In order to prevent immigration from India, the Government of Canada passed an Order in Council prohibiting immigration to Canada from the pacific by any route which was not continuous in 1908. This prevented immigration from Inda witout specificaly refering to them; this was important since Canada and India were both British (Canada was mostly independant but still under British foreign policy). In 1913, a group of Sikhs decided to test the policy by renting a Japanese freighter named the Komagata Maru. Upon reaching Vancouver they were detained and forced to remain upon their ship for two months while their request was processed by the courts, eventualy the RCN destroyer HMCS Rainbow escorted them out of the harbour and they returned to India.