Asian Indian soldiers first sojourned to Canada in the mid-1800s while enroute to England. Law did not permit Asian Indian women to immigrate to Canada from India to join their husbands. Even though they were British subjects, the law had to be amended at the Imperial War Conference following WW1 to allow their emigration here.
This anthology gives voice to some of their first daughter’s born 1900-1950 in Canada. The lives of these daughters are not recorded anywhere in Canadian history, women’s history etc.
These self-written short stories by some first daughters are rare, as are the 120 photographs interspersed in this 288-page first-of-its-kind book.
In addition, this is the centenary year to celebrate the first recorded arrival of three Asian Indian women to Canada albeit illegally. There is no other recorded information about them.
Thank you for honouring our first daughters by purchasing this book.
Born and raised on Vancouver Island, M.K. Manhas's work took her many places in Canada, including 5 years living and working on three First Nation reserves in BC / Yukon Territory.
Manhas has consulted to Federal and Provincial governments on the status of immigrant / non-immigrant women, Employment Equity and Business. She has participated at international forums for business development by women of Third World countries.
Some volunteer work included a 5-year foray into radio including working at PERSPECTIVES, a live public affairs program where she learned the intricacies of BC politics from expert, Dr. Norman Ruff PhD, a highly respected professor (now retired) of Political Science at UVIC.
In 1987, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings in Vancouver, BC, she won a limited reporter-lottery where she attended a remarkable session held by then Prime Minister of England, Margaret Thatcher, and to pose a few questions directly to then Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi.
Since the 70's, she collected stories of her mother and her friends who had emigrated from Punjab. Indian women were excluded as British subjects to Canada until after 1920. After some of these women died, she realized that their pioneer mothers' stories needed to be preserved.
In 1984, she wrote "A Note on Asian Indian Women in British Columbia 1900-1935" which was included in "Not Just Pin Money: Selected essays on the history of women's work in British Columbia" and discussed the importance of preserving these stories of pioneer women through the collection of oral histories.
This book is the culmination of her work to capture this important history of Asian Indian Canadian women.
"“SWANO”"
Condensed excerpt from Zhindagee
Author: Leilani Kamali Giuliano
“Swano’s mother, Jackur Chumar Kaur, father, Thacker Singh (aka Tommy) and paternal grandfather Munshi Singh and paternal grandmother Attar (aka Attree) Kaur were British subjects born in the state of Punjab, India. At different times, the four of them immigrated to Canada (BC). They were no strangers to hard physical work, but it was the harsh rigors of Canadian winters, and finding their way in a mostly unfriendly, hostile environment that caused them to cling even more to their faith and community.
"OUR BEGINNINGS IN CANADA"
Author: M. K. Doman
…By 1910, three of the Sikh elite had wives present with them. Nothing is written about the women in their own right. Instead, they are noted in passing:
“Mrs. Sundar Singh and Mrs. Teja Singh came to Canada with their husbands. Mrs.Uday Ram Joshi arrived on February 10, 1910, and admitted having fulfilled the requirements.”10
…After years of facing contrived rules and policies fabricated to justify the exclusion of women, they were later allowed to enter Canada. At the Imperial War Conference, 1917-1919, the Indian government secured an agreement which permitted Asian Indian women to enter Canada after 1920…”.
“QUEEN OF COWICHAN”
Author: M.K. Doman
Sitting outside the Gurdwara later in the bright afternoon sun my thoughts wandered
``…Oh my, here are her roots...She sang shabads (hymns) and played harmonium (Indian piano) here. She read Sikh scriptures here, and now Pahtees (readers of the scriptures) are reading for her soul...her laughter, her energy, her endless prayers to God must be soaked into this rich fertile soil…her spirit must be so generously scattered…amongst the sentinel of majestic Douglas Fir, abundance of huckleberry bushes, the beautiful majestic trilliums and other rich flora… I felt the urge to call out into the soft warm breeze, “She’s safe…she‘s home again…”
"1st DAUGHTERS IN THE 20th CENTURY"
Condensed excerpt from Preface of Zhindagee
Author: Barbara K. Latham, M.A.
After 100 years of feminism in Canada, readers are familiar with family gender politics… Historical legal exclusion preceded the prejudices we are familiar with today…
Think of the early exclusion of Sikh wives, British Subjects, from immigrating to British Columbia with their husbands. Newspaper commentary in 1910-12 explicitly argued
against Indian wives being allowed to immigrate to BC to join their husband…Thus, it is no surprise that history can record the early exceptions: 3 women who came to live in Vancouver between 1905 and 1915. Predictably, they had husbands, loyal subjects of the British crown, who argued successfully for their presence. After 1920, more women arrived.
In “A Note on Asian Indian Women in British Columbia, 1900-1935” in NOT JUST PIN MONEY, M.K. Doman documents the presence of women in Paldi, Nonetheless, the toll of exclusion on two generations of Indian women is clear: who amongst them would reach their potential swiftly?
We are slow to give 1st daughters of the original pioneers, the recognition they deserve for their role in raising the family alongside their mothers… M.K Doman observed her older sister, Herbans Kaur Doman Parmar (1930-2006), for a lifetime. With the death of her father at an early age, she described her sister’s abiding sense of responsibility for her mother, for her brothers and sister as having deep roots in her mother’s life…
Early in the 1970s, M.K. Doman began documenting her mother’s story, and other pioneer Indian women and later, created a historical baseline of their presence in Canada in NOT JUST PIN MONEY.
Long before the appearance of women’s history in post secondary education, Doman had decided that the stories of 1st daughters born of Indian parents in BC in the 20th century should be written. The narratives of these women are important for all of us who are 1st daughters or have had an older sister sustain us.
NOT FOR REPRINT
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ZHINDAGEE: Voices of Canadian Asian Indian First Daughters 1920-1950 can be ordered by contacting Mahinder Kaur Doman Manhas, editor:
limitedition2011_gmail.com*
Mailing address:
2200 Oak Bay Avenue, PO Box 42055
Victoria, BC V8R 6T4
Phone: 250.858.5789
* Please note that our previous email address was compromised. To prevent future issues, please use the address above or contact us via the form on the contact page. We apologize for any inconvenience.
No part of this Limited Edition book may be reproduced, transmitted in any mechanical, Photographic, or electronic process or by individuals, including any text recording for fifty years from date of publication.
Upon 2010 publication, Reviewers may quote brief passages (no photos) in a news/or literary review with written permission of the Publisher or Publisher’s authorized Representative.
Bibliographical references.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
ISBN 978-0-9811913-0-0 -- Limited 1st Ed.
Caption
12 Jul 2011. Zhindagee wins family history award from British Columbia Genealogy Society to be presented 17 July in Surrey, BC. For more info, visit www.bcgs.ca.
18 Jun 2011. BC BOOKWORLDJune 2011 issue lists Zhindagee. It is available in local bookstores.
02 Feb 2011. CBC Interview segment of "On the Island" at cbc.ca/ontheisland.
Podcast found here.
31 Dec 2010. Article from the inaugural edition of DRISHTI - Surrey, BC (a Punjabi magazine launched Vaisakhi 2010), see right.
29 Dec 2010. On Radio Canada International: THE INDO-CANADIAN REPORT WITH RASHI KHILNANI.
12 Nov 2010. Asian Journal, "SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITY LEADERS AND POLITICIANS SHOULD SUPPORT BOOK ON “OUR FIRST DAUGHTERS”
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