Cyclone Taylor boarded Komagata Maru as immigration officer
Posted April 1, 2012 11:38 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Cyclone Taylor was a hockey superstar who did what Pavel, Nazzy and Trevor were never able to do, bring the Stanley Cup to Vancouver.
But the late Vancouver Millionaire played another historic role; he was the first immigration officer to board the Komagata Maru on the morning it arrived in Burrard Inlet in 1914.
Hugh Johnston is a retired SFU historian who interviewed Taylor in 1977 and says Taylor had the tough task of telling the 350 immigrants from India they could not go ashore. “The immigration office, he said, isn’t open. ‘You better not try to go until you get permission.’ That was his job that morning.”
The ship was sent to India and many people were killed upon their return.
Despite the tragic incident, Johnston tells us Taylor had several good friends in the local South Asian community. “They would go to him for tickets to big sporting events. He could get them a ticket when nobody else could.”
For more information, visit the Komagata Maru Journey website.
A chain of hockey equipment stores in the Lower Mainland has been named after Taylor.
