Haq and History at the Golden BC Museum

November 7, 2023 – December 16, 2023

Through panel texts, visitors to Haq and History learned about Punjabi immigrants working in sawmills in the 1920s; heard about travel from Punjab to Canada in the 1950s; learned about some of the challenges of sourcing Indian food in Vancouver in the 1960s; and discovered memories of life in the now-abandoned town of Paldi in the 1940s.

Haq and History was the latest collaboration between the Royal BC Museum and the South Asian Studies Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley.

Golden’s claim to fame was that it was home to the first Sikh temple in North America in the early 1900s.

Read the announcement of the opening at BC History Canada

Detail of a fire insurance map for the Columbia River Lumber Co. The Sikh temple was among the buildings in yellow near top right. (Library and Archives Canada)

Research Added by Golden Museum and Archives to the Travelling Exhibit

Relevant Articles

Sikh temple was established around 1905 to encourage workers to stay, but town down in 1927 after mill closed

To read the full CBC News article on the history of South Asian immigrants to the Golden B.C. area, click here.

First Sikh temple in North America

To read the full Golden BC Museum article, click here.

Punjabi Canadian Legacy Project Phase 2

 

To view the Phase 2 Golden Interviews on the South Asian Canadian Heritage website, click here.

 

To view the Punjabi Canadian Legacy Project Phase 2, History Across the Regions Project (HARP) 2017-2018, click here.