The City of New Westminster apologizes to the South Asian community and descendants of the Komagata Maru

The City of New Westminster is renaming two places along its Fraser River waterfront to commemorate the 1914 Komagata Maru incident.

A statement from the city says its Queensborough River Walk as well as the pedestrian ferry docks in Queensborough and Downtown will be renamed.

The changes follow an apology from council in October 2019 that found New Westminster's actions in 1914 supported discriminatory, racist and exclusionary laws that affected the passengers during the three months they were trapped aboard the steamship moored in Vancouver's harbour.

The Komagata Maru carried nearly 400 South Asian passengers -- all British subjects hoping to immigrate to Canada, but it was denied supplies and passengers were barred from landing before being forced to return to India, where officers of the British raj fired on those aboard, killing 20.