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Canada responds to Hinduphobia petition, says it ‘rejects hate, discrimination’
In its official response to Hinduphobia petition before House of Commons, Canadian Government has said it “rejects all forms of hate and discrimination."
In its official response to a Hinduphobia petition before the House of Commons, the Canadian Government has said it “rejects all forms of hate and discrimination and believes all Canadians must stand up against it where and when ever it is encountered.”
However, the Government response from its Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities Kamal Khera and signed by her Parliamentary Secretary Sameer Zuberi has left the petitioners disappointed.
Reacting to the Government response, the person who moved the petition, e-4507, Brampton-based Vijay Jain, said, “The response from the Government is very frustrating.” He pointed out the response does meet the requests made in the petition to recognize Hinduphobia as a term in the glossary of terms in the Human Rights Code to describe anti-Hindu prejudice and discrimination, to define Hinduphobia as denial, negation, prejudice or vilification against Hindus, Hinduism, or Hinduness and to raise awareness and address systemic and institutional Hinduphobia.
He said while the human rights code in Canada was “prescriptive” when it came to anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, similar measures were not being applied against growing Hinduphobia. “This itself shows systemic discrimination against Hindus in Canada,” he said. Jain added he and other community groups had sought a meeting with Khera but had yet to get an appointment.
In its response, the Government thanked the petitioner “for expressing their concerns regarding the growing negative stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination of Hindus in Canada.”
The petition had gathered 25,794 signatures as against the 500 needed to elicit a formal Government response. While presenting it in the House of Commons on November 3, Conservative Party MP Melissa Lantsman said, “Canadian Hindus are facing growing negative stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, at work, in schools and in their communities while traditions and cultures are misrepresented and misunderstood.”
A total of 81 community organisations including major temples had backed the petition.
The petition gathered momentum after the secessionist group Sikhs for Justice or SFJ released a video in September targeting Canadian Hindus of Indian origin. In a video that went viral, SFJ’s legal counsel Gurpatwant Pannun said, “Indo-Hindus leave Canada, go to India.”
“You not only support India but you are also supporting the suppression of speech and expression of pro-Khalistan Sikhs,” he said, adding they were “also promoting violence by celebrating” Nijjar’s “assassination.” He was referring to the killing SFJ’s principal figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar on June 18. That murder has bedevilled relations between India and Canada after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement in the House of Commons on September 18 that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between the crime and Indian agents.
Other than the SFJ video, there have been at least a dozen instances since last summer when temples were desecrated either with pro-Khalistan graffiti or posters attacking India’s seniormost diplomats in Canada.
Those acts have led to the issue of Hinduphobia coming to the fore in Canada, and the phenomenon recognised by Canadian leaders. In April this year, Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party, told the outlet Prime Asia, “We have to stop Hinduphobia and nasty comments that are made about Hindus and the vandalism and other violence targeting Hindu Canadians. This is totally unacceptable.”
