Akali Singh Gurdwara, Vancouverਅਕਾਲੀ ਸਿੰਘ ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ, ਵੈਨਕੂਵਰ

Akali Singh Gurdwara is the Sikh temple at 1890 Skeena Street in East Vancouver, British Columbia, run by the Akali Singh Sikh Society. The society was established in April 1952, when Sikhs in Vancouver and Victoria broke away from the Khalsa Diwan Society over a question of religious practice, and the present Skeena Street building dates from construction begun in 1981. It is one of the entries in our guide to Gurdwaras in Canada.

What is Akali Singh Gurdwara?

Akali Singh Gurdwara is a gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship: the word means the doorway to the Guru, and the prayer hall centres on the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scripture honoured as the eternal Guru, while the langar kitchen serves a free vegetarian meal to everyone who comes. The Akali Singh Sikh Society is a not-for-profit organisation whose temple is a spiritual and community centre in East Vancouver, with religious classes, hymn singing and the explanations of the hymns known as Shabad Vichar. By the 1960s it was one of only three gurdwaras in Metro Vancouver, alongside the two Khalsa Diwan Society temples, and in 2017 the Akali Singh Sikh Temple was named to British Columbia's Register of Historic Places as one of fifteen recognised South Asian historic places. Its story stands next to that of the older Khalsa Diwan Society (Ross Street Gurdwara) in Vancouver.

Why did Akali Singh split from the Khalsa Diwan Society?

The split came out of a disagreement about who could govern a gurdwara. In the early 1950s a serious division opened in the Canadian Sikh community when the Khalsa Diwan Society elected a clean-shaven Sikh to its management committee. Most of the early Sikh immigrants to Canada were not Khalsa Sikhs, and a majority of the society's members were clean-shaven, but a faction objected to a non-Khalsa Sikh holding management office. The factions in Vancouver and Victoria broke away from the Khalsa Diwan Society and established their own society, Akali Singh, which opened in 1952. Around the time it opened, the new gurdwara did not permit men without facial hair to sit on its management committee, though they could serve on its auditing committee, and some of its significant donors were themselves clean-shaven.

The first home on East 11th Avenue

A history of the society's first site records that the Akali Singh Sikh Society was established in April 1952, and that its first home was at 467 East 11th Avenue, a building that had originally been an Evangelical church. The society rented the church at first, then bought the property and established its Gurdwara Sahib there, and it worshipped on 11th Avenue for three decades, until 1983. When the society moved to its bigger Skeena Street site, it resolved to sell the 11th Avenue property only to a religious or charitable organisation, refusing developers because a place of worship in the city core could have become a pub. A newly formed Hindu society, Shree Vidya Pitha, was looking for a home but lacked funds, and the Akali Singh society sold it the site at a significantly reduced price; the Shri Mahalakshmi Temple has stood there since 1990, and its community still honours Akali Singh members at its big functions.

Building the Skeena Street gurdwara

For its new home the society took a bigger piece of land, 3.8 acres at 1890 Skeena Street, at the edge of Vancouver's east side, and construction of the current gurdwara began in 1981, a building valued at about 1.5 to 2 million dollars. Before the move, the Akali Singh gurdwara's revenue had been equal to that of the Khalsa Diwan Society. Around the time of the new construction, a takeover of the gurdwara was attempted; the society prevented it by restricting election participation to people who were not members of other Sikh societies. A severe membership split followed and the congregation became smaller, but the temple on Skeena Street endured, and it has now served East Vancouver for more than forty years.

Akali Singh today: classes, kirtan and seva

The society describes the gurdwara's daily life in its own words: hymns from the Guru Granth Sahib are sung by trained singers with harmonium and tabla, the congregation listens, and scholars of Gurbani explain the hymns in Shabad Vichar so the sangat can grasp their meaning. Through its religious classes and activities the society fosters community and spirituality, teaching equality, humility and truthfulness, and encouraging selfless service for the benefit of all, Sikh or not. Everyone is welcome at its worship and activities, whether they come for spiritual guidance, to learn about Sikhism, or simply to connect with a welcoming community.

How do you visit Akali Singh Gurdwara?

You visit at 1890 Skeena Street, Vancouver, BC V5M 4L3, in East Vancouver; the society's phone number is 604 254 2117 and its site is akalisinghgurdwara.ca. Everyone is welcome, Sikh or not, and no booking or payment is needed. Cover your head, remove your shoes, wash your hands, sit in the prayer hall, and stay for langar, the free vegetarian meal open to all.