Overcoming their initial reluctance to go to these countries due to the treatment of Asians by the white population, many young men chose to go, having been assured that they would not meet the same fate.

[12] The second Gurdwara to be built in Canada was in 1908 in Kitsilano (Vancouver), aimed at serving a growing number of Punjabi Sikh settlers who worked at nearby sawmills along False Creek at the time.

As a result, the oldest existing Gurdwara in Canada today is the Gur Sikh Temple, located in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

[25] By 1923, Vancouver became the primary cultural, social, and religious centre of Punjabi Canadians as it had the largest ethnic Indian population of any city in North America.

[35] The Punjabi population in Canada would remain relatively stable throughout the mid 20th century as the exclusionary immigration policies practiced by the Canadian government continued.

A significant event in Punjabi Canadian history occurred in 1950 when 25 years after settling in Canada and nine years after moving to British Columbia from Toronto, Naranjan "Giani" Singh Grewall became the first individual of Punjabi ancestry in Canada and North America to be elected to public office after successfully running for a position on the board of commissioners in Mission, BC against six other candidates.

[36][39][40] "Thank you all citizens of Mission City [...] It is a credit to this community to elect the first East Indian to public office in the history of our great dominion.

[38]A millwright and union official, and known as a sportsman and humanitarian philanthropist as well as a lumberman, Grewall eventually established himself as one of the largest employers and most influential business leaders in the northern Fraser Valley, owned six sawmills and was active in community affairs serving on the boards or as chairman of a variety of organizations, and was instrumental in helping create Mission's municipal tree farm.

[36][38][39][40][41] With strong pro-labour beliefs despite his role as a mill-owner, after a scandal embroiled the provincial Ministry of Forestry under the-then Social Credit party government, he referred to holders of forest management licenses across British Columbia as Timber Maharajahs, and cautioned that within a decade, three or four giant corporations would predominantly control the entire industry in the province, echoing similarities to the archaic zamindar system in South Asia.

[40][41] While by the 1950s, Punjabi Canadians had gained respect in business in British Columbia primarily for their work in owning sawmills and aiding the development of the provincial forestry industry, racism still existed especially in the upper echelons of society.

[39][42] As such, during the campaign period and in the aftermath of running for MLA in 1956, Grewall received personal threats, while the six mills he owned along with his house were all set ablaze by arsonists.

Sihota, who was born in Duncan, British Columbia in 1955, ran as the NDP Candidate in the riding of Esquimalt-Port Renfrew two years after being involved in municipal politics, as he was elected as an Alderman for the city of Esquimalt in 1984.

Large Punjabi populations began to appear across the Greater Toronto Area, especially in Scarborough, Markham, Mississauga, Brampton, and Ajax.

Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec are also home to significant populations with Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia featuring small but rapidly growing Punjabi communities.

According to the 2021 census, metropolitan areas with the highest proportions of Punjabi Canadians included Abbotsford–Mission (23.3%), Vancouver (9.2%), Toronto (5.2%), Winnipeg (4.9%), Calgary (4.7%), Edmonton (3.8%), Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (2.8%), Regina (2.5%), Kelowna (2.2%), Hamilton (1.8%), Saskatoon (1.7%), and Victoria (1.5%).

According to the 2021 census, subdivisions in Ontario with the highest proportions of Punjabi Canadians included Brampton (29.1%), Caledon (15.1%), Mississauga (5.3%), Mono (5.0%), Milton (4.6%), Woodstock (4.2%), Cambridge (3.8%), Kitchener (3.2%), Brantford (3.1%), Oakville (2.6%), Ajax (2.3%), Halton Hills (2.1%), and Waterloo (2.0%).