The Sikhs of Vancouver
By • 3/12/09 |
A sikh boy wearing the traditional kirpan. |
[Editor’s note: As its title indicates, this website normally deals only with issues of race in America. However, Mr. Hengest’s article was so excellent that I could not turn down the chance to publish it.]
Racially and culturally, America has no closer kin than Canada. In fact, nearly a quarter of English-speaking Canadians trace their roots to British loyalists who left the United States following the War of Independence. These steady supporters of the Empire have built a nation whose history of peace and prosperity makes it the envy of the world. Today, however, Canada is in peril: the Canadian government is undermining the foundation of Canada’s tranquility by importing millions of Third World people. Because the two nations have such close links, Canada’s immigration problem is very much America’s business; any conflict there can easily spill over the border. The most severe cultural dislocations caused by immigration are occurring in Vancouver, a short cultural and geographical distance from Seattle, Washington.
Vancouver, British Columbia is one of Canada’s finest jewels. The sparkling city is set alongside the Pacific Ocean and the Fraser River, and residents can enjoy spectacular views of the Coast Mountains. While the climate in Vancouver is rainy, the moderating influence of the sea protects the city from the bitter cold typical of the rest of country. Year after year Vancouver ranks high on various lists of the world’s most livable cities. However, Vancouver also has a darker side. It is home to a substantial community of Sikhs, the city’s most troublesome minority. Not only are Sikhs responsible for a very disproportionate share of crime, but they are culturally incompatible with white Canadians and flex their political muscle in ways that harm white interests. Canada’s Sikhs also have a history of vicious terrorism.
The Sikhs are a religious sect originating in India that follows the teachings of the “Ten Gurus.” According to Sikh theology, the first guru, Nanak Dev, repudiated Hindu polytheism and called for his followers to worship one god. The Sikhs also abolished the Hindu caste system in favor of social equality, although some social stratification remains. Baptized Sikh men, called “Khalsa,” are required to leave their hair uncut and always wear a turban, a wooden comb, cotton undergarments, and a dagger, called a kirpan. The Sikhs originated India’s Punjab region, which has found itself in the middle of invasions and wars for thousands of years; consequently, the Ten Gurus guided their followers towards martial virtues. The name “Singh,” common among Sikhs, means “lion,” and baptized Sikhs have a duty to be soldiers for their faith, continuously prepare for a fight, and participate in armed conflict when called upon. When the British ruled India, the Sikhs were the backbone of the Raj Army.
In theory, anyone can become a Sikh, but the faith is essentially racially based. Sikhs are overwhelmingly Punjabi South Asians so the term Sikh can refer to a practicing but unbaptized adherent, a baptized, turban-wearing Khalsa, or a non-practicing ethnic Punjabi with a Sikh extended family. In Canada, Sikhs are often somewhat inexactly called Indo-Canadians, “Desis,” Punjabis, South Asians, or Indians.
The Empire’s Color Question
Since Canada was a part of the British Empire, and imperial policy theoretically allowed for a free movement of all people throughout the Empire, Canada and the other white dominions started to receive an influx of Indians at the turn of the 20th century. Indian migrants to Canada, who began arriving in 1907, were predominantly Sikhs,.
Indian immigration caused immediate and explosive racial conflicts in Canada, as well as many other parts of the empire. The worst conflict was in southern Africa’s Natal colony. Under the leadership of Gandhi, Natal’s Indian laborers participated in strikes and civil disobedience campaigns. There was even a 1913 “invasion” of the Transvaal by 4,000 striking Indians. As a result of this unrest, the white dominions in the British Empire enacted variants of the “Natal Formula,” or superficially non-discriminatory laws that were used specifically to keep out Indians and other non-whites. Australians required all potential immigrants to be fluent in a European language. Since the precise language was unspecified, immigration officers could give South Asians a test in Lithuanian or Finnish! Canadians kept out Indians by requiring all immigrants to take a direct journey from their country of origin. Since there were no direct routes from India and Canada, Indians could not immigrate. When Indian activists chartered a Sikh-filled ship, the Komagata Maru, to make a direct run in 1914, the Royal Canadian Navy towed the ship back out to sea after it had docked in Vancouver.
Despite such steps, Sikhs, wrongly called Hindus at the time, still gained a foothold in British Columbia. Madison Grant, author of the 1933 racialist book Conquest of a Continent, highlighted the province’s South Asian issues:
The province also has its Asiatic problem, which has been the source of hard feelings on several occasions… Some 6,000 Hindus likewise found their way there. Orientals now amount to one in every seven of the total population. There is a real Asiatic question here and the whites are beginning to look to the United States for protection.1
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| Sikhs in Vancouver, 1924. |
The Asiatic peril that Grant warned about was becalmed due to action by Ottawa. Canadian “Natal Formula” restrictions effectively kept out further non-white immigration, and after World War II British Columbia experienced a flood of white settlers from eastern Canada and Britain. As a result, the Sikhs were relegated to the status of a small, exotic minority, not much different than the Amerindians who also shared the area. To make sure things remained peaceful on the political front, Sikhs were prohibited from voting by law between 1908 and 1947.2
The peaceful balance collapsed in the 1960s. Canada succumbed to the self-destructive Zeitgeist that infected the rest of the Western world and eased immigration restrictions in 1967. The Sikhs began to pour in. Today, there are more than 130,000 Sikhs in British Columbia and nearly the same number spread through the rest of Canada.
