the CanadaVisa Team - 22 July, 2015
The Honourable Jason Kenney, Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity, recently announced that the Government of Canada would soon issue a formal apology in Parliament for the Komagata Maru tragedy.
The Komagata Maru ship, which brought 376 Indians to Canada in 1914, was turned away by an unjust immigration policy that was in place at that time. At least 20 of the individuals on board were later killed by British troops in India when they refused to return to the Punjab.
The incident has long been a source of grievance for the Indo-Canadian community.
"It is the biggest step for the Indian community in Canada," said former Minister of Parliament, Gurmant Grewal. "I never expected this to happen when I raised this issue first in 1997 and later introduced a petition in parliament in 2002."
In 2006, the government of Canada first acknowledged the Komagata Maru incident. Jim Abbott, Parliamentary Secretary to the Canadian Heritage Minister, headed up a committee which has since discussed the issue with the Indo-Canadian community and has submitted a report to the government.
Secretary of State Kenney announced that funds would be made available to Canada’s Indian community for the building of a Komagata Maru memorial and that efforts would be made to integrate the incident into Canadian history textbooks.
