Disclaimer: The point of these stories is to uncover missed and hidden tales that many new generation Canadians are unaware of and overlook. The storied histories of people, ethnicities, neighborhoods are never told and for good reason. The information presented will be sourced and open to full discussion. This 3 Part series will uncover The Indus Connection - The Bind that Punjab (Informally Khalistan), India and Sri Lanka have to the Canadian Government, RCMP & CSIS. I've done my best to piece the significant information together in a timeline that allows the reader to understand these events clearer. (Information is cited; avoiding going full in depth)
Kesur Singh was a Sikh officer of the 5th Cavalry who represented his regiment at Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee celebrations in London in 1897. This photo of him featured in The Navy and Army Illustrated of 10th Dec 1897. The description says 'He has on many occasions earned the praise of his superiors. He wears the medal and clasp for the Jowaki Expedition of 1877-78 and the medal with two clasps for Afghanistan (1878-80) where he was specially commended for devotion and courage on several occasions, and received the Order of Merit, and a special certificate from lord Roberts for his work at Sherpur.

Kesur Singh & The First Sikh Canadian Settlers in Canada - Ties to the British Raj & How the Queen Elizabeth II Awarded him for his Valor in the British Indian Cavalry (1897)

Kesur Singh, a Risaldar Major in the British India Army, is credited with being the first Sikh settler in Canada. He was amongst a group of Sikh officers who arrived in Vancouver on board Empress of India in 1897. They were on the way to Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Sikhs found employment in laying the tracks of the Canadian Pacific Railway, in lumber mills and mines. Though they earned less than white workers, they made enough money to send some of it to India and make it possible for their relatives to immigrate to Canada.
Indian Cavalry Passing the House of Parliament for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee (1897)
A notable moment in early Sikh history in Canada was in 1902 when settlers first arrived in Golden, British Columbia to work at the Columbia River Lumber Company. This was a theme amongst most early Punjabi Sikh settlers in Canada to find work in the agricultural and forestry sectors in British Columbia. Punjabi Sikhs became a prominent ethnic group within the sawmill workforce in British Columbia almost immediately after initial arrival to Canada.
Punjabi Sikhs in Whitehorse, Yukon (April,1906)
The early settlers in Golden built the first Gurdwara (Sikh Temple) in Canada and North America in 1905, which would later be destroyed by fire in 1926. The second Gurdwara to be built in Canada was in 1908 in Kitsilano (Vancouver), aimed at serving a growing number of Punjabi Sikh settlers who worked at nearby sawmills along False Creek at the time. The Gurdwara would later close and be demolished in 1970, with the temple society relocating to the newly built Gurdwara on Ross Street, in South Vancouver.
As a result, the oldest existing Gurdwara in Canada today is the Gur Sikh Temple, located in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Built in 1911, the temple was designated as a national historic site of Canada in 2002 and is the third-oldest Gurdwara in the country. Later, the fourth Gurdwara to be built Canada was established in 1912 in Victoria on Topaz Avenue, while the fifth soon was built at the Fraser Mills (Coquitlam) settlement in 1913, followed a few years later by the sixth at the Queensborough (New Westminster) settlement in 1919, and the seventh at the Paldi (Vancouver Island) settlement, also in 1919.
Early Sikh pioneers also settled in the Abbotsford area in 1905 and originally worked on farms and in the lumber industry. By 1906, there were about 1,500 Sikh workers living in Canada, among about 5,000 East Indians in total. Although most of the immigrants from South Asia at the time were Sikhs, local ignorance of Eastern religions led to them frequently being assumed to be Hindus. About 90% of these Sikhs lived in British Columbia. While Canadian politicians, missionaries, unions and the press were opposed to Asian workers. British Columbia industrialists were short of labor and thus Sikhs were able to get an early foothold at the turn of the 20th century in British Columbia.
As with the large numbers of Chinese workers already present in Canada, many white workers resented those immigrants and directed their ill-will toward the Sikhs, who were easily recognized by their beards and turbans. Punjabis were accused of having a caste system, an idea that goes against the foundations of Sikhism. They were portrayed as being riddled with trachoma and as being unclean in general. To strengthen these racist characterizations, a song called White Canada Forever was created. All this eventually led to a boat of Sikhs arriving in Vancouver being sent to Victoria. In 1907, the year that Buckam Singh came to British Columbia from Punjab at the age of fourteen, Punjabis were forced to avoid the Anti-Oriental Riots of 1907 by staying indoors.
Punjabi & Canadian Boy Drinking Soda (1972)
Most of the Sikhs in Canada in 1907 were retired British army veterans and their families. These Punjabis had proved themselves as loyal soldiers in the British colonies in Asia and Africa. However, the Canadian Government did not prevent the use of the illegal scare tactics being used to monitor immigration and prevent Sikhs from seeking employment, and this soon resulted in the cessation of all Indian immigration to Canada. The Canadian Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier claimed that Indians were unsuited to life in the Canadian climate. However, in a letter to the viceroy, The Earl of Minto, Sir Wilfred voiced a different opinion, stating that the Chinese were the least adaptable to Canadian ways, whereas Sikhs, which he mistakenly referred to as Hindus, were the most adaptable. This sentiment changed after Buckam Singh's role in World War 1, which enabled more Sikhs to migrate to Canada.
Takeaways During this Period:

