GHUM1169: Hope and Hardship: An Essay on Indian Immigration to Canada

This essay examines the history of Indian immigration to Canada, focusing on the period between the late 19th century and the present day. It begins by outlining the initial wave of Sikh immigrants from Punjab and their early settlement in Vancouver. The essay then discusses the push factors that led Indians to leave their homeland, including unemployment, poverty, and political instability, and the pull factors that attracted them to Canada, such as better economic opportunities and a multicultural environment. It delves into the discriminatory practices faced by Indian immigrants, including restrictive immigration laws, social exclusion, and racial violence, and the strategies they adopted to overcome these challenges, such as forming community organizations and advocating for their rights. The essay also explores the cultural adaptation of Indian immigrants, highlighting the preservation of their languages, religions, and traditions, as well as their integration into Canadian society. It concludes by emphasizing the significant contributions of Indian immigrants to Canada's economic, social, and cultural landscape. The essay makes use of references to support claims and provide evidence for the historical analysis of Indian immigration to Canada.

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Hope and Hardship (GHUM1169)
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Outline: Indian Immigration
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Thesis...............................................................................................................................................3
Main context....................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5

Introduction
Indo-Canadian society mainly began in the nineteenth century. The highest pioneers comprised
of Sikhs arising from Punjab origin.in 1897, various Sikh engaged in a particular parade in
celebrations of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in London. They started visiting the western
coast of Canada. Thus the initially documented immigrants from India involved the Sikh
denomination. They first arrived in Vancouver in the year 1904 when immigration policies were
quite highly restrictive as compared to the modern era (Agrawal & Lovell, 2010).
In spite of the existing troublesome immigration environment, a few 1000 Sikh immigrants
began to establish settlement and space in Vancouver's economy. A lot of them were literally
successful entrepreneurs well helping their community and other business people in that city.
For instance, in 2013, 33000 Indians citizens were offered permanent Canadian visas, 14000
were students, while 131000 were visitors. This was due to Canada's generous enacted
sponsorship policy hence enable families to be united and communities in Canada highly
strengthened.
Thesis
The increase in Indian immigration to Canada can be seen between the years 2011 to 2016. <-
inc. sent. Immigrants have been increased in Canada which can be seen in the community and
organizations.
The main context Explain the history of India. Why were people leaving in the time period
you're researching?
The Indian history is faced with unemployment rates, increased poverty levels, women violence,
pollution and corruption cases prompting them to leave for Canada.

They moved in search of better education, medical services, and job opportunities.
Several years later the Canadian authorities put up strict immigration laws targeting the Indian
immigrant for several decades. The enacted law needed the immigrants to have approximately
$200 in cash upon arrival in Canada.
They also were required to arrive in Canada through a continuous journey which was
problematic as no air travel existed. They mainly walked, used animal travel or trains.
In mid-1960, Canada Canada started allowing them as a result of a transition to a policy of
multiculturalism and ended all discriminatory immigration practices. Several years' later Indian
population in Canada increased by 20 times (Albanna et al,2011). Immigrants from all parts of
India having various languages and distinct region practices migrate to Canada till today. In the
current era, approximately 30,000 Indians have become permanent residents of Canada annually.
Tens of thousands others either come to visit, work or study.
The Indo-Canadian community can be located in various cities and provinces across the country
regions. The largest population of Canadians of Indian descent are mainly located in Ontario and
British Columbia. Toronto also houses approximately 600,000 Indians. They are the third largest
immigrant's groups in Canada.
Membership in or the founding of unions
It is being that more than 60 percent of immigrants were entered into Canada between 2011 and
2016 as the economic migrants. Indians are also becoming part of the unions within the
organizations (Areepattamannil, 2014). They are joining as the workers and they have enjoys
equal rights in the organizations.

Various Indian speak impeccable English language and have various key experiences in
industrial jobs such as ads information technology (IT), science and medicine (Areepattamannil,
2014). After arriving in Canada they secure various other jobs as a result of their skills and
society bold support network.
Canadians success and growth have been the key reason why Indian immigrants chose this
country.it is a multicultural nation with stable economic frameworks.
WHERE ARE THE MEMBERS OF THIS GROUP ORIGINALLY FROM? WHAT IS
THIS HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY? WHAT WERE THE (POLITICAL,
ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, HISTORICAL) CONDITIONS THAT CAUSED MEMBERS OF
THIS GROUP TO EMIGRATE? HOW Could THEY TRAVEL? For what reason DID
THEY CHOOSE CANADA?
Some of the conditions that triggered members of Indian origin to immigrate to Canada include
economic stagnation, lack of decent jobs, strife, ethnic and religious differences.
Students families and skilled workers moved in search of manual labor's political factor that
contributed are having the Bharatiya Janata party which remain quite hostile to the fundamental
idea of offering temporal sanctuary to fewer individuals refugee fleeing Myanmar (Bhargava,
Sharma & Salehi,2010). Others emigrated due to political turmoil and prejudice especially those
Indians who were originally from African great lake regions like Kenya.
The governing Bharatiya Janata Party stays unfriendly to giving transitory asylum to few
displaced people escaping Myanmar.

