Deepa Mehta

[Anton Wagner]

This is also the subject of Ali Kazimi's superb 2004 feature-length documentary,
Continuous Journey.

Description:
 In 1914, a ship called the Komagata Maru carried 376 passengers from British
India to Canada . Many of the men on-board were Sikhs and veterans of the
British Indian Army. They believed it was their right as British subjects to
settle anywhere in the Empire they had fought to defend and expand. They were
wrong. Citing a little known immigration policy known as the Continuous Journey
Regulation, the ship was not allowed to dock. The policy appeared fair but
effectively kept people from India out of Canada until decades later. Stranded
in Vancouver Harbour for two months, the Komagata Maru's passengers were driven
to the brink of starvation. The standoff did not end until Prime Minister Robert
Borden intervened, bolstered by the presence of a Canadian battleship.

Notes: Special Jury Prize for Direction / Runner-Up for Audience Favourite at
Hot Docs 2004 .

Links:  http://www.socialdoc.net/kazimi/


Quoting Moira Day <moiraday at DUKE.USASK.CA>:

> And of course, the basis of Sharon Pollock's early play, The Kamgata Maru
> Incident.
>
> Moira
>
> Quoting Denis Salter <denis.salter at MCGILL.CA>:
>
> > Dear Colleagues,
> >
> > Deepa Mehta's next film is called Exclusion and is, in her words, "a true
> > story and is about a group of Indians-Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims-who
> attempted
> > to immigrate to Canada. They arrived in 1914 travelling on a Japanese coal
> > ship called the Kamagata Maru but like many before them were barred by the
> > racist immigration policies. They then mounted a legal action to try and
> get
> > asylum. It lasted two months, they lost and they were sent back to India.
> > "When they disembarked at Calcutta the British army opened fire and killed
> > most of them. One of the survivors eventually went back to Canada and shot
> an
> > immigration officer responsible for barring the group. It's an incredible
> > story."  Source: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/deep-m15.shtml
> >
> > --Denis Salter.
> >
> > ____________________________________
> > "In 2005, the world . . . pass[ed] the trillion-dollar mark in the
> > expenditure, annually, on arms. We're fighting for $50 billion annually for
> > foreign aid for Africa: the military total outstrips human need by 20 to 1.
> > Can someone please explain to me our contemporary balance of
> > values?"--Stephen Lewis.