Racist graffiti has been painted on the walls of Gurdwara Amardas Darbar Society in Kelowna, British Columbia -home to Sikhs for more than a century.

While the police is still investigating and has urged community cooperation to provide leads about the culprits, the World Sikh Organisation has condemned the racist vandalism. This Gurdwara Sahib has been vandalised once earlier too.

“Every once in a while, an ignoramus disturbs the multiculturalism of Canada to remind the citizens of the country, especially the minorities that there is still need to stay alert and continue to be more inclusive.” said WSO founder Gian Singh Sandhu, on the phone line to this correspondent.  “Sikhs have lived in Kelowna for almost a century and it has a very hospitable community and is a beautiful place to live. The mayor is from one of the pioneer Sikh families of the region.” he added.

Recently, the North Glenmore students visited the Okanagan Sikh Temple and enjoyed the empowering sessions there.

The World Sikh Organisation of Canada is maintaining a close contact with Tarsem Singh, the president of the Gurdwara Sahib and members of the congregation there to handle the fallout of the incident.

Significantly, the Mayor of the city of Kelowna is Colan Basran is of Sikh descent and is the youngest and first non-Caucasian mayor of Kelowna, elected in 2014, presently serving his second term.

Kelowna resident and WSO’s Vice-President for British Columbia, Amanpreet Singh Hundal, in a media statement has  said, “it is disappointing that these sorts of incidents continue to take place. We believe it is ignorance and fear that drives racism and the Sikh community will continue to reach out to educate and build bridges despite incidents like this.”

This particular Gurdwara and others in the region have a very cordial relation with the community and there is a stream of high school students who engage with the Gurdwara Sahib for understanding of the Sikh faith.

Amanpreet Singh added that, “Kelowna is our home and racist incidents like this won’t phase us.”

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Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, 20 November 2018, WSN News Desk