CANADA APOLOGIZED TO INDIA

Military officer at B. C. temple event

Canada apologized to India in 2011 after a ministerial inquiry confirmed that military personnel had participated at a Remembrance Day event that “glorified terrorists” at a Sikh temple in Surrey, B. C.

The event t ook pl ace even t hough, according to internal documents, the Punjabi- speaking officer now running to become a Liberal MP warned his colleagues not to let themselves be photographed near posters of “martyrs” of the movement to create an independent Sikh state called Khalistan.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper acknowledged in internal 2012 correspondence that government officials and MPs were playing with fire attending events like the Remembrance Day ceremony and the annual Vaisakhi parade in Surrey, where some floats have included posters of Sikh radicals.

The government “must adopt a much more rigorous process for screening event invitations,” Harper told a Conservative MP in 2012 who had complained about government representatives being compromised.

The revelation that Canada apologized to India, which according to one expert underscores a risk of trying to win support in immigrant communities, was contained in an email dated Dec. 8, 2011, from Harper’s office.

It was in response to complaints from some Punjabi Canadians that religious fundamentalists would hijack a solemn day to honour the sacrifices of Canadian soldiers.

“Canadian Armed Forces members were invited to attend a Remembrance Day event; this was not expected,” wrote Katherine

( The government) must adopt a much more rigorous process for screening event invitations.

Coutinho, then a communications officer at Harper’s regional office in Vancouver.

She added that Gen. Walter Natynczyk, then chief of defence staff, “has apologized to the Indian High Commissioner.”