Harbour Green Park

Bute Street leads straight into Harbour Green Park, stretching along Coal Harbour. The city has many parks and green spaces, not to mention the incredible Stanley Park, which alone is worth a full day’s visit. From here, you can see its eastern tip, beckoning you from a distance. If you’d like to find out more about how to discover it and the places not to miss in this vast expanse of nature, go to the Vancouver tips section of our website. You’ll find all the information you need. But let’s get back to Harbour green park. Its strong suit is undoubtedly the splendid view it offers on the North Shore mountains . This long strip of grass offers you a variety of possibilities to enjoy the space and contemplate. So, enjoy the sea breeze, rest on a bench, throw a rug on the ground for an improvised picnic, or wander along the pier… You’ll find a spray fountain for summer refreshment, a restaurant, and various works of art, such as this 3 meter tall boathouse in the far aisles. You’ll also find a memorial to the Komagata Maru incident. If that doesn’t ring a bell, it’s a major event in Canadian immigration history, widely transcribed in popular culture. The Komagata Maru was a Japanese ship that sailed from Hong Kong to Vancouver in 1914. It carried 376 passengers, subjects of the British Crown, originally from India. Upon arrival in Vancouver’s Coal Harbour, the ship was not allowed to dock. 24 people were admitted, but the remaining 352 had to turn back and embark on the long journey back to India. The passengers were in violation of a 1908 law designed to halt Indian immigration. The law stipulated that immigrants could not enter Canadian territory if they had stopped over before arriving. Only an uninterrupted journey from their country of origin would give them legal access to Canadian borders. Since such a journey was impossible from India, the government protected itself from what was then known as the Hindu invasion. In this way, Canada excluded a whole part of the world, at a time when a record 400,000 people a year immigrated to the country, mainly from Europe. This law remained in effect until 1947. But the story doesn’t end there. When the Komagata Maru was refused entry to the port, passengers rioted, throwing coal and bricks at the police. A passenger support committee was formed, and the case was taken to the British Columbia Supreme Court. The Court was unanimous, declaring that it had no business interfering with the decisions of the Department of Immigration and Colonization. The ship turned around and arrived in Calcutta on September 27, 1914. Barely into port, the Komagata Maru was stopped by a British warship, and the passengers were placed under surveillance. The government of the British Raj declared the passengers outlaws and political agitators. 19 passengers were killed, and those who were unable to escape were arrested and imprisoned, and kept under arrest for the duration of World War I. A tragedy that was widely cited at the time to highlight inequalities in access to Canadian immigration. In 2006, the government established a program of historical recognition for communities. That same year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized to the Chinese-Canadian community for immigration policies that discriminated against the Chinese population until the middle of the 20th century. He also announced that the Canadian government was acknowledging its wrongdoing in the Komogata Maru incident, and would be working with Canada’s Hindu population on how best to bring this dark period in their history to light. If you’d like to find out more about the subject, don’t hesitate to visit the memorial, located a few meters ahead on the right.