MPP Gurratan Singh calls on Ontario to annually recognize first week of November as Sikh Genocide Awareness Week

QUEEN’S PARK — Today, Gurratan Singh, MPP from Brampton East, rose in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to introduce his private member’s bill to recognize the first week of November each year as Sikh Genocide Awareness Week. Singh described the widespread and targeted violence Sikhs have faced in India. “In June 1984, Indian security forces attacked one of our most central Sikh institutions, the Harmandhir sahib, killing thousands. In November of the same year, Sikhs were burnt alive in the streets of India’s capital, Delhi. For more than a decade after - thousands of Sikhs were secretly picked up - tortured and murdered by the Government of India. These horrific acts of violence continue to live on in the memory of Sikhs, and the cries for justice continue to go unheard.”

Singh described further the mass disappearances of Sikhs. “Sikhs, especially youth, were extrajudicially murdered, tortured and disappeared for more than a decade. It is important to call these organized, systemic acts of violence what they were, a state-sponsored genocide against the Sikh people.”

MPP Singh’s bill calls for all Ontarians to create awareness and reflect on the Sikh genocide and other genocides that have occurred throughout the world. Singh explained that “through the process of creating awareness, we hope to create more understanding and help those facing trauma heal.”

Ms. Bhatia, a survivor of the events of 1984 lost immediate family to the mobs that terrorized Delhi. She says that, “The events of 1984 did not only take the lives of my family members, it forced us to migrate leaving behind our homes, our families and our lives. No matter how much time passes by I cannot forget the scenes of violence that still give me sleepless nights.”

MPP Singh stated the importance of his bill and said that “The trauma of this genocide is real and still impacts Sikhs that call Ontario home. This bill will create a time to allow for reflection and help begin the process of healing for thousands of Sikhs that continue to suffer.”