Sunday, May 25, 2014

Komagatu Maru





Many times, commemorative stamps celebrate glorious events. This stamp, newly released by Canada Post, commemorates a tragic part of our history. 

The stamp features the ship as well as an artistic rendition of images from a small collection of archive photos taken on board and during the voyage.


The Komagata Maru was a Japanese steamship chartered by a Sikh entrepreneur to bring 376 hopeful Punjabi immigrants to Canada only to be denied entry once it reached Vancouver.
The Komagata Maru's arrival challenged a 1908 regulation that denied entry to immigrants unless they had $200 and had made a "continuous journey" from their home country ‒ conditions that were nearly impossible for immigrants from India to meet. Under the policy, only 20 returning residents, and the ship's doctor and his family were allowed to enter. The remaining passengers were confined to the ship for two months, after which the ship was forced to sail back to India.  On arriving in India, many on board were viewed as political agitators by the government of the British Raj. Twenty passengers were shot after disembarking while many others were imprisoned(since, by then WWI had broken out, they were imprisoned for the duration). The restrictive immigration policies that the passengers challenged were not repealed for 33 years.
An official apology by PM Stephen Harper was made in 2008.

see more commemorative stamps here.

16 comments:

  1. tragic indeed...makes me think what other stories the stamps hide that i have never looked into. just proves how great an idea sunday stamps is! we learn so much

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  2. The stamp is a very nice design and thanks for sharing the history, tragic. I find it fascinating all the history that is contained in a stamp.

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  3. That is one beautiful stamp with one ugly part of Canadian history behind it.

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  4. What a sad story but beautiful stamp. The Raj liked to portray itself as benign but was not, unbelievable they shot people for wanting to start a better life.

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  5. It's a beautiful stamp and a tragic part of history. Alas it's not only history. Also nowadays there's a lot of tragedy regarding strict immigrant rules in the western world (also my country) towards immigrants and refugees. Many never reach their destination because they die in the Mediterranean Sea when trying to reach Europe by too small boats. Others fear reprisals of their own governments, when they return after having been denied to enter 'Fort Europe'...

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  6. Immigration is a hot political issue in Britain these days. Some do say that we don't refuse entry often enough - but we have given up shooting people I'm glad to say. A tragic story of which I would have never heard if you had not posted this stamp.

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  7. How terribly sad! It's a beautiful stamp though.

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  8. I've never heard about this event...but the stamp is indeed beautiful...it is a bit odd to see Punjabi people on a Canadian stamp, but it is nice that the Canadian postal service decided to commemorate this event and show its significance

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  9. That was a tragic event. I think Canada's actions could have been predicted, and the treatment after passengers returned to India was a lot worse.

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  10. Awful story, but a beautiful stamp.

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  11. Thank you for sharing this history which is largely unknown here in the U.S. Immigration is such a hot issue these days that this history is timely. Perhaps we can learn not to repeat this mistake.

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  12. I like the stamp, even if the story behind it is terrible. However, making a stamp about it says a lot about the nation. I can't imagine Spain issuing one stamp about mistakes in the past, nor Morocco.

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  13. That is quite upsetting to a human, but it hits home cause i'm Punjabi. However the stamp is wonderful. Please visit my blog. It would really help me to be excused out of taking one of my final exams. Thanks. tejalchawla.blogspot.com

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  14. It reminds me of the incident of the MS St. Louis, coming to Cuba, America (and Canada) with Jews fleeing Europe.
    Thank you for sharing such an important stamp.

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