Gill, Sewa Singh

Interview with Sewa Singh about his move to Canada as well as his father's story of working in Canada in the early 1900s. Sewa Singh spent his childhood tutoring and helping out at school, as well as working on his 15-acre family farm. His father came to Canada in 1906, to work on the railroad, while sending money frequently to his family in India. After losing his job, he went to the United States and worked as a farm labourer and lived in a barn. He returned to India to attend to his family in 1932. He returned to Canada in 1935. When he came back, Sewa Singh was with him. Sewa Singh and his father stayed in San Francisco for two months before they finally reached Canada. Sewa Singh found a job as a janitor in a sawmill in North Vancouver. Both of them lived in the bunkhouses with 12 others and one cook. Sewa then got another job at the mill and a raise of 5 cents. Sewa Singh always kept short hair and was clean shaven. Sewa married a Canadian woman and settled down. This is a full-length interview recorded on June 27, 1996 conducted by Nirakshik Chand in Abbotsford, BC.