Left to right: Hari Singh, Ben Ratzlaff and Sunder Singh.
Sunder Singh bough his farm in 1942 and had four houses on that property. He housed and employed a Mennonite man named Ben Ratzlaff on his farm to make it easier for Ratzlaff to work for Sunder Singh. It is said that the Mennonite people and South Asian people got along well in the Fraser Valley as the agricultural community was very strong. Sunder Singh made connections with everyone he came across and contributed a plethora of jobs to the people of Abbotsford. His Sumas Flats property made a huge difference to many in the Fraser Valley. According to Ben Ratzlaff, the wages were low but there was always the option to work extra long days to make more money. Ben says he earned about 2 dollars a day and would work 12-14 hours. Singh would pay extra if his workers worked visibly harder. Ben Ratzlaff would typically haul feed and other products to Vancouver for Singh; often times Singh would join him, but Singh never drove. Ben says in an interview that he did not notice any discrimination towards Sunder Singh or anyone discriminating against his agricultural products. No one that lived on his property had to pay rent making it easier for Ben and his family to move on from the farm. Sunder Singh even helped Ben start his own farm even though that meant losing a good employee. Ben speaks very fondly of Sunder because of all of the farming techniques he learned from him. Taking continuous trips to Vancouver together to sell potatoes, and other feeds they got to know each other more so than merely having a boss-employee relationship. Ben says that Sunder was well known for his honesty with his products and everyone knew him as a very genuine person. With Sunder helping Ben to start his own farm with a gift of a few cows, Ben always had a very apparent respect for Sunder Singh.
It was not only Ben that did not notice any discrimination towards Sunder Singh, but also a woman named Ossie Thandi. She moved onto the farm in 1953 and says she did not feel like there was any prejudice at this time and only came to notice people discriminating against the South Asian community in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The Canadian Sikh Heritage explains how welcomed Ossie and her husband Sucha Singh were when arriving in Canada saying, “they took a taxi, driven by a Caucasian driver, who assured them to safely take them to Sunder Singh’s farm”. This immediately made them feel safe and welcomed into Canada and in the Abbotsford community.
