The Khalsa Diwan Society was founded on July 22, 1906, and was registered on March 13, 1909. Their first site and
gurdwara was built in 1908 at 1866 West 2nd Avenue, inaugurated on January 19. The financial situation of the Society depended on the number of
Sikhs living in
British Columbia, and donations rose considerably as more Sikhs came to the province. The population of Sikhs rose in the period of 1904–1908 to 5,185, but fell to 2,342 in 1911. The Sikh population dwindled even more, to 1,099, as the year 1918 approached. Verne A. Dusenbery, Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the Global Studies Program at
Hamline University in
Minnesota, wrote that the gurdwara served as "truly a religious, social, political, cultural, and social service center for the entire South-Asian immigrant population of the
lower mainland" during its early history. In the 1940s, the KDS served in a leadership role as Indo-Canadians demanded for voting rights, and it did so in a secular capacity. The gurdwara had a homeless shelter and a
langar or kitchen. In the early 1950s, a serious split occurred in the Canadian Sikh community, when the Khalsa Diwan Society elected a
clean-shaven Sikh to serve on its management committee. Although most of the early Sikh immigrants to Canada were non-
Khalsa, and a majority of the members of the society were clean-shaven non-Khalsa Sikhs, a faction objected to the election of a non-Khalsa to the management committee. The factions in Vancouver and
Victoria broke away from the Khalsa Diwan Society, and established their own gurdwara society called the Akali Singh Society, which opened in 1952.
Relocation By the late 1950s, there were plans to establish
Punjabi-language schools for Canadian-born children and to collect funds for a new community centre. In 1963, the Society began planning for a new gurdwara and community centre. and was completed in the first week of April 1970 for a price of $6,060. Sri
Guru Granth Sahib was moved from the 2nd Avenue gurdwara to the Ross Street gurdwara on the day of
Vasakhi 1970. The initial plans asked for a library and community centre, but these aspects were eliminated from the plans. The celebration for
Guru Nanak's 500th birthday was held prior to the grand opening in 1970. The building was intended to look like a
lotus rising from water. To get inspiration for the style, the architect,
Arthur Erickson, traveled to
Agra and
Amritsar. The membership, which came with a $12 membership fee, had been around 5,000 prior to 1979. After the elimination of the fee, membership increased. Previously, the KDS was controlled by
Marxist Sikhs who did not practice Sikhism. According to Kamala Elizabeth Nayar, in 1984, the pro-
Khalistan World Sikh Organization (WSO) began controlling the gurdwara. ==Branches==