Post by DakuSingh on Oct 29, 2008 14:32:19 GMT
Early Sikhs fought for Canada
FESTIVAL FOCUS ON SIKH THEMES
The 6th annual Spinning Wheel Film Festival will showcase Sikh life through visual arts and seminars this weekend.
"The idea is to tell our stories through films and photos," said T. Sher Singh, fest co-founder with Birinder Singh Ahluwalia.
Film reveals story of Singhs who fought in WWI and died before enjoying citizen rights
A filmmaker has made a historical discovery even proud Sikh-Canadians apparently weren't aware of – before their forebears were allowed to immigrate to Canada, nine of their numbers joined the Canadian Army and fought in World War I in France and Belgium.
Gray, an Ottawa-based filmmaker, is chronicling their lives in a documentary called Sikh-Canadian Heroes of the First World War, to be released later this year.
It's already caused such a buzz that a portion of it will be shown at the Sikh-themed Spinning Wheel Film Festival at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto this weekend.
"No one knew that Sikhs fought in the Canadian Army as early as World War I," said Guelph lawyer and writer T. Sher Singh, one of the founders of the annual festival. "It's a lesson in history for us, too."
The first Sikhs are believed to have come to Canada after British Empire soldiers travelled to London in 1897 to take part in Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee.
Sikh soldiers who made the trip returned to India via Canada and some settled here, finding work in lumber mills and later in railway building.
There were a lot of restrictions placed on them – they couldn't bring their families here from India, or vote, or leave the city they lived in without permission.
He wanted to find their surnames so that he could trace their later family trees in Canada. But checks of many records drew a blank.
Eventually he got the idea to look up military records of the period, and struck gold.
Gray found that nine Sikhs, each with the ubiquitous Singh surname, enlisted in Canada after the imperial declaration of war against Germany and her allies on Aug. 4, 1914.
.
Eight served overseas, with two killed in action. Another died later of his battlefield wounds. Four others were wounded, one at Vimy Ridge.
Gray knows there's no chance the Sikh veterans are still alive but he'd love to talk to their descendants. "I want to find their families and tell the complete story."
He's hoping publicity for the film will produce some leads in the Sikh community.
.
FESTIVAL FOCUS ON SIKH THEMES
The 6th annual Spinning Wheel Film Festival will showcase Sikh life through visual arts and seminars this weekend.
"The idea is to tell our stories through films and photos," said T. Sher Singh, fest co-founder with Birinder Singh Ahluwalia.
Film reveals story of Singhs who fought in WWI and died before enjoying citizen rights
A filmmaker has made a historical discovery even proud Sikh-Canadians apparently weren't aware of – before their forebears were allowed to immigrate to Canada, nine of their numbers joined the Canadian Army and fought in World War I in France and Belgium.
Gray, an Ottawa-based filmmaker, is chronicling their lives in a documentary called Sikh-Canadian Heroes of the First World War, to be released later this year.
It's already caused such a buzz that a portion of it will be shown at the Sikh-themed Spinning Wheel Film Festival at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto this weekend.
"No one knew that Sikhs fought in the Canadian Army as early as World War I," said Guelph lawyer and writer T. Sher Singh, one of the founders of the annual festival. "It's a lesson in history for us, too."
The first Sikhs are believed to have come to Canada after British Empire soldiers travelled to London in 1897 to take part in Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee.
Sikh soldiers who made the trip returned to India via Canada and some settled here, finding work in lumber mills and later in railway building.
There were a lot of restrictions placed on them – they couldn't bring their families here from India, or vote, or leave the city they lived in without permission.
He wanted to find their surnames so that he could trace their later family trees in Canada. But checks of many records drew a blank.
Eventually he got the idea to look up military records of the period, and struck gold.
Gray found that nine Sikhs, each with the ubiquitous Singh surname, enlisted in Canada after the imperial declaration of war against Germany and her allies on Aug. 4, 1914.
.
Eight served overseas, with two killed in action. Another died later of his battlefield wounds. Four others were wounded, one at Vimy Ridge.
Gray knows there's no chance the Sikh veterans are still alive but he'd love to talk to their descendants. "I want to find their families and tell the complete story."
He's hoping publicity for the film will produce some leads in the Sikh community.
.
