Four months of sustained effort and lobbying by WSO and other Sikh organisations finally resulted in persuading the Canadian government to drop the term ‘Sikh (Khalistani) Terrorism’ from the 2018 Public Safety Report. WSO has welcomed the move, Sikh body Dal Khalsa has hailed the decision and the Punjab CM Amarinder Singh is upset.

The amendment of the 2018 Public Safety Report on the Terrorism Threat to Canada by the Canadian government is a belated move by the Trudeau government, which signifies a mature democracy which has bowed to overwhelming public opinion against the report and also shows the steadfast clarity with which the World Sikh Organisation of Canada and other Sikh activists, organisations and Members of Parliament, especially Sikh members of Parliament have lobbied and democratically protested to bring about this change.

Since the last five months, the World Sikh Organisation of Canada spared no effort to interact with the Public Safety Minister and other MPs to forward the views of Sikh Canadians in the matter. Starting with the #AskCanadianSikhs campaign to the Townhall Meeting at Brampton organised by Ontario Sikh and Gurdwaras Council and Ontario Gurdwaras Committee, the pressure was on to know the rationale and background for including such a mention without any support, proof or details of any incident whatsoever.

The removal of the term ‘Sikh (Khalistani) Extremism’ from the 2018 Public Safety Terror Report is an important step in addressing the concerns of the Sikh community.  We hope to engage in a dialogue with the Canadian Government to ensure that a mistake like this is not repeated.”

Mukhbir Singh, President, World Sikh Organisation of Canada

The Minister for Public Safety, Ralph Goodale on 7 April made a public statement acknowledging that, the title, “Sikh (Khalistani) Extremism” has been removed and replaced with “Extremists who support violent means to establish an independent state within India”.  He even said that “the language used to describe some threats unintentionally maligned certain communities….and is not in line with the values of the Government of Canada”.

“The language used to describe some threats unintentionally maligned certain communities….and is not in line with the values of the Government of Canada”.

Ralph Goodale, Canada's Minister for Public Safety

Welcoming the move, WSO President Mukhbir Singh said, “The removal of the term ‘Sikh (Khalistani) Extremism’ from the 2018 Public Safety Terror Report is an important step in addressing the concerns of the Sikh community.  We hope to engage in a dialogue with the Canadian Government to ensure that a mistake like this is not repeated.”

WSO has also pointed out that, “The 2018 Report unfairly targeted and maligned specific religious communities and the change could not have come soon enough.  We note that terms like “Shia” and “Sunni” have not yet been changed in the Report.”

“This correction of its mistake by the Canadian government was a victory of lobbying and diplomatic efforts of Sikh Canadians.”

Dal Khalsa

In homeland Punjab, Dal Khalsa welcomed the removal of “Khalistani Extremism” reference in the Canada Public Safety Report 2018. “This correction of its mistake by the Canadian government was a victory of lobbying and diplomatic efforts of Sikh Canadians. This is also a snub to the Indian lobby which earlier managed the unsubstantiated reference in the report,” read the Dal Khalsa statement.

The unofficial spokesperson of the Government of India -the chief minister of Punjab Captain Amarinder Singh became the first Indian leader to be upset at the removal of the unsubstantiated reference to Sikhs, even before any official Indian reaction to the move.  Calling it a knee-jerk reaction by the Canadian government, his reaction is yet another set of hyperbole. He has said, “Such an act amounted to endorsement of terror activities and de facto promotion of extremism.”

Amarinder Singh goes on to take a global role by adding, “The world cannot afford to fan extremism in any form, which is what the Trudeau government was effectively doing with such ill-thought moves.” If the intention of the Punjab chief minister is to stop Canadian influence in the Punjab, he will do well to know that the Sikh Diaspora will continue its campaign for justice and human rights,” said a human rights activist, on a condition of anonymity.

“The world cannot afford to fan extremism in any form, which is what the Trudeau government was effectively doing with such ill-thought moves.”

Capt. Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister of Punjab

“Toeing India’s official line of offending Sikh Canadians and castigating Sikhs in Punjab without any basis whatsoever is fraught with the kind of problems that we have seen in the past and the Punjab CM will do well to stick to governing his state and ensuring human rights of Punjabis,” added the human rights activist.

Meanwhile, it is significant that WSO is continuing its lobbying efforts to ensure that there is representation of the Sikh community on the Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security.

Not fully content with the removal of the maligning sections, WSO has also  said, “While we still have concerns about how and why the maligning sections were added to the Report in the first place.” With Amarinder Singh’s reaction, it is not difficult to imagine.