Komagata Maru memorial in Vancouver vandalized

Vancouver -

The public memorial site for a ship full of would-be refugees who were turned away has been defaced.

Jindi Singh, who was visiting from Vancouver Island, went down to the Komagata Maru memorial in Vancouver’s Coal Harbour neighbourhood on Sunday.

Singh’s great-great-uncle was one of the nearly 400 passengers from India’s Punjab province who were aboard the ship that attempted to dock in Vancouver in May 1914.

“This obviously has a personal impact for us for the Komagata Maru to be turned away, and the history related to that, and to come here and see all the graffiti, and the defacing of the names of those who were on the ship was quite devastating,” said Singh.

CTV News Vancouver visited the memorial and found white paint and white handprints covering the large metal placards listing the names of those who were on the ship.

“From a distance, we couldn’t tell if it was part of the memorial,” Singh said. “Then, as we came closer, we saw paint on the floor, handprints all over the names, we saw some kind of symbolism in the corner there, and we realized somebody had come and defaced it, and this isn’t the first time this has happened.”

“To see it defaced like this is very upsetting,” he added.

The Komagata Maru was turned away due to discriminatory policies that limited immigrants from Asia. Canadian officials have since apologized for the incident.

In a statement attributed to the City of Vancouver on Sunday, officials said they were upset by the incident and that a graffiti removal team was on its way.

”We are saddened to hear of the defacement of the Komagata Maru memorial. While it is not clear what the motivation was, it shows disrespect to those who travelled and suffered on the ship and to their families,” the statement reads.

The timing makes the vandalism particularly painful, Singh said, as he works with an organization, Khalsa Aid Canada, that’s currently supporting Afghan Sikhs and Hindus who are trying to flee from Afghanistan to Canada as the Taliban gains power.

“With the Sikhs trying to get out, there’s similar parallels (to the Komagata Maru), it is devastating to see this kind of (vandalism) behaviour on top of that,” he said.