Sikhs in Canada?

[Deep Singh]

I was just thinking for a while ago about Sikhs and Sikhism in Canada. As we may know that in Canada (esp. BC) their is a huge Sikh sangat....and there are several Gurdwareh...and from what i have heard their is also a "Sikh suburb" Surrey and Khalsa School where children are taught punjabi and also Gurmat. so frankly speaking all this sounds WOW! great!

lots of members at this forum are from Canada...and websites as Gurmatveechar.com tells that there is heavy parchar going on...

at the tapoban forum a poll showed that Surrey (and Canada) were one of the "best place for a Sikh".

but also i started thinking that Canada is perhaps the only country besides India that has had its share of "terrorism". NOW i DO NOT SAY THAT Sikhs (Malik and Bagri) did do something -> Air India..but certainly the media shows it this way. and for a "normal" Canadian it may seem like they are terrorists.

so this makes me think: what do Canadians think of Sikhs. like in Asian countries they say Sikhs are hardworking, in UK they know that Sikhs are active in military....so on. In India everyone knows what Sikhs have done for the country (again military, freedom movement, so on). BUT what does a normal Canadian say about Sikhs....i believe they have heard of Sikhs there...as not like Europe (or US) where people think we are arabs or hindus.

what kind of "words" (hardworking, honest, or "terrorist") do Canadians use for Sikhs? i have heard about the white power nationalistic orgs. who say lots of bad things about Sikhs...but they are not common people rite?

so i hope my Canadian brothers and sisters can help me understand this...and if you feel if have said something wrong..bhul chukk maaf karna. i certainly do not mean that any Singhs are terrorists, and as a Sikh i know what the background of 85' was...

[Akaali]

Awesome post veerji!!

Being a canadian I can say I'm a proud a Canadian/Sikh. As in Canada, everyone is welcome, no matter what your background, culture, or religion. Canada accepts everyone with open arms. (Exept for QUEBEC) :D @

I would say Canada is the best place for a Sikh, since there's soooo much parchar, especially for the youth, alot of community events, and so on. I know for a fact, I wouldn't live anywhere else.

The media here doesn't portray Sikhs as how they should, I guess its all because of the Air-India case!! :wub: @ I know for a fact, U.S. has changed the outlook for Sikhs in a HUGE way, through media, and now the Canadian media is doing a bit of the same.

You get stares and middle fingers sometimes, but its just part of the staying in 'BHANA'. Canadians in general have mixed feelings about Sikhs, the smart ones know that there are a few bad apples in every group, so they don't hold it against us. But the ones, that are very narrow-minded, don't really have good feelings towards Sikhs, but we know how to fix that!

Overall, its your sangat that counts at the end, and in Canada, we have huuuuuuge sat sangat!! So I don't bother with

the rest!

My two cents! Bhul chuk maaf!!

[Deep Singh]

that was a great reply Khalsa jee!

[simmal tree]

As a student at Simon Fraser University, I've seen amazing tolerance and acceptance and empathy from the SFU student community towards Sikhs.

I don't know about UBC or other colleges / universities in BC.

I think Kwantlen College is very multicultural also, and very empathetic.

However I have truly seen exceptional empathy - I was so surprised that I was welcomed to write articles in the newspaper, take part in clubs, join in student groups, and also people are interested in creative equal access to services for minorities. The community in total is a very accepting and empathizing community.

That's just the perspective from SFU, Burnaby, BC, Canada.

Outside - in generally Vancouver - the perspective is not as positive and that is thanks to Kim Bolan's negative portrayal of Sikhs in the Vancouver Sun newspaper.

[Gurjeet_Kaur]

Vaheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Vaheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

what kulpreet singh has said about vancouver is true...but i wanna add that much of hte PUNJABI community in surrey has fallen prey to Kim Bolan's biased articles, so its not only non sikhs who have problems with us.

Some people do think that sikhs are terrorists...but there's other people who are just curious.

We do parchaar to our own community but not much to the outside community...and alot of people are scared to ask questions. For example I had a white friend at school and she wanted to know why we wear kirpaans but was too afraid to ask until i had known her for a number of months. when she did ask, she thought it was really cool and didnt have any problems with it.

most people are just afraid to ask so they base their opinions on what the media shows them.

[V]

what kulpreet singh has said about vancouver is true...but i wanna add that much of hte PUNJABI community in surrey has fallen prey to Kim Bolan's biased articles, so its not only non sikhs who have problems with us

Someone told me tha this 'Kim Bolan..was threatend to be killed by Sikhs

once again Gives Bad Name to Sikhs :D ..ANyway I havn't read any articles by hiom..so I dont know

Bhullchukk maaf

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

[japmans]

Khalsa Veeer, quebec is really not that bad... I livein ontario, and i go to quebec very often, and the Sikh youth in Montreal are amazing people, and very very accepting.. Through the years, they've reached out to many youth, and samagams in Montreal are something else Although i agree about certain aspects (for example, a private school in quebec hsa the same rule that France wants to impose), it's isolated cases.

In my city, every year at Vaisakhi, Gurupurab of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and certain other times during the years, there is quite a respectable amount of coverage on local newscasts, and there's is a pretty good image for Sikhs.. I can't comment on Vancouver, as that's the other side of hte country for me.. but, in ontario, and in mostly quebec, it's very welcoming. People either don't know, don't care, or know and care in a good way. there really are no major troubles

As far as quebec, i don't know if you guys remember, but there was a little singh who was threatened to get expelled due to his kirapn.. well he won that case, and there is alot more education in quebec and tolerance regarding sikhs..

[Deep Singh]

thanks guys...sounds like Canada is really a nice place to be in

[bsbk123]

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

I agree with Guru Jee Kee Singhnee bhanjee that we should represent ourselves much more socially to inform/ educate other people about our religion. We should come up and spread the freganance of Guru Nanak's Garden through our noble, kind hearted and seflless acts. Every Sikh is representing his or her Religion / Community wherever & in whatever position he or she lives/ work, our acts and behaviour should sounds the message of our guru sahibans.

bhul chuk maaf

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

[S1ngh]

See this is what i hate.. I don't want my image to represent my community 24/7.. Yes it's true that being turban sikh, one got to be carefull in public.. like not going to some bad places or getting mad at someon on freeway and so on.. If one turban do bad stuff.. all turban ppls will be blamed by ignorant ppls.. but again that's lot of stress on any youth..

I just want to represent myself.. cauz im not worth to portray the whole sikh kaum and im pretty sure everyone feels the same way ?..