About 100 years ago in Vancouver BC, the     Komagata Maru arrived from India, carrying over 350 passengers, all eager to start a new life in Canada. Upon their arrival, they were denied access to land because of Canada’s Continuous Passage Regulation, stating that immigrants can only come into Canada if they had a direct journey from their departing country. Since there was no direct route from India to Canada, the passengers were rejected and couldn’t enter the country. The Komagata Maru started a stalemate with the Canadian government and the ship remained anchored for two months until they finally turned around and went back to India. Before the ship ever even got back, passengers became ill, and there was a lack of food and water. Once the ship arrived back in India, nineteen passengers were shot on the spot and many were imprisoned. 

The Komagata Maru was a tragic event that has altered the lives of many through the devastating memories it has created and produced. There are many different technologies of memory which allows the event to live on. Archives full of government documents and court proceedings contain the official story of what occurred but not what happened with the passengers and their lives; their experiences are told through a series of personal anecdotes, family albums, and stories, passed down though generations of families and friends. From “The Role of Interpretive Communities in Remembering and Learning”, Shahzad states “A human agent gives meanings to fact in the light of how these communities represent them, the words they use, the stories they tell, the images they produces, the emotions they associate with them, and they way they classify and conceptualize them.” Surely documentation and official paperwork can make it’s mark on people and in the world of memory, but nothing compares to face-to-face interactions and being able to hear and see stories and the pain they went through.

Being an American and growing up in Oregon, I was rarely taught about events that took place in another country, especially if America wasn’t involved. Coming from America to Canada isn’t a culture shock, but there are definitely things that are different and things I have to adapt to. But trying to come from India to Canada isn’t only a culture shock, it’s on the other side of the world; obviously it’s going to a completely new experience. I cannot imagine coming all the way across the world and then being denied access. It’s almost as if they were being denied access to become a global citizen. Surely everyone is a global citizen in this world but it’s a mutual connection we all have with each other and denying 300+ people access to another part of the world because of immigration the fact that the ship couldn’t take a direct route to get there seems absurd. The Komagata Maru was definitely a life-changing experience and the memories of its passengers are surely interesting but probably also horrific, and like any tragic event, the memories will last and be passed down forever.