AS THE WORLD embraces the millennium, some 750,000 people living in Canada can trace their cultural roots to South Asia, including present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. It is safe to say that a great percentage of this number have immigrated to Canada from Asia’s sub-continent. And although Hinduism is the dominant tradition in India, that great region of south central Asia, nevertheless, is home to many religious cultures which are, today, also prominently found in Canada.

The first South Asians, mostly Sikhs from Punjab, settled in British Columbia at the turn of the century. By 1908, chain migration had encouraged over 5,000 Punjabi pioneers to find work in British Columbia; evidence of their presence there can be seen in the establishment of two community organizations in Vancouver: the Khalsa Diwan Society and the Hindustan Association. In 1907, nativist opposition to an Indian presence and fear of  “the Asian peril” encouraged a range of discriminatory legislation: it restricted migration by requiring additional personal wealth, limited political rights, and stipulated that one must arrive by “continuous journey ”from India and not from other ports such as Hong Kong. The hostility to South Asian immigration crystallized in 1914 when a ship called the Komagata Maru entered Vancouver harbour carrying 376 potential immigrants of East Indian origin, the majority being Sikh veterans of the British Army. For two months the passengers were denied the right to disembark until finally they departed, unable to enter a Canadian port.

Although wives and children were allowed in 1919, the Indian community in Canada did not grow for almost a half century until, in 1951, Canada developed a quota system to allow some Indian emigrants to help with postwar economic expansion. Over the next decade, more Indians, mostly Sikhs from Punjab, joined families living in Canada since before the restrictions. Gradually, professionals and higher-educated immigrants came. By 1961 there were still only about 7,000 South Asians of Indian origin in Canada, but a decade later – after racial discrimination was formally removed from Canadian immigration legislation and the point system introduced – that number jumped to 70,000 and the diversity increased dramatically.

Emigrants from India today enjoy success in all fields within the economy. While there is some concentration in British Columbia in agriculture and forestry, for the most part people from India living in Canada have settled in major cities and, since the 1960s, many highly skilled workers and professionals have energized Canada’s universities, the civil service, hospitals, and high-tech industries. Still others have felt the sting of discrimination within the workplace or faced, as have other immigrants, the barrier to job placement, phrased vaguely as the lack of Canadian experience, that many industries impose. Despite some setbacks, Indian Canadians as a group have an average income approximately equal to the Canadian average.

The most vibrant evidence of the Indian emigrant impact on the urban landscapes of Canada can be seen in the establishment of extensive and bustling commercial districts that cater to the desires of ethnic Canadian communities for distinctive foods, clothing, and music. In Toronto the self-proclaimed India Bazaar on Gerrard Street offers a cacophonous array of colours, sounds, and smells for those in search of a saree, bhangara of Bollywood musicals (musicals made in Bombay), and vegetarian or meat thalis. Numerous jewellery shops that carry the distinctive, orangey, 22-carat gold line the streets as South Asian Canadians from Toronto’s suburbs and southern Ontario – but also from all over the United Sates and Canada – converge to shop, eat, meet friends, and see Hindi and Tamil language movies.

Throughout the suburban communities that ring Canada’s major cities, community organizations representing the needs of parts of Asia’s sub-continent community have been solidly established. Political candidates of Indian heritage have successfully run at the local, provincial, and federal levels. At the federal level are British Columbia politicians the Hon. Herb Dhaliwal, M.P., Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and Reform Party member, the Hon. Gurmant Grewal. Indo-Canadians Deepak Obhrai and Rahim Jaffer represent ridings in Alberta as Reform M.Ps. In Ontario, Gurbax Malhi has served the federal riding of Malton over the last two general elections as a Liberal Party Member. Provincially, British Columbia has four Indo-Canadian M.L.A.s, including Sindi Hawkins, Moe Sihota, Harry Lali, and Ujjal Dosanjh who, as leader of British Columbia’s NDP, became Premier of British Columbia, February 20, 2000, the first Indo-Canadian to hold that office in Canada.

Religious centres, temples, mosques, and gurdwaras established by the faithful of the many religions that converge in India have been important social and community institutions in Canada as well as places of worship. Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Jainism, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism all have adherents within Canada’s Indian population. In Ontario, some 50 temples serve the needs of Hindus; Sikhs have used gurdwaras notably in British Columbia and Ontario as focal points for community development. Malton, Ontario, has the largest such gurdwara. Prominent also among the expanding Muslim community in Canada are the Ismailis who have created an extensive network of social institutions and who are linked internationally to the Aga Khan and his institutions.

The presence of Indo-Canadian voices in understanding multi-ethnicity within the public search for Canadian culture and national meaning has been outstanding in recent years. Writers in Urdu have nourished a flourishing of traditional poetry. Filmmakers such as Deepa Mehta have crafted powerful, if not controversial, films about the human condition within the Indo-Canadian context and have enjoyed a mainstream, international audience. Moreover, major news reporters and production personnel of Indian descent, including Monika Deol, formerly of CITY TV, now occupy prominent places in many of Canada’s television and radio markets.