Punjabi Canadians

Punjabi Sikhs in Vancouver, 1908

Sikhs attending a funeral outside Vancouver, circa 1914

In 1897, the first persons of Punjabi origin visited British Columbia. They were soldiers transiting from India to the United Kingdom during the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.[2] The Punjabis ultimately became the first South Asian-origin group to settle in Canada.

In 1900, the population of Punjabis in Canada increased to 100.[2] By 1906, this number increased to 1,500. The vast majority were Sikhs and came from Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Ferozpur, and Ludhiana.[3] At the turn of the century the Mayor of Vancouver did not permit cremation, so when the first Sikh died in 1907 he could not be cremated in the Vancouver city limits. Christian missionaries did not permit him to be buried with whites. Even though the missionaries promoted burial, the Sikhs instead cremated the man in a distant wilderness. This prompted Sikhs to establish their own religious institutions.[4]

Initially, Punjabis were guaranteed jobs by agents of big Canadian companies like the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Hudson's Bay Company. Overcoming their initial reluctance to go to these countries due to the treatment of Asians by the white population, many young men chose to go, having been assured that they would not meet the same fate. They were British subjects and Canada was a part of the British Empire.[5]

However, upon arrival to British Columbia, the Punjabi immigrants faced widespread racism by the local white Canadians. Most of the white Canadians feared workers who would work for less pay, and that an influx of more immigrants would threaten their jobs. As a result, there were a series of race riots that targeted the Punjabi Sikh immigrants, who were beat up by mobs of angry white Canadians, though often met with retaliation.[6] Nevertheless, during the most infamous anti-Asian riot in BC history (Anti-Oriental Riots of 1907), Punjabis were spared as they remained indoors.[7]

The continued tensions caused the Punjabi population to fall from a high of 4,700 in 1907, to less than 2,000 by 1914.[8] In 1908 the British Columbia government passed a law preventing Indian men from voting. Because eligibility for federal elections originated from provincial voting lists, East Indian men were unable to vote in federal elections.[9]

Most early Punjabi settlers in Canada worked in the agricultural and forestry sectors in British Columbia.[10] Punjabis became the majority ethnic group within the sawmill workforce in British Columbia by 1907, as many Anglo Canadians had disinterest in being sawmill workers."[11]

Punjabi Sikhs aboard Komagata Maru in Vancouver's Burrard Inlet, 1914

Punjabis were later faced by one of the most iconic racial exclusion acts in Canadian history. In 1914, The Komagata Maru, a steamliner carrying 376 passengers from Punjab docked in Vancouver. Of them, 24 were admitted to Canada, but the other 352 passengers were not allowed to disembark in Canada, and the ship was forced to return to India. The passengers comprised 337 Sikhs, 27 Muslims and 12 Hindus.[12]

Queensborough, New Westminster Sikh temple, 1931.

By 1923, Vancouver became the primary cultural, social, and religious centre of Punjabi Canadians as it had the largest ethnic Indian population of any city in North America.[13]

The Punjabi population in Canada would remain relatively stable throughout the mid 20th century as the exclusionary immigration policies practiced by the Canadian government continued. However, a shift began to occur after World War Two. The Canadian government re-enfranchised the Indo-Canadian community with the right to vote in 1947. In 1967 all immigration quotas based on specific ethnic groups were scrapped in Canada, thus allowing the ethnic Punjabi population in Canada to grow rapidly thereafter. Most continued to settle in the Lower Mainland.

As many Punjabis worked in the forestry industry, Northern British Columbia began to see a rise in Punjabi immigration in the 1960s. Prince George, the economic centre of Northern BC, became a secondary hub for early Punjabi immigration.[14]

However, Vancouver remained the centre of Punjabi immigration through the mid 20th century. In the 1960s, ethnic Punjabis began moving to all areas in the Lower Mainland, however two concentrations soon developed: South Vancouver and Burnaby.[15] Out of these two newly formed ethnic enclaves, it was South Vancouver which began to flourish as the Punjabi Market was soon founded in the late 1960s.

Later in the 1970s, Punjabi populations began appearing in Delta, Richmond, and Surrey. Vandalism against houses owned by Indo-Canadians and a Sikh gurdwara occurred in the 1970s, especially in 1974-1975 in Richmond.[16]

By the 1980s, the traditional Punjabi immigration patterns began to shift. Ontario soon became an important centre of immigration to Canada. Large Punjabi populations began to appear across the Greater Toronto Area. Later in the 1990s, Alberta became another important immigration destination for Punjabis. Most concentrated in Edmonton and Calgary.

Today, the Punjabi population of Canada is 668,240 with the largest community still located in British Columbia. In addition, Punjabi is the third most spoken language of the Parliament of Canada.[17]

In Metro Vancouver, 5.5% of residents reported speaking Punjabi at home, as of 2011. 21.3% of Surrey residents speak it as their primary language at home.

In Ontario, Punjabi Canadians are prevalent in the Greater Toronto Area, especially in Scarborough, Markham, Mississauga, Brampton, and Ajax.[20]