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Puran Singh Janetpur stands in the middle of the photograph taken on May 23, 1914, moments before 376 passengers from India were to step off the Komagata Maru in Vancouver harbour.

Well-educated and fluent in English, Mr. Janetpur is dressed formally for his arrival in Canada in a white shirt and dark suit. He is in his 20s, eager to continue his studies at university.

But he looks troubled, as if perplexed by what he sees ashore.

Over the next two months, as the ship remained within sight of the dock, the Canadian government repeatedly refused to allow most of the passengers, including Mr. Janetpur, to enter the country. Under a law now widely accepted as racist, the government forced the Komagata Maru to leave Vancouver, escorted to sea by the Canadian navy cruiser Rainbow.

Sixty-two years later, Mr. Janetpur's grandson, Jaswinder Singh Toor, came to Canada. But it took 94 years until the Canadian government was prepared to indicate that descendants of the passengers would receive an official apology for their treatment in Vancouver harbour. The federal government has not yet announced when an apology will actually be made.

B.C. may also issue a formal apology to the descendants of the passengers. Attorney-General Wally Oppal hinted yesterday that such a move could come next week.

"The whole thing was very regrettable. We're looking at what next we can do. I expect we'll have something in the next few days," he said yesterday in Victoria. "I think everybody acknowledges it's a shameful part of our history. It's something I think all right-thinking Canadians would like to say if we had to do it all over again, we wouldn't do that."

The event is much more than a moment in history in Mr. Toor's family. It's an emotional memory of a personal experience that has been passed from generation to generation.

Mr. Toor was 14 when he came to Canada in 1976 to continue his studies. He recalled hearing stories about the Komagata Maru voyage as he was growing up, he said yesterday.

"They talked about how harsh the conditions were ... while they stayed on the water in Burrard Inlet for two months," Mr. Toor said. They survived on food sent to them from Vancouver's Sikh community of about 5,000, he said.

The ship eventually sailed back to Calcutta. The British sent the passengers directly to Punjab, without allowing them to go their own way. A scuffle broke out and British police opened fire. More than 20 people were killed.

Mr. Toor's grandfather was held in jail for two years. He then returned home to the Punjab village of Janetpur (he had taken the name of the village as his own), where he remained for the rest of his life.

Mr. Toor said he had no hesitation in coming to Canada. "Canada is a very good country now. It has changed a lot since 1914. Canadians are a lot more accepting than what was then," he said. "I don't think there is another country like Canada."