Canadian province fails to elect turbaned Sikh yet again
BRITISH COLUMBIA ACCOUNTS FOR APPROXIMATELY 40% OF THE SIKH POPULATION IN CANADA; IT HAS HAD A SIKH PREMIER IN UJJAL DOSANJH, BUT HE DID NOT SPORT A TURBAN
TORONTO: A curious anomaly in Canadian electoral politics appeared to persist as the province of British Columbia, where Sikhs settled over a 100 years ago, again failed to elect a turbaned member of the community to its Assembly.
British Columbia accounts for approximately 40% of the Sikh population in Canada — around 200,000 in all. It has had a Sikh Premier (the equivalent of Chief Minister) in Ujjal Dosanjh, but he did not sport a turban. The province has elected turbaned Sikhs to the Federal House of Commons, the most famous of whom is defence minister Harjit Sajjan.
But Tuesday’s assembly elections, the results of which were declared on Wednesday, the province once again failed to elect a turbaned Sikh to the provincial legislature.
This year, there were a couple of strong contenders to break that streak. Amandeep Singh of the New Democratic Party (NDP), a civil rights lawyer, contested the Richmond-Queensborough riding (as constituencies are termed in Canada) but lost by a mere 1% to Jas Johal of the Liberal Party.
Meanwhile, accountant Gurminder Singh Parihar of the Liberals lost to Harry Bains of the NDP in the riding of SurreyNewton. Both Johal and Bains are also Sikhs, but neither wears a turban. Satwinder Bains, director of the Centre for Indo Canadian Studies at the University of the Fraser Valley, felt this might “just be happenstance” but may also stem from the discrimination Sikhs faced for decades after first settling in British Columbia.
“Here, people have long been excluded from jobs and/or the community because of their turbans and that narrative has informed how our community has evolved over the 100 years in British Columbia. Most men felt they were forced to remove their turban for sheer survival. They have kept their heads down in terms of settlement and integration and tried very hard not to rock the boat that they had taken berth in,” she said.
The province will have to wait for the next polls to see if this preeminent symbol of Sikhism will make its presence felt among British Columbia’s MLAs.