Komagata Maru Park Winnipeg

07/07/2022

Hello everyone,

I would like to congratulate everyone for the effort and time that you have put in to get our park name registered. Ms Vivian Santos has arranged an unveiling ceremony for our park name on the 16th July at 5pm. It will be conducted at the park (80 Singh Trail)
We request all of you to attend and ask your friends and families to come as well.
We have been asked to have cultural performances, so please let us know if you can or you know someone who can perform that day (send a DM)

Thank you,
Hope to see you there

05/02/2022

We as a team Jagdev Singh Pannu, Gurjeet Kaur, Jimmy Singh, Simranjeet Jaswal and other residents of the area are pleased to announce and inform the residents of Waterford Green and Winnipeg area that the longstanding demands of the people of Winnipeg to establish the name Komagata Maru Park - has finally been fulfilled.

The struggle to get Komagata Maru Park started in 2020 when the first meeting happened between the residents and Councillor Vivian Santos, MP Kevin Lamoureux and MLA Cindy Lamoureux.

We would like to extend special thanks to Mr. Paramjit Shahi for involving himself in the process of renaming the park as he had previous experience in doing such for Shahid Bhagat Singh Park.

Moreover, we would like to thank Vivian Santos for much help throughout the entire process, and for funding support for the official park sign which will be installed in the coming weeks. Much appreciation also to Councillor Sherri Rollins, Chair of the parks committee, and to Councillor Lukes and to Councillor Devi Sharma for their help in the renaming process.

On April 26th, 2022, The City of Winnipeg Council members unanimously supported the official naming of Komagata Maru Park. We would also like to thank Member of Parliament Kevin Lamoureux who has promised to help arranging additional funding support to enable further upgrades and improvements to the park. We would also like to thankyou MLA Cindy Lamoureux for supporting us and being with us the whole time.

The naming of Komagata Maru Park is a tribute to the Human Right activists and forefathers of Sikh community. A victory to all, and with much thanks to the community.

Thank you,

Komagata Maru Park Team

12/10/2021

Update: Finally the naming of the park is one step closer. It is posted on city of Winnipeg page for feedback. We encourage everyone to go to the link below, scroll down and when you get to Komagata Maru Park, click Open for Feedback and please provide your thoughts.

Big thanks to Mr. Paramjit Shahi for his efforts in getting us here.

Here is the link:

https://winnipeg.ca/indigenous/welcomingwinnipeg/historical-markers-place-names.stm

07/20/2021

Winnipeg Free Press Coverage Of Komagata Maru Park Which Developers Promised and Never Fulfilled

07/18/2021

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/komagata-maru-park-protest-1.6107290

A tight-knit group of residents in Winnipeg’s northwest have turned to open public protest in order to see a long-ago promised commemorative park finally take shape in their area.

07/16/2021

Komagata Maru Incident is a huge event in Canadian Sikh History which violated human rights and to which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologised in the parliament. The name Komagata Maru has emotional sentiments attached to Sikhs. This name Komagata Maru has been used by some people to enhance their businesses and make profits, atleast that’s what it seems like. A similar incident is related to our City of Winnipeg’s Waterford Green area. During the construction of the area in 2016, its developer promised the people that there will be a Komagata Maru Park full of amenities and dedicated to the martyrs of Komagata Maru. Everyone applauded that initiative thinking that it was done in good faith and to show respect to the martyrs. In May, 2016 a very well attended ceremony was held at Punjab Cultural Centre to announce this Park in which Cabinet Minister Amarjit Sohi, Bardish Chagger, Sukh Dhaliwal, Kevin Lamoureux, , Randeep Sarai and many other leaders of Winnipeg participated. Now, after 5 years , there is no park that is named “Komagata Maru” in city’s record and nor is the said park developed. Over past one year, meetings were held with many officials who have the power to correct this but there is no fruitful outcome.
At this point, it feels like were these false promises made to get personal gains? And if not, we would all request to get some clarity on what exactly happened after the announcement was made at that ceremony.
The entire community is getting together on Saturday, July 17th 2021 at Manitoba Legislative Building from 4 PM to 6 PM to protest against this whole incident. Please join us to show your support, and the developers/ officials that there are people out there who can hold them accountable for their own promises.

09/22/2020

Update About The Development Of The Park:

Yesterday, (21 September, 2020) few residents met City Councillor Vivian Santos, Developer Jas Kalar and Representative from North Lombard Group Chris Nelson. There was also a representative from city who takes care of parks developments. We met at 10:00AM in the park and had discussion on how to move forward and have the park developed. At the meeting, it was made clear that the developer has already fulfilled his responsibilities for the park and is ready to hand it over to the city. When asked about the proposed plan, Jas mentioned that the plan was for discussion purposes only and it was put forth for a grant to the Federal Govt, but unfortunately no grant was approved. Hence, they couldn’t move forward with that proposed plan and had to go with the previously approved plan (which is what the park is now). As far as City is involved, there was a big push to have native grass, as it takes less funds to maintain it and is a way to give back to nature. We, as residents brought up that we would like the grass to be replaced and Councillor Vivian Santos assured that she will work with City and Jas to try and have something done about this. And Jas and City Councillor has agreed to support the community in developing the park and will help to get things going. They have requested us to come up with things that we would like to see in the park and prioritize them. Then the price to get those things will be discussed and we will be looking at options on how to get funds to have developments made. Together we will all work towards getting this park developed and make it a place we all would like to spend our times together.

