Indian Canadians
Indian Canadians are Canadians who have ancestry from India. The term East Indian is sometimes used to avoid confusion with Indigenous groups. Categorically, Indian Canadians comprise a subgroup of South Asian Canadians which is a further subgroup of Asian Canadians. As of the 2021 census, Indians are the largest non-European ethnic group in the country and form the fastest growing national origin in Canada.
Canada contains the world's ninth-largest Indian diaspora. The highest concentrations of Indian Canadians are found in Ontario and British Columbia, followed by growing communities in Alberta and Quebec as well, with the majority of them being foreign-born.
Terminology
In Canada, 'South Asian' refers to persons with ancestry throughout South Asia, while 'East Indian' means someone with origins specifically from India. Both terms are used by Statistics Canada, who do not use 'Indo-Canadian' as an official category for people. Originating as a part of the Canadian government's multicultural policies and ideologies in the 1980s, 'Indo-Canadian' is a term used in mainstream circles of people in Canada as of 2004.In 1962, 'Pakistani' and 'Ceylonese' were made into separate ethnic categories, while prior to that year people with those origins were counted as being 'East Indian'. As of 2001 about half of foreign-born persons claiming an 'East Indian' ancestry originated from India, while others originated from Bangladesh, East Africa, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Elizabeth Kamala Nayar, author of The Sikh Diaspora in Vancouver: Three Generations Amid Tradition, Modernity, and Multiculturalism, defined 'Indo-Canadians' as persons born in Canada of Indian subcontinent origins. Kavita A. Sharma, author of The Ongoing Journey: Indian Migration to Canada, wrote that she used 'Indo-Canadians' to only refer to those of origins from India who have Canadian citizenship. Otherwise she uses "Indo-Canadian" in an interchangeable manner with 'South Asians' and 'East Indians'. Priya S. Mani, the author of "Methodological Dilemmas Experienced in Researching Indo-Canadian Young Adults’ Decision-Making Process to Study the Sciences," defined "Indo-Canadian" as being children of persons who immigrated from South Asia to Canada. Exploring brown identity, Widyarini Sumartojo, in a PhD thesis, wrote that, while "'South Asian'...refers to a broader group of people, it is often used somewhat interchangeably with 'East Indian' and 'Indo-Canadian.'"
Despite the diversity in ethnic groups and places of origin among South Asians, previously the term 'South Asian' had been used to be synonymous with 'Indian'. The Canadian Encyclopedia stated that the same population has been "referred to as South Asians, Indo-Canadians or East Indians," and that people referred to as 'South Asian' view the term in the way that those from European countries might view the label 'European.'" According to Nayar, "Many Canadian-born South Asians dislike the term because it differentiates them from other Canadians." Martha L. Henderson, author of Geographical Identities of Ethnic America: Race, Space, and Place, argued that the 'South Asian' term "is meaningful as a defining boundary only in interactions between South Asians and mainstream Canadians." Henderson added that, because of the conflation of 'South Asian' and 'Indian', "t is very difficult to isolate the history of Asian Indians in Canada from that of other South Asians."
History
Late 19th century
The Indo-Canadian community began to form around the late 19th century, pioneered by men, the great majority of whom were Punjabi Sikhs—primarily soldiers of the Sikh Regiment and Punjab Regiment but also from farming backgrounds—with some Punjabi Hindus and Punjabi Muslims, and many of whom were veterans of the British Indian Army. Canada was part of the British Empire, and since India was also under British rule, Indians were also British subjects. In 1858, Queen Victoria had proclaimed that, throughout the Empire, the people of India would enjoy "equal privileges with white people without discrimination of colour, creed or race."A 2025 study revealed that Indians were present in Eastern Canada since the country’s founding, as the 1871 Canadian census identified 11 people of Indian origin, with 8 persons from Ontario, and the remaining 3 from Nova Scotia. The early presence in Ontario and Nova Scotia demonstrates that Indians were part of Canadian society decades earlier than previously recognized, and in regions outside the well-known Pacific migration routes to British Columbia. The largest number of people lived in Rochester Township, in an area with a significant Black settlement.
In 1897, contingents of Sikh soldiers, from the Sikh Regiment and Punjab Regiment, participated in the parade to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in London, England. On their subsequent journey home, they visited the western coast of Canada, primarily British Columbia, which—because of its very sparse population at the time—the Canadian government wanted to settle in order to prevent a takeover of the territory by the United States.
Upon retiring from the army, some soldiers found their pensions to be inadequate, and some also found their land and estates back in India were being utilized by money lenders. Deciding to try their fortunes in the countries they had visited, these men joined an Indian diaspora, which included people from Burma through Malaysia, the East Indies, the Philippines, and China. The vanguard was able to find work within the police force and some were employed as night-watchmen by local firms. Others started small businesses of their own. Such work would provide wages that were very high by Indian standards.
They were guaranteed jobs by agents of large Canadian companies such as the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Hudson's Bay Company. Having seen Canada for themselves, Punjabis sent home letters to their fellow countrymen, recommending them to come to the 'New World'. Though initially reluctant to go to these countries due to the treatment of Asians by the white population, many young men chose to go upon the assurance that they would not meet the same fate.
Government quotas were also established to cap the number of Indians allowed to immigrate to Canada in the early 20th century. This was part of a policy adopted by Canada to ensure that the country retained its primarily European demographic, and was similar to American and Australian immigration policies at the time. These quotas only allowed fewer than 100 people from India a year until 1957, when it was marginally increased. In comparison to the quotas established for Indians, Christians from Europe immigrated freely without quotas in large numbers during that time to Canada, numbering in the tens of thousands yearly.
