Madam Speaker, it is my honour to present a petition calling on the Canadian government and Parliament to formally issue an apology on the tragedy of the Komagata Maru as a result of the racist and discriminatory immigration policy of the government of the day.
On May 23, 1914 the ship with 376 British subjects of Indian origin arrived at Vancouver harbour. Two months later it was forced to leave and as a result the passengers were held incommunicado, denied basic necessities, and their legal rights were denied. Nineteen of the departing passengers were killed by the British government of India, many were imprisoned, and their properties expropriated. If we have a formal apology, the community would feel this historic wrong would be corrected, and would give a chance for healing, reconciliation, harmony of the community in addition to putting measures in place to prevent such incidents in the future.