Surrey to name street after Komagata Maru tragedy
Posted July 8, 2019 11:01 pm.
Last Updated July 9, 2019 7:01 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SURREY (NEWS 1130) – Surrey will soon have a new street named Komagata Maru Way after city council voted to honour the victims of an immigration tragedy that happened in 1914.
The new name will take over a strip of 75A Avenue, between 120 Street and 121A Street.
Councillor Brenda Locke says she supports acknowledging the passengers of the ship, but does not believe it is enough.
“I am not confident that naming a one-block street at the back of a strip mall meant for local traffic only will have the intended impact,” she says.
The 376 Indian immigrants arrived off the coast of B.C. on the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru, only to be denied entry into Vancouver, which at the time was the country’s most diverse city. Immigration regulations at the time required migrants to arrive in Canada directly from their country of origin — a journey that was virtually impossible in 1914.
With the exception of 20 passengers who had previously lived in Canada, officials refused to allow the immigrants in, even though they were British subjects just like every other Canadian at the time. The vessel returned to India, where 19 of the passengers were killed in a skirmish with British authorities and dozens of others were imprisoned or forced into hiding.
The Canadian and the B.C. government have both issued formal apologies for the incident.
Councillor Steven Pettigrew voted against the motion to name the street saying that while “it’s a terrible thing that happened,” he can’t go against the city’s established street naming policy.
With files from the Canadian Press.
