As you travel along South Fraser Way in Abbotsford, BC, you’ll notice a dark orange flag on the outside of what looks like a typical border house, with modest square windows and beige siding.
But inside, it is revealed to be a Gurdwara, with an elevated stage to accommodate Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh script, in front of a large hall with seats for hundreds of people.
This building is the Gur Sikh temple, built by Sikh settlers who came to our era more than 100 years ago. It is the oldest Gurdwara in North America.
The contrast between what is inside and inside the building captures the tension that those settlers experienced when they arrived in Canada and tried to assimilate into society while maintaining their Southeast Asian identity. , says Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra, University Coordinator of the Fraser Valley Institute of South Asian Studies and co-curator of exhibitions at the Gurdwara Sikh Heritage Museum.
The Gur Sikh temple looks like a settler’s house from the outside, while inside it houses a Gurdwara, a contrast that captures the experiences of Sikh settlers when they arrived in Canada and tried to assimilate while maintaining their southern identity. -he is Asian, says Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra. (Kiran Singh / CBC)
“It has a false façade on the outside and a gabled roof, but on the inside it pays homage to every typical Gurdwara,” he said.
He added that settlers wanted to adapt Canadian characteristics to the outside world, such as wearing Western clothing, without compromising their identities, culture, religion, languages and food.
“Whatever you can bring … consider yours”
Today the temple continues to serve as a place of worship, but it is also a national historic site and a museum, as appointed by former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien on July 31, 2002.
It was built in 1911 by Sikh men working for the Abbotsford Lumber Company. Wanting a communal meeting place, the men asked their employer to provide them with wood for a Gurdwara.
“The timber company said,‘ Okay, whatever you can carry on your back, consider it yours, ’” Sandhra said.
Lob Singh (left), one of the Sikh employees of the Abbotsford Lumber Company, is pictured on the left in 1915 with an unidentified Japanese man. George Ziegler, one of the German factory employees, appears in the car on the right. (Submitted by Sharanjit Sandhra)
After completing the 12-hour shifts at the mill, the men transported the wood more than half a kilometer away to where the Gurdwara would be built. All the wood in the building was transported in this way.
But the support of the timber company did not last.
In 1930, one of the founding members of the company also became a founding member of the Abbotsford Ku Klux Klan. According to a newspaper report, he fired between 40 and 50 employees as a gesture of “goodwill” towards white workers.
A July 9, 1930 news article reports the dismissal of some employees of the company to welcome white men. (Submitted by Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra)
Built on the highest hill
Despite the challenges, Sandhra says Gurdwara is an excellent example of adopting a new culture while keeping one’s head held high.
“When these Sikh men built this Gurdwara, they are also fighting the systems of racism,” Sandhra said.
He says they chose to build the Gurdwara on the highest hill they could find as a sign of pride and protest against the systemic discrimination experienced by people of color.
On November 16, 1918, when the Gurdwara began to attract people from across the border, a 70-foot-tall pole was installed to hoist the Nishan Sahib, or Sikh flag, which meant the presence of the Sikh community in the neighborhood. The flag is also visible from the border between Canada and the United States, about eight miles away.
On November 16, 1918, a 70-foot-tall Nishan Sahib was installed outside the Gurdwara to signify the presence of the Sikh community in the city. (Kiran Singh / CBC)
“The Sikhs, who came from America, followed the light bulb over that original Nishan Sahib and walked from America to this Gurdwara,” Sandhra said.
Over time, the Gurdwara also became a hub for South Asians in North America protesting against colonial rule in India.
“They came to this Gurdwara space and recited poetry. Poetry became their act of revolution,” Sandhra said.
The poems were about racism, labor exploitation, colonialism and colorism, which are still relevant today, he adds.
“So this Gurdwara was not just a place for Langar [communal eating], it was not just a place for a refuge. It was a place of revolution. It was an act of resistance to colonialism. “
The past meets the present
Today, Sandhra helps to provide walking tours of the Gurdwara, which are available free of charge upon request.
Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra, co-curator of exhibitions at the Sikh Heritage Museum, says that if the walls of the Gurdwara could speak, they would echo the rich history that the place has seen. (Kiran Singh / CBC)
During a school visit, Gurkirt Kaur Manhas, a 12th grade student at LA Matheson High School in Surrey, said Gurdwara takes a look at her own past.
“It’s like a personal connection where I’m not only learning as a student in Punjabi class, but it’s a family connection where I can learn more about my family, about my pioneers,” Manhas said.
Fellow student Armaan Singh Thandhi said he feels an affinity with Gurdwara and its historical significance.
“It represents the pressure they were facing not only to support their families and build a community, but also to bring an image and convince a country that was not initially receptive to them that we could be bringing members into the fabric of Canadian society.” he said.
Sandhra agrees.
“These walls, if they could talk, would share and reverberate all those stories.”