How a hockey club helped Punjabi immigrants integrate into Canadian society
In the 1930s, when immigrants were not wholly welcome in Canada, a hockey club started by two Sikhs won championships and broke barriers.
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On a cold Friday afternoon in October 1962, as Canada hosted its first ever field hockey interprovincial game at Caledonia Park in Toronto, one player stood out on the ground: Harinder Jit Singh Rai.
Rai was a 31-year-old Indian immigrant who played as a forward. A handsome man with a strong jawline, he had been a part of the University of British Columbia team well before he played for Western Canada against Eastern Canada at Caledonia Park. The zenith of his career came two days after that interprovincial game when the Canada national team went up against the United States in its first international match.
Rai scored Canada’s first ever international goal, taking it over the victory line with a scoreline of 1-0 and enabling the ice hockey-obsessed nation to take its first big stride in the version of the game played on grass.
Over the next year, Rai contributed continually as Canada’s able performances – including in a five-nation tournament featuring Ireland, Morocco and Bermuda – qualified it for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. However, when the time came for Canada to choose the squad for Tokyo, Rai was left off the list.
Websites documenting the history of Indian immigration to Canada say Rai was left out because...
