Sikhs are a religious community whose origins are in South Asia’s Punjab region. Initially, Sikhism advocated peace, a casteless society, the oneness of God, and the unifying of Hindus and Muslims. Vicious persecution contributed to their transformation into the Khalsa, a soldier-saint brotherhood. Many Sikhs are easily recognizable because they wear turbans over their uncut hair. Throughout their history, Sikhs have been respected for their martial valor, innovativeness, adaptability to diverse situations, and migratory tradition.

The Sikh community in Canada comprised 85 percent of all East Indian immigration to Canada up to 1950. Large-scale Sikh emigration from India first took place under British rule. British authorities respected the Sikhs for their loyalty and martial qualities and encouraged them to serve throughout the British Empire, especially in Asia and Africa. Besides doing labor and business, Sikhs were noticeable in the government administration and military, constituting 20 percent of the Indian army. Therefore, it is not surprising that Sikhs were part of the Hong Kong military contingent that stopped in Vancouver, British Columbia, as they were traveling to take part in Queen Victoria’s Jubilee celebrations in England. The Sikh soldiers were treated very well and learned of economic opportunities in the Vancouver area, which some returned to pursue. Word spread to Punjab about opportunities in Vancouver, and the migration started. By 1907, Sikhs, who were attracted by jobs in the lumber industry, agriculture, and the construction of railroads, made up 98 percent of Canada’s East Indian population of five thousand.

On January 19, 1908, the first gurdwara, or Sikh place of worship, in North America was opened in Vancouver; a second opened in Victoria in 1912 and a third on Vancouver Island in 1918. The Sikhs, however, faced considerable discrimination from British Columbians and became the targets of violence and anti-Asian immigration laws, as evident in the Komagata Maru incident. As a result, some went south to the United States, only to face discrimination and violence there as well. Some returned to Punjab; others went elsewhere. By 1941, their numbers had dropped to around fourteen hundred.

When India gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, Canadian policy became more liberal toward East Indians. They were given the right to vote and more were allowed in to study at Canadian universities but not to settle. A 1962 amendment lifted the embargo on immigration from countries outside Europe and the United States. Immigration regulations were completely rewritten in 1967 to remove any racial bias and to establish a point system related to the needs of the Canadian economy.

India had a ready supply of highly skilled and educated people who began to enter Canada under the new regulations. Although Sikhs no longer dominated the six thousand annual entrants from India, their numbers were significant. Like other post-1967 immigrants, they quickly entered lucrative employment and settled mainly in urban centers around the country. British Columbia remained the region with the largest numbers of Sikh communities. Some later immigrants and Canadian-born Sikhs grew more liberal regarding the traditional practices of their religion, and were less strict about wearing turbans and other customs. The second- and third-generation Sikhs in Vancouver continued to support gurdwaras and Sikh associations while participating in civic organizations such as the Rotary Club and local chambers of commerce.

In the 1970s, a nationalist movement arose among Sikhs seeking to form an independent state in India called Khalistan. Some Sikhs in Canada supported the movement. Moreover, Sikh communities abroad, like those in British Columbia, grew even larger amid armed struggles in India, where leaders outlawed the Khalistan movement, such as the 1984 attack by the Indian army on the Golden Temple, a sacred Sikh shrine in Amritsar, which resulted in the death of more than one thousand Sikhs, and the assassination of India's prime minister later that year by her Sikh security guards, which led to the killing of over 2,500 Sikhs in retaliation. Such conflicts caused Canadian Hindu-Sikh relations to decline significantly. Even so, increasing numbers of Sikhs desired to move to Canada in search of better-paying jobs and to enroll in universities. During the first two decades of the twenty-first century, the Sikh population in Canada doubled.

By the early twenty-first century, the Sikh population in Canada was the largest outside of India, with nearly 800,000 Sikhs living in Canada in 2021, primarily in Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta. In June 2023, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh leader in British Columbia who was active in the fight for the independent state of Khalistan, was killed. Soon after, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India's government of the assassination of Nijjar, causing widespread alarm and tensions to increase further between India and Canada.

In turn, India's government placed a hold on visas to citizens of Canada in September 2023. It expelled its diplomats from the country, leaving many Sikhs wishing to immigrate to Canada without the means to do so. It also raised concerns about how the diplomatic dispute would impact Sikhs living in Canada and their families who remained in the Punjab region. The Indian government began visa service again in November 2023, though the relations between the countries remained strained. By late 2024, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police revealed their investigation into the murder uncovered clandestine activities by Indian diplomats and consular officials living in Canada. The police called these acts transnational terrorism against Sikhs. Tensions continued to rise between Hindu Indians and Sikh populations in Canada, with protests sometimes erupting into violent confrontations.

Bibliography

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