It is #SikhHeritageMonth and this is the story of Sikhs gaining the vote!
The first Sikh immigrants to British Columbia were permitted to vote in civic elections. This right to vote would not last long as the province began to strip rights away from the Sikh people.
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In March 1907, BC Premier William Bowser introduced legislation to deny the provincial vote to any immigrant from India who was not of Anglo-Saxon descent.
Vancouver took the vote away from Sikhs the following month.
The Sikh people couldn't vote federally either.
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At the 1921 Imperial Conference in England, a resolution was passed to grant South Asians in the British Empire the right to vote.
Canada simply ignored the resolution.
Some MPs, like Samuel Jacobs, Canada's 1st Jewish MP, supported giving Sikhs the vote.
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In 1924, BC passed the Provincial Elections Act to deny the vote to all Asians except Japanese veterans of WW1.
Men such as Dr. D.P. Pandia (pictured), Kapoor Singh Siddoo, Mayo Singh & Kartar Singh Hundal campaigned to get the vote for Sikhs and others.
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In the 1940s, Sikhs, such as Naginder S. Gill (pictured) continued to pressure the government to grant the vote to South Asians.
India PM Jawaharial Nehru joined the cause of gaining the vote.
On April 2, 1947, South Asians gained the provincial & federal vote.
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I have covered many aspects of Canada's border history in the past week.
Today, I am exploring why the Canadian border with Alaska extends so far south along the Pacific Coast and how the decision led to a desire for greater Canadian independence from Britain.
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The issue of the border dates back to 1825 when Russia (who owned Alaska at the time) signed the Treaty of Saint Petersburg with Britain. The treaty only focused on the coastal area as the interior was mountainous and of little interest to either country.
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On March 30, 1867, the United States bought the entire Alaska region from Russia. With the purchase, the United States hoped to claim territory from Alaska down to Mexico and control the entire Pacific Coast.
That hope ended when British Columbia joined Canada in 1871.
We have looked at the USA-Canada border through the Great Lakes and along the 49th Parallel.
Today, it is time to find out why there is an odd blip west of Lake Superior and east of Manitoba.
This is the story of the Northwest Angle.
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The Northwest Angle is farther north than any part of the Contiguous United States.
The area covers 197 square kilometres, and it all comes down to treaties negotiated between the United Kingdom and the United States centuries ago.
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In 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed by the UK and USA. This treaty recognized American independence and created an agreement on the border between the USA and British North America from the Atlantic to the Mississippi.
On this day in 1985, hockey great Eddie Shore died of liver cancer.
He was such a legend that he was name-dropped in Slap Shot. Shore was one of the greatest NHL players ever...and one of the meanest on the ice.
Let's learn more about the Edmonton Express!
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Shore was born in Fort Qu'Appelle and grew up in Cupar, SK. Shore played his first organized hockey with the Cupar Canucks and then the Melville Millionaires.
In 1926, he started his professional career with the Regina Capitals, before playing for the Edmonton Eskimos.
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In 1926-27, he debuted with the Boston Bruins, leading the league in penalty minutes (136 in 41 games) in his first season.
From his very first game, Shore became known for his toughness on the ice and his refusal to back down from anyone, including teammates.
Before the dynasties, Richard, Beliveau, Lafleur and Roy, the Montreal Canadiens were in trouble.
The team nearly moved to Cleveland, and then nearly folded. But one man helped save them...Conn Smythe.
Let's learn how Montreal almost lost the Canadiens!
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In the early-1930s, the Canadiens were riding high. From 1927-28 to 1931-32, the team finished first four times and won two Stanley Cups.
At the time, the team was stacked with Hall of Famers such as Howie Morenz, Aurèle Joliat, Sylvio Mantha and George Hainsworth.
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But even The Great Depression could bring down greatness.
It was going to bring an end to several franchises such as the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Maroons, and it nearly did the same to the Montreal Canadiens.
Despite the team doing well, crowd sizes were small.
A few days ago, I looked at how the international border through The Great Lakes was determined.
But what about the border west of Lake Superior?
It took decades to determine and wasn't just "drawn with a ruler by some guy".
Let's learn more!
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The 49th parallel border begins west of the Northwest Angle, a blip on the border that gives Minnesota part of the Lake of the Woods.
That 197 sq-km area came about due to treaties and a limited understanding of the geography west of Lake Superior.
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The 49th parallel border runs from the Strait of Georgia in the west to the Lake of the Woods.
It extends for 2,030 kilometres.
Having this as a border was first proposed before the United States even existed, back in 1714 by the Hudson's Bay Company.
From 1973 to 2022, Canada and Denmark were at war.
Over the course of the war, several soldiers on both sides were wounded....by hangovers. And it was all fought over a tiny island the size of a city block.
Let's learn about The Whisky War!
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Hans Island is a tiny island, 1.3 square kilometres in size, located between Ellesmere Island and Greenland.
It has no trees, no grass and is not inhabited.
The island is in the territory of the Inuit, who have visited it periodically over the centuries.
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The first-known Europeans reached the island in 1853 when a Danish expedition arrived. The island was named for an Inuk man on the expedition Hans Hendrik. He saved several men on the expedition when they journeyed too far from the ship on the ice.