ABSTRACT
Over one hundred years of migration (est. 1903) to Canada Punjabi Sikhs in British Columbia (BC) have successfully negotiated and challenged historically unjust laws, extreme discrimination, ongoing racism, and the fear of loss of heritage and culture. The cultural, social, and political environment in colonial settings in both the motherland (India) and the adopted nation (Canada) in the early 1900s provided for an intensely felt injustice that Punjabi Sikhs worked hard to make right. This chapter sheds light on how the Punjabi Sikh communities have differentiated themselves from colonial assimilationist mindsets by maintaining their language, culture, religion, heritage, food habits, collective cultural norms, and identity against great odds. While supporting families-left-behind in India, they built homes and community in Canada and today one hundred plus years later they are one of the most prosperous, progressive and culturally secure communities in BC.
