Wahe
guru ji ka Khalsa,
Wahe
guru ji key fateh!
I’m
honored to be addressing this
very important issue with
you. As you have evidently
seen and heard over the last
two hours or so, while MPs
were voting, when it comes
to human rights issues, no
country is immune. I understand
that the WSO remains very
concerned with the situation
in India and that you are
particularly anxious for answers
as to the disappearance of
human rights activist, Jaswant
Singh Khalra. Apparently,
the police officer suspected
of being involved was arrested
but has since allegedly committed
suicide. The Indian government,
I’m told, has said that the
issue surrounding Jaswant
Singh Khalra has been referred
for further study and investigation,
but your quest for answers
is understandable. Jaswant
Singh Khalra was a very courageous
person and he remains dear
to your hearts. You deserve
to know what happened.
Treatment of Sikhs Since September 11
You
also deserve to be treated
as the peaceful, equality-minded
people you are. Instead, your
community today is suffering
a public backlash in the wake
of September 11. Since the
attacks on the United States,
members of the Sikh community
have found themselves the
victims of prejudice and discrimination
by paranoid persons. When
some people see you, they
see only your turban. Some
wrongly assume that anyone
who wears a turban is somehow
associated with the terrorists
responsible for the horrific
attacks.
While
the situation has been particularly
difficult in the United States,
Sikhs in the Canadian community
have found themselves painted
by the same brush. Members
of the Sikh community – here
and abroad - have been subjected
to contempt, suspicion, harassment
and verbal abuse. Some have
been targeted in hate crimes,
including unprovoked assault.
One Sikh has even been killed.
For
a snapshot of what is happening,
we don’t need to look further
than some news headlines in
the months after the attacks.
Last September, for example:
·
“Canadian
Sikh charged in N.Y. for carrying
ceremonial dagger” (Vancouver
Sun)
That’s
probably enough of mostly
U.S. headlines. We all hope
that the situation in multicultural
and inclusive Canada is better
than in our neighbor. < I
am told by Minister Herb Dhaliwal
that he raised the plight
of American Sikhs in November
or December with American
ambassador Paul Cellucci.
But,
equality is under attack not
only in the United States,
but in Canada and other countries
around the world. As a community
that espouses equality for
all - along with peace, justice,
freedom, love, tolerance and
respect - these last nine
months have been a particularly
difficult time, but as Sikhs
you are no strangers to adversity
and struggle.
Through the centuries,
your ancestors have faced
adversity, including historical
revisionism, educational misinformation,
cultural assimilation and
stereotypes. Through it all,
the Sikh community has persevered
and the Sikh identity has
flourished, earning much respect
from non-Sikhs.
ON
HISTORICAL NOTES
Perhaps
I might say a few words here
about Punjab after recently
reading Lawrence James’ The
Rise and Fall of the British
Empire. The Sikh army
in Punjab was a disciplined
and well-equipped modern force.
One British general found
its rapidity of fire and accuracy
of the Sikh gunners to be
equal to their French counterparts.
It took two very hard-fought
campaigns (1845-46 and 1848-49)
before Punjab was defeated
and annexed by the British.
In
1919, Brigadier-General Reginald
Dyer imposed martial law in Amritsar. As everyone here
knows, he then ordered his
soldiers to fire into an unarmed
and peaceful demonstrating
crowd, in ten minutes killing
379 of Punjab’s civilians
and wounding hundreds more.
He later expressed regret
that he’d been unable to use
his machine guns. Afterwards,
he had real and suspected
instigators flogged. The incident,
says James, proved that the
British Raj ultimately depended
upon force. Dyer was later
effectively dismissed from
the army.
Edwin
Montagu, who was appointed
the UK Secretary of State
for India in 1917, later denounced
Dyer’s allies in Britain as
racist:
“An
Indian is a person who is
tolerable so long as he follows
your orders, but if he thinks
for himself, if once he takes
advantage of the educational
facilities which you have
provided for him, if once
he imbibes the ideas of individual
liberty which are dear to
the British people, why then
you class him as an educated
Indian and an agitator.
Even
Winston Churchill, no friend
then of India’s independence,
termed the Amritsar massacre
as “a monstrous act.” Others,
including Rudyard Kipling,
donated to Dyer’s fund.
In
the three months before independence
on 15 August 1947, fear was
of course greatest in the
Punjab – then home to 5.5
million or so Sikhs – which
was split between India and
Pakistan. As the summer of
1947 approached, Punjab became
a sea, as James puts it, of
“massacres, counter-massacres,
looting and arson.”
