grant the first part of their petition, viz., the admission of the families, but as regards the second clause, viz., the recognition of their status as British citizens, he said he would send a special investigator to the Pacific coast to look into the matter, and in due time they would hear from him on this point.
This pledge regarding the admission of families was flashed across the cables the same day, and there were rejoicings not only amongst the Hindus in British Columbia. but in far away India as well, where His Majesty King George V., was having the great Durbar at Delhi. The people in India realized that after all British justice and fairplay had at last won the day.
No sooner had the deputation left Ottawa than the families of two prominent Sikhs of Vancouver, who had been waiting in Hong Kong for nearly a year, desiring admission to Canada, arrived at Vancouver in January, 1912. The Immigration officials on the coast refused them landing, and ordered them deported.
If there was a disillusion, here was one. The Sikhs, who had abso- lutely believed in the sacred pledge of a responsible Minister of the Crown, found that it was only a case of political expediency. They asked for bail, so that the families could be released pending trial. Legal ma- chinery was set in motion. For several months the case dragged on, the Government on various occasions, stating it was not ready to proceed. Meanwhile our friends the politicians gave speeches, and various associations, through the kind and benevolent efforts, directly or in- directly of these worthy people, passed resolu- tions barring the Sikhs' families. Finally after delay, anxiety and heavy legal expenses, the two women and their children were allowed to remain, without a decision of the court being rendered. Here was another "act of grace. How many "acts of grace" were necessary before all the Hindus in Canada could get their families, we leave it for the readers to de termine. But it would require years and years, and no doubt infinite worry and anxiety. The Sikhs thought why does not the Government say plain yes or no, and have a definite law on the subject! They felt it to be futile to attempt to re-unite families under such con- ditions, seeing that there was an attempted deportation as soon as they came and in spite of the word of a Minister of the Crown,
*
As a result of the treatment received in Canada many Sikhs went back to India in disgust, leaving behind landed property to take care of itself. But others, who had gone to India after many years to visit their families and relatives, and who had many interests in Canada, wanted to return. They
went to the transportation companies in Cal- cutta, who refused to book passages Canada.
to
They came to Hong Kong, and were kicked about from pillar to post in their search to come to a country where they had established business, and thus had their legal domicile in Canada.
This was in 1911
and 1912, as the effect of the subterfuge in the regulation providing for a continuous journey by one ship (an impossibility under existing conditions). And furthermore, it was said that the steamship companies had private in- structions not to book any Hindus to Canada. As evidence of the sincerity of the Sikha in meeting the Government halfway in arriv- ing at a reasonable solution of this matter, they, at considerable expense, sent three representatives to lay their case before the Imperial authorities in England. These three delegates, Nand Singh Sihra, Bhai Balwant Singh and Narain Singh left Vancouver for London early in 1913. On their arrival there they waited upon the Secretary of State for the Colonies who would not see them. So after some time spent in England they went to India where they laid their case before the various bodies of Sikhs and others. They also saw His Excellency the Viceroy, Lord Hardinge, who in reply said that the case of the Canadian Sikhs would receive proper con- sideration. At Christmas, 1913, this delega- tion appeared before the representative body of all India, the Indian National Congress, who having heard the appeal passed a reso- lution asking the Government of India to have these disabilities removed.
In the fall of 1913 the Sikhs took legal steps to compel the steamship companies to sell tickets for their families. Being common carriers they have to sell transportation when money is offered. And although the company involved in this case ran steamers to Calcutta and over and above that had even brought some passengers to Canada, the learned judge did not see that way and the Sikhs lost their case. In this connection it is well to point out here what the Vancouver Province said that some of the Sikhs say that not only are they being made subjects of false charges in the local courts, but that their relatives in India are being similarly persecuted and victimised.
A Japanese company, unexpectedly entering the field, sold tickets in the fall of 1913, and two parties of Sikhs arrived at Victoria, B.C. They were not allowed to land, and their de- portation was ordered. Their friends ashore instituted legal action and secured a landing of the first party; the procedure including a writ of habeas corpus. Chief Justice Hunter of the Supreme Court of British Columbia tried
the case, and decided that the order-in-council and the immigration regulation under which the deportation had been ordered, were ultra vires. The Sikhs, whose right to land had thus been vindicated, took their place in upbuilding of the province.
The second party arrived almost simul- taneously with the Chief Justice's judgment, but the Immigration Department refused to acknowledge the decision of the Supreme Court, and again attempted deportation. Once more the Hindus were obliged to institute legal pro- ceedings, including a further writ of habeas corpus. This time a second Judge of the Supreme Court gave a decision similar to that of Chief Justice Hunter.
At great expense, therefore, the Sikhs, by subscription among themselves, had vindicated their right as British subjects; but all the evidence shows that discrimination against them was persisted in because they were British subjects. The financial burden thus gratuitously imposed upon them, contrasted markedly with the compensation awarded the Japanese and Chinese under Royal Commission some years before compensation which included allow- ance for loss of trade by Chinese opium manu- facturers, against whom no deportation pro- ceedings had been taken.
The Sikhs in British Columbia had been mak- ing representations to the Ottawa authorities regarding this invidious distinction against British subjects, but their cries were unheeded. Many of the returned Hindus had been waiting at Hongkong, whilst these trials were going on in the B.C. courts. The new Japanese steamship company, in order to avoid any fur- ther trouble with the powers that be, refused to book any more Hindus. But the decision of Chief Justice Hunter at last gave them justice and rights as British subjects. Taking it as their guide, the bolder amongst these men got together at Hong Kong and made up their minds to charter a steamer of their own. No doubt it required a lot of organization and a knowledge of Western business methods. They had some of their educated countrymen who wanted to come over and study in Canada. There were others who were merchants, and thus did not come under the immigrant class at all. And last of all there were the hardly Sikhs, farmers of the Punjab, inured to a cold climate, and who for the first time wanted to try their fortunes in the prairies of Canada. All this was in the early part of 1914.
No steps were taken by the Government to set aside the decision of the Supreme Court; and no change worth while was made in the regulations. The two unchallenged decisions by the Supreme Court of a British country gave the Hindus absolute confidence that their right as British subjects would be respected, and
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that no longer would they be discriminated against in comparison with aliens from Japan, China and elsewhere.
Acting on this, they chartered the S.S. Koma- gata Maru, on a co-operative plan. The boat secured was a Japanese tramp steamer, which six months before had been purchased from a German company, and the Hong Kong agent for which happened to be a German. Incidentally it is to be said that on this simple fact has been founded an allegation that the voyage of the Komagata Maru was part of a German conspiracy against the British Empire. The boat was chartered in March, 1914, nearly five months before the outbreak of war. The accusation which has been made is baseless. For even in the report on the Komagata Maru, presented by the Commission appointed by His Excellency the Viceroy of India, the fact is stated that this German agent was paid his commission by the Sikhs. If the travellers bad been German proteges, surely their friends would not have been compelled to pay part of the cost of the charter, nor would they them- selves have been turned adrift to starve in Japan on their return, whence they were finally taken to India at the initiative of the British Consul, and at the expense of the tax-payers of India.
The British Governor at Hong Kong, fearing that difficulty might be raised by the Canadian Government, cabled a warning to Ottawa, and caused the vessel to be held while awaiting a reply. Receiving no answer for several days, the vessel left Hong Kong. In May, 1914, on the arrival at Vancouver of the Komagata Maru with 376 passengers on board, the immigration officials refused to allow any of the passengers to land, on the pretext of a medical examina- tion-which lasted several weeks. Certain men who proved their domicile were permitted to come ashore after some delay, but as regards the rest, the immigration court of enquiry re- fused to give its decision in any one case till all had been tediously "investigated," the avowed object being to wear out the patience of the Hindus, while preventing access to the courts.
The Sikhs on shore, besides paying $15,000.00 to the steamer's owners, as the last payment of the charter money, subscribed funds to have the legal situation once more determined and applied for a writ of habeas corpus, ordering witnesses to be produced in court. Their ap peal to a judge of His Majesty's court of law, petitioning to probe the proceedings of the immigration officials, produced a decision which involved the amazing doctrine that, be- ing representatives of the Crown, they were not amenable to the court, and he refused to issue a writ of habeas corpus, which for more than two centuries has been the guarantee that
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