The Khalsa Diwan Society Vancouver (Gurmukhi: ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ ਦਿਵਾਨ ਸੋਸਾਇਟੀ ਵੈਨਕੂਵਰ Khālsā Divān Sosāiṭī Vainkūvar) is a Sikh society based at a gurdwara in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was the largest gurdwara in North America. A gurdwara (, or , ), meaning "the doorway to the Guru", is the Sikh place of worship and may be referred to as a Sikh temple. It is the oldest Sikh society in Greater Vancouver. The current gurdwara is at the intersection of Southwest Marine Drive and Ross Street, in South Vancouver. History The Khalsa Diwan Society was founded on July 22, 1906 and was registered on March 13, 1909. The corporate name was "The Khalsa Diwan Society". Their first site and gurdwara was built in 1908 at 1866 West 2nd Avenue. It was inaugurated on January 19, 1908. The financial situation of the society depended on the number of Sikhs living in British Columbia. Donations rose considerably as more Sikhs came to British Columbia. The population of Sikhs rose in the period of 1904–1908, the population being 5,185. It fell to 2,342 in 1911. The Sikh population dwindled even more, to 1,099, as the year 1918 approached. Verne A. Dusenbery, the author of "Canadian Ideology and Public Policy: The Impact on Vancouver Sikh Ethnic and Religious Adaptation," wrote that the gurdwara served as "truly a religious, social, political, cultural, and social service center for the entire South-Asian immigrant population of the lower mainland" during its early history. In the 1940s the KDS served in a leadership role as Indo-Canadians asked for voting rights, and it did so in a secular capacity. The KDS had a secular role as a community centre and also served Hindus and Muslims among the Indo-Canadians. Raj Hans Kumar, author of "Gurdwara as a Cultural Site of Punjabi Community in British Columbia, 1905 – 1965," stated that in political affairs the KDS represented all "Hindus", which at the time meant all people of East Indian origin. In the early 1950s, a serious split occurred in the Canadian Sikh community, when the Khalsa Diwan Society elected a clean-shaven Sikh to serve on its management committee. Although most of the early Sikh immigrants to Canada were non-Khalsa, and a majority of the members of the society were clean-shaven non-Khalsa Sikhs, a faction objected to the election of a non-Khalsa to the management committee. The factions in Vancouver and Victoria broke away