Sikh Crime
Overall, Canada has been good to Sikh immigrants. Although they are not particularly prosperous relative to the rest of Canadians, they are not impoverished. Many Sikhs are employed as taxi-drivers and truckers. While most Sikhs just eke out a respectable living, some have achieved great prosperity. There is now a class of Sikh professionals who serve the needs of the community. The second largest lumber company in British Columbia, Doman Industries, is Sikh owned.3
Despite a respectable place on the social ladder, many young Sikh men turn to crime. Between 1991 and 2004, 76 young men in the Vancouver area have been killed in gang-related violence, and authorities think most of the crimes were committed by well-to-do young people of Indian descent. Upper class whites in British Colombia are, of course, barely on the radar when it comes to crime, but Sikhs do not follow the same trend. Sikh culture is steeped in confrontational, warrior values, and those values are imbibed by young men with their mother’s milk. “Eventually,” says Indo-Canadian Reporter Renu Bakshi, “a young boy will become a young man and step into a community that thrives on bravado—a world where everything is a grudge match, a fight to the finish.”
This warrior spirit has made Greater Vancouver first among Canada’s cities in gun violence. In 2008 Metro Vancouver’s gun crime rate was 45.3 per 100,000. By comparison, Toronto has a gun crime rate of 40.4 per 100,000, and the national average is 27.5. Crime is particularly bad in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver that is home to 76,000 Sikhs, 19 percent of the population. In fact, in 2006, Surrey had the highest overall crime rate of any Canadian city. (In 2008, Saskatoon beat out Surrey, possibly due to a spike in crime by American Indians.) The Canadian government goes to great length to not report crime rates by race, but ordinary Vancouverites know the score. Nearly two-thirds believe some ethnic groups are more responsible for crime than others, and Indo-Canadians and Asians are at the top of the list.
Sikhs are a major player in Vancouver’s organized gang problem. In 2005, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police estimated that Indo-Canadians gangs were one of top organized crime problems in British Columbia:
[Indo-Canadian organized crime] groups have typically been associated with street level drug trafficking, the wholesaling and transport of marihuana for export, and (as reported widely in the press) with high-profile violent conflict now having claimed between 80 and 90 lives in the past 15 years. It may be noted that the number of homicides associated to this gang violence is approaching the level of magnitude of the Quebec ‘Biker War’ of the 1990s.
The hierarchy of crime has changed little over the last three years, though both Asians and Sikhs are gaining on the Bikers.
One notorious Sikh criminal is the late Bindy Johal. In the 1990s this leader of the “Indo-Canadian Mafia” formed a “death squad” called “The Elite” that is believed to have committed up to thirty murders across Greater Vancouver. Johal’s mafia was involved in drug trafficking, stealing goods from truckers, car theft, and racketeering. After Johal was killed at a nightclub in 1998 by rivals, his criminal empire collapsed. However, like the mythical Hydra, Sikh crime grew new heads after Johal’s death. These Sikh groups, which have names like the “Brown Side Thugz,” the “Daku Killaz,” and the “Dosanjh Brothers,” specialize in the same types of crimes as Johal’s mafia did.
Organized crime in Vancouver carries considerable costs. In an open letter to city officials, British Columbia’s Solicitor General reported last April that the resources of the Province’s police could only target thirty percent of criminal gangs operating in the city. British Columbians and other Canadians will have to fund the cost of more effective law enforcement through higher taxes. Crimes impose additional costs on Canadians. The Vancouver Board of Trade reports that the cost of property crimes in the city was $125 million in 2005.
Another appalling Sikh criminal was Gurpreet Singh Sidhu, convicted of the violent rapes of two prostitutes in 2002. He was considered so dangerous that prison guards would not escort him to legally required appointments outside jail unless they were armed. A considerable row broke out when British Columbia officials realized that immigration services might not deport Mr. Sidhu after his release.
Sikh criminals usually shoot other Sikh gangsters, but there have been some cases of Sikh-on-white violence. In June 2008, three Desis attacked an openly gay white man in Vancouver’s gay district. The police officially categorized the attack as “random,” but the government spin regarding such crimes is losing its ability to deceive. One editorialist angrily quipped, “One Wonders if it were ‘Three white Guys’ assaulting a ‘Indo Gay Man’ how fast the Wheels of Justice would turn in a ‘Vengeance and Spend every last Taxpayer Cent’ in finding these Three Offenders.”
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| Kimveer Gill. |
In an even more horrific incident, Sikh Kimveer Gill went on a shooting rampage in Montreal’s Dawson College in 2006. He injured 19 and killed one before turning the gun on himself.
White Canadians may have reason to fear further attacks as anti-white hatred appears to be common among Sikhs. One Surrey Sikh blogger has written: “I’m all for some arrogant racist white guy getting put in check for making a racist comment to a Desi… It’s empowering to be a Desi thug, to have these assholes who look down on us, to fear us. It’s good in a way, for us to unite and look out for each other.”
Canadian Police appear reluctant to control violence in the Sikh community. The family of slain Sikh journalist Tara Singh Hayer has yet to find justice. At a November 2008 remembrance ceremony, Hayer’s son Dave stated that police knew who the killers were, but they would not press charges. Hayer said that he has been approached by Sikhs who rightly wonder if they will be protected from harm if they step forward with information about crimes in their community.
It is likely that Sikh crime will continue or even grow worse. It is young, unmarried Sikh men who commit the most violence, and Canadian Sikhs are using modern pre-natal technology to detect female fetuses in order to abort them. In Sikh culture, births of girls are mourned while new boys are celebrated. As a result, the sex ratio is becoming skewed so that there are many restless young unmarried Sikh men. Besides, Sikhs are reluctant to collaborate with law enforcement. Mr. Bakshi has noted “the ‘conspiracy of silence’ Sikhs use to protect their sons at the expense of solving murder investigations.”
Political and Cultural Clashes
Other races in Canada, such as Toronto’s blacks, have higher rates of crime. However, Sikhs are much more troublesome and dangerous to whites because they have gained great political leverage. Sikhs have entered the British Columbian political scene at several levels, and, unlike Canadian whites, they keep their eyes on their own interests. By the late 1980s, Sikhs had gained so much clout that white politicians were starting to pander on an astonishing scale. Even after Sikh gang crime and terrorism started to make the front pages, white politicians would still shout, “The Khalsa belongs to God, victory belongs to God!” in Punjabi at Greater Vancouver’s Sikh Temples.4 Canadian politicians bowed to Sikh interests in 1987 by supporting asylum for a boatload of Sikh refugees that had landed in Nova Scotia. Many of these refugees had ties to terrorist activities in India.
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| Ujjal Singh Dosanjh. |
If they understood their own interests, white Canadian politicians would pound the table for immigration restriction. As has happened elsewhere, no matter how much white politicians scrape and grovel to non-whites, they are replaced as soon as minorities can muster the votes. In the British Columbian Legislative Assembly, seven Sikhs hold power in a house of seventy-nine. A Sikh named Ujjal Singh Dosanjh actually served as British Columbia premier (the Canadian equivalent of governor) from 2000 to 2001. By delivering block votes at the local level, Sikhs have become very influential in the Liberal Party. In fact Sikhs have make up about fifteen percent of the Liberal Party delegates. There are currently nine Sikh members of Canada’s parliament.
Sikhs use the bulk of their political power to influence Canadian immigration policy. In a recent case, a paralyzed and fraudulent refugee claimant, Laibar Singh, evaded standing deportation orders for more than a year due to public outcry by Sikhs. One thousand demonstrators blocked officials from putting Mr. Singh on a homeward bound plane in December 2007. Despite the illegality of this act, no demonstrators were arrested. Sikh’s increasing organization and political clout was manifested in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s groveling apology for the 1914 towing of the Komagata Maru.
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| Sikhs demonstrate for Laibar Singh. |
Sikhs also attempt to silence criticism of their behavior. In 2007, Sikh activists, along with Asian Liberal Party MP, Raymond Chan, tried to get radio host Bruce Allen kicked off of an Olympic planning committee after he criticized Sikhs for their unwillingness to assimilate into Canadian society. Sukhpreet Singh Heir stated, “We don’t believe that in today’s society these remarks should be tolerated.” Fortunately, Mr. Allen held his ground and the complaint went nowhere.
Other cultural conflicts between Sikhs and white Canadians are also evident. For example, recent quarrels over building permits have a racial dimension. Whites in Surrey object to Sikhs’ practice of buying up older, modest homes so that they can demolish them and build a “monster houses.” At issue is more than a clash in taste. The Sikhs often turn the houses into illegal “mini-hotels,” resulting in neighborhood overcrowding. Likewise, Sikhs wear their traditional kirpan daggers in places where such items are inappropriate, including public schools. This conflict between public safety and Third World religious expression has resulted in court cases where Canada’s tyrannical multiculturalism favors the Sikhs. In Quebec, a school ban on weapons was overturned when Sikh activists sued to wear a dagger in school. After the case, a Sikh boy threatened a fellow student with a kirpan.
Terrorism, Past and Future
Disturbing though this catalog of Sikh misbehavior may have been, we have not yet even touched on Canadian Sikhs’ worst offense: the bombing of Air India flight 182 at an altitude of 31,000 feet just off the coast of Ireland. Sikh terrorists also targeted another Air India flight the same day, but killed only two baggage handlers at the Tokyo airport.
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| Wreckage from Air India flight 182. |
The prosecution of the bombings was a saddening illustration of Canada’s inability to control immigrant crime. Only one member of the ring responsible for the bombings, Canadian Sikh Inderjit Singh Reyat, was sentenced in the case, and he got only ten years for manslaughter.
The bombings, which targeted Indian Hindus, took place in the context of Sikh agitation for an independent, Sikh nation-state called Khalistan, which was opposed by the Hindu-dominated Indian government. In 1984, Sikh bodyguards had assassinated Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In 1986, Sikh separatists would take over the Sikh’s holy Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, which was then taken back by the Indian Army in a bloody, tank-gunfire supported attack. Eventually, a combination of tough measures and compromises caused the insurgency to quiet down by 1993.
Air India flight 182 was torn to shreds, causing the deaths of three hundred and twenty-nine people. British fishermen, Royal Air Force helicopters, and Irish Navy ships were immediately on the scene to search for survivors. What they found instead were dead bodies. One fisherman pulled in a victim whose face was frozen in a death-mask of fear. Other bodies were difficult to pull on board because their bones where shattered and the fishermen couldn’t get a solid grip. An Irish doctor, examining the deceased on shore, found that the spinal column of a nine year old girl was heavily smashed. The skull was fractured and the bones were completely dislocated. The girl’s injuries were caused during the fall. When a human body falls from a great height it flails uncontrollably, like an autumn leaf.5
Despite the fact that the bombing took place on a foreign airplane over international airspace, the responsibility for punishing the perpetrators of this horrific act fell to Canadian law enforcement. It was plain that the criminals were Canadians: the bomb was manufactured in British Columbia, and it was loaded on the planes from a check-in desk in Vancouver. Besides, most of the victims were Hindus who had legal Canadian residency.
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| Talwinder Singh Parmar. |
The Canadian justice system proved entirely unable to cope with the case, as Sikh criminals posed novel challenges to Canadian law enforcement. Policemen shadowing leaders of Babbar Khalsa, the Sikh terrorist group responsible for the bombings, found it difficult to keep track of the suspects because they all looked alike with their traditional Sikh beards and turbans. These similarities in appearance also enabled the terrorists to elude police and border agents by swapping passports. With the authorities confused, traveling terrorists couldn’t be tracked across borders. Additionally, Punjabi translators were not available to law enforcement. Much else went wrong with the case as well. Wiretapped tapes containing vital evidence were destroyed. A crucial source of evidence disappeared when the suspected bombing mastermind, Babbar Khalsa leader Talwinder Singh Parmar, was killed in Punjab by Indian Police.
After the main suspect’s death, the case went cold for more than ten years. Eventually, the remaining living suspects were brought to trial. The two main defendants were Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri. In March 2005, Justice Ian Bruce Josephson of the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that the suspects were not guilty due to reasonable doubt. This decision was not unjustified. The Sikhs had superb defense attorneys, and the evidence had been collected haphazardly and had decayed over time. In 2008 the Canadian government issued an apology to the families of the Air India victims for failing to solve the case.
There is little doubt that Canada’s multicultural policies made prosecution of the case more difficult. As Brian Fawcett of the Vancouver Review reported:
What we really need is an inquiry to figure out why and when our criminal justice system isn’t able to uphold the Rule of Law, and to decipher the interactions between that failure and a system of multicultural compensations and bonuses. It’s a system that gives advantage to immigrant and visible-minority perpetrators of crime, allowing them to ignore and, when it serves their advantage, to manipulate the codes of egalitarian civility upon which democracy is grounded. It is within those interactions that the plan to bomb the planes was hatched and the bombs delivered, and it was because of those interactions that the perpetrators got away with killing more than 300 innocent people.
After the Air India bombing, Sikh terrorists continued to act brazenly. On Vancouver Island in 1986, Canadian Sikh gunmen nearly killed a visiting Indian politician in an ambush along a logging road near Gold River. This time the police managed to capture the terrorists. There was only one road leading away from the ambush site so the police simply set up road blocks and nabbed the escaping criminals, who were all members of the International Sikh Youth Federation. Even today there are death threats on reporters and other acts of intimidation. These actions usually go unpunished. One reporter, Kim Bolan of the Vancouver Sun, who wrote a book on the Air India bombings, is routinely threatened. And Sikh internet chat rooms are filled with anti-Bolan tirades.
Today, the Sikh separatist movement that sparked the Air India bombing has died down, but the fundamental conflict is unresolved and continues to smolder. The Khalistan movement’s leadership is still around and pro-independence sentiment can be found on the Internet. Indeed, the militancy of the Sikh diaspora in Canada could be the spark that sets off ethnic violence again. In 2007, India lodged a formal diplomatic protest in Canada after a parade in Surrey featured a float portraying slain Babbar Khalsa leader Talwinder Singh Parmar as a “Sikh martyr.” In 2008, the Indian high commission in Ottawa expressed concern about Sikh separatist activism in Canada. If tensions in India pick up again, Vancouver may be a battleground.
Canada has invited this trouble through its naive multi-racialist immigration policy, and despite increasingly visible problems, Canada continues to allow 250,000 immigrants per year into a country of only 30 million. Reform seems far off.
Canada’s problem with its Sikh minority should be of concern to Americans not just because Vancouver borders on the US, but for the broader lessons this story of ethnic conflict teaches. When a country imports an alien population, it often brings in all of the conflicts that bedeviled the immigrants in their homelands. Consequently, Western nations can get dragged into intractable conflicts that would otherwise be none of their business. Moreover, differences between the immigrant and host populations are likely to prove disruptive, even disastrous. Differences in history and culture pose difficulties enough, but most divisive are differences in nature. As long as we continue to ignore the possibility that there are biological differences among races that cause them to create different types of societies, we run the risk of importing populations that are prone to poverty and crime and hostile to white people and their values.
Duncan Hengest, a pen name, can be e-mailed at d.hengest at yahoo dot com. Mr. Hengest thanks Gaurav Ahuja for his assistance with this article.
- Madison Grant, The Conquest of a Continent (York SC: Liberty Bell, 2004), 315-16. ↑
- Hugh Johnston, “Sikhs in Canada,” in Encyclopedia of the Diasporas, ed. Melvin Ember et al. (New York: Springer, 2004), 1075-82. Most of the article is online here. ↑
- Ibid., 1078. ↑
- Kim Bolan Loss of Faith: How the Air-India Bombers Got Away With Murder (Toronto: McCelland and Stewart, 2005), 94. ↑
- Information about the Air India bombings comes from Bolan’s Loss of Faith. ↑
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Excellent article. Living in Vancouver, I am all too familiar with East Indians. They are the perfect example of how immigration is destroying our Canadian identity and slowly turning Canada into a third world country, as anyone who has ever visited Surrey or South East Vancouver will attest. Being a Canadian opposed to immigration is a discouraging thing. The movement is nonexistent outside of a few nazis on Stormfront. Hopefully this article is a harbinger of a more respectable future.
this give a biasd view, and does not take into account the sikh character, or discrimination they faced in india.
the sikhs in canada are extremly misunderstood, the indian goverment has had a big role in bringing corruption to canada
It’s amazing how all “big tough” peoples seem to have higher crime rates.
Polynesians, Maoris, West Africans, and now it seems Sikhs, all have higher crime rates than whites, Hindu South Asians and East Asians.
It’s also noticeable that Pakistani’s (about the same size as whites) are larger and more aggressive looking than Hindu Indians and also have higher crime rates.
The fact that whites are pretty average in terms of aggressiveness, helps to explain the appearance of white skinheads. It’s because they aren’t that aggressive looking that they have to make themselves look more intimidating by wearing army clothing and shaving their heads etc.
What race was Timothy McVeigh who was responsible for the Oklahoma bombing and killing of 200+ innocent people in America?
What race/color was the columbine school shooters?
What color was Hitler who killed millions of people?
What color were the people who dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima/Nagasaki?
We are all humans. Let looks for similar traits that get us closer instead of looking at our differences and bringing about hatred.
Ron, Why don’t you at least try to refute the article.
Q: What benefit do East Indians bring to Vancouver?
A: None. Maybe curry, if your tastes run that way, but really, all you need is a recipe book for that.
What disadvantages do they bring? Well, they’re a violent, racist third world people. We spend money pandering to them and dealing with their crimes. They want the benefits of first world infrastructure but have zero respect for the culture that created it in the first place.
Their presence here, along with other minorities, has caused our government to try and change the very definition of what it means to be a Canadian. Now I’m somehow the same nationality as someone from the other side of the world who simply bought a plane ticket here and passed a civics test.
Ron,
The examples you site are just individual cases, not statistical trends.
Some ethnic groups do have higher crimes rates than others, it’s a fact.
Pointing out ethnic differences is not necessarily divisive. The main victims of Black Crime in the US for example are other Blacks, and they are entitled to know about crime rates in their own community.
Similarly, nobody said whites are perfect, it may be the case that whites have a higher rate of paedophilia for example.
Violence in war is also different than violent crime in peacetime.
Japanese people for example tend to be very law abiding. Hence they can be very violent if they are told to be so by a militaristic government, as in WWII, but are typically very civil in civillian life.
What the Germans and Japanese did in the Second World War was amoral, but they did believe they had social approval to do what they did.
I was under the impression that this land belonged to the Native Americans before we added our own rules and regulations in their land. Any rational Canadian who has ever associated with Sikhs know they are not as this article portrays them all. I for one know many Sikh, none who I’d say are violent, all of whom who are proud Canadians.
Ah yes, the constant repeated cry of the North American leftist: white people have no right to be safe in North America because Europeans weren’t the first people in North America. “American exceptionalism” in its most virulent and self-destructive form.
If you don’t feel like you have the right to own any land in North America, by all means don’t. But quit using “we” in that preposterous leftist way. Pronouns were not invented by Marx or whoever it is you worship.
(Do you know what happened on March 22, 1622? You’d kind of like to see that happen again, wouldn’t you?)
“I was under the impression that this land belonged to the Native Americans”
And the American Indians migrated to North America by crossing the Bering Strait, conquering and exterminating a previous race of people (see Kennewick Man).
A very biased disgusting article about sikhs. They can not all be classed as criminals. There will be sikh gangs but there will also be black gangs, white gangs etc.
Ahh yes, very biased and disgusting. Articles entitled “The Sikhs of Vancouver” should concentrate on non-Sikh ethnic groups. That would be non-biased.
The most biased and disgusting article ive red in a long time how about u guys attempt to understand sikh history, values and persecution in india before pulling em alll off as terrorists and gang members out to pul apart canada. I have and i knoe many sikhs who are perfectly decent peopl they are law abiding citizens and individualsjust because theres one skinhead gang out there wouldnt be reason to kik out all white ppl from canada so pull ur head in.
an extremely narrowminded article. This is not an accurate portrayl of the sikh community at all. Most of the members of this community are lawful, hard workings canadians!
Dr Stevens
“Most of the members of this community are lawful, hard workings canadians!”
Do you even live in Vancouver? Sihks are not Canadians. They’re Indians, no matter what their passports say! And however law- abiding the bulk of them may be, it’s not worth keeping them around if we have to deal with their violent minority as well.
IT IS VERY HARD TO BELIEVE THAT ARTICLE LIKE THIS ONE CAN BE WRITTEN ALMOST VERY SENTENCE IS RACIAL AND THERE LOTS OF THINGS WITCH ARE COMPLETELY WRONG.
I GUESS IT IS NORMAL WHITE MAN WROTE IT AND IT IS A WHITE MAN’S WEB SITE((whiteamerica.us))
And a lot of people consider Sikhs to be white. Unfortunately, I have written another sentence which is racial, which is apparently a uniquely white flaw.
But as you know, many many articles are written every day attacking whites in stronger terms, and with fewer facts, than the above. Yet no one finds it “very hard to believe” such articles can be written.
mike said:
The main victims of Black Crime in the US for example are other Blacks
Untrue.
See http://www.colorofcrime.com/
Blacks commit more violent crime against whites than against blacks. Forty- five percent of their victims are white, 43 percent are black, and 10 percent are Hispanic.
This article is the biggest load of bulls*** I have read in a while. Its because of people like Duncan Hengest that keep positive change from happening in the world. This is biased as hell and I can’t even BEGIN to understand how people can read something like this and take it seriously. This is a very disrespectful and DISGUSTING article. You can obviously tell that whoever agrees with the author of this article is extremely ignorant and has done no prior research about Sikhs on their own. This article not only makes Sikhs look bad- but on the flip side- makes the citizens of Vancouver look like ignorant, arrogant, red-neck, regressive people who are still living DECADES behind real time.
I always thought Canada was such a peaceful/neutral country that was ahead of the curve- I guess I was wrong.
[Editor’s note: As its title indicates, this website normally deals only with issues of race in America. However, Mr. Hengest’s article was so excellent that I could not turn down the chance to publish it.]
[Annu’s note: Duncan Hengest should be ashamed of himself for writing such a horrible article- and the editor who published this should slap himself in the face and be fired for NOT turning this article down.]
“This is a very disrespectful and DISGUSTING article.”
“Disrespectful” and “disgusting” are not meaningful terms with respect to the truth or falsity of a statement, even if they’re CAPITALIZED. “Annu,” like every “anti” who has responded to this piece, does not bother to point out a single error of fact or logic in it; apparently childish indignation is an ample substitute for those outmoded artifacts of “Eurocentrism,” or whatever the imbecile term-of-the-week is.
Sikhs are fearless hardworking people. Every community has bad apples. Timothy Mcveigh, Hells Angels, Crip are not Sikhs. America has to worry about their foreign policies than Sikhs. Sikhs are very influential where ever they go. In India Sikhs make up 2% population but Indian army is 20% Sikhs, Indian Prime Minster is a Sikh. Sikhs are well educated, lot of US doctors are Sikhs. White House security firm is owned by Sikhs. Canada is a multicultural country, Sikhs are proud Canadian. They are making great contribution to its economy. If you go to Canadian Jails, there are very few Sikh, jailed are filled with your so called white brothers.
I find this article very shameful being a white woman. I grew up with sikhs and so has my family for years and years. They donated the land for vancouver general hospital a man named Jwala Singh over 100 years ago. They built the rail ways. Air India bombing was an inside job done by the Indian and canadain government not one Sikh was proven guilty this was done by Whites and hindus of India. Sikh contribute to more charitable donations than all the communities but together annually. AS for the the so-called Sikh gangsters none of them were SIKH they were following american culture. what about collombine that was done by whites. THe Sikh Kirpan…lets take that..not one incident of attacks with a Kirpan religious sikhs are the most peaceful of canadian society this article is trash…hmm the only immagrants that distroyed canada was US white ppl I bet you the Native ppl must hate immagrants too YES WHITE PPL WE are immagrants as well and we fucked up the earth more than any other community on the earth!!!
Jessica, if you want to make your point I implore you to please proofread before you submit. I understand some of your sentences (not including the last one) but it looks like you haven’t cited anything at all.
Kanwar Nijjer, you didn’t reply at all to my introducing the notion that Indian Sikhs are white as well. Do you agree or disagree? I think they are probably not, but I wouldn’t call the case closed until a better definition of white comes up. Your words, “jailed [sic] are filled with your so called white brothers” seems incongruous without your answering the issue. You also didn’t reply to the article on organized crime by the BC-Yukon Criminal Intelligence Service. Did you dismiss its conclusions out of hand, or does any criticism of Sikhs at all strike you as immoral?
Will you people please tell me what is going on? Why does this article attract so much attention? Articles like this, but on the subject of criminals who are black, Eurowhite, Mexican, Thai, etc., get written all the time without attracting this weird thin-skinned reaction. Why? What is it about Sikhs that makes it so horrible to criticize them?
Jessica, why didn’t you respond to what Kanwar Nijjer about your so-called white brothers? Is it that white people “fucked up the earth more than any other community” and so, to repay the earth, you decide to react with outrage when any group other than whites gets criticized?
I’m not intimidated (I’m not a liberal), but I am curious. Any answers to these questions would be much appreciated.
The US does not have to worry — unless it changes its immigration policies and allows the kind of Sikh trash that Canadians are willing to import.
As a Sikh immigrant in the US who has visited Canada on numerous occasions, I am embarrassed every time I visit Canada, especially Surrey.
Clean up your act brothers!
It is baffling that so many commenters here have focused their long-nurtured hatred on the white race, even more than they reserve for the author of the article. Many sound like whites themselves. It is this self-disgust that has allowed transculturalism to enter into its sinister work in the West. Never-ending and indiscriminate immigration is but one result.
I think the point that the author is trying to make is that the integrity of culture matters. He is not offering the near-meaningless balance of pros and cons viewpoint “so the reader can decide” that one might expect from the NYT. Informative writing does not follow that formula.
“Lee” comments: “this give a biasd view, and does not take into account the sikh character, or discrimination they faced in india. the sikhs in canada are extremly misunderstood, the indian goverment has had a big role in bringing corruption to canada”
This seems to point to some deeper problems, like India being happy to be rid of some of her more troublesome Sikh citizens. Doubtless Sikhs of better calibre have made it to Canada as well. Still, “…bringing corruption to canada” has a haunting sound to it.
I was taught in school that the Maru incident was a blight on Canadian history. I eventually grew up and started to think for myself and began to realize how naive one must be to actually believe that turning away hostile anti-White bigots is somehow bad. If the tables were turned, you just know that they would have treated Whites in a terrible manner. What the article forgot to mention was that the Sikhs on the Maru were armed and were hostile towards to port authorities-and they actually expected to be treated nicely… Just goes to show the arrogance and bigotry of this brand of third-world baggage.
One of the things about Sikhs that makes them such a troublesome community, is their insistance on wearing their turbans, knives, etc.
For instance, I read about a Sikh woman who happens to be a nurse, and works in a hospital. She’s chosen a very noble profession, but you see, the trouble is that she is a scrub nurse, or a operating room nurse, but she insists on wearing her turban in the O.R.
I mean, the same turban she wears on the street! That’s incompatible with any surgical protocol! She should be asked: «Hey! Ever heard about such a thing as sterility, Nurse?».
So, to this woman, her right to pratice her sikh religion, and wear its symbols, is actually more important than the patients’s rights to receive adequate medical treatment, in this case, without undue sources of hospital-acquired infections.
This kind of thing has cropped up in England, too, where muslims medical students have refused to used alcohol-based gel to wash their hands!
To tell you the truth, I think all those immigrants from the Third World simply have practices and a way if life, which are incompatible with life in a modern Western, high-tech country. And the fact that laws such as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, give them the opportuniy to reproduce here, their Third World life, is now forcing the majority of our population to live under Third world rules and conform to Third Wolrd standards.
And that, is unacceptable!
As a practicising Indian Sikh, I do not find this article offensive at all.
In fact, the author has done a fairly good job of highlighting how most Sikhs in Canada are perceived by the vast majority.
The community cannot be in a denial mode forever.
Now lets see ..”Mr. Hengest thanks Gaurav Ahuja for his assistance with this article” .. and howabout thanking him for spicing up this particular curry with his own anti sikh spices. Those of you in the caucasion community that are unaware; the sikhs represent a living critiscism of hindu beliefs and traits. Would Mr Hengest care to clarify which community Mr Ahuja belongs to?
ref comments by Steven on 6/25/09 at 1:20 am Those on board on the maru were citizens of the British Empire of which canada was part - I suppose they wanted tea and scones on landing .. fancy that!
After reading all the comments some people really highlighted the good things about sikhs like donating land for hospitals and also donating money for other charities.Also if any community don’y have any gangs they always ends up victims of racially abused.Like atleast beacuse of gang culture some turbaned sikh feel safe to go to the school.I am well aware tht gangs got no place in any civilised society but to shut the mouth of all racist guys thats legitimate.
Listen folks,
I don’t give a damn about any community. My motto is ‘live and let live’. That should be the philosophy of the 21st century. We can’t dwell in the old ways. Every nation on earth has good and bad bunch of people. Yes, and I also wish to include the educated and socially dignified people under the ‘good’ category.
As far as the Sikh community goes, they are a respectable community. I don’t mean to say there aren’t any bad apples in their orchard. Likewise, every community has its own bad blood. Folks, please remember the 1970s Montreal massacre. French Canadians were looked down upon as ‘aliens’ by their racially related anglo counterparts. What do you have to say about that ?
So I purely believe that the problems of this world are purely territorial; voila !. In the end every single human being is a terrotorial animal.
Last but not least, the whites are the trouble makers in the history of North America. They invaded and slaughtered the ‘real’ people of this land - the aboriginals. Similar atrocities happened in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii etc. Nobody even talks about that.
According to me, whites, blacks, asians, hispanics etc are ‘outsiders’. If there is one community that has the right to yell ‘get out !’, it’s the native american/canadian community cause this is their land. The talk ends there and oh by the way, this site is a big joke.
I hate to tell you Jean-Pierre but French Canadians are not the most loved people in Vancouver and BC. Most of the white people that I work with think that the French should have been run out of Quebec in the 1800’s. What do you think to yourself that most of Britsh Columbians think that Quebecers are always looking for a hand out from the rest of Canada and are trouble makers. So I think that French Canadians are just as disliked as Asians in BC. They may be even more disliked when “Seperation“ voting takes place every four or five years. So take a look in the mirror and think about that.
If you are questioning the validity of this article, look at the source. It is obvious that this is a biased article. The only reason I found it was because I was wondering why it is that so much is blamed on Whites and why it is OK for the blame to be broadcast in popular media. I am putting this out on this site because, frankly, if I were to say it publicly I’d probably be mistaken as a racist.
I am white, my background is Scottish, in particular northern Scotland, I am 1st generation Canadian. I’m one of those idealists who believes that everyone should have an equal opportunity to live a happy and prosperous life. My family raised me to be that way, the Scottish were also victimized throughout history, freedom and equality for all people is something my family strongly believes in. We really had no ties to the new world until my parents came here 35 years ago. To me this says, I’m an immigrant too.
As of late, I have been feeling that the whole world blames whites for things that white forefathers have done - and that it is OK for this to be on mainstream TV. It feels like a witch hunt, and I am growing very frustrated with the messages being portrayed and with the taboo of expressing the other side of the coin. Why should I feel any shame for my skin colour? And why are whites allowing ourselves to be portrayed as devils for things that people who have NO relation to us did hundreds of years ago?
Throughout history, people of all races have done hideous things to one another. China, India, Africa even Canada’s indigenous peoples - no one is innocent. I just wish we could stop blaming each other and get over it already. I fear there will be a big white backlash if this continues, where will that leave us? More sites like this? More violence? I’m honestly tired of being shamed for my skin colour so openly (and I don’t see it happening with other races in public Canadian media). It’s high time we learned how to play nice with one another and stopped behaving like a bunch of tribes. We share bigger problems, global problems, like what are we all going to eat when global warming finally goes full stride.
I just don’t get it, but honestly, if I was so annoyed as to begin a google search to try to understand the problem, other people must be feeling it too. How many of them - who generally stand for equality are finding sites like this? How many of them feel understood on sites like this instead of seeing the literature as a hate message? How many become a part of the problem and not the solution because they are being demonized by the media? This scares me.
For the record, I disagree strongly with this article, the white power message and this site in general.
Good God, how on earth can people be so prejudiced? We live in a society where black and white co-exist. We can no longer stamp our authority on countries and communities stating that they should be Canadian, or American or British. These countries in effect no longer exist in a pluralistic form. There are black Britain’s, black Canadians, black Americans. There are white Indians !! Does skin colour really affect our vision so much as to believe that the colour of someone’s skin determines their behaviour? IT is NURTURE !!! and by spreading racial, discriminative, hateful messages you are NURTURING the one thing you all desperately wish to dispense with. To breed acceptance you must accept. To breed compassion you must be compassionate. To understand you must be understanding. It’s a terrible shame that throughout all of histories tragedies we have failed to see the message that is so clearly presented to us..
Becky. World Religions Student. (Great Britain)
Becky, it is an empirical fact that there are racial differences in average intelligence. Don’t take my word for it, simply google “race and IQ” and read the facts for yourself. (But read what scientists say, not whar “community spokespeople” or sociologists say.) These differences in IQ are not due to “cultural bias because whites design the tests”, since Oriental people actually score higher than whites. Low black IQ is clearly the reason why many African states are impoverished and poorly run, and why black people don’t do terribly well when they come to live in white countries. High IQ explains, also, why the Chinese tend to do well in white countries.
The problem is the Sikh dont want to be Canadians or Americans, they want to be East Indians living in other countries. The culture is oppressive and controlling, especially towards women. Living close to the Canadian border the population of East Indians is rapidly growing in this area. The cycle of immigration is, East Indian women here (US citizens )marry men from India and the husbands migrate here. When the husbands are established they bring thier relatives and on and on it goes. I blame my government for this uncontrolled manipulated immigration. Very few East Indian women marry outside the East Indian community. Whites in America will soon be the minority. I am wondering if I can get my minority status and all the perks that goes along with that ? Or if I can migrate to India and get welfare ? Doubt it.
“For the record, I disagree strongly with this article …”
Wondering,
Don’t worry. No one is looking over your shoulder and taking down your name and address. We haven’t got to that stage … yet.
I would encourage you to read more about white nationalism or simply ‘citizenism’, i.e., the revolutionary idea that immigration policy is not a service to the whole world but rather something that should meet our own interests. Yes, OUR interests. Steve Sailer’s site (www.isteve.blogspot.com) is a good place to start.
We are entering a much less secure world where we are the only ones who try to play fair and treat everyone equally. Unfortunately, we’re going to pay a heavy price for our naivete.
So this gentlemen takes snippets of history, which admittedly are violet but a small subset of the full cultural history of the Sikhs. I believe you will find if you take a look at european history for example - WWI was caused by ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand of Austria wanting his empire to be comprable to the likes of the English Dominion as cited by many many historical textbooks all over the world.
Or what about desert storm - what was the purpose of the War waged on international islamic soil by White Americans? The atrocities committed there alone could fill volumes and volumes of text.
Or how about this supposed war on “terror” that’s been going on since 2001? How much violence has been perpetuated by “white people”.
Technically, Sikh indians are decendents of eastern europeans and other racial mixes due to invasions from thier “civilized european neighbors”
It’s not about race, the problems with our society are perpetuated by columns such as this. I have sikh, polish, ukranian, british, french, hindu, american, african-candian friends - colour is perception not reality. People inside their hearts and minds make the difference.
Hatred based on race, gender, beliefs, nationality is in the end going to end up killing all of us. Look at the cuban missile crisis between the US and Russia in 1962, again being repeated by other countries over and over again.
Why does one race have to be better than another in your mind? Why are the actions of an individual responsible for the overall perception of the race which lead to generaliztions of their nature.
Why are you considered an authority by your “fellow white brothers” when many trained professionals agree it has nothing to do with race but with the intrinsic nature of the individual acting in an unrespectable manner.
I leave you with a comment, please research white atrocities from the 1700’s onwards vs. sikh atrocities from that timeframe and write an unbiased column on what you find.
Might does not equal right.
This article is very prejudice & NOT accurate. The Sikh community is very hard-working & has contributed so much and a lot of these facts are NOT right at all. Yes, there are crimes being committed by Indo-Canadians in BC but so are there by Whites & other ‘ethnic’ groups so why don’t you talk about all the crimes and violence that has been committed by those as well instead of just singeling out Indo-Canadians. I think the media is in part to blame for this, because anytime there’s a crime being committed by Indo-Candians or Asians they plaster it everywhere, but if it’s a white person they don’t so that. They don’t have a 5 page article in the Sun the next day showing a timeline of events but they do with ethnic groups. Canada is becoming more & more culturally diverse and I think some people have a huge problem with the fact that in Canada, especially Vancouver there are more Asians/Indo-Candians & other ethnic groups now than there were 30 years ago, far more then expected AND they’re becoming more successful & well established than people would have imagined & some people feel threatened by that. You need to face the facts and realize number one, crime is being committed by everyone, whites, browns, blacks, asians, so it’s unfair to just single out