The World Sikh Organization (WSO) of Canada continues its activism with the ongoing smearing of the Sikh community at large.
Note, this does not amount to Sikhophobia. Rather, it comes to anti-Sikh bigotry, individuals with religious beliefs not religion.
There have hundreds of articles in the media over three weeks, or more, tarring an entire community as radicals with rising extremism.
Some have stood to protect their image. The WSO has worked hard to keep a positive image in spite of the accusations against the Canadian Sikh community.
The Sikh community of Canada, much of it, according to the WSO, argues against the human rights violations in India, but protest this in a peaceful manner.
As the WSO said in an email that I received, “We are proud Canadians who believe in the rule of law, freedom of expressions, and upholding freedom of religion.”
Sikhs, fellow Canadians, need a strong, supportive voice in the light of the controversial motion, which does not need too much detailing as it has been in the news.
The motion if advanced in a firm way would greatly harm the image of Sikhs potentially leading to increased hate crimes against individual Sikhs, as happens with those following the Islamic and Jewish faiths in Canada, as shown in high numbers of anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic hate crimes in this country.
Sikhs have been reaching out to their local representatives. We can reach out too.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen founded In-Sight Publishing and In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal.