February

Settlers overcame the hardship of immigrant life by sticking together and supporting each other. In time, some of them were able to buy their own farms and set up their own businesses. The Sikh owned Mayo Lumber Company with its open employment policy was a lifeline for early Canadian immigrants – both Sikh and non-Sikh alike. The Company (est. 1917) supported the community in other ways by building for example, a Sikh Shrine (Gurdwara) at Paldi in 1918. Strict immigration laws initially prevented Sikh women and children entering Canada. So Sikh men had to endure many years of separation from their families. When women were eventually allowed in, they, like the men before them, tried to fit in with Canadian life by adopting some of the customs of their new home such as western dress.