South Asian Canadian historical discrimination & impacts today
On July 5, 2022, Vancouver City Council endorsed an interim report to acknowledge and address the historical discrimination and ongoing racism against people of South Asian Canadian descent.
As the next step, we reached out to broader South Asian Canadian communities to learn more about their experiences and desired actions, in order to develop recommendations to be presented to Council. Our learnings will further inform the City’s anti-racism action plan and related City projects.
We recognize that not everyone identifies with the term ‘South Asian Canadian’. For more information, please visit our frequently asked questions.
Next steps:
Following the completion of the detailed engagement report and historical research, staff will bring a final report to Vancouver City Council to summarize what we have learned and recommend relevant City of Vancouver actions to address historical and ongoing discrimination, including plans for a future apology.
Updates:
Thank you so much for your participation! Our engagement has concluded this Spring 2025.
Here is our Early Engagement Findings Summary with some preliminary insights from the survey and mapping engagement. This summary is not extensive and does not include any open-ended, written survey responses or in-person session contributions.
We will continue analyzing all engagement data and will share back a final, detailed engagement report of what we learned.
Documents
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October 2025 - Early Engagement Findings Summary (PDF 10.4MB)
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July 2022 - Engagement Summary
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Interim Report (2022): Historical Discrimination against People of South Asian Canadian Descent (PDF, 597KB)
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Motion B.10 (2019): Historical Discrimination Against People of South Asian Descent in Vancouver (PDF, 24.5KB)
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Report (2023): Commemorating the Komagata Maru Incident: Secondary Naming of a Street (PDF, 1.65MB)
Videos
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This video discusses the history of racism against South Asian people in Vancouver and its ongoing impact. The City of Vancouver is working with South Asian community members to address the impacts of racism, and the communities have identified key actions the City must take to make Vancouver safe and fair for South Asian people. These include listening to and following the lead of South Asian community members, hearing from more South Asian people to understand how unfair treatment impacts them, and creating impactful actions to end racism against South Asian people.
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ਇਹ ਵੀਡੀਓ ਵੈਨਕੂਵਰ ਵਿੱਚ ਦੱਖਣੀ ਏਸ਼ੀਆਈ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਵਿਰੁੱਧ ਨਸਲਵਾਦ ਦੇ ਇਤਿਹਾਸ ਅਤੇ ਇਸ ਦੇ ਚੱਲ ਰਹੇ ਪ੍ਰਭਾਵਾਂ ਬਾਰੇ ਚਰਚਾ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈ। ਸਿਟੀ ਆਫ ਵੈਨਕੂਵਰ ਨਸਲਵਾਦ ਦੇ ਪ੍ਰਭਾਵਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਹੱਲ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ ਦੱਖਣੀ ਏਸ਼ੀਆਈ ਭਾਈਚਾਰੇ ਦੇ ਮੈਂਬਰਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਕੰਮ ਕਰ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ, ਅਤੇ ਭਾਈਚਾਰਿਆਂ ਨੇ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਮੁੱਖ ਕਾਰਵਾਈਆਂ ਦੀ ਪਛਾਣ ਕੀਤੀ ਹੈ ਜੋ ਸਿਟੀ ਨੂੰ ਵੈਨਕੂਵਰ ਨੂੰ ਦੱਖਣੀ ਏਸ਼ੀਆਈ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਲਈ ਸੁਰੱਖਿਅਤ ਅਤੇ ਨਿਰਪੱਖ ਬਣਾਉਣ ਲਈ ਲਾਜ਼ਮੀ ਕਰਨੀਆਂ ਹੋਣਗੀਆਂ। ਇਹਨਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਦੱਖਣੀ ਏਸ਼ੀਆਈ ਭਾਈਚਾਰੇ ਦੇ ਮੈਂਬਰਾਂ ਦੀ ਗੱਲ ਸੁਣਨੀ ਅਤੇ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਦਿੱਤੇ ਸੰਕੇਤਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਫਾਲੋ ਕਰਨਾ, ਇਹ ਸਮਝਣ ਲਈ ਕਿ ਅਨੁਚਿਤ ਵਿਵਹਾਰ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਕਿਵੇਂ ਪ੍ਰਭਾਵਿਤ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈ ਵਧੇਰੇ ਦੱਖਣੀ ਏਸ਼ੀਆਈ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਦੇ ਵਿਚਾਰ ਸੁਣਨੇ, ਅਤੇ ਦੱਖਣੀ ਏਸ਼ੀਆਈ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਦੇ ਵਿਰੁੱਧ ਨਸਲਵਾਦ ਨੂੰ ਖਤਮ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ ਪ੍ਰਭਾਵਸ਼ਾਲੀ ਕਾਰਵਾਈਆਂ ਕਰਨਾ ਸ਼ਾਮਲ ਹੈ।
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यह वीडियो वैंकूवर में दक्षिण एशियाई लोगों के खिलाफ नस्लवाद के इतिहास और इसके चल रहे प्रभाव पर चर्चा करता है। वैंकूवर सिटी नस्लवाद के प्रभावों को दूर करने के लिए दक्षिण एशियाई समुदाय के सदस्यों के साथ काम कर रहा है, और समुदायों ने उन मुख्य कार्रवाइयों की पहचान की है जिन्हें सिटी को वैंकूवर को दक्षिण एशियाई लोगों के लिए सुरक्षित और निष्पक्ष बनाने के लिए अवश्य करना होगा। इनमें दक्षिण एशियाई समुदाय के सदस्यों की बात सुननी और उनके द्वारा दिए गए संकेतों को फॉलो करना, यह समझने के लिए कि अनुचित व्यवहार उन्हें कैसे प्रभावित करता है अधिक दक्षिण एशियाई लोगों के विचार सुनने, और दक्षिण एशियाई लोगों के खिलाफ नस्लवाद को समाप्त करने के लिए प्रभावशाली कार्रवाई करना शामिल है।
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Canada Place now has the secondary, honorary name of Komagata Maru Place as part of our ongoing efforts towards cultural redress of historic discrimination towards the South Asian Canadian community in Vancouver.
Signage for Komagata Maru Place was created by artist Jagandeep (Jag) Kaur Nagra (https://www.jagnagra.com/ ), a queer, Punjabi, visual artist passionate about art accessibility, community development, and combatting LGBTQ+ stigma in the South Asian community. Her designs for the Komagata Maru Place signage contain layers of iconography and are based on two well-known archival photographs. The works were produced by the City of Vancouver’s Public Art Program in collaboration with Social Policy, Engineering and Street, Traffic & Electrical Operations departments. The guiding values within the Public Art Program extend from Culture|Shift- Vancouver’s 10-year arts & culture plan. One of these priorities centers commitments to equity and anti-racism by promoting cultural redress and advancing community-led cultural initiatives.
You can view the Komagata Maru Place signage in downtown Vancouver at the intersections of Canada Place & Burrard Street and Canada Place & Thurlow Street. This location was chosen because it is the site closest to where the Komagata Maru ship was stationed in Burrard Inlet in 1914.
Video production credit: David Markwei Productions