What kinds of work did members of this group do when they arrived in Canada? What
were their working conditions like? Did they join or organize unions? Give statistics and
numbers.
They were offered jobs by agents of large Canadian firms like the Canadian Pacific Railway and
the Hudson Bay Company. They were guaranteed to get into police forces and others being
employed as night watchmen by huge British corporations. Others started small proprietorship
business, nurses,teachers, and cashiers. Some work in very harsh conditions s with little pay and
less safety.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THIS GROUP'S
CULTURE?
Some differential features of Indian distinctive culture include languages, art, music, ceremonial
architecture, and various complex societal hierarchies.it is interrelated to each particular Indian
group's religion, regional, linguistic and also ethnic backgrounds. For example, northern Indian
cultural practices and distinct languages are different from the southern one. Hindus cultural
practices are also distinct. They are characterized mainly by Islamic religious practices and
regional affiliation.
The existing culture and languages possessed by several Indian communities have continued to
thrive well as a result of the feature of freedom of these groups to implement structures and
institutions for various religious worship practices, societal interaction, and other practices.
specifically, the Punjab culture and language has features of radio and television reinforcement
across Canada (Pampalon, Hamel & Gamache, 2010).

Marriage is also a distinct feature of this group's cultural element. This is a result of heritage and
strong religious background. Arranged marriage is still highly practiced. There exist several
radio programs which represent this groups culture, for example, Guatemala radio which is
typically hosted by Darshan.
WHAT WERE THE PARTICULAR HURDLES THIS GROUP HAD TO OVERCOME
IN CANADA?
The Sikh immigrants faced a lot of racism hurdles by the local white individuals after arriving in
British Columbia. A lot of white people were afraid that Indians who were ready to work for
fewer wages and the influx of these immigrants would eventually threaten their jobs. This highly
prompted a collection of race riots targeting the Indian group immigrants making them be beaten
up by mobs and leading to retaliation remarks (Fairlie, Zissimopoulos & Krashinsky,2010). The
mob attacks target the Indians working on the railroads.
They also faced a lot of social pressures making them return to India.
The Canadian authority restricted the Indian men from tagging their wives and children up to
1919.
Strict restriction practices were raised on Indians. Some limited them from having a right to vote
in elections especially in the year 1907.in addition, government quotas were largely implemented
to limit the number of Indian immigrants allowed to move to Canada in the twentieth century.
The biggest hurdles that Indians face upon arrival in Canada is with themselves and their own
attitude. This is a serious hurdle that Indian immigrant has to struggle to change over the years.
Many Indians arrive in Canadian soil with many expectations and become a bit disappointed as

they anticipate everything to be similar to India (Sohi,2011). Conversely, they expected to view
a better region, cooler climate conditions, clean air, water, and various systems
They are not set up to deal with or comprehend the gigantic social-cultural distinction between
the two nations. Their desires are like when they were in India. Obviously numerous before long
understand that they have to change their frame of mind and once they do, they can absorb into
the Canadian culture rapidly and find real success.
Furthermore, in pockets like Brampton, numerous Indian unite their own locale and carry on
with practically Indian life. They decide not to acclimatize with the Canadians
(white/dark/yellow and darker) and discover brotherhood inside their own locale (Kazimi,2012).
North Brampton is loaded with Sikhs who pursue conventions of Sikhism all the more carefully
that the Sikhs themselves do in India.
The joblessness rates for new migrants in Canada has remained moderately consistent in the
course of recent years — floating around 12 percent, besides a checked increment in generally
speaking joblessness that hit Canada as a component of the aftermath from the 2008 budgetary
emergency.
In 2015, joblessness rates for migrants with a college degree who came to Canada in the past five
years sat at 12.1 percent, eight percent higher than the joblessness rate for their college instructed
Canadian-conceived partners, as per Statistics Canada's work compel attributes study
(WALTON‐ROBERTS, M. A. R. G. A. R. E. T,2011).
Joblessness for new settlers in Canada from Asia, Latin America or Africa have higher
joblessness rates than those originating from Europe, as indicated by Statistics Canada (Segal,
Elliott, & Mayadas,2011).

