As a proportion of general inhabitants, there are extra Sikhs in Canada than in India. 

Tensions between Canada and India got here to a head not too long ago when Prime Minister Trudeau alleged that the Indian authorities was concerned to some extent within the homicide of a Sikh activist in Canada. Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an outspoken supporter of the formation of Khalistan, an impartial Sikh homeland in India, was gunned down exterior of a Sikh cultural middle in British Columbia.  

If nothing else, for many Americans who consider their northern neighbors solely throughout hockey season or when a Chinese balloon drifts overhead, the crime and controversy have been a reminder that Canada has an ethnic make-up very distinct from the remainder of the Americas.   

Sikh migration to Canada largely started in the early 1900s, as many Indian Sikhs immigrated to Canada to search out work as laborers. A second wave of immigration occurred in 1947 after the cessation of British colonial rule in India, which led to Partition and the cut up of colonial India into an impartial India and Pakistan. Partition additional remoted many Indian Sikhs and spurred their migration from Punjab, India’s solely majority-Sikh state, to Canada. While when it comes to uncooked numbers, India has extra self-identified Sikhs than any nation on the planet, on a proportion foundation, 2% of the Canadian population identifies as Sikh compared to 1.7% of India’s population, and .02% in the United States.  

In some methods, the Sikh neighborhood additionally holds extra political energy in Canada than in India. More Sikh politicians have been elected to Canada’s House of Commons within the 2019 normal election than these elected to India’s parliament the identical yr. Further, Jagmeet Singh—the head of the New Democratic Party in Canada—is Sikh, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named 4 Sikh members to his cupboard in 2015, in comparison with solely two Sikh members in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cupboard on the time. 

Vocal assist by some Sikhs in India for a separate homeland has led to rising animosity between the neighborhood and the Modi authorities. In India, the Khalistan separatist movement has been labelled as a terrorist marketing campaign and outlawed. Prime Minister Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has struggled to garner important assist from Indian Sikhs; in the 2019 election, the party only received 9.6% of the vote from Punjab.  

While duty for Nijjar’s homicide has but to be firmly established, Canadian Sikhs organized small protests exterior India’s diplomatic establishments in Canada to protest Modi’s insurance policies, and the Trudeau authorities has expelled a high Indian diplomat. India, in flip, has launched a brand new journey advisory that warns Indian guests to Canada to “exercise utmost caution” within the nation. At the current G20 Summit in India, Prime Ministers Trudeau and Modi didn’t maintain any formal discussions, however the two held an “informal talk” throughout which Trudeau supposedly “raised the importance of respecting the rule of law, democratic principles, and national sovereignty” to Modi.  

Prime Minister Trudeau has made boosting migration to Canada a high financial precedence. India, after all, is a crucial supply of expert labor. Both Ottawa and New Delhi will likely be holding all that in thoughts because the investigation continues—and the politics as properly. 

This weblog was researched and drafted with the help of Carlotta Murrin.