Union Zindabad! — South Asian Canadian Labour History in British Columbia

“I remember
when my grandfather
Thakar
used to tell us
stories … about
when he first
came to Canada.
They didn’t
know where to
live and there
was no place to
go. There was
no temple at the time, so they pitched tents right
where the Empress Hotel now is. There were mud
flats there, and that’s where they lived and slept
… My grandfather walked all the way up to the
cement plant by Butchart Gardens.” 9
Working conditions at the plant were terrible;
breaking rock, screening it and packing it in sacks
was all done by hand, physically hard and dirty. It
included packing heavy sacks of cement onto the
ships while lime dust flew about, coating their
beards and turbans.
In August 1906, fifteen South Asian workers
at Tod Inlet walked off the job to protest the
unhealthy working conditions, which had caused
bronchitis and throat ailments. The men walked
20 kilometres to Victoria and camped downtown
without food or shelter. When found huddled
Victoria Daily Times, August 13 1906, 1.
from the rain beneath blankets, the Victoria Police
gave them shelter at City Hall.
Addressing a heated meeting of the Tourist
Association the next day Victoria Mayor Alfred
Morley defended the decision to aid the workers.
He “permitted them to be sheltered during the
inclement weather. It was a simple act of charity,
which had put the corporation to no expense
whatever.” 10
“We came to work, not to die.”
It wasn’t long before the South Asian workers
became so dissatisfied with the unhealthy working
conditions at Tod Inlet they decided it was better
to leave altogether. Tod Inlet had become a “place
of breeding death” because of tuberculosis, made
worse by the cement and coal dust, and typhus
from the polluted stream. Most left in late 1911,
migrating to work in sawmills on Vancouver
Island and other places in BC. 11
Gurdwaras and Sawmills
The Vancouver Khalsa Diwan Society was founded
in 1906 to support the expansion of Sikh religious
establishments. From the beginning, both the
Society and its members had strong ties to the
lumber industry, progressive organizations and the
labour movement.
Sikh settlers often went to the Gurdwara upon
9 Jeto Sengara, interview by David R Gray, Deep and Sheltered Waters, 54.
10 “Importation of Hindus Condemned by Some Members of Tourist Society,” Victoria Daily Times, August 15, 1906, 3.
11 David R. Gray, Deep and Sheltered Waters, 98.
14 | UNION ZINDABAD! South Asian Canadian Labour History in British Columbia