Komagata Maru Story

Decent Essays
The story of the Komagata Maru resonates beyond 1914, linking to freedom movements in India and the right to vote for South Asians in Canada. It addresses how we build communities, understand official multiculturalism, how we remember our past and develop multiple connections. Here you will find collected for the first time rare government documents, newspaper articles, academic texts, videos....and even a diary.

On May 23, 1914, a crowded ship from Hong Kong carrying 376 passengers, most being immigrants from Punjab, British India, arrived in Vancouver's Burrard Inlet on the west coast of the Dominion of Canada. The passengers, all British subjects, were challenging the Continuous Passage regulation, which stated that immigrants must "come

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The poem “Mama” by Claire Kageyama introduces the reader to the life of a Japanese immigrant who immediately becomes a wife upon her arrival to America. The poem goes through the stages of her life as wife, mother and grandmother. The poem is told from the perspective of the “rice child”, (the youngest grandchild in the extended family). The “rice child” shares with the reader the many stereotypes the world has about families from different culture. “I followed her/ to Save & Save/ where we picked up/ packages of rice tea” (Kageyama 20-23).…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cara ErnstHistory 1302 3A1Mrs. Celeste12 October 2017Book Critique on Farewell to ManzanarThe book “Farewell to Manzanar” by Jeanne Wakatsuki & James D. Houston is a detailed story of a young Asian girl going through tough times. It is clear in the book the young girl who narrates it does not comprehend the seriousness of what is going on she says “I didn’t understand this. Hadn’t we arrived” (17)?…

    • 649 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    h each other, preferring to spend their daytime hours working or volunteering rather than cooped up together in the cramped barracks. Papa’s return from his arrest as a suspected spy accelerates the erosion of the Wakatsuki family structure. Papa is no longer the source of strength he was before the war, and his return kills all hope that the family will rally around him as patriarch. That most of the older children eventually abandon Mama and Papa and relocate to New Jersey shows the deep divide that Manzanar creates in the once happy Wakatsuki family. hThe frustrations of camp life shorten tempers and result in outbursts of violence such as the December Riot and Papa’s attempt to beat Mama with his cane.…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Having to move out of British Columbia after World War Two, Japanese communities within the province were broken and spread apart. The outcome for these families who had to move was to live within white-dominated communities. By doing so, the Japanese-Canadian community had very negative impacts. Because many of the communities the Japanese- Canadians moved to had very few of their decent,…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In addition, this mistreatment led to feelings of violation amongst the minority. (Kallen, 1995, p.131). This is an ample example of xenophobia, as it exhibits the characteristic of fear that is most often the root cause of discrimination and prejudice. Furthermore, it reinforces the social economic theory that states that minority groups may become scapegoats for problems within society, which in this case is political turmoil between Canada and Japan. Throughout Canadian history, various events exemplify the reality that is Canada’s long relation with racism, prejudice, and discrimination.…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Civil Liberties Denied The civil liberties of Americans can be changed forever when the government turns a blind eye to our civil liberties during times of national tragedy. In February 1942 during World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the mass incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese Americans. It is estimated that two-thirds were American citizens. In 2002, author Cherstin M. Lyon spoke with internment camp survivor Japanese American Joe Norikane.…

