OTTAWA — The failure of Canada’s Secretary of State for External Affairs, the Rt. Hon. Joe Clark, to respond to the concerns of Canadian Sikhs expressed) by the World Sikh Organization, the International Sikh Organization (Canada) and others makes it all the more urgent that the New Democratic Party should speak.
The Government of Canada should recognize the religious rights’ of Sikhs and use its good offices to facilitate their visits to the Golden Temple at Amritsar. The Government of Canada should work vigorously to obtain the release of Canadian Sikhs detained under inadequate (or even false) information by the Indian police and paramilitary authorities.
The Government of Canada should act vigorously in encouraging the Government of India to respect and protect the human rights of Sikhs in India and elsewhere. The Government of Canada should recognize the seriousness with which the Sikhs regard the assault on the Golden Temple in June 1984 as a gross violation of their holiest shrine. The Government of Canada should press the Government of India to bring to justice those guilty of attacks on Sikhs during the two or three days following Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
The New Democratic Party recognizes that unresolved violations of human rights have created a context in which many Sikhs feel compelled to work for the creation of a distinct state in the Punjab and that small minorities of them are prepared to resort to violence to achieve this goal. New Democrats reiterate our total rejection of violence as a means to respond to the current problem. Drawing on the Canadian experience, a New Democratic government would encourage all concerned to seek a nonviolent solution to the problem and would encourage the Government of India to respect democracy and to practice a genuine federalism in its various states.
A New Democratic government would act on the recommendations of Equality for All and enact the principle of “reasonable accommodation” in order to protect the Sikhs. A New Democratic government would recognize the contribution of Sikhs by giving them a share in appointments to boards, commissions, etc. that reflect the population of Canada.
A New Democratic government would also provide funding to the Canadian Sikh community to ensure its proper development among the ethno cultural communities of Canada and its full integration in Canada’s multicultural society.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 19, 1988
