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VICTORIA - As a boy growing up in India, Surinder Sharma soaked up the stories of his great-uncle's adventures aboard the Komagata Maru.
"At the time, it didn't look cruel to us," Sharma said. "It looked like some heroic act. Because we were just little kids, it was like bedtime stories."
Only later did Sharma come to understand the racism his great-uncle, Ferozepur Munshi - along with 375 other passengers - endured upon their arrival in British Columbia in 1914. Some of the 376 Punjabis, mostly Sikhs, aboard the Komagata Maru in Vancouver Harbour.
Denied entry and forced to remain aboard the steam liner in Vancouver's harbour for two months, they were eventually sent back to India, where 20 were shot by police in a riot, and others were imprisoned.
Munshi never returned to Canada, but he passed along his recollections to Sharma and others, so the incident would never be forgotten.
Years later, much has changed. Sharma immigrated in 1972 to the country that once rejected his uncle. Now living in Victoria, he is retired from a career in the federal civil service, while his sons, Muneesh and Rishi, hold prominent jobs at the B.C. legislature.
And it was there on Friday, on the anniversary of the Komagata Maru's arrival in Vancouver's harbour, that B.C. finally apologized for the wrongs done 94 years ago.
As Sharma, age 57, and dozens of other Indo-Canadians looked down from the public gallery, politicians from both sides of the house unanimously endorsed a government motion expressing deep regret that the "passengers, who sought refuge in our country and our province, were turned away without benefit of the fair and impartial treatment befitting a society where people of all cultures are welcomed and accepted."
Attorney General Wally Oppal, who is of Sikh heritage, said the treatment of the passengers would be unimaginable today.
"As they remained on ship, they were deprived of many of the necessities of life," he said. "Elected officials, members of the media and the public collectively fanned the flames of hatred. The cry of the day was that Canada was a white man's country."
Finance Minister Carole Taylor voiced her "amazement, dismay and anger" at the incident.
"Imagine!" she said. "My Canada, my Canada that I'm so proud of, had a policy that was actually whites-only immigration . . . It is a shame for all of us to remember that our country did this, but I think that part of the healing process is to go through this, where we apologize for it."
NDP MLA Harry Bains, who is also Sikh, celebrated the long-awaited gesture and paid tribute to the bravery of the passengers.
"I want to thank them because as a result of their sacrifice and their vision, I am sitting in this chair today," he said.
In the public gallery, Sharma said he was filled with joy by the apology. And Jaswinder Singh Toor, whose grandfather was a passenger on the ship, called it a great moment.
"I remembered my grandfather," said Toor, who is president of the Descendants of Komagata Maru Society. "I also remembered the other passengers. I wish only that we could tell them what has happened."
Government house leader Mike de Jong, speaking at times in Punjabi, voiced a similar wish.
"Unhappily, the ability to present this apology directly to the victims of the events of 1914 no longer exists," he said. "But if we could today, through descendants, through people that continue to care, we would say: 'Forgive us. You are welcome.' "
Lindsay Kines, Canwest News Service
Published: Saturday, May 24, 2008
© Victoria Times Colonist 2008
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