Early 20th century
Throughout history up to the present day, the majority of South Asian Canadians have been of Indian origin. Following their brief passage through British Columbia in 1897, Canada had an estimated 100 persons of Punjabi Sikh origin by 1900, concentrated in the western province. Canada's first relatively major wave of South Asian immigration—all men arrived in Vancouver in 1903. These migrants had heard of Canada from Indian troops in Hong Kong, who had travelled through Canada the year prior on their way to celebrate the coronation of Edward VII.Upon arrival to BC, the immigrants faced widespread racism by white Canadians, most of whom feared that migrant workers would work for less pay and that an influx of immigrants would threaten their jobs. As a result, a series of race riots targeted the Indian immigrants—as well as other Asian groups, such as the Chinese railroad workers, and Black Canadians—who were beaten up by mobs of angry white Canadians, though often met with retaliation.
A notable moment in early Indo-Canadian history was in 1902 when Punjabi Sikh settlers first arrived in Golden, British Columbia to work at the Columbia River Lumber Company. These early settlers built the first Gurdwara in Canada and North America in 1905, which would later be destroyed by fire in 1926. The second Gurdwara to be built in Canada was in 1908 in Kitsilano, aimed at serving a growing number of Punjabi Sikh settlers who worked at nearby sawmills along False Creek at the time. The Gurdwara would later close and be demolished in 1970, with the temple society relocating to the newly built Gurdwara on Ross Street, in South Vancouver.
As a result, the oldest existing Gurdwara in Canada today is the Gur Sikh Temple, located in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Built in 1911, the temple was designated as a national historic site of Canada in 2002 and is the third-oldest Gurdwara in the country. Later, the fourth Gurdwara to be built Canada was established in 1912 in Victoria on Topaz Avenue, while the fifth soon was built at the Fraser Mills settlement in 1913, followed a few years later by the sixth at the Queensborough settlement in 1919, and the seventh at the Paldi settlement, also in 1919.
Attracted by high Canadian wages, early migrants temporarily left their families in search of employment in Canada. In 1906 and 1907, a spike in migration from the Indian subcontinent took place in British Columbia, where an estimated 4,747 arrived, at around the same time as a rise in Chinese and Japanese immigration. This rapid increase in immigration totaled 5,179 by the end of 1908. With the federal government curtailing the migration, fewer than 125 South Asians were permitted to land in BC over the next several years. Those who had arrived were often single men and many returned to British India or British Hong Kong, while others sought opportunities south of the border in the United States, as the 1911 Canadian Census later revealed the South Asian Canadian population had declined to 2,342 persons or 0.03 percent of the national population.
In support of the vast white population who did not want Indians to immigrate to Canada, the BC government quickly limited the rights and privileges of South Asians. In 1907, provincial disenfranchisement hit the South Asians, who were thus denied the federal vote and access to political office, jury duty, professions, public-service jobs, and labour on public works. The next year, the federal government put into force an immigration regulation that specified that migrants must travel to Canada through continuous journey from their country of origin. As there were no such system between India and Canada—which the Canadian government knew—the continuous-journey provision therefore prevented the endurance of South Asian immigration. Separating Indian men from their families, this ban would further stifle the growth of the Indo-Canadian community. Another federal law required new Indian immigrants to carry $200 in cash upon arrival in Canada, whereas European immigrants required only $25.
In November 1913, a Canadian judge overruled an immigration department order for the deportation of 38 Punjabis, who had come to Canada via Japan on a regularly scheduled Japanese passenger liner, the Panama Maru. They were ordered deported because they had not come by continuous journey from India nor did they carry the requisite amount of money. The judge found fault with the two regulations, ruling both of their wording to be inconsistent with that of the Immigration Act and therefore invalid. With the victory of the Panama Maru, whose passengers were allowed to land, the sailing of the SS Komagata Maru—a freighter carrying 376 South Asian passengers —took place the following year in April. On 23 May 1914, upon the eve of the First World War, the Komagata Maru candidly challenged the 'continuous journey' regulation when it arrived in Vancouver from Punjab. However, although invalidated for a couple months, the 'continuous journey' and $200 requirement provisions returned to force by January 1914, after the Canadian government quickly rewrote its regulations to meet the objections it encountered in court. The ship had not sailed directly from India; rather, it came to Canada via Hong Kong, where it had picked up passengers of Indian descent from Moji, Shanghai, and Yokohama. As expected, most of the passengers were not allowed to enter Canada. Immigration officials consequently isolated the ship in Vancouver Harbour for 2 months before it was forced to return to Asia. Viewing this as evidence that Indians were not treated as equals in the Empire, they staged a peaceful protest upon returning to India in Calcutta. The colonial authorities in Calcutta responded by dispatching a mixed force of policemen and soldiers, and a subsequent violent encounter between the two parties resulted in the deaths of several protestors. These events would give further evidence to South Asians of their second-class status within the Empire.
By 1914, it is estimated that the number of South Asians in British Columbia fell to less than 2,000. Canada would eventually allow the wives and dependent children of South Asian Canadian residents to immigrate in 1919. Though a small flow of wives and children would be established by the mid-1920s, this did not offset the effect of migration by South Asian Canadians to India and the U.S., which saw the reduction of the South Asian population in Canada to about 1,300 by the mid-1920s.
One of the earliest immigrants from India to settle in Alberta was Sohan Singh Bhullar. Like other Indo-Canadians in Alberta at the time, Bhullar attended the local Black church. The two communities formed close ties due to the marginalization of both communities by wider society. Bhullar's daughter is famed Jazz musician Judi Singh.