VOL. 15, ISSUE - 771, 15 - 21 MAY, 2018 PH: (905) 671 - 4761
The bigoted question Canada’s media keeps asking about Sikhs, and only about Sikhs A few short months ago, Sikhs in Canada grappled with media coverage rife with unfounded claims of “Sikh extremism” in Canada following the controversy during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to India. At the time, some commentators posed a question that would have caused a massive uproar had “Sikh” been replaced with “women,” “Indigenous people” or “Blacks,” by asking the question: “are Sikhs overrepresented in Canadian politics”? All Canadians — Sikhs, women, Indigenous, black, LGBTQ — have the right, responsibility and privilege to engage politically and serve their communities without having this right questioned on the basis of their race, religion and gender. For 50 years after their arrival on Canadian soil, Sikhs did not have the right to vote and no representation in government, making even the most basic and
mundane of tasks — owning or even renting a house, going out in public without verbal attacks or physical violence, a challenge. There was rarely a politician to help or speak out on behalf of the community. In the early 1900s, senior government officials came up with a scheme to expel the entirety of Canada’s Sikh population to the British Honduras (now Belize). Incoming migrants from Asia, including Sikhs who had the same status as Canadians as subjects of the British empire, were required to possess $200 — an inconceivable amount — while European migrants were only required to have $20 in their possession. Sikhs and Canadians defended the line, shoulder to shoulder as brothers in arms, while the Canadian government and public was instituting racist policies In 1914, a boatload of Sikhs entered British Columbia via the
“continuous passage” journey, which required a direct journey to Canada from India, and were still refused entry. After months
of living on the boat, the 376 Sikhs were forced to return to India, resulting in the deaths of many of these Sikh men.
While this was happening, Sikhs from the same families and villages as the men on the Continued on Page 4 Komagata
Punjab School Education Board Changed Class 12 History Syllabus to make it Indian Nationalistic AMRITSAR SAHIB The pro-Hindutva outfit RSS has been getting more blunt in implementing its policies against minorities since the formation of saffron BJP’s government in India. In addition to its repeated attacks on Sikh history & culture, the RSS has once again succeeded in getting the Sikh history removed from class 12 syllabus taught by the Punjab School Education Board. Although the PSEB has excused of shifting the syllabus of Sikh history to
class 11 after observing sharp reaction from Punjab residents but on thoroughly checking this “shuffling” of syllabus one can easily observe the anti-Sikh approach working in a clever way. On the condition of anonymity, a history lecturer working in PSEB affiliated government school told Sikh24 that the PSEB has changed syllabus to make it parallel to the one being taught by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). He informed that firstly the PSEB was going to remove
the entire syllabus of Sikh history from syllabi for secondary classes but later it was retained in class XI syllabus in a shrink form due to opposition by few of the board members. Sources have clarified that the PSEB had appointed a panel of history lecturers from Punjab and other states of India to pen the new books for class 11 & 12. A history lecturer, who is said to be a staunch follower of RSS’ ideology, is learnt to have played a key role behind Continued on Page 4