The Nameless Collective Podcast

The first challenge to Canada’s discriminatory “Continuous Journey” regulation took place on February 14, 1908, less than a month after the regulation was put on the books. Six South Asian passengers onboard the S.S. Aorangi made their voyage to Canada via Fiji but were denied entry because they did not come to Canada via their country of origin. In this episode, Milan, Paneet and Naveen – with special guest Anita Singh – share ins...

Special Podcast Alert: The impact of the Farmer’s protest has reverberated around the world. This week Milan, Paneet and Naveen examine The Trolley Times - a multilingual publication recording the stories of the protest through poetry, editorial, and journalism. They discuss The Trolley Times as part of a longer tradition of revolutionary publications like Gadhar Dj Goonj and highlight the nuanced look at gender and caste that sets...

S03E05: The Indian independence movement was seen as seditious and illegal, and supporting this movement and any anti-British activism from abroad was monitored closely. 

We reached really deep into the past for this one. Two freedom movements based in vancouver that no one ever really heard about, because sometimes, they couldn't reach quorum. 

In Season 2 of The Nameless Collective Podcast, we talk about crime & criminality, and wh...

S02E04: Activist. Preacher. Harvard graduate. Anti-British. We follow the intriguing life of Teja Singh; from an anti-British activist in a 3-piece suit living in Vancouver and travelling across North America, to a quiet life as a sant or holy person in India in the 1960s. Complementary to Teja Singh was Ghadar revolutionary Balwant Singh. The political activist was a priest at the Vancouver gurdwara who was active in Indian indepe...

S02E03: Who really was William C. Hopkinson? We try to demystify the complicated man and his obsession with the local South Asian community. And did he really fool anyone when he put on a costume and spied on the community at the gurdwara? We also follow a trail of documents and diaries to fill in the blanks and figure out what happened to the children of Bibi Harnam Kaur and Bhai Bhag Singh. Aaannnddd we solve a mystery! 

In Season...

S02E02: Described as the "smartest dressed East Indian in Vancouver" Bela Singh was a British informant accused of several crimes, including murdering community leader and ghadarite Bhai Bhag Singh. We discuss the violent, bloody altercations between Team Bela Singh (Pro-British) and Team Bhai Bhag Singh (Pro-Ghadarites/Pro-Indian Independence) in this episode. 

In Season 2 of The Nameless Collective Podcast, we talk about crime & c...

We're back! Season 2 of The Nameless Collective Podcast is here after a long hiatus, and we've got five episodes full of surprises, stories, and a few mysteries. This season, we talk about crime & criminality, and what constitutes criminal behaviour amongst early South Asian settlers in and around Vancouver, Canada. In Episode 1, we look at a book of mugshots, which include Louis Seville, listed as a "Hindoo" in the file, and accus...

Blackface. Model minorities. Bill 21. Racism. It's the Canadian Federal Election, and The Nameless Collective discuss the burden of representation, the country's first racialized candidate for Prime Minister, the repercussions of calling out racism, generational differences in understanding racism, and of course, the Blackface incident.

The Nameless Collective Podcast SPECIAL EPISODE 03 is a Canadian History podcast episode produced...

A federal building in Vancouver is officially un-named, and a mural emerges in its place. This special episode of The Nameless Collective Podcast discusses politics of un-naming the H.H. Stevens federal building in Vancouver, and the Indigenous and South Asian artist collaboration that points to new ways of looking at history in a post-apology world. And we tackle the problematic history of the word, taikey, a Punjabi word for Firs...

Although we're working on Season 2 of The Nameless Collective Podcast, we decided to release a special episode to comment on the media storm around Sikh identity in Canada, race, and representation in the news. Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is the catalyst to this conversation, but we know that this type of stagnant storytelling by Canadian media has been going on for a long, long time. Like 104 years to be exact.

The Nameless Co...

When do people of colour enter the archive? "When we’re buying property or breaking the law." In 1914, Mewa Singh shot William C. Hopkinson at the Provincial Courthouse of British Columbia. He turned himself in to the police, and was hanged for the murder. His crime gives him a place in the official archive, but his name and spirit reverberate across Metro Vancouver in gurdwaras and homes, and across the halls of the old courthouse...

Hopkinson is overwhelmed. The passengers retaliate. This episode we wrap up our conversation about the Komagata Maru and share stories about what happened to the passengers once they returned home to India. But that's not all. We also walk you through our first visit to Library and Archives Canada - the national archive based in Ottawa, where we uncover more than a few dusty newspapers.

The Nameless Collective Podcast Season 1 is a ...

What's there left to say about the Komagata Maru, 103 years after the boat was turned away from Canada on July 23? Naveen, Milan and Paneet discuss what was happening on the shore and behind-the-scenes with the Canadian government as the Komagata Maru ship made its way from Asia to Vancouver in 1914.

The Nameless Collective Podcast Season 1 is a Canadian History podcast produced by JugniStyle.com and Manjot Bains, with additional so...

Spy games. This week The Nameless Collective analyze declassified government documents regarding a New Year’s Eve gathering in Vancouver’s Chinatown. Names are called, lines are drawn, traitors identified. The year is 1913.

The trio also attempt to put names to the nameless in a photograph from Harnam Kaur’s cremation, and speculate on who is present in the photograph and why they were there. The photograph sets the scene for key ch...

Conspiracy. Revolution. Independence. The Ghadar movement was a revolutionary call for Indian independence from the British Empire in the early 1900s. And while there were Ghadar branches throughout the world, in this episode we highlight the critical role Vancouver played in this movement. We also discuss the newspapers that were furiously published by revolutionaries (and confiscated by the Canadian government) and the nameless, ...

The first Sikh wedding at the Second Avenue Gurdwara (Khalsa Diwan Society) in Vancouver was also an intercultural union. Annie Wright and Munsha Singh fell in love and were married in 1909, and made history as not only the first couple to be married at the gurdwara, but also as the first noted marriage between a Caucasian Christian and a South Asian Sikh in Canada. We piece together the story of their relationship, and the people ...

Detention, deportation, and the prevention of family reunification. In Episode 2 we chat about the lives of the few South Asian women allowed into Vancouver between 1905 and 1920. We also chat about that time Bhag Singh got the community to burn their British military service medals.

The Nameless Collective Podcast is a Canadian history podcast hosted by Naveen Girn, Milan Singh & Paneet Singh - a trio of historians, researchers and...

Welcome to The Nameless Collective Podcast, hosted by Naveen Girn, Milan Singh & Paneet Singh - a trio of historians and storytellers fascinated with South Asian and Canadian History. In the first episode, we set the context for early South Asian migration to Vancouver, Canada. The “White Canada Forever” movement, race riots, Sant Teja Singh, and Chiquita bananas make an appearance.

Episode References:

• Mary Alpuche from the Beliz...