Gurdwaras in Canadaਕੈਨੇਡਾ ਦੇ ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰੇ

Gurdwaras in Canada are the Sikh temples of a community that arrived in British Columbia in the early 1900s and now numbers 771,790 people, 2.12 percent of Canada's population in the 2021 census. From the first gurdwara at Golden in 1905 to today's suburban temples, they anchor Sikh life across the country.

What are the gurdwaras of Canada?

A gurdwara is the Sikh place of worship, literally the doorway to the Guru. Its prayer hall centres on the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scripture honoured as the eternal Guru, and its langar hall serves a free vegetarian meal to everyone who comes. Canada's gurdwaras range from a white wooden temple of 1911 in Abbotsford to some of the largest Sikh congregations in North America, in Surrey, British Columbia and in Brampton and Mississauga, Ontario. This guide explains their history, introduces the best known temples, and answers the questions visitors ask most.

How did Sikhs first come to Canada?

Sikh soldiers of the British Indian Army passed through Canada in 1897 on their way to Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, and Kesur Singh, a Risaldar Major among them, is credited as the first Sikh settler in Canada. Word of British Columbia's lumber mills and farms travelled back to Punjab, and between 1904 and 1908 about 5,000 South Asian migrants, almost all of them Sikh men, arrived on the west coast. They worked in sawmills, on railway crews and on farms, and in 1906 their community founded the Khalsa Diwan Society in Vancouver, the first Sikh Canadian organisation.

The welcome did not last. British Columbia stripped Sikhs of the vote in 1907, anti Asian riots swept Vancouver that year, and Ottawa's continuous journey rule of 1908, which demanded a direct voyage from India that no shipping line offered, was written to keep Indians out. Its most famous test came in 1914, when the Komagata Maru reached Vancouver with 376 passengers, mostly Sikhs, and was held in the harbour for two months before being forced back across the Pacific. Families were separated for decades: wives and children could not join the pioneers until 1919, and the vote was not restored until 1947.

The first gurdwaras: Golden, Vancouver and Abbotsford

The first gurdwara in Canada was built by Sikh mill workers at Golden, British Columbia, in 1905, and it served the community until it was destroyed by fire in 1926. The second opened on 19 January 1908 at 1866 West 2nd Avenue in Vancouver, built by the Khalsa Diwan Society, and that temple was the community's religious, social and political headquarters for decades; when it closed in 1970 the society moved to its present Ross Street temple in South Vancouver. The third, the Gur Sikh Temple at Abbotsford, opened on 26 February 1911, built by pioneer Sikhs who carried lumber from a local mill to raise it, and it still stands: designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2002, it is the oldest existing gurdwara in the country and the only gurdwara outside India to hold such national historic status.

Where do Canada's Sikhs live today?

The 2021 census counted 771,790 Sikhs in Canada, the second largest Sikh population of any country after India and, at 2.12 percent, the largest national share in the world. Ontario holds the biggest provincial population, 300,435, followed closely by British Columbia with 290,870, where Sikhs are 5.92 percent of the province, and Alberta with 103,600. More than half of all Canadian Sikhs live in just four cities: Brampton (163,260), Surrey (154,415), Calgary (49,465) and Edmonton (41,385). Their gurdwaras, from the Ontario Khalsa Darbar at Mississauga, the largest and busiest in Canada, to Surrey's Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, are the working centres of that growth: prayer halls, Punjabi schools, sports and community kitchens under one roof.

All Gurdwaras in Canada

Sikh Society of Calgary, Alberta - the city's first gurdwara, opened 13 April 1979 after a groundbreaking ceremony in April 1976

Gurdwara Guru Nanak Darbar, Montreal (LaSalle), Quebec - Montreal's landmark gurdwara, built in 2001 with a 172-foot Nishan Sahib

Sikh Society of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba - the province's first, oldest and largest gurdwara, society formed 1969, permanent home built from 1983

Akali Singh Gurdwara, Vancouver, British Columbia - established in April 1952 after the split from the Khalsa Diwan Society, now at 1890 Skeena Street

Individual entries for Canada's best known gurdwaras are added to this guide one by one, beginning with the historic temples of British Columbia. Each entry is a full page of its own, with the temple's history, its congregation and how to visit.

Khalsa Diwan Society (Ross Street Gurdwara), Vancouver, British Columbia - the oldest Sikh society in Greater Vancouver, founded 1906, in its Arthur Erickson building of 1970 with the Komagata Maru Museum

Gur Sikh Temple, Abbotsford, British Columbia - the oldest existing gurdwara in North America, opened 1911, and a National Historic Site of Canada

Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, Surrey, British Columbia - founded 1973 on Scott Road, one of the largest gurdwaras in North America with 37,000 members recorded in 2004

Ontario Khalsa Darbar (Dixie Gurdwara), Mississauga, Ontario - started 1978 and opened 1989, described as the largest and busiest gurdwara in Canada

Shromani Sikh Society Gurdwara (Pape Gurdwara), Toronto, Ontario - the first gurdwara in Ontario, opened in the late 1960s in a former horse stable at 269 Pape Avenue

Nanaksar Gurdwara Gursikh Temple, Edmonton, Alberta - opened 1976, the largest gurdwara in Alberta at 30,000 square feet on a 90 acre site

Nagar kirtans and Vaisakhi in Canada

Every spring, Canada's gurdwaras take to the streets for Vaisakhi, the festival that marks the founding of the Khalsa in 1699, with nagar kirtan processions in which the Guru Granth Sahib is carried through the city and hymns are sung along the route. The Canadian government officially recognised the Vaisakhi nagar kirtan in 1995. Vancouver's parade runs through the Punjabi Market district and has drawn thousands, Surrey holds its own large parade, and in Ontario the procession organised by the Ontario Gurdwara Committee travels from Malton to Rexdale in Toronto. Everyone is welcome to watch, to walk along, and to eat: free food is served along the route, as langar teaches.

Visiting a gurdwara in Canada

You do not need to be Sikh, to book, or to pay. Cover your head, remove your shoes, and sit on the floor of the prayer hall for as long as you wish; when the service ends, stay for langar, the free vegetarian meal served to everyone. Historic temples such as Abbotsford's Gur Sikh Temple also welcome visitors who come simply to see the building and its small museum displays. The largest congregations are busiest on Sundays and on Vaisakhi, in mid April, when arriving early is wise.

What was the first gurdwara in Canada?

The first gurdwara in Canada was built at Golden, British Columbia, in 1905 by Sikh workers at the Columbia River Lumber Company, and it stood until a fire destroyed it in 1926. The oldest gurdwara still standing is the Gur Sikh Temple at Abbotsford, opened in 1911 and now a National Historic Site of Canada.

How many Sikhs live in Canada?

The 2021 census counted 771,790 Sikhs in Canada, 2.12 percent of the national population, the largest share of any country in the world. The biggest communities are in Ontario and British Columbia, and the largest city populations are Brampton, Ontario (163,260) and Surrey, British Columbia (154,415).