1. The Immigration Act, 1910 came under scrutiny when a party of 39 Indians, mostly Sikhs, arriving on a Japanese ship, the Komagata Maru, succeeded in obtaining habeas corpus against the immigration department's order of deportation. The Canadian Government then passed a law intended to keep labourers and artisans, whether skilled or unskilled, out of Canada by preventing them from landing at any dock in British Columbia. As Canadian immigration became stricter, more Indians, most of them Sikhs, travelled south to the United States of America.
2. The Komagata Maru Incident involved the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru, on which a group of people from British India attempted to immigrate to Canada in April 1914, but most were denied entry and forced to return to Budge Budge, Calcutta (present-day Kolkata). There, the Indian Imperial Police attempted to arrest the group leaders. A riot ensued, and they were fired upon by the police, resulting in the deaths of 22 people.
3. Buckam Singh - Buckam Singh enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the spring of 1915. Buckam Singh was one of the earliest known Sikhs living in Ontario at the time as well as one of only 9 Sikhs known to have served with Canadian troops in the First World War. Private Buckam Singh served with the 20th Canadian Infantry Battalion in the battlefields of Flanders during 1916. Here, Buckam Singh was wounded twice in battle and later received treatment at a hospital run by one of Canada's most famous soldier poets the Doctor Lt. Colonel John McCrae. While recovering from his wounds in England, Private Buckam Singh contracted tuberculosis and spent his final days in a Kitchener, Ontario military hospital, dying at age 25 in 1919. His grave in Kitchener is the only known First World War Sikh Canadian soldier's grave in Canada. Despite being forgotten for ninety years and never getting to see his family again, Buckam Singh is now being celebrated as not only a Sikh hero, but a Canadian hero.

Legacy of Buckam Singh (1972)

The Events Leading Up To an Independent Punjab State Precursor to Operation Bluestar - Post Independence Period of India (1956)

