Today marks the 110th anniversary of the Shaheedi of Bhai Mewa Singh, the first Sikh Shaheed (martyr) on Canadian soil. This was a time of heightened tensions between the Sikh community and the government, who enacted outright racist policies against non-white immigrants. Following the Guru Nanak Jahaz (Komagata Maru) incident, tensions peaked when government agents perpetrated a mass shooting at Gurdwara Sahib Khalsa Diwan Society in Vancouver. Facing further threats to his life and towards his community, Bhai Mewa Singh shot and killed William C. Hopkinson, the immigration officer believed to have orchestrated the mass shooting and oppression of the Sikh community. Bhai Mewa Singh immediately surrendered and was subsequently hanged on Jan 11, 1915.
After pleading guilty at his trial, Bhai Mewa Singh gave the following testimony: “My religion does not teach me to bear enmity with anybody, nor had I any enmity with Mr. Hopkinson. He was oppressing poor people very much. I, being a staunch Sikh, could no longer bear to see the wrong done both to my countrymen and the Dominion of Canada. This is what led me to take Hopkinson’s life and sacrifice my own life. And I, performing the duty of a true Sikh and remembering the name of God, will proceed towards the scaffold with the same amount of pleasure as a hungry baby goes towards his mother.”
Today many Sikhs revere Bhai Mewa Singh as a Shaheed and the City of New Westminster has declared January 11 as Bhai Mewa Singh Day.