WHAT SORTS OF DISCRIMINATION (IF ANY) DID THIS GROUP ENCOUNTER?
WHAT STRATEGIES DID THEY ADOPT TO DEAL WITH DISCRIMINATION THEY
ENCOUNTERED?
The absolute most across the board sanctioned examples of discrimination happened against
Indians settling in British Columbia. They literally suffered an endemic anti-Asian sentiment
from the 1850s to the 1950s. Indians were viewed as outsiders, aliens, and inferior people.
Organizations and labor groups asserted that Indians took occupations from whites and settled
for less for all laborers since they were eager to work for less cash than white specialists. Asians
were rejected from joining most unions, as enacted policy depicted employers usually paid
Indian workers fewer wages as compared to others
Ø Because of this particular discrimination enactment and social practices in BC, Indian groups
couldn't cast a ballot, provide legal counsel or drug store, and be chosen to open office, serve on
juries, or have professions in open works, instruction or the common administration. An existing
public opinion on Indians migration was communicated on a few events in the vicious enemy of
anti –Indians movements and hostile to Asian mobs (Safdar, Calvez & Lewis, 2012). The most
genuine mobs were in Vancouver in 1887 and 1907. Different endeavors were likewise made by
anti-Indian group's gatherings to prohibit Asians from government-funded schools, to confine the
closeout sales of land to Indians.They also faced racial profiling, and exclusion in education.
They experienced issues being served in inns and eateries, and in being admitted to theaters and
pools. Once in a while, they were constrained into isolated schools
Strategies

Canadian National Council carried out meeting to build up a national system of Indian Canadian
people group and activists and to create solid activity plans for five organized branches of
knowledge: movement and security; business; media; racial profiling; and instruction (Sahoo &
Sangha,2010). Indians deal with discrimination practices they encounter through an act of
togetherness and support from their own government acts. They also create groups and
movements to create awareness and programs that fight against discrimination.
Conclusion
The economic and political condition of India was not quite impressive and that is the main
reason for Indian to move Canada, unemployment was at its highest level. It was also easy for
the Indians to relocate in Canada as the Canadian constitution had a flexible law for the
immigrants. The multiculturalism aspect employed in Canada has made it more convenient for
Indian immigrants to settle down.

References
Agrawal, S. K., & Lovell, A. (2010). High‐income Indian immigrants in Canada. South Asian
Diaspora, 2(2), 143-163.
Albanna, A. S., Reed, M. B., Kotar, K. V., Fallow, A., McIntosh, F. A., Behr, M. A., & Menzies,
D. (2011). Reduced transmissibility of East African Indian strains of Mycobacterium
tuberculosis. PloS one, 6(9), e25075.
Areepattamannil, S. (2014). A relationship between academic motivation and mathematics
achievement among Indian adolescents in Canada and India. The Journal of general
psychology, 141(3), 247-262.gf
Bhargava, K., Sharma, J. C., & Salehi, S. (2010). Building bridges: A case study on the role of
the Indian diaspora in Canada. Centre for the Study of Democracy in the School of
Policy Studies at Queen's University.

Fairlie, R. W., Zissimopoulos, J., & Krashinsky, H. (2010). The international Asian business
success story? A comparison of Chinese, Indian and other Asian businesses in the United
States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In International differences in
entrepreneurship (pp. 179-208). University of Chicago Press.
Kazimi, A. (2012). Undesirables: White Canada and the Komagata Maru: An Illustrated History.
Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre.
Pampalon, R., Hamel, D., & Gamache, P. (2010). Health inequalities, deprivation, immigration
and aboriginality in Canada: a geographic perspective. Canadian Journal of Public
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Safdar, S., Calvez, S., & Lewis, J. R. (2012). Multi-group analysis of the MIDA model:
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Intercultural Relations, 36(2), 200-212.
Sahoo, A. K., & Sangha, D. (2010). Diaspora and cultural heritage: the case of Indians in
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Segal, U. A., Elliott, D., & Mayadas, N. S. (Eds.). (2010). Immigration worldwide: policies,
practices, and trends. Oxford University Press.
Sohi, S. (2011). Race, Surveillance, and Indian Anticolonialism in the Transnational Western
US-Canadian Borderlands. The Journal of American History, 98(2), 420-436.
WALTON‐ROBERTS, M. A. R. G. A. R. E. T. (2011). Immigration, trade and ‘ethnic surplus
value': a critique of Indo–Canadian transnational networks. Global networks, 11(2), 203-
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