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Punjabi Suba Speeches (1956)
The Punjabi Suba Movement After Independence from British Rule (1956)
The Punjabi Suba movement was a long-drawn political agitation, launched by Punjabi speaking people (mostly Sikhs) demanding the creation of autonomous Punjabi Suba, or Punjabi-speaking state, in the post-independence Indian state of East Punjab. The movement is defined as the forerunner of Khalistan movement.
Borrowing from the pre-partition demands for a Sikh country, this movement demanded a fundamental constitutional autonomous state within India. Led by the Akali Dal (a centre-right Sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920.), it resulted in the formation of the state of Punjab. The state of Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh were also created and some Pahari-majority parts of the East Punjab were also merged with Himachal Pradesh following the movement. The result of the movement failed to satisfy its leaders due to regions in Northern Haryana with Punjabi speaking and Sikh populations like Jind, Karnal, Ambala, Fatehabad and Sirsa being left out of Punjab. Many Sikh leaders saw this as falling short of the promise of a fully autonomous Sikh State that they felt was promised to them by Nehru and Gandhi in exchange for joining the Indian Union.
In the 1950s the Punjabi Suba movement for linguistic reorganization of the state of Punjab and status for the Punjabi language took place, which the government finally agreed to in 1966 after protests and recommendation of the States Reorganization commission. The state of East Punjab was later split into the states of Himachal Pradesh, the new state Haryana and current day Punjab.
The process of Sikh alienation from the national mainstream was set in motion shortly after Independence due to the communalism of national and regional parties and organization including the RSS, Jan Sangh, and the Arya Samaj, exacerbated by Congress mishandling and local politicians and factions. According to Indian general Afsir Karim, many observers believed that separatist sentiments began in 1951 when Punjabi Hindus disowned the Punjabi language under the influence of radical elements, and "doubts on the concepts of a Punjabi Suba" created mutual suspicion, bitterness, and further misunderstanding between the two communities. The 1966 reorganization left the Sikhs highly dissatisfied, with the unresolved status of Chandigarh and the distribution of river waters intensifying bitter feelings.
While the Green Revolution in Punjab had several positive impacts, the introduction of the mechanized agricultural techniques led to uneven distribution of wealth. The industrial development was not done at the same pace of agricultural development, the Indian government had been reluctant to set up heavy industries in Punjab due to its status as a high-risk border state with Pakistan. The rapid increase in the higher education opportunities without adequate rise in the jobs resulted in the increase in the unemployment of educated youth. The resulting unemployed rural Sikh youth were drawn to the militant groups, and formed the backbone of the militancy.
After being routed in 1972 Punjab election, the Akali Dal put forward the Anandpur Sahib Resolution in 1973 to address these and other grievances, and demand more autonomy to Punjab. The resolution included both religious and political issues. It asked for recognizing Sikhism as a religion It also demanded that power be generally devaluated from the Central to state governments. The Anandpur Resolution was rejected by the government as a secessionist document. Thousands of people joined the movement, feeling that it represented a real solution to demands such as a larger share of water for irrigation and the return of Chandigarh to Punjab.
The 1978 Sikh-Nirankari clashes had been within the Sikh community, but the pro-Sant Nirankari stance of some Hindus in Punjab and Delhi had led to further division, including Jan Sangh members like Harbans Lal Khanna joining the fray, who, in a protest against holy city status for Amritsar, raising inflammatory slogans like "Kachha, kara, kirpan, bhejo inko Pakistan" ("those who wear the 5Ks (Sikhs), send them to Pakistan"), led to aggressive counter demonstrations.

Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Elliot Trudeau Visits India; Prime Minister of India, Indira Ghandi Visits Canada - The India-Canada Bonds Stay in Tact (1971)

