CHANDIGARH: A Calgary professor is documenting the role Sikhs have played in shaping the history of Alberta, a province in Western Canada. Michael Hawley of Mount Royal University is gathering stories and documents from the Sikh community dating back the early 1900s.
This survey is part of a multi-year study on Sikh migration, settlement and experiences in southern Alberta being conducted by Hawley. The Southern Alberta Sikh History Project documents the history of the Sikhs in southern Alberta from the early 20th century to the present. The project aims to record the patterns of Sikh migration and settlement in southern Alberta, to understand the nature of Sikh religious and cultural associations, to understand Sikhs’ ongoing connections with Punjab and to understand how Sikhs have represented media, politics and law in southern Alberta over time. It will also provide an opportunity for Sikhs to tell their own stories of their experiences in southern Alberta.
This survey is one part of this larger project. This survey is the largest and most comprehensive survey of its kind launched in Canada. The questions in the survey address a range of issues including origins, migration and settlement, education and employment, belonging and inclusion, religious activity, identity, language, and connections with Punjab.
“The third largest concentration of Sikhs in Canada is right here in Calgary and southern Alberta,” CBC News quoted Hawley, who is researching on Sikhs for 15 years, as saying. It’s a history that has never been documented, said Hawley.
He started gathering passengers’ list, census information, voter lists, directories, birth registrations, marriage and death certificates along with photographs and other documents. “I started to uncover the history, lots of Sikhs in the Crowsnest Pass as early as 1903 and others who came to Calgary in 1908,” CBC News quoted Hawley as saying. He has interviewed Sikh families and pioneers to document their stories.
Hawley said Sikhs worked as miners, farmers and lumber workers. The information Hawley has gathered will be included in a digital archive.
“Sikhs helped to build Alberta. When you think of it that way, Sikhs are as much a part of Alberta history as any other group and it really challenges this idea that Sikhs are migrants or immigrants. No, they were here and they were founders and builders,” said Hawley. He added members of a Sikh family in Calgary are now 6th generation.
Hawley’s work has been welcomed by the Sikh community in Calgary, who are following his work closely. Many say it gives them an extra connection to the place they were born or now call home. “It’s really interesting and intriguing for us as a community,” CBC News quoted Roop Rai as saying. He describes Hawley’s work as a gift to the Sikh community.