Union Zindabad! — South Asian Canadian Labour History in British Columbia
Union Zindabad! South Asian Canadian Labour History in British Columbia focuses on the history of South Asian1 immigrants as workers, and their relationship to the labour movement in BC.
Union Zindabad! South Asian Canadian Labour History in British Columbia focuses on the history of South Asian1 immigrants as workers, and their relationship to the labour movement in BC.
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Columbia River Lumber Sawmill, Golden BC, 1910-1920 University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections.
Uno Langmann Family Collection of B.C. Photographs. https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0371303
in Golden was “very friendly, hard- working and
well-respected.” 4 In early days the same racism
shown in other parts of BC was seen in the local
newspaper. “About seventy-five Hindoos left the
city last week for different points on the coast. We
wish the rest of them would take the notion.” 5
When fire destroyed the Columbia River
Lumber sawmill in 1927, the first generation of
South Asians in Golden left the community and
the Gurdwara was abandoned.
In 1955, a new South Asian community arrived
in Golden and in 1981 another Gurdwara was built,
this time not on sawmill property. The lumber and
labour was donated by an arrangement with the
owners. “They asked the workers to work on the
weekends for free and they could work the rest of
the 5 days on Gurdwara construction. Because of
them, we could get the lumber for free… People
did a lot of sewa (community service).” 6
4 Colleen Palumbo, Golden Memories, (Golden: Golden & District Historical Society, 2000), 94-95.
5 The Golden Times, November 18, 1908, 4.
6 South Asian Studies Institute, UFV. “Golden, BC Stories”. YouTube video, June 28, 2018. https://youtu.be/bfbXEenlwnM
12 | UNION ZINDABAD! South Asian Canadian Labour History in British Columbia
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