TORONTO: Ontario, Can.: About ten thousand metro area Sikhs took to a rain swept streets in a rally to celebrate the birthday of the Sikh nation and religion.
The streets were blocked off and traffic was diverted at some inter- sections for up to an hour for a chanting procession on its way from Central Technical Institute on Bathurst Lane to Queens Park.
Sikhs attending the rally represented 16 provincial organizations and were commemorating the Sikh New Year and the Birth of the Sikh Nation.
Speaking on the occasion, Paul McCrossau, Member Parliament who had just returned from a trip to India, touched the subject closer to the Sikhs’ heart when he spoke of the need to end the tension between’ the minority Sikhs and the ruling Hindus. “Politicians, jurists, and journalists I met there, all felt that no resolution could be found to the problem without the restoration of the sense of justice”, he said. The desire for an independent “Sikh State” was also evident in the placards, carried by many of the precisionists.
Earlier, the rally was addressed by Sikhs, Members of Parliament and the Mayor of the city, Mr. Art Egglton. Prominent among the Sikhs who spoke were Dr. Gurbax Singh Gill, Kulwant Singh B.A. and Prof. M.S. Sidhu.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 17, 1987
