Gur Sikh Temple (Abbotsford)

What it is: The Gur Sikh Temple at 33089 South Fraser Way, Abbotsford, British Columbia, is a gurdwara built by Sikh pioneers under the Khalsa Diwan Society. The Canadian Register of Historic Places calls it the only gurdwara from the pioneer phase of Sikh immigration to Canada that has survived, and the oldest surviving Sikh temple in North America.

How it began: Sunder Singh Thandi and Arjan Singh bought a hilltop site beside the Mill Lake mill. The Society says building began in 1908, while the register gives 1910 to 1912. Bhai Balwant Singh and Bhai Ram Singh Dhuleta laid the foundation stone, and men carried timber donated by the Tretheway family's Abbotsford Lumber Company up the hill by hand. The temple was completed in 1911 and opened on 26 February 1912. It is a wood-frame building with a false front. The prayer room for Guru Granth Sahib was upstairs, and the kitchen and dining hall for langar below. It gave new arrivals meals, lodging and contacts.

Key moments

• 1907 to 1947: Sikhs in Canada were disenfranchised in 1907 and the fight for the vote lasted until 1947. The temple became a centre of that campaign.
• 1914: the Komagata Maru arrived. The local community gave money to the passengers' legal challenge, and the ship was forced to leave on 23 July 1914.
• 16 November 1918: a 70-foot Nishan Sahib was raised. Highway widening forced its removal in 1957.
• 1983: a larger gurdwara was completed across the road, on land Thandi gave. The old building was kept as a symbol of the pioneers.
• 2002: designated a National Historic Site of Canada (the federal directory gives 1 November 2002). Parks Canada says it is the oldest surviving example of the temples that played a religious, social and political role in early Sikh immigration.
• 2003 to 2007: the Society restored the building, which reopened on 1 April 2007.

Where it stands: The old temple stands as a heritage site beside the newer gurdwara. The Khalsa Diwan Society, which restored it, is listed by Parks Canada as its associated organisation.