Surrey Vaisakhi Parade begins and grows into a Khalsa Day crowd of hundreds of thousands

Who: Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar in Surrey, British Columbia, which began the parade and still starts it from its doors, with Moninder Singh as parade spokesperson; the Sikhs of Surrey and the Lower Mainland who march, serve and watch; and the politicians who come to be seen.

What: The Surrey Khalsa Day Vaisakhi Parade is a nagar kirtan held each April around Vaisakhi, which marks the creation of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699. Vancouver had held a parade since 1979. Surrey's began in 1998, and Global News reports about 16,000 people at the first.

The growth was steady. The Surrey Now-Leader records more than 80,000 in 2005, which made it the largest such parade in North America, about 150,000 in 2011, 350,000 in 2016 and more than 400,000 in 2017. It paused during the pandemic and returned on April 22, 2023, when organisers reported more than 500,000. Reports put the crowd at more than half a million in 2024, more than 550,000 on April 19, 2025 (CTV News) and over 450,000 on April 18, 2026 (Global News). These are estimates, and outlets also number the editions differently.

The procession leaves the gurdwara on 85th Avenue and moves through the Newton neighbourhood. In 2025 nearly two dozen floats took part, and in 2026 more than twenty, from gurdwaras, Khalsa schools, Sikh organisations and humanitarian groups. Hundreds of families and businesses serve free vegetarian meals along the route as langar. After the 2025 parade Moninder Singh called it "a beautiful expression of unity, diversity, and shared joy".

Where: Newton, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, starting at Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar, 12885 85th Avenue.

Why it mattered: CTV News calls it once again the largest annual celebration of the Sikh holiday in the world, and it gives the Canadian Sikh community a very large public presence. It is also a political stage. The Surrey Now-Leader notes controversy over a float with Sikh separatist slogans in 2003 and over an organiser's separatist remarks in 2005. In 2025 the federal leaders Jagmeet Singh and Pierre Poilievre marched, though both were campaigning in British Columbia that day.

After the killing of Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey in June 2023, the April 2024 parade was the first since. The Globe and Mail reported grief, anger and politics in the crowd, Khalistan flags throughout, and Jagmeet Singh addressing the crowd in Punjabi on stage beside Nijjar's son, Balraj Singh.