Gur Sikh Temple

The Gur Sikh Temple, in Abbotsford, British Columbia, is the oldest existing Sikh gurdwara in North America and a National Historic Site of Canada. It is the only gurdwara outside of India and Pakistan that is designated as national historic site.

Though the oldest existing gurdwara on the continent, having opened in 1911, it is the third-oldest to be built in Canada and North America. The first Gurdwara in Canada was built by early Sikh-Canadian settlers in Golden, British Columbia in 1905, which would later be destroyed by fire in 1926. Meanwhile, the second-oldest Gurdwara to be built in Canada opened in 1908 in Kitsilano, aimed at serving a growing number of Sikh settlers who worked at nearby sawmills along False Creek at the time. It would later be closed and demolished in 1970, with the temple society relocating to the newly built Gurdwara on Ross Street in South Vancouver.