B.C. museum exhibit shines light on shared sacrifice of Punjabi, Canadian troops
Global News
'There were thousands of people in Flanders' fields during an iconic moment of Canadian history that have been left out traditionally,' historian Steven Purewal said.
The curator of an exhibit at the Museum of Surrey is hoping to shine a light on the shared historical contribution and sacrifice of Punjabi and Canadian troops.
Steven Purewall is the curator of the Duty, Honour & Izzat exhibit and author of a book of the same name looking at that that history and its absence from Canada’s national story.
“There were thousands of people in Flanders’ fields during an iconic moment of Canadian history that have been left out traditionally in classrooms and museums,” he told Global News.
“It’s almost like selective amnesia, it’s not included in the story.”
Purewal points to the second battle of Ypres in 1915, one of the Canadian military’s first defining moments, as an example.
Canadian troops were lauded for holding off a German advance, despite repeated gas attacks, in a moment that’s become iconic of Canada’s First World War story.
“We’re told that Canada came together as a nation on the battlefields of Europe,” Purewal said.
“What the Punjabi soldiers did during the First World War was it really enabled that story to unfold — without the participation of Punjabi soldiers, Ypres would have been lost. The Canadian forces wouldn’t actually have been able to hold the line at Ypres because it was the Punjabis who came to reinforce them.”