The Editor,
I am one of the descendants of the Komagata Maru and the spokesperson for the Descendants of Komagata Maru Society.
My grandfather came in this ship and his name was Baba Puran Singh Janetpura. Before the election I had a couple of meetings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and I asked him, “If you form the government, would you apologize for the Komagata Maru incident?”
He said, ” Yes, Mr. Toor.”
Trudeau’s office sent us the official invitation to witness the Komagata Maru apology in the House of Commons. We went, sat in the speaker gallery front of the prime minister and listened as Trudeau stood up from his chair and apologized to the descendants of the Komagata Maru and the South Asian community.
He was facing us when he apologized. He gave us a respectful and a formal apology in the House of Commons. After the apology, the descendants went to a separate room and then took pictures with the Trudeau.
As the descendants of Komagata Maru families we are very happy as during the tragedy those 376 passengers suffered a lot and their struggle and sacrifice was recognized in the House of Commons. We are very happy and saying thank you to the Honourable Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his whole team who kept their promise.
We want to say thank you to the South Asian media, Canadian media, South Asian community and Canadian brothers and sisters who supported us.
Thank you,
Raj Toor
(Descendant of Komagata Maru and spokesperson for the Descendants of Komagata Society.)
