Canadians continue to call for answers on anti-Sikh bomb hoax incident

The Canada branch of Sikh legal advocacy and aid organization United Sikhs have released a statement repeating calls for a “full investigation” into last month’s anti-Sikh bomb hoax in Ottawa.

The incident saw police arrest, search and interrogate two organizers of a Sikh gathering, based on a random “tip-off” which claimed they planned to bomb their own event. Canadian Sikhs are still searching for answers regarding the incident, which was clearly done to disrupt a gathering to mark the 1984 Sikh Genocide.

Read more on the incident, including an 18month timeline of anti-Sikh incidents in Canada here.

United Sikhs released a statement which was sent to various elected officials of Canada on 4th July. See the statement below.

Sikh Press Association Senior Press Officer Jasveer Singh spoke to MPs Peter Julian (NDP, New Westminster) and Parm Bains (Liberal, Steveston-Richmond East) at the 26th June New Westminster Nagar Kirtan (religious procession) about the incident. See what they had to say below:

Peter Julian-

“Jagmeet Singh and the NDP caucus addressed the incident in Ottawa and I stand with their statements. This incident is part of a broader pattern that we are seeing that targets Sikhs, Muslims, the Jewish community and others. We are seeing more racism, more misogyny and more homophobia. All Canadians need to speak out in this rise of targeting of minorities to push back against this hate. I found what happened in Ottawa disturbing and the NDP has taken on a number of motions to push back against this. I think the Sikh community is right to be concerned. We have to fight against this together and it is something the entire NDP caucus is dedicated to doing.”

Parm Bains-

“The Sikh community has contributed to every facet of Canadian society to make it what it is today, and just when we think we are in a good place things like this happen to remind us we still have work to do. The Liberal Party immediately took the issue to the Securities Minister who is trying to implement change and support Sikhs against these kinds of attacks. At a more grassroots level, the key to changing this is education. Gurdwaras and other Sikh groups are doing great work already to educate people on Sikh issues, but if we can help that as a society we must, because education is the key to tackling this hate.”