WSN editor reviews the Public Safety Canada’s 2018 Public Report on the Terrorism Threat to Canada which makes unsubstantiated reference to Sikh (Khalistani) extremism.

Multicultural Canada, home to thousands of Sikh Canadians who now make 2 percent of the population of the country and are participating in the social, political, legal and sports arenas are surprised that the latest Public Safety Canada’s 2018 Public Report on the Terrorism Threat to Canada has for the first time included a section on “Sikh (Khalistani) Extremism”.

The one paragraph innocuous reference to this kind of terrorism in the report does not make any allegations against any Sikh Canadian.  Typically like any Indian or South Asian report, the report is without any detail or reference, yet states, “some individuals in Canada continue to support Sikh (Khalistani) extremist ideologies and movements.” The Air India tragedy of 1985 is mentioned as the only incident of violence in relation to the Sikh community. There is no reference to any other incident whatsoever.

The report concludes by saying, “two key Sikh organizations, Babbar Khalsa International and the International Sikh Youth Federation, have been identified as being associated with terrorism and remain listed terrorist entities under the Criminal Code.” No details of any recent activity of violence have been provided.

The highly redacted special security report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s trip to India, released last week, also relied on hearsay and not hard evidence and had stereotyped profiling of Sikhs, including Sikh Canadians. It did however expose the overzealous approach by India to harp on the issue of Sikh extremism.

The acceptance and accommodation shown by the Liberal Justin Trudeau-led government to not only Sikh Canadians but others must be capitalized upon by ignoring India’s attempts to malign Sikhs. Succumbing to the pressures of the vast market potential of India may be a good economic policy but is highly unethical.

The Canadian government will do well to dwell into the allegations by Sikh Canadians about the state of human rights in India and come up with State of Human Rights in India report every year. This will provide a true picture to all Canadians as to the rationale for Sikh activism on this front in Canada, India and the rest of the world.

Human rights monitoring bodies like the World Sikh Organisation have expressed fears that the increased cooperation between India and Canada on the basis of the Framework for Cooperation on Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism between Canada and India, signed between the two countries last year portends a high risk for Sikh Canadians.

Does Public Safety Canada have a reply to the WSO statement that “Advocacy for Sikh human rights or Khalistan is not extremism and to suggest that it poses a danger to Canada is absolutely ludicrous? Accepting Indian allegations of ‘Sikh extremism’ deeply maligns the reputation of the community and has a real impact on the everyday lives of Canadian Sikhs.”

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Canada does not have to buy any argument for or against the Sikhs from anyone and least of all from India. World Sikh News believes that Public Safety Canada must withdraw the unsubstantiated mention to Sikh extremism in their 2018 annual report.