    • 1531 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Asian American Movement was an era of radical change in which the urgency for Asian Americans to overcome oppression and negative perceptions of American society transcended their clichéd silence and indifference. However, such a(this) monumental movement was not achieved without the courageous efforts of activists who had ideologies that coincided but also contradicted each other that stemmed from their different backgrounds. Two advocates in particular who emphasized the need for social change were Amy Uyematsu in her new article “The Emergence of Yellow Power” and Warren Furutani in his interview with the Amerasia staff. Both activists, in their own contexts, explain the evolution of the Asian American Movement, highlighting its roots,…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ultimately, the article concludes that racial prejudice by White Canadians against Japanese Canadians, aggravated by wartime politics and Japanese militarism, created a need for drastic measures by the Canadian government in order to prevent civil disorder. However, Ward is careful to note the fear of Japanese subversion as being founded on xenophobic sentiment without solid basis or evidence. Overall, the combination of old racial prejudice with new fears founded on Japanese military success set off mass hysteria in British Columbia. Consequently, this extreme atmosphere pressured the Canadian government to reform social policy and attempt to placate the masses by engaging in racist reform and adhering to the demands of the vocal anti-Japanese sentiment on the coast. In terms of evidence collection, Ward’s work heavily relies upon official documents and records; this results in an accurate yet stale interpretation of the subject.…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Through the essays, “Us and Them”, “Matrimony with a Proper Stranger”, “An Indian Father’s Plea”, and “Dave Barry Does Japan”, the authors prove that a person’s culture informs the way he or she views others and the world through traditions, marriage, education, and communication. The way a person views the world can have a lot to do with their culture, and cultural background. Tradition for example, can have a major impact on the way someone views the world around them. In the essay “Us and Them”, David Sedaris goes into detail about how the concept of going trick-or-treating “...was one of the things you were suppose to learn simply by being alive…” (75).…

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Farewell To Manzanar Essay

    • 1344 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Experience of Life Farewell to Manzanar is a book about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II written by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston. The book focuses on the experiences of a Japanese American family who was taken to the Manzanar internment camp in 1942. The story narrates the family’s struggles to survive the hostile world filled with racial tensions outside and inside the internment camp. Also, the book describes the life of a seven-year-old Japanese American child who grow up behind fences like a prisoner in the United States. As a whole, the book describes the life of a family inside a Japanese internment camp during World War II.…

    • 1344 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chinese immigrants had always been unwelcome to Canada for more than 150 years. The first Chinese settlers came to Canada in 1858 to pan for gold in British Columbia. In 1885, as the flow of Chinese immigrants started increasing, the Canadian government started charging them a fee to live in Canada called head tax. The first anti-Chinese rule was a fifty dollar head tax on every Chinese person entering Canada.…

    • 1849 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Immigration policies are comprised of the acts and regulations that affect which foreigners may enter the country and ultimately, be granted citizenship. Historically, Canadian immigration policies have favoured white immigrants. This preference is explicitly demonstrated through the classification of immigrants as ‘desirable’ and ‘undesirable’. Canadian immigration policies have been a major factor in shaping the development of the country, with policies being designed to fit the country’s economic needs of the time. Referencing the timeline of Ismaili’s four phases of immigration, this essay will support the critiques which state that Canada’s immigration policies, both past and present, have been discriminatory and racist in practice.…

    • 2063 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Since the adoption in 1971, the Multiculturalism policy has been greatly debated about it’s expediency in Canadian society. Founded by settler two settler societies, Canada has been built on a foundation on cultural an ethnic diversity. Today, Canada has certainly become a nation of immigrants, but prior to the European colonization of Canada, a predominately homogenous ethnic group occupied Canada, the Aboriginals (or First Nations Peoples). Today after being dominated by Western European culture, Canada in now the home to a vast array of ethnic and culturally diverse peoples. Defining Canadian identity has proved to be a difficult task.…

    • 1271 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Komagata Maru Essay

    • 1318 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Komagata Maru The Komagata Maru has been an important aspect to the life of many individuals because it changed the immigration policy and it is the reason why Canada has become a multi-cultural country today. Canada had a main focus to exclude Chinese, Japanese and Indian immigrants. In 1904, Canada raised the head tax which is a tax on incoming Chinese laborers, to $500 which is equal to two years ' gross earnings of a Chinese laborer here (Hannant). This had made it harder for Chinese, Japanese and Indian immigrants to come as if they moved here they would be put in poverty.…

    • 1318 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Canada is often referred to as a cultural mosaic, meaning that it is a nation that considers different races, ethnicities, and otherness of its citizens an essential part to its existence (Immigration, 2011). Immigration is the main reason why Canada is referred to as the cultural mosaic because many people immigrate to Canada from different places. The people who immigrate to Canada often have different religious and beliefs and in Canada they are allowed to practice whatever they like and are not required to assimilate the Canadian lifestyle. Immigration has been around for many years in Canada. This essay will look at the history of immigration, the rules and regulations for entering Canada, and how people can apply and qualify.…

    • 1580 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays