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Century of Struggle and Sucess The Sikh Canadian Experience by Sandeep Singh Brar Part II The Family |
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"When I came in 1921, there were no boys in this area (Vancouver). Two boys lived in Abbotsford, Pritam Singh and Nand Singh. Then when four of us boys landed together the Canadian Sikhs were so happy. They kept saying, ‘Our boys, our boys.’ They couldn’t do enough for us. I felt so much love for these people, they treated us so well. Whenever I went to the 2nd Avenue Gurdwara, they treated me so special. The first time I stood in line to eat roti in the langer, one old-timer took me by the arm and took me in to the centre of the hall in front of everybody. He said to me, ‘My son, we want you to serve us roti so that all of us can get to see and meet you. You’ll get to know us and we’ll get to know you.’ When I went around serving the roti they made us feel so special. They were such loving people."(Gurbachan Singh Johl) In these early years, Sikhs usually went back to Punjab to marry before returning to Canada alone because there were no Sikh women in Canada. This would mean many long years of separation before husband and wife would see each other again.
The first Sikh wedding took place in April 1909 when Gayan Singh married a Canadian, Annie Wright. It is interesting to note that Annie Wright underwent the Khalsa baptism ceremony, becoming a full Sikh by religion, had her name changed to Labb Kor and was only then married to Gayan Singh. Another milestone would be the first wedding in Canada between two people who were Sikh by birth, this would not occur for another 32 years until 1941. |
Shortly thereafter Kartar Kaur gave birth to a son. Baby Hardial Singh Atwal born on August 28, 1912 became the first Sikh born in Canada, it was truly a time of celebration for the entire community as there had been no children in the community for so long. The husbands longed for their wives, sons and daughters that they had left behind so many years ago. Would they ever see them again they wondered?
"I came to Canada as a student (1929) I was alone and couldn’t call her over because I stayed here illegally. At that time, there were scores of men who were my age who had also left their wives behind. We were lonely but we were helpless. My daughter was only seven days old when I left India; my son was two years old. We could only exchange five or six letters in a year because it took a long time for them to arrive. My wife sent me pictures of my children. After I became a legal resident, I couldn’t go back because of the pressure of business. My son came to Canada in 1949 when he was 20 and we went to India in 1951. So much had changed. When I saw my wife, all the members of the family were delighted. We had been separated for 22 years. When I left, we were youngsters. When I came back, we were all grown up. My daughter was married and had one child. I brought my son and wife back with me but my daughter stayed in India because she had her own family." (Dharam Singh Parmar)