08/24/2020

Hello everyone, there was a Zoom meeting with MP Kevin, MLA Cindy and Lombard North Group Representative Chris on Aug 21st for further discussion. We have been asked to send our questions to the developer. Here are few questions that we have for developer/ Builder regarding the Koma Gata Maru Park:

1. The name for this park was announced in May 2016 and its been 4 years, why this name hasn’t been registered under City of Winnipeg?
2. Why there are no sign boards or by laws posted in the park?
3. Why the proposed plan that was presented during the event in 2016 not implemented?
4. Is the park completed? As residents have been told the park will be handed over to city by end of this year, if that’s true who will be responsible to develop the park?
5. If the park had a plan to have play structure, why that is not done?

Please let us know by tomorrow (25 August, 2020) morning before 11AM if there are any more questions you would like to add.

08/21/2020

Minutes from the meeting at Kevin Lamoureux's office on Aug. 6/20. It was a followup from the community meeting held at 96 Singh Trail on Aug. 2.
At the Aug. 2 meeting attendees had an opportunity to indicate if they wanted to attend the followup meeting on Aug. 6.

Komagata Maru Park Meeting - Aug. 6, 2020
Venue: Kevin Lamoureux’s office - 98 Mandalay Drive
Date: Aug. 6, 2020 - 1:30 p.m.
Attendees:
- Kevin Lamoureux
- Cindy Lamoureux
- Kevin/Cindy’s assistant
- Gurjeet Kaur
- Jagdev Pannu
- Simranjeet Jaswal
- Rick de Guzman
Meeting goals:
- Initiate contact with Waterford Green developer and with the city to identify a
representative to liaise with community on next steps.
- Identify next stages for community park team to take.
Discussion:
- Developer is Lombard North Group. Rick shared his two past experiences reaching out
to developer and observed that they were responsive. This can be a good indicator of
how they’ll respond to inquiries about the park.
- Kevin called out to a contact he has with the developer. Waiting for a return call during
the meeting.
- Kevin suggested that the developer come out to do a presentation for the community, in
a similar setting to the one held outside 96 Singh Trail on Aug. 2, 2020. It would be good
to have an audio/speaker system for the next meeting.
- Kevin outlined some goals:
- Residents understand what is planned, and what to expect.
- The city and the developer are open to input from residents, and have this
affirmed.
- Discussions on changing away from wildgrass and additional lighting are good
ways to start the conversation with the developer.
- Identify a mandate to guide the work ahead.
- Cindy called 311 to identify a rep from the city. A file has been opened, but the 311 rep
indicated that the followup will be between 24 hours and 30 days.
- Rick: Documenting the timeline up to now and moving forwards will be useful to bring
residents up to speed. The timeline should include the May 2016 developer presentation
at the Punjab Cultural Centre, as that was where the initial proposed plan was revealed.
- Kevin’s developer contact (Chris) called him back during the meeting. Some details from
that call:
- Plan so far includes mini soccer fields and trees.
- There’s a general feeling that money has been allocated for development.
- At the end of the year, a portion of the park goes to the city.
- A meeting with City Councillor Vivian Santos is still in place for Sept. 9, 2020. The
developer will be invited to present to the community on a separate meeting before then.
- Agreed that a few dates be offered to the developer: Sunday, Aug. 30 at 6 pm
(preferred), or Monday, Aug. 31. A rain date would be a few days later if needed.
- Kevin and Cindy to be invited, as well as Vivian and/or her assistant.
- Discussion on how to share info from this process with residents. Options include
posting on Waterford Green Facebook group, Whatsapp channel, or a website. Kevin
indicated that if further funding is needed, then a website would be useful.
- Rick identified the Public Engagement page on the developer’s website. The page
outlines their commitment to engage stakeholders, which is another good sign for a
cooperative experience with Waterford Green residents. “We utilize public engagement
as a cornerstone of all projects whether for municipal planning, visioning, development
proposals or collaborative design.”
Next steps:
- Kevin will work with his developer contact to confirm a date. He will update Gurjeet.
- Rick to share meeting notes with community park team for any adjustments. Document
to be shared to Waterford Green Facebook group afterwards.

08/21/2020

We submitted a petition in July to get the park developed properly to our City Mayor , Councilor, MP and MLA.
Since then, Mr. Kevin Lamoureux and Ms. Cindy Lamoureux have visited the park to evaluate the situation the park is in as of now. They met the residents on August 2nd and assured that the matter will be pursued further.
Below are pictures from the meeting at 96 singh trail. It was a very well attended event, thanks to everyone who took time to be there and support us.
It was decided that few representatives from the neighborhood will go and meet Mr. Kevin Lamoureux and Ms. Cindy Lamoureux at their office to discuss further.