MISSISSAUGA: Gerrard India Bazaar and Pape Avenue Gurdwara in Toronto were the first two places around which the Indian community grew in Ontario and beyond.
Though the Punjabis had started coming to British Columbia from the 1880s and 1890s, they had hardly any presence in Ontario till the late 1940s.
Actually, the arrival of Punjabis in Ontario started only in the late 1940s when they were granted the right to citizenship. At that time, India also got independence. So many young Indians, mostly Punjabis, started coming to Toronto – either from British Columbia or as students from India.
Among the first Indians to come to Toronto was a young man named Jimmy Gill. He moved to Toronto from British Columbia in 1946.
Jimmy Gill, who had first come to British Columbia from a village near Moga and then moved to Ontario, became the brain behind the first-ever Sikh gurdwara to come up at Pape Avenue in Toronto in 1969.
Long-time GTA resident Kuldeep Singh Rai, who was appointed the first general secretary of Pape Avenue Gurdwara and knew Jimmy Gill very well, recalls, “Jimmy and his brother came to British Columbia. They moved to Toronto in 1946. And when Indians were granted the citizenship rights in the late 1940s, the two brothers went back to India to get married (because earlier Indians couldn’t bring their wives to Canada) and return to Toronto in early 1950.”
In the 1950s, some Indian students started coming to Toronto and other universities for higher studies. This trend continued through the 1960s as well.
By the mid-1960s, there were dozens of Indians and their families in Toronto. They used to meet at one another’s homes for special occasions – such as Diwali, Vaisakhi and gurpurabs.
Recalls Rai, “The early Indians (they were all Punjabis) formed two groups – one was the Dr Khanna group and the other was the Dr Niranjan Singh Basarke group. The first group used to celebrate various occasions at the Eglinton Community Centre in Toronto and the second group members met at the Pape Community Centre to celebrate Diwali and other special days.”
As more Indians landed in Toronto in the mid-1960s, the small but growing community felt to the need to have a place of its own for celebrating special days.
“So around 1965, the community started looking for a place to own. An interim committee was formed to search for a suitable place,” says Rai.
There were 30-odd Indian families, mostly professionals, in Toronto at that time.
“In 1968, we had gathered at the Eglinton Community Centre for some celebration when Gurpuran Singh Waraich brought the famous Punjabi singer Jagat Singh Jagga to the venue. Jagga was visiting Canada from India and he was staying with Gurpuran Singh Waraich who was a friend of Jimmy Gill. We were all surprised to find Jagga in our midst,” says Rai who himself came to Canada from England in July 1968.
And then Jagga did something very unexpected.
“Jagga first spoke and then asked the community to raise money for building a gurdwara in Toronto. Can you believe that we raised $5,000 on the spot? It was a huge amount in those days,” narrates Rai.
As Guru Nanak’s 500th birth anniversary was less than a year away, the interim committee formed to explore the possibility of buying a place for the community, quickly found a closed shop that was on sale.
That shop became Ontario’s first-ever Indian place of worship – known as Pape Avenue Gurdwara which is also called Shiromani Sikh Society Toronto.
“When Jimmy Gill and others found that this shop is on sale, they quickly struck a deal with the owner. The front was a closed shop, the back was a horse stable. There were two halls upstairs – one for meetings and the other for dance classes, etc.
“The price of this place was $27,000. We made the down payment of $5,000 and our monthly mortgage was about $171.72”
Many prominent community artisans such as Surjit Singh Rehal, Mohinder Singh Plaha and Pritam Singh Sian quickly undertook renovation work.
Within three to four months, Ontario’s first gurdwaras was ready for opening in early 1968.
“Jimmy was appointed the first president and I was made the first general secretary of the gurdwara. Since Jimmy’s brother was working with the SGPC in India, he organized to send the first bir (copy) of the holy Guru Granth Sahib to us. The Vaisakhi of 1969 was our first celebration at Pape Avenue Gurdwara. It was a full house,” Rai remembers.
He also remembers how the gurdwara’s weekly collection of $30 to $50 from the devotees in those days was just about enough to pay the mortgage.
“When we celebrated the first gurpurab at Pape Avenue Gudwara, there was a big rush as people came from far-off places to offer prayers.”
The opening of the first-ever gurdwara in Ontario coincided with the start of the arrival of Indian immigrants in huge numbers.
“Many new immigrants used to come straight to the gurdwara from the airport as they found a place to stay. At one time, we had 20-odd new immigrants staying at the gurdwara,” laughs Rai.
As the Indian community quickly grew in numbers in the 1970s and started spreading to the west side, new gurdrwaras came up in Mississauga and Brampton.
But Pape Avenue Gurdwara will always remain etched in history as the first Indian religious place to come up in Ontario.
READ NEXT: Mississauga’s Prithpal Chagger who has solemnised nearly 2,000 marriages
Thank you bringing to light the significant contributions my uncle Jimmy Gill ..affectionately known as Jimmy Ta to Shelley Lucky and myself. Our father was Major Gill. Together the Gill Brothers established the first Indian Grocery Store, India Trading Co., and Indian Restaurant- India House. They were involved in both retail and wholesale of food products to other small businesses.; and were importers of jewellery and giftware from India and other countries. They were instrumental in sponsoring and bringing the Gill Family to Toronto where many went on to live in Mississauga and Malton and Mt. Albert, Ontario. The foundation from which the Gill Family prospered in business and politics one could say was ‘proudly’ built on the established name of the ‘ Gill Brothers’ . Sadly we were too young to carry on theirs legacy, other than proudly carrying on by living by the values and principles and sharing stories with the newer generation. We have cherished memories and stories from Jimmy Ta’s and Daddy’s history and humble beginnings.. and that of our great uncle Baba Meva Singhs journey to Canada on the Komagatmaru ship. Thank you.