The Vote: The South Asian Franchise in Canada (2017)

In the year 1907 South Asians living in Canada were denied the right to vote in Canada. This, in spite of the fact that South Asians had a formidable presence in Canada beginning in 1897. Forty years of lobbying, community rallying, fundraising and protesting finally resulted in the South Asian’s gaining the right to vote in 1947.

In commemoration of the 150th celebrations of Canadian Confederation, the South Asian Studies Institute curated an exhibit highlighting this significant, yet underappreciated struggle within Canadian history.

The exhibit, based on months of intensive archival research, was titled (Dis) Enfranchisement 1907-1947: The Forty-Year Struggle for the Vote.

The exhibit launched on February 19th, 2017 with a wonderful show of community support for the project and the narrative. Below you will see the online catalogue which showcases the exhibit panels and archives collected as well as their bibliographic sources.