Sikhs have complex link to Canada
Who are Canada’s Sikhs? That question has arisen this year following political controversies involving Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in India and New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh.
Canadian journalists have been reporting on how Trudeau and his entourage, including Sikh MPs, invited a convicted Sikh terrorist to diplomatic galas in India, and how early videos have been uncovered linking the NDP leader to Sikh activists and militants pressing for a separate homeland in India called Khalistan.
The Canadian news media have, in the midst of the commotion, sometimes been accused by activists of stereotyping the country’s roughly 500,000 Sikhs, “by portraying all Sikhs as violent extremists.” Sensitivity has been exacerbated by U.S. cases, following the 2001 terrorist attacks, where some turban-wearing Sikh Americans have been attacked, even killed, after being mistaken for Muslims.
In Canada, which has not witnessed such extreme levels of bigotry, the charge that the media have been stereotyping Sikhs has been made despite most journalists proving to be accurate, fair, diverse and balanced in their coverage, and frequently emphasizing that pro-Khalistan militants make up a small minority of Sikhs in Canada.
However, there is one important source we have not heard from during this discussion in Canada: Professional psychotherapists of Punjabi Sikh origin. Such insiders work on the front lines with the country’s Sikhs, especially when they’re distressed.
Sikh psychotherapists generally find that community members face challenges with immigrating from the Punjab region of India (home to most of the world’s 25 million Sikhs), including difficulties finding work and housing, and navigating the strains between elders’ collective approach and young Sikhs individualistic inclinations.
Some of these psychotherapists have written scholarly papers about the way emotional difficulties are handled by Western Sikhs as a result of coming from a largely rural and patriarchal culture, in which many embrace stoicism as a guiding philosophy and have been uninterested in talking about feelings.
B.C. therapist Gurjit Thandi says Punjabi Sikhs, like members of most ethnic minorities, “do not respond well to traditional Western (therapeutic) interven- tions and prevention methods.” Scholar Kamala Nayer writes that, because of the deep-seated cultural norm of “saving face,” many Sikhs are reluctant to open up about personal problems.
While psychotherapists recognize Sikhs’ complex culture in Canada is often characterized by entrepreneurship, pragmatism, land ownership and community engagement (especially in politics), they have also focused on difficulties — including those associated with alcohol, hypermasculinity, arranged marriages, intimate-partner violence and youthful aggression.
Surrey-based Jaswinder Singh Sandhu is one of the Sikh psychotherapists in Canada, Britain and the U.S. who have published journal articles that aim to help counsellors work with Sikhs. Such therapists often remark on Sikhs’ relatively high rate of religiosity, noting distressed Sikhs can find it helpful to re-embrace their 450-year-old spiritual tradition.
When Sikhs are undergoing emotional troubles, B.C. psychologists Robinder Bedi and Amritpal Shergill say, they can exhibit helplessness and defeatism, since they “draw upon the concepts of karma and kismet, or fate based on past deeds and destiny.” The psychotherapists recommend directing Sikh clients to explore “religious scriptures that provide guidance on how to undo bad karma.”
Bedi and Shergill, who offer counselling in Surrey, have written in B.C. Psychologist magazine that more individualistic young Sikhs often need assistance handling their parents’ demands. When a Sikh is in therapy, Bedi and Shergill say, “time should usually be devoted to strategizing how to defy familial wishes in the most respectful manner possible.”
Thandi, a B.C. social worker who has written about the relationship of domestic violence to patriarchy, says that even though most Sikhs are religious, it doesn’t mean they avoid misery.
In Britain, scholars Gurdhappal Singh and Darsha Tatla of the University of Birmingham have researched alcohol and drug use.
They report that “alcohol abuse has always been very high among Sikhs, with the per capita rate among Sikhs of Punjab among the highest in the world.”
Sandhu, an orthodox turbaned Sikh and founder of a website called Sikh Therapy, said that even though Sikhism prohibits alcohol use, priests can’t enforce such a code in Sikhs’ homes.
The Punjabi word for alcohol is “daru,” which means “medicine,” Sandhu said in an interview. “So when a community identifies alcohol as medicine, you’re going to have a problem on your hands. If people are stressed, or have been working hard, it will lead to abuse. It’s a maladaptive way of coping, but it’s also seen as an aspect of masculinity.”
While Sandhu appreciates Thandi’s work on domestic violence among Punjabi Sikhs, he is pleased to report the problem “has gotten a lot better.”
Even though statistics on intimate-partner violence are notoriously difficult to authenticate, Sandhu says it’s beneficial that Canadian Sikh talk-show radio hosts often focus on domestic upheaval.
“Immigrant Sikh women are coming to realize that when you call 911 in Canada, he’ll be gone. Sikh women in Canada have no fear of the cops, not like they do in India.”
Recognizing that some Sikh Punjabi males are “hyper-masculine,” Sandhu talked about the psychological and cultural factors that are causing a cohort of young Punjabis to glorify intimidation and violence.
Sandhu is aware of highly popular Canadian-made Sikh rap videos that extol weapons in the name of fighting for a separate Sikh homeland. He also follows the way some Sikhs Twitter profiles feature revolvers, rifle-carrying Sikh warriors and maps of India emblazoned with the words “Sikh Kingdom.”
Young Sikhs in Canada who are attracted to pro-Khalistan gangsta rap music “think they’re being cool, because they grew up with Tupac Shakur and Biggie Small,” Sandhu says. They embrace it because of “their experience in households in which people were raised with the Khalistan movement, heard about human rights issues in the Punjab, may have experienced some racism in Canada and went to schools where hip hop and rap were very prevalent.”
Although Sandhu says behaviour that endorses violence can arise out of a sense of young males feeling helplessness, and he urges Western Sikhs who don’t want their community to be stereotyped to discourage members from “going around like gangsters.”
As a faithful Sikh, Sandhu says, “I am personally not a (Khalistan) separatist. … But I am concerned with the human-rights violations that occur in India as a whole.”
Since Sandhu has counselled young Sikhs who have been through the criminal justice system, he maintains Sikh Therapy in part to reach them. Even though the website highlights the benefits of a spiritual life, on occasion Sandhu has been subject to intimidation for his efforts.
But he’s not overly concerned. Sandhu is not easily silenced.
He’s convinced authentic Sikhism is about healing and service.
Therefore he feels it’s his duty to offer a hand to those who may have lost their way. “That’s what Sikhism is all about. We can’t just sit on the sidelines.”
Immigrant Sikh women are coming to realize that when you call 911 in Canada, (your abusive partner will) be gone. Sikh women in Canada have no fear of the cops, not like they do in India. Psychotherapist Jaswinder Singh Sandhu