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Indira Gandhi of India and Pierre Trudeau of Canada-walk through the lobby of the new $3 million Shaw festival Theatre at Niagar-on-the-Lake last night during intermission. After the play; Mrs. Gandhi joined Trudeau and his wife; Margaret; on state for presentation of a plaque.
Prime minister Pierre Trudeau touched down in India. For five days in January, 1971, Pierre Elliott Trudeau toured the country, rode a camel, petted a bullock, went up the Ganges and into a locomotive factory, visited the tombs of Indian notables, saw the Taj Mahal and wore a hat that would have made a Rajput proud. He then sat down with the emerging, redoubtable Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to discuss the state of the world and the sorry state of Canada’s economic relationship with India. Even nuclear weapons were discussed in 1971 with the Canadian prime minister in a press conference opining “there is no expressed desire on (the Indian) part to explode such a (nuclear) device nor I believe the technological ability to do so.” Three years later, in May 1974, the Indians did explode such a device – cheekily codenamed Smiling Buddha – in the Rajasthan desert, using plutonium from the research reactor Canada had built for it in 1956 for peaceful purposes. The bilateral relationship dropped into a diplomatic pit with every leader since expressing sorrowful but hopeful words that things would improve.
The one issue not on Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s agenda was anything to do with the Punjab and Sikhs. At the time, both were good news stories. The Punjab, home to most Sikhs, was the centre of an agricultural Green Revolution with new strains of wheat moving India from a food-deficient country to one of self sufficiency, with exports contemplated. Economically, Sikhs were the main beneficiaries and their biggest political problem was whether or not their beards met the requirements of flying fighter jets for the Indian Air Force. The emergence of India as a legitimate and serious geopolitical counterweight to China, not only in Asia but globally, has dramatically changed the bilateral agenda. Over the years, very little energy was expended by either India or Canada to put the relationship on a footing reflective of this changed status. There have been large and small bumps on that road since. Sikhs have been a significant part of the Canadian mosaic since the late 19th century. Their numbers increased dramatically with the mid-1970s changes to the Immigration Act and today they represent close to half of the 1.2 million Canadians with ancestry from the subcontinent. Their wealth, energy and self-deprecating humour, along with a monotheistic theology, were dominant features and over time the use of Sardar and Sardarji became terms of appreciation for the community as a whole. Towards the end of European colonial dominance, they were a military mainstay of the British Raj. As one Indian researcher wrote, “the success-story of the Sikh community as a whole has taken the form of a deep-rooted anxiety in the collective minds of the non-Sikh majorities especially the Hindus of India.” The present prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, has achieved political success exploiting this and other anxieties alongside the promotion of Hindu ascendency.
IMPORTANT EXCERPT BY CSE AFTER AIR INDIA BOMBING (1985):India’s government knows more of what goes on in the Canadian Sikh community than the combined forces of the RCMP, CSIS and CSE. This was evident in the aftermath of the 1985 Air India bombings and it was rare if a visit by the Indian High Commissioner (he a Sikh) to the Department of Foreign Affairs did not provide details on some nefarious action within the community.

The Path to Operation Bluestar: How the Assassination of Indira Ghandi led to the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots (Black November)

Deceased Sikhs - Result of the Clashes
The Sikh-Nirankari clashes - Precursor to Operation Bluestar (1978)
The 1978 Sikh-Nirankari clash occurred between the Sant Nirankari Mission (An Indian backed Sikh Organization) and Sikhs of Damdami Taksal and Akal Kirtani Jatha on 13 April 1978 at Amritsar, Punjab, India. Sixteen people—thirteen traditional Sikhs and three Nirankari followers—were killed in the ensuing violence, occurring when some Akhand Kirtani Jatha and Damdami Taksal members led by Fauja Singh protested against and tried to stop a convention of Sant Nirankari Mission followers. This incident is considered to be a starting point in the events leading to Operation Blue Star and the 1980s insurgency in Punjab.
Operation Bluestar - Indhira Ghandi's Plot to Eliminate Akhan Kirtani Jatha & Damdami Taksal Leaders (1984)
Visual Depiction of Operation Bluestar (Preliminary Footage - AP News)
Operation Blue Star was an Indian military operation carried out between 1 and 8 June 1984, ordered by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to remove religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his armed followers from the buildings of the Harmandir Sahib complex in Amritsar, Punjab. In July 1983, the Sikh political party Akali Dal's President Harcharan Singh Longowal had invited Bhindranwale to take up residence in Golden Temple Complex. Bhindranwale later on made the sacred temple complex an armoury and headquarters. In the violent events leading up to the Operation Blue Star, the militants had killed 165 Nirankaris, Hindus and Nirankaris, even 39 Sikhs opposed to Bhindranwale were killed. The total number of deaths was 410 in violent incidents and riots while 1,180 people were injured.
Counterintelligence reports of the Indian agencies had reported that three prominent figures in the operation, Shabeg Singh, Balbir Singh and Amrik Singh had made at least six trips each to Pakistan between the years 1981 and 1983. Intelligence Bureau reported that weapons training was being provided at gurdwaras in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Soviet intelligence agency KGB reportedly tipped off the Indian agency RAW about the CIA and ISI working together on a Plan for Punjab with a code name "Gibraltar". RAW from its interrogation of a Pakistani Army officer received information that over a thousand trained Special Service Group commandos of the Pakistan Army had been dispatched by Pakistan into the Indian Punjab to assist Bhindranwale in his fight against the government. A large number of Pakistani agents also took the smuggling routes in the Kashmir and Kutch n for three days ending on 8 June. A clean-up operation codenamed as Operation Woodrose was also initiated throughout Punjab.
The army had underestimated the firepower possessed by the militants. Militants had Chinese made rocket-propelled grenade launchers with armor piercing capabilities. Tanks and heavy artillery were used to attack the militants using anti-tank and machine-gun fire from the heavily fortified Akal Takht. After a 24-hour firefight, the army finally wrested control of the temple complex. Casualty figures for the Army were 83 dead and 249 injured. According to the official estimate presented by the Indian government, 1592 were apprehended and there were 493 combined militant and civilian casualties. High civilian casualties were attributed by the state to militants using pilgrims trapped inside the temple as human shields. According to Indian army generals, it was "doubtful" that Bhindranwale had any assurance of help or promise of asylum from Pakistan, as he made no attempt to escape with any associates, in additions to traditions of martyrdom.
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale (Damdami Taksal Leader - Killed)

