The Prime Minister’s Office and Calgary MP Jason Kenney, secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity, were warned that a backlash could result from an apology made outside the House of Commons for the 1914 Komagata Maru incident.

Sahib Thind and Jasbir Sandhu, president and spokesperson, respectively, for the Professor Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation of Canada, conveyed the warning in an e-mail to the PMO and Kenney on August 1, two days before Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed an audience at an Indo-Canadian community event in Surrey.

Sandhu told the Straight that the foundation didn’t receive a response to its e-mail, which strongly advised that Harper announce a date for an official apology in Parliament at the event.

On August 3, Harper apologized in Bear Creek Park for the Komagata Maru incident. Community members denounced the apology immediately after the prime minister left the stage.

The Komagata Maru was a chartered ship carrying mainly Sikh migrants that arrived in Vancouver’s harbour on May 23, 1914. Most passengers were barred from disembarking. After a two-month standoff, the ship was forced to return to India, where some passengers were shot and killed by British soldiers.

The Komagata Maru ’s voyage challenged discriminatory Canadian legislation that required immigrants from Asia to make a continuous journey to Canada.

“We will continue working with the community to have a sincere, respectful apology,” Sandhu said in a phone interview. Sandhu declined to comment when asked whether the Indo-Canadian community expects to receive such an apology under Harper’s Conservative government.

Thind and Sandhu noted in their e-mail to the PMO and Kenney that there is “chatter in the community” that there will be no apology in the House of Commons.

“We do not want to cause any embarrassment to our good leader,” Thind and Sandhu stated in their message, referring to Harper.

They also noted that they “understand the pulse of the community” regarding the Komagata Maru issue, adding: “We have started to hear rumblings from the community members as well as the opposition parties.”