There are events in history that tell us much about the era’s social views and prejudices. The Komagata Maru incident is one of those.
One hundred years ago a ship named the Komagata Maru dropped anchor in Vancouver with 376 passengers on board. The majority of these passengers were Sikh men and British subjects intending to immigrate to Canada. The journey was a challenge to a Canadian law that prevented immigration aboard ships that had not travelled by ‘continuous journey’ from their country of origin.
The Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies at the University of the Fraser Valley is marking this pivotal moment in Canadian and British Empire history with a specially commissioned play. “That Land Beyond the Waves” will debut on Saturday, November 1 at the Matsqui Centennial Auditorium, with a matinee performance to follow on November 2.
“We need to take the dark moments of history and integrate them into the Canadian storyline, to bring the past into the present so we can work for a better future,” says Satwinder Bains, Director of the UFV Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies.
Rajnish Dhawan, an English professor at UFV, was commissioned to write the latest play about the incident. His colleague John Carroll is directing the play. The play examines the Komagata Maru incident from the perspective of both an Indian immigrant whose sister is on the ship and the European-Canadians he works for in the town of Abbotsford, B.C.
“The main character travels between his world as an immigrant who is separated from his family and lives with other single immigrants, and the world of the family he works for,” notes Dhawan. “I wanted to show how the general public responded to this issue — which I achieve by showing the reactions of the European family. But also I wanted to evoke how it felt for families to be separated. Denial to entry to a group of people didn’t just mean they couldn’t enter Canada, it was also a denial of family reunification. People were awaiting the arrival of their nearest and dearest — there were at least five women and one child on the ship. I have tried to project the pain of having a person you are so fond of so nearby, but you cannot get to them. They are so helpless, but you are unable to provide them with basic amenities.”
“That Land Beyond the Waves” plays Saturday, November 1 at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, November 2 at 2:00 p.m. at the Matsqui Centennial Auditorium. Tickets are $15 for the general public and $10 for students. Tickets and information are available at www.ufv.ca/cis or call 604-851-6325.
An exhibition titled “Challenge and Denial: Komagata Maru 100 Years Later 1914-2014” is on display at the Sikh Heritage Museum located in the National Historic Site, Gur Sikh Temple in Abbotsford.