Assassination of Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi By Her Sikh Bodyguards (1984)

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated at 9:30 a.m. on 31 October 1984 at her residence in Safdarjung Road, New Delhi. She was killed by her bodyguards. Satwant Singh and Beant Singh in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star, an Indian military action carried out between 1 and 8 June 1984 ordered by Indira Gandhi to remove Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the Golden Temple of Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar, Punjab. The collateral damage included the death of many pilgrims, as well as damage to the Akal Takht. The military action on the sacred temple was criticized both inside and outside India.
https://preview.redd.it/x3ee2xdzrq3b1.jpg?width=440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=438619a4afceb2005ca06799dc057de538203653

The 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots (Sikh Genocide/Black November) in Response to Indian Prime Minister Indira Ghandi's Assasination - 17,000 Sikhs Dead [This Event Gave Rise to the Punjabi Insurgency Movement, Babar Khalsa & Flight Air India 182 Bombing in Canada]

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The 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots - Resulted in 17,000 Deceased Sikhs
The 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots, also known as the 1984 Sikh Genocide, 1984 Sikh Massacre or Black November, was a series of organized pogroms against Sikhs in India following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Government estimates project that about 2,800 Sikhs were killed in Delhi and 3,350 nationwide, whilst independent sources estimate the number of deaths at about 8,000–17,000.
The assassination of Indira Gandhi itself had taken place shortly after she had ordered Operation Blue Star, a military action to secure the Harmandir Sahib Sikh temple complex in Amritsar, Punjab, in June 1984. The operation had resulted in a deadly battle with armed Sikh groups who were demanding greater rights and autonomy for Punjab and the deaths of many pilgrims. Sikhs worldwide had criticized the army action and many saw it as an assault on their religion and identity. In the aftermath of the pogroms, the government reported that 20,000 had fled the city; the People's Union for Civil Liberties reported "at least" 1,000 displaced persons. The most-affected regions were the Sikh neighborhoods of Delhi. Human rights organizations and newspapers across India believed that the massacre was organized. The collusion of political officials connected to the Indian National Congress in the violence and judicial failure to penalize the perpetrators alienated Sikhs and increased support for the Khalistan movement. The Akal Takht, Sikhism's governing body, considers the killings a genocide.
In 2011, Human Rights Watch reported that the Government of India had "yet to prosecute those responsible for the mass killings".According to the 2011 WikiLeaks cable leaks, the United States was convinced of Indian National Congress' complicity in the riots and called it "opportunism" and "hatred" by the Congress government, of Sikhs. Although the U.S. has not identified the riots as genocide, it acknowledged that "grave human rights violations" occurred. In 2011, the burned sites of multiple Sikh killings from 1984, were discovered in Hondh-Chillar and Pataudi areas of Haryana. The Central Bureau of Investigation, the main Indian investigative agency, believes that the violence was organized with support from the Delhi police and some central-government officials. After 34 years of delay, in December 2018, the first high-profile conviction for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots took place with the arrest of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court. Very few convictions have taken place in the pending 1984 cases, with only one death penalty conviction for an accused, Yashpal in the case of murdering Sikhs in the Mahipalpur area of Delhi.
To Be Continued in Indus Connection (Part 2 - Punjabi/Sikh History) - Flight Air India 182