The degree of association between Indian immigrants and East Asians in BC

[timotee_allouch-chantepie]

A concept that in my life I have found is much more prevalent in North America then in Europe, both white majority continents, is the concept of “minorities” as a group. While in Europe, ethnic, religious, and racial groups are often spoken of, and often in a discriminatory way, they are rarely squeezed into one group under the banner of “minorities”. This “squeezing” is something that I have found to be far more prevalent in the USA and Canada. In his chapter, Ward talks about the impact that Chinese, and also to a lesser extent, Japanese presence in British Columbia had on the treatment Indians were subjected to upon their arrival. Ward talks about the prevalent Sinophobia in the region and how it naturally overflowed into the Indian population as it was automatically integrated into a broader Asian group.

Ward also talks about how Indians immigrants created associations and an Indian community, in order to fulfill their cultural and spiritual needs. These associations also found themselves politically engaged in notably two missions: “self-defense in Canada and Indian nationalism.” (Ward 81) Through this, they made their identities known and engaged themselves to defend this identity.

I find this to be interesting as it can be brought back to what I said about the concept of minorities. When we associate nationalities, ethnicities…, we stifle individual identities. However, paradoxically, this creates the counter effect of these groups wanting to make themselves seen as who they truly are in their identity. I find this example that Ward gives us through his chapter to be particularly interesting, as despite the Indian population representing a minuscule fraction of the British Columbian population compared to the Chinese population of the province, at a time where non-white immigration was much more limited, they were still subject to this grouping. This idea is still incredibly relevant to this day, as we see various minorities throughout the Western world truly claim their identities in response to this “minority association” they had historically gone through in the form of similar treatments, discriminations or legally or socially segregated neighborhoods.