$2.50 2014 - Komagata Maru 100th Anniversary


$2.50 2014 - Komagata Maru 100th Anniversary
Added by Alain Martineau
General Description : Layout: Booklet of 6 stamps
Denomination: $2.50 (international rate)
Illustration: Mark Summers
OFDC: Vancouver BC
In the spring of 1914, a sad, two-month drama unfolded in Vancouver. The 376 passengers of the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru arrived in Burrard Inlet on May 23, but officials allowed only a handful into Canada – 20 returning residents, along with the ship’s doctor and his family. The remainder waited on board in difficult conditions for some 60 days until the ship, most of its passengers and their hopes for a better life were escorted away from the harbour by the Royal Canadian Navy.
The arrival of the Komagata Maru passengers – all British subjects and mostly Sikhs from Punjab, India – presented a major challenge to regulations aimed at barring Asian immigrants from Canada. Those regulations included a “continuous journey” clause and stipulated that immigrants must have $200 in cash – an obligation most found impossible to meet. Forced to leave Vancouver on July 23, the passengers returned to India, where approximately 20 of them were shot and others imprisoned. The regulations they boldly faced would change only 33 years later.
Issued on the first day of Asian Heritage Month, this stamp commemorates the struggle of the Komagata Maru passengers and celebrates the contribution of the South Asian community, and indeed all Asian Canadians, to Canada’s diversity and prosperity.
Face value $2.50 Canadian Dollar
Catalog code (Michel) CA 3103
Catalog code (Scott) CA 2732
Catalog code Canada post # 413932111; Yvert et Tellier CA 2978 Stanley Gibbons CA 3028
Stamp colour Multicolor
Stamp use Commemorative stamp
Print run 250,000 booklets
Issue date 01/05/2014
Designer Louis Gagnon, Paprika, Montréal QC
Paper type TRC - Tullis Russell Coatings
Print technique Lithography in 5 colours
Printed by Canadian Bank Note
Perforation Simulated perforation
Height 38.00 mm
Width 31.00 mm
Catalog prices No catalog prices set yet

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