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UN Warns Canada on Sikh Activist Threats, and Canadian Identity Still Outruns Ancestry.
News for residents of the “11th province”: Canadians abroad.
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UN Warns Canada on Sikh Activist Threats
Five UN human rights rapporteurs are pressing Canada to protect Moninder Singh, a B.C. Sikh activist who has received four police warnings about credible threats to his life since 2022.
The letter was dated June 3 and made public this week. It says the threats may be tied to Singh's advocacy at UN bodies and asks Ottawa to speed up investigations, protect his family, and say what else it is doing. Canada has already accused India in the 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Singh's friend, near a Surrey temple. India denies targeting Sikh activists.
This is the sort of foreign interference that, ideally, shouldn’t follow people after they move. For Canadians abroad, especially anyone active in diaspora politics, the story isn’t so much about Ottawa and New Delhi talking past each other, but might help indicate something about whether a Canadian passport comes with any muscle when another government starts sniffing around outside its borders.
Read more: Global News / National Post
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A photo from the old country:
Canadian Identity Outruns Ancestry
Canadians are still more attached to Canada than to ancestry, which is perhaps good news for anyone who has ever had to explain Canadian identity at a dinner with foreign friends without hiding behind maple syrup.
A Leger survey for the Association for Canadian Studies found that more than 4 in 5 Canadians feel attached to Canada, including half who are “very attached.” Attachment to ancestry is still strong at 64 per cent. Immigrants were more attached to Canada than non-immigrants, at 85 per cent compared with 81 per cent, and more attached to ethnic origins, at 78 per cent compared with 62 per cent.
So it seems that an individual can be Canadian, from somewhere else, living somewhere else, and still suffer too much cognitive dissonance. Interestingly, the survey also found younger Quebecers were more attached to Canada than Quebecers overall.
Read more: National Post