Sikhs Must Modernize To Prevent Youth From Joining Gangs: Group

[GurSa Singh]

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100904/bc_sikh_modernize_100904/20100904?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

Sikhs must modernize to prevent youth from joining gangs: group

By: The Canadian Press

Date: Saturday Sep. 4, 2010 12:44 PM PT

North America's oldest Sikh temple society needs to modernize century-old traditions before more youth are lost to gang violence, says a spokesman for a group that has sued the society over its membership process.

Jatinder Singh of Sikh Youth Vancouver said Friday that the Khalsa Diwan Society is stuck in old-school thinking that's keeping young people out of its temple.

Singh, 42, said parents and grandparents of young Sikhs also want the temple, called the Ross Street Gurdwara, to change with the times.

"They want modernization," he said.

"They're tired of their children no longer knowing the Punjabi language, they're tired of their grandchildren falling into cycles of violence and gangs and drugs. And they're tired of their children and grandchildren being disengaged from Canadian society and the Sikh community."

Singh said his group has unsuccessfully tried to meet with the society to suggest outreach programs and an Internet site to engage young people.

"I don't think we're advocating that they should have their religious services by Twitter," he said.

"We're just talking about how do we engage an entirely disconnected era of people," he said. "When you lack a sense of community, you lack a sense of responsibility and when you lack that you become engaged in things that are tainting our community."

Kesar Bhatti, the society's senior vice-president, said earlier this week that Singh's group consists of so-called fundamentalists who are only interested in controlling the temple now run by moderates.

But Singh, who said he began attending the temple as a child in 1973 and recently returned there, called Bhatti's assertions "nonsense," saying such labels have nothing to do with his concerns.

"We are, in a word, modernists, and they're traditionalists," he said.

Sikh Youth Vancouver recently filed a lawsuit against the society after questioning the transparency of its membership process.

Singh said both sides have now complied with a B.C. Supreme Court judge's order to agree on a third-party administrator who would oversee memberships before an election at the temple.

Last week, a judge invalidated the memberships of thousands of people, saying the process was flawed.

But Bhatti, 79, said a count of 5,000 membership cards showed that five of them were not signed and about 30 were duplicates, although that error would have later been picked up.

The election, held every three years, was scheduled for Nov. 6, but has now been put into limbo before Justice Paul Walker approves the administrator and a new membership procedure is finalized.

Singh said his group is "very aggressively" trying to recruit members for the next election, after the legal issues have been settled.

"We've knocked on hundreds of doors over the last few months," he said, adding the group is using social networking sites to draw people.

"The membership drive is purely the mechanism by which we're looking to bring a progressive, next-generation, modern leadership to the institution," Singh said.

For example, he said his group proposed online membership applications but the society wasn't interested, even after an offer to pay for someone to make that happen.

"It doesn't make sense that in almost 2011 to have an institution of this size, with the largest Sikh temple society outside of India, to be unable to communicate with you by email."

He said anyone can watch online services and events held at the Golden Temple, Sikh's holiest shrine, in India.

"We're talking about a developing nation with sporadic Internet connections and electricity that you have approximately one third of the day."

[GrimReaper]

This gang stuff is pure B.S

Their are plenty of white and asian gangs in lower mainland i dont see the Vancouver Sun screaming that the church's should modernize. Lower mainland is full of apnai, and in any community of course theirs going to be the criminal element. Sikhs have been used as scapegoats in the media to cover up more pressing issues.

yeah a lot of apnai get shot. But plenty of asians and white people do too, i dont see that making headline news in the daily paper.

The media needs to be ripped another arse hole for generalzing and amplifying an issue that isnt even that big.

Their are more bigger and more organized gangs in BC, Hells angels, Triads, MS13 etc. i think desi gangs are the least of our worries.

[S1ngh]

This gang stuff is pure B.S

Their are plenty of white and asian gangs in lower mainland i dont see the Vancouver Sun screaming that the church's should modernize. Lower mainland is full of apnai, and in any community of course theirs going to be the criminal element. Sikhs have been used as scapegoats in the media to cover up more pressing issues.

yeah a lot of apnai get shot. But plenty of asians and white people do too, i dont see that making headline news in the daily paper.

The media needs to be ripped another arse hole for generalzing and amplifying an issue that isnt even that big.

Their are more bigger and organized gangs in BC, Hells angels, Triads, MS13 etc. i think desi gangs are the least of our worries.

SO TRUE !!!!

[West London Singh]

The same religion.....the same religious traditions...produce the most productive, law abiding citizens everywhere else around the world. So how can the religion itself be the problem ?

Canada needs to look at itself if it's genuinely looking for answer. Canada needs to realise that if it is the only place where Sikhs are joining gangs then Canada itself is the problem. I know Canada well. I have 2 sisters living there and I visit at least a couple of times a year. My perception of it is as a child trying to find its place in the world. Widely ridiculed as boring and irrellevent throughout the world, it is a nation trying to find its own identity. Bear in mind the fact that it has only been a generation since Britain has seen Canada as a proper country and allowed it to make their own laws without needing permission from London.

I honestly believe that having a massive Sikh community in Canada does absolutely nothing for worldwide Sikhi. The fact is, a Sikh could become Prime Minister of Canada and nobody in the world would even know or care. In contrast, a Sikh in London or New York only has to sneeze and it makes the international media.

So you see....Canada using the Sikh religion as a scapegoat is just the sign of a young inexperienced country unsure of itself....not yet able to take a critical look at itself.