Baba Gurdit Singh (25 August 1860 – 24 July 1954) was the central figure in the Komagata Maru incident of 1914, one of several incidents in the history of early 20th century involving exclusion laws in both Canada and the United States designed to keep out immigrants of only Asian origin.
Singh was born in 1860 at Sarhali, in Amritsar District of British Punjab province (India). In 1914 he chartered a Japanese ship, the Komagata Maru, to go to Canada, reaching Vancouver on 23 May 1914. The government did not allow the ship to anchor and the ship was attacked by the police at night. The attack was repulsed by the passengers and it created a great stir among Indians in Canada
Issued on the first day of Asian Heritage Month, this stamp commemorates the struggle of the Komagata Maru passengers and celebrates the contribution of the South Asian community, and indeed all Asian Canadians, to Canada’s diversity and prosperity.Ahead of the 100th-year anniversary of the Komagata Maru incident in Vancouver, which began on May 23, 1914, Canada Post has unveiled a new stampthat commemorates one of the nation’s historical black spots.
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