Quote:
Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
I don't think a lot of people realize that Sikhs from the British empire helped settle the province of British Columbia and were loyal to the British Empire at that time. It's a big reason why the west coast is part of Canada right now and not the United States. It was actually pretty close at one time. They also set up agricultural communities that made the colony self-sufficient. As far as western Canadian history goes, they were a big building block.
Sikhs have a long history of military service in Canada and the British Commonwealth in general.
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Not to deny either the enormous influence that Sikhs have had on the history of both the military history of whatever nations they have been a part of, or their present influence in British Columbia, but you have your timing off by a couple of decades.
For the most part Sikhs didn't arrive in BC until around the time of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1896, which was over 20 years after BC joined Confederation, and a decade after the Canadian Pacific railroad was finished. Given that I don't think it would be accurate to say that they were a major factor in BC not becoming part of the US.