Cyril
Radcliffe, a British civil
servant, drew the line which
divided the Punjab and the
consequences haunted him until
he died. Had it been done
with more time and had the
British forces acted as an
impartial police force of
instead of being evacuated,
thousands of lives might have
been saved. Instead, as you
know, perhaps half a million
died, but no one tallied the
exact numbers. Military observers
said it was “a thousand times
more horrible than anything
we saw in the war.”
Challenges
Today
Today,
you are again under attack
in the very countries where
you or your children were
born. The climate of intolerance engendered by public
misinformation and fear is
having a profound affect on
the psyche of the community.
As Harpreet Singh, Director
of Community Relations of
The Sikh Coalition, has said
when speaking out against
the treatment of Sikhs at
American airports: “This kind
of treatment to loyal Americans
makes many feel humiliated,
naked in public, victimized
and most important, unwelcome
in the country that many of
us were born in.” While I
can only imagine, I suspect
the same feelings hold true
whether it happens in the
United States or Canada, and
whether the intolerance be
in an airport, at home, in
your place of worship, on
the street, at work, or in
your children’s schools.
Yet,
as always, you persevere,
with the courage of your convictions
and your religious beliefs.
We need to look no further
than 12-year-old Gurbaj Singh
Multani from Quebec, who bravely
stood up for his right to
wear a kirpan to school in
the face of public ridicule,
outrage, and pressure to conform.
This young boy, asked
by his principal to remove
his kirpan at school, went
home instead, and then courageously
challenged the school. That
meant staying home, missing
months of classes, and weathering
a storm of controversy over
his rights and his choice.
No child should be placed
in that kind of position –
not a Sikh, not a Muslim,
not a Christian, not a Bahai,
not anyone.
MULTANI
CASE
To
quote from a petition that
was circulated in Gurbaj’s
support last November: “Gurbaj
is already segregated from
other children and not allowed
on school property. His fundamental
right of education has been
stolen from him by the very
body entrusted with ensuring
this right to all children
regardless of gender, race,
ethnicity, or religion. This
should not happen anywhere.”
The
petition went on to point
out that: “In over 100 years
that the Sikh community has
worked, lived and prospered
in Canada, as Canadians, the
rights of all religious minorities
to practice their faith has
been continuously upheld as
part of our long-standing
Canadian heritage and tradition.
In fact, Canadian legal and
political decisions throughout
the years have consistently
supported the right of all
Sikhs to wear the kirpan as
an article of faith of their
religion.” In my view, to
expect Gurbaj, or any Sikh
or any Canadian for that matter,
to choose between their faith
and their education is unquestionably
wrong. As the petition rightly
noted: “This is a choice no
Canadian, no human being anywhere,
should have to make.”
Yet,
many of you may have felt
like you do have to
choose – between complying
with various laws, policies,
or regulations and your religious
beliefs. Time and time again,
the Sikh community has taken
on these challenges – whether
it be the right to carry a kirpan, to wear a turban,
to carry your five articles
of faith – and across the
country, you have succeeded.
You are not only changing
public opinion; you are helping
to shape our country’s laws.
The
problem is: it’s never over.
There are always new regulations
or policies to fight – policies
on hard hats and safety masks,
laws on bike helmets, employment
discrimination cases. As a
community, you have been forced
to fight these one case
at a time and, in some
instances, one province
at a time. How many lawyers
do you have to hire?
How many challenges
to you have to mount? How
many times do you have to
resort to arguing these issues
before our human rights tribunals
and our courts before you
can finally feel that, here
in Canada, you don’t have
to choose ¼ between conforming
and your faith?
I
understand your frustration,
and I share your views. The
right to freedom of religion
is enshrined in our Charter
and our human rights laws.
In practice, though, sometimes
it takes a lot of work and,
as in your case, legal battles
and exemptions. But if we
are to give this constitutionally
protected right any meaning,
your right to practice your
faith can’t be the exception.
It must be the norm.
5
K`S
I
know that one of this year’s
priorities for the World Sikh
Organization is to obtain
widespread acceptance of the
5 K’s – at work, in public
and in schools - and that
you believe the government
is in the best position to
achieve this. I’ll raise these
issues and speak to your concerns
with my colleagues; your input
on what we can do to help
is welcome.
We
are, after all, talking about
issues that come up in many
contexts ¼ again, it seems,
and again and again. Often,
the countervailing consideration
is public safety – whether
it be the requirement to wear
a safety hat or bike helmet
or the concern over weapons
in our schools. On that note,
I’d like to refer to a legal
brief on kirpans prepared
by the World Sikh Organization
in response to Gurbaj Singh
Multani’s case in Quebec.
The brief dispels the notion
that the kirpan is a weapon,
even though, to some, it may
look like a weapon. The brief notes that:
