Canada India trade and recent visit of PM Harper
The democratic nations of Canada and India have a vibrant business partnership and recorded bilateral trade amounting to CAD$ 5.2 billion in 2011. Canada mainly exports vegetables, precious stones, wood pulp and machinery to India and its top import items from the South Asian nation include iron and steel, woven apparel, precious metals and stones and organic chemicals. The two countries have committed to increasing annual trade to CAD$15 billion by 2015.
In November 2012, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited India for six days and signed a number of agreements with Indian officials to boost cooperation and partnership in the areas of information and communication technology, air transport and defense among others.
Komagata Maru affair
In 1914, Indian Punjabis chartered a Japanese-owned ship named S.S. Komagata Maru to sail to Canada for immigration. But when they arrived at Vancouver, Canadian immigration officials did not allow them to enter the country citing a law which stipulated that a ship had to travel continuously from its port of origin to Canada without stopping anywhere to get permission to dock in the country. At that time, it was not possible for ship starting from many parts of Asia to accomplish this.
The Canadian officials did not allow the passengers of the Komagata Maru to leave the docks. After two months, the ship was sent back to India. When the ship arrived at Calcutta, British police tried to arrest the leaders of the group. This led to violence and 20 passengers were shot dead. This event strengthened the anti-British feeling in India.
Prominent Indian Canadian Celebrities
Indo-Canadians have risen to prominence in many fields in Canada including politics, sports and entertainment. In the 2011 federal elections, eight Indo-Canadians were elected to the Canadian parliament. They are Jinny Sims and Jasbir Sandhu from NDP and Bal Gosal, Parm Gill, Devinder Shorey, Deepak Obhrai, Tim Uppal and Nina Grewal from Conservative.
Indian Canadians are also making a name in ice hockey. Four of them have made it to the NHL. They include Prab Rai, Kevin Sundher, Jujhar Khaira and the famous Manny Malhotra of the Vancouver Canucks.
Other prominent Indian-Canadians in public life include porn star Sunny Leone who was born in Canada, novelist Rohinton Mistry, stand-up comedian Russell Peters, movie actress Lisa Ray and singer Raghav.
Air India Kanishka Crash
In June 1985, Air India’s Kanishka Boeing 747 was brought down by a bomb en route to London from Toronto. The incident killed all 329 passengers on the flight most of them Canadian citizens.
It is believed that a terrorist group named Babbar Khalsa International masterminded the attack. The only person convicted for the bombing was a Canadian electrician named Inderjit Singh Reyat who was sentenced to prison for five years after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
