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Communities targeted by extremists want Canadian govt to take strict action to rein in radical elements
Ottawa is looking at introducing legislation with criminal provisions to prevent blocking of access to places of worship, schools and community centre, and creating a criminal offence of wilfully intimidating or threatening people attending events there
Toronto: While the Canadian government is considering legislation to prevent protests outside places of worship, schools and community centres, groups opposed to extremism in the country have sought tougher measures to rein in radical elements in the country.
Ottawa is looking at introducing legislation with criminal provisions to prevent blocking of access to such venues, and creating a criminal offence of wilfully intimidating or threatening people attending events there, the agency Canadian Press reported.
It cited Canada’s Justice Minister Sean Fraser as saying, “People need to know that in Canada they are free to pray to the God of their choice and to, at the same time, freely express themselves, but not to the point where you threaten the protected Charter rights of a religious minority.”
It has been over seven months since the violent invasion of the Hindu Sabha Mandir in Brampton by pro-Khalistan protestors, who were demonstrating there against the presence of Indian officials for a consular camp on the premises.
Reacting to the proposed measure, Ritesh Malik, chair of the Canada-India Foundation (CIF), said, “Glorification of violence, celebration of violence, extremism should not be allowed to happen anywhere on Canadian soil, not schools or not just places of worship.”
“I think there needs to be a firmer stand in terms of what the Government will do to curb such extremist ideologies and the way its radicalising youth, the way violence is being celebrated. That needs to stop,” he said.
Malik was speaking at the United Against Extremism conference organised in the Greater Toronto Area on Sunday.
The conference featured several panels and focused on the rise of pro-Khalistan radicalism and anti-semitic extremism in Canada in the recent past. It was organised by CIF along with Tafsik Organization, a Jewish civil rights group.
Tafsik’s executive director Amir Epstein said of the proposed law, “I think it’s great, I think it should absolutely happen, we did need it.”
“Now we have to make sure that people don’t do this in front of little kids’ schools in front of daycares, in front of synagogues in front of Hindu temples, in front of churches,” he added.
Epstein said the objective of the conference, the first of its kind, was to “create awareness about the extremism in our country and the fact that we’re losing this country to extremist groups.”
“We want to create awareness, so we’re able to understand what the threat even is. I feel like people don’t even understand what it is,” he said.
“This conference was an attempt to bring that discussion and provide a platform to people and give them a venue where they can share their concerns,” Malik said.
The concept of the bubble zone has been used by Indo-Canadian places of worship to protest themselves against pro-Khalistan groups.
In November last year, the historic Ross Street Gurdwara in Vancouver, was given an injunction by a local court disallowing protests within a specific area and that prevented disruption of two consular camps being held there. Later that month, the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Toronto received a similar restraining order from an Ontario court preventing protesters from gathering within 100 metre of its premises as it hosted a consular camp.
However, the attack on the Hindu Sabha Mandir did have a chilling effect on other temples which cancelled scheduled camps, after being advised to do so by local law enforcement.
Pro-Khalistan elements had also taken to gathering at the memorials for the victims of Air India flight 182, the Kanishka, in recent years. However, they were absent at the memorials in Ottawa and Toronto on the 40th anniversary of the worst terror attack in Canadian history, which claimed 329 lives on June 23, 1985. While they did appear at the Vancouver memorial, their numbers were noticeably low.
