The Voyage of the Komagata Maru by Hugh J.M. Johnston, Paperback | Indigo Chapters

A century has passed since the Komagata Maru arrived in Vancouver. Its arrival was a direct challenge to Canada’s immigration laws, which barred immigrants from India – yet the nearly four hundred Punjabi passengers on board the ship had been promised equality with all other British subjects, and they arrived to claim that right. For two months, the passengers were harassed by immigration officials and endured extreme physical hardship, until finally they were forced to return to India. Once forgotten, today the incident is a strong symbol of policies that Canada now rejects. The Voyage of the Komagata Maru is an extensive revision, reappraisal, and expansion of Hugh Johnston’s authoritative history of the Komagata Maru incident, first published in 1979. This updated edition draws in new research – exploring the legal issues surrounding the incident and delving deeper into the motives of the passengers and their leaders and supporters – and revisits the previous edition’s assessments in light of insight gained over the intervening decades. Now expanded by more than 50 percent, The Voyage of the Komagata Maru is still the only comprehensive historical account of the Komagata Maru incident – a story of immigration, empire, politics, and human rights, which Canadians increasingly recognize as a critical moment in this country’s history. | The Voyage of the Komagata Maru by Hugh J. M. Johnston, Paperback | Indigo Chapters | The Voyage of the Komagata Maru by Hugh J.M. Johnston, Paperback | Indigo Chapters