Sikhism in Canada

Canadian Sikhs are one of the most prominent non-Christian religious groups in Canada, and form the country's largest South Asian ethnic group. According to the 2001 census there are 278,000 Sikhs in Canada, and this is likely an undercount. Some unofficial reports go as high as 400,000.

History

Sikhs have been in Canada since 1897. One of the first Sikh soldiers arrived in Canada in 1897 following Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Sikhs were one of the few Asian immigrant communities who were loyal members of the British Empire. The irony was that greater entry restrictions were placed on perspective Sikh immigrants as compared to the Japanese and Chinese. While Canadian politicians, missionaries, unions and the press did not want Asian labour, British Columbia industrialists were short of labour and thus Sikhs were able to get an early foothold at the turn of the century in British Columbia. Of the nearly 5,000 East Indians in Canada by 1907, over 98% were Sikhs, mostly retired British army veterans. Sikh immigration to Canada was banned in 1908, and the population began to shrink.

According to "With the advent of World War II and the internment of Japanese Canadians, Sikhs were able to prosper. Before going to the internment camps Japanese preferred to sell their homes and properties to their Sikh neighbors who they had known for so long. As the war economy picked up speed and moved into high gear, Sikhs were given positions of greater responsibility on the factory floors across the country as well as sharpening their skills as successful businessmen. Just as the war helped to emancipate North American women, showing that they were capable of doing a mans job, Sikhs were showing that they were just as talented as their European counterparts. One of the last major roadblocks remained the right to vote. The year was 1947, fifty years since the first Sikh immigrants had arrived, yet they were still denied this fundamental right. A right that was long overdue and Sikhs rallied to the cause, holding town hall meetings and lobbying local politicians and the government in Ottawa to try change the law."

After the 1960s Canada's immigration laws were liberalized and racial quotas were removed, allowing far more Sikhs to immigrate to Canada. The Sikh population has rapidly increased in the decades since. Major Sikh communities exist in most of the major cities of British Columbia and Ontario. Sikhs have become an integral part of Canada's economy and culture.

Sikh Populations

Table 1: Current and Projected Sikh Population of Canada^[1]

Prominent Canadian Sikhs

• Navdeep Singh Bains - Member of Parliament
• Monika Deol - Television personality
• Gian Singh Sandhu - Sikh Businessman
• Ruby Dhalla - Member of Parliament
• Gurmant Grewal - Member of Parliament
• Palbinder Kaur Shergill - Prominent Sikh Lawyer
• Dr. Raghbir Singh Bains - Sikh scholar & Order of BC Recipient
• Monita Rajpal - Journalist
• Jaggi Singh - Activist
• Harinder Takhar - Ontario Cabinet Minister
• Jagjit Singh Hans-Wrestler better known by Tiger Jeet Singh
• Ujjal Singh Dosanjh - First Indo-Canadian Attorney General of a Canadian Province; First Indo-Canadian Premier of a Canadian Province; former Federal Minister of Health