Tag Archives: Sikhs

Trudeau defends the right to protest in India as Canadians are arrested and fined for doing the same

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Trudeau defends the right to protest in India as Canadians are arrested and fined for doing the same

He’s sucking up to another privileged minority — the Sikhs. In his first Cabinet, there were 4 Sikhs or 16%, but the constitute less than one per cent of Canada’s population. These farmers are mostly Sikhs.


https://thepostmillennial.com/trudeau-defends-right-to-protest-in-india-while-ignoring-it-at-home

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released a statement Tuesday morning expressing support for striking farmers in India.

Hundreds of thousands of farmers in India have taken to the streets to protest proposed agricultural laws which they argue will destroy their livelihoods. The laws seek to deregulate crop pricing, which the government says will break up monopolies, but opponents suggest will leave farmers at the mercy of large corporations.

“Canada will always be there to defend the right of peaceful protest,” Trudeau said in his statement. He described the situation as “very concerning,” further noting that he has “reached out to Indian authorities to highlight” Canada’s concerns.

Meanwhile, Canadians who protest against the government have frequently been subject to fines for breaking coronavirus-related lockdown restrictions. An Independent MPP in Ontario was recently handed a fine for organizing a protest at Queen’s Park, the province’s legislature, while the organizer of an anti-lockdown protest in Chatham-Kent, Ontario was fined for organizing to oppose government lockdown restrictions.

A man in Etobicoke, Ontario who attempted to open his barbeque business was handed criminal charges for refusing to comply with lockdown orders, an event which gained significant media traction.

Measures have been taken outside of Ontario to restrict freedom of assembly as well. A man was fined in Saskatoon earlier this month for protesting against mask mandates, while the Manitoba government has promised to do the same to protesters in their province.

Also in Manitoba, RCMP were sent to physically block the highway entrance to a church which was attempting to host a Sunday prayer service. Churchgoers were even prevented from listening to the service from their own cars in the parking lot due to the possibility of spreading coronavirus. According to Manitoba’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin, gatherings of cars are dangerous for the spread of coronavirus because some people might need to use the bathroom, and more than one household may be present in a single vehicle.

The lockdown measures restricting the freedom of assembly guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms are meant to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Yet despite having more than 9.4 million confirmed cases of the virus, Trudeau has encouraged protests in India while remaining silent as protesters are fined and arrested in Canada.

A spokesman from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs condemned Trudeau’s comments, describing them as “ill-informed” and “unwarranted.”

Sikhs In; Euro-Canadians Out: Immigration Reformer’s Press Conference Cancelled for “Security Concerns”

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Sikhs In; Euro-Canadians Out: Immigration Reformer’s Press Conference Cancelled for “Security Concerns”
OTTAWA, May 18, 2016. An explanation offered for the last minute cancellation of an announced press conference suggests that Parliamentary staff chose the rights of Sikhs over the rights of Euro-Canadians today. 
 
Paul Fromm, Director of the Canada First Immigration Reform Committee, had duly booked the Charles Lynch Room run by the National Press Gallery for a 1:30 press conference to criticize Justin Trudeau’s plan to, later this afternoon, offer a second apology to Sikhs for the Komagata Maru incident in 1914.
 
Arrivingat the National Press Gallery on Wellington St.  shortly before 1:30, Mr. Fromm and associates were told the press conference had been cancelled. A notice on the National Press Gallery wall confirmed that the press had been told the press conference was cancelled.
 
“But I didn’t cancel it!” said Mr. Fromm who had driven five hours from Toronto. He was referred to one Pat McDonnell, Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms.
 
McDonnell told Mr. Fromm by phone that he had cancelled the press conference “for security concerns” because there would be a celebration one floor up of Sikhs rejoicing because a second Prime Minister  — Stephen Harper apologized in 2008 — was apologizing because the Dominion Government, in 1914, enforced the law and expelled most of the passengers on the Komagata Maru who were illegally seeking to enter the country.
 
 “Before the first Sikhs came to Canada, my ancestors going back to 1650 — paid taxes and helped build this Parliament. It belongs to all of us,”says Mr. Fromm.
 
“‘Security concerns’, I am told. I was here to conduct a half hour press conference. I had no intention of confronting anyone, especially people one floor above me in a secured building,” said Mr. Fromm.
 
“So, I ask, whose security was being protected? The Sikhs? Is a guy in his 60s really such a threat? Much as I’ve  tried to practise my Jackie Chan fists of fury moves, I hardly think I am likely to be doing back flips up the Parliamentary stairs to kick turbans off surprised Sikhs’ heads.”
 
“So, was it my security being protected? Did they really have knowledge of some Sikh plot to attack? I know these privileged people get to pack daggers (kirpans) but was there really such a plot? Surely, with all the men and guns at their disposal the ‘security’ staff should have been able to keep order,” Mr. Fromm fumed.
 
“The Supreme Court has talked about ‘reasonable accommodation’ in terms of balancing rights. Surely, the Sikhs could have gathered and celebrated one floor up and I could have held my press conference, as planned. The Sikhs’ right to freedom of assembly and mine to freedom of speech and the press’s right to have access to a dissenting point of view could all have been preserved,” he explained.
 
Mr. Fromm was to have given an interview to CPAC reporter Holly Doan, after the press conference. Ms Doan tried to get him into the Parliament Buildings as her guest on her pass to go to a television studio for the interview. More “security” was hastily summoned. Finally, a grizzled officer told Mr. Fromm: “You are not allowed into the building at all.”
 
Ms Doan tried to point out her interview had nothing to do with the Komagata Maru issue.
 
Smirking and laughing, the growing security detail sent the two on their way. The grizzled one said: “I am only following orders.”
 
Tongue-in-cheek Mr. Fromm reminded him: “That didn’t get them off at Nuremburg.”
 
Frederick Fromm's photo.
 
Not to be deterred, Mr. Fromm and associates held a protest up from the Eternal Flame (for liberty, one hopes) unfurling a banner that read: “STOP APOLOGIZING. Komagata Maru, illegal in 1914;  No apology needed today, Justin.”
 
Similar protests occurred in both Toronto and Vancouver today