A Secular Human Rights Organization

For over 30 years the Professor Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation has advocated to recognize and help address the historic wrongs committed against South Asian migrants who were denied access to Canada over the past century (with particular focus on the Komagata Maru incident). In the years since, the Foundation has fought for justice and human rights for all Canadians, and marginalized communities everywhere.

Prof. Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation of Canada is a secular non-political human rights organization. Prof. Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation of Canada is committed to an open society where mutual respect and understanding are honoured, differences are respected and traditions are cherished.

The Komagata Maru tragedy is a dark chapter in Canada’s history. The Prof. Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation lobbied for a respectful and official apology in the Canadian Parliament for more than two decades.

In 2002, Prof. Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation presented a petition to the Canadian Parliament signed by thousands of Canadians demanding an official acknowledgement and apology for this unfortunate incident on Canadian soil. The Komagata Maru Tragedy remained an open grievance of the community. The healing process for the community would only begin with a respectful official apology in the Canadian Parliament.

In 2008 the Prof. Mohan Singh Foundation engaged the British Columbia Government. Members of the foundation delivered a petition to the government of the time, and this action elicited an official apology from the Government of BC. 

In 2014 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke at the foundation’s annual festival in Surrey’s Bear Creek Park. PM Trudeau promised an official apology in the Canadian House of Commons. The apology was made in May of 2016, and will forever be written in Hansard – the official record of the Canadian Parliament. The Professor Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation was lauded by the PM during the apology, as the key driver in pushing Canada to apologize. Members of the foundation were in attendance in the Parliamentary Gallery to witness this historic righting of wrongs.

The foundation holds ‘Mela Gadri Babiyan Da’ at Bear Creek Park in Surrey, BC, the first weekend of August each year. This is the largest event of its kind outside of India, and routinely host between 60000 and 80000 attendees. The festival attracts premiere Punjabi performers, local and national politicians, and many different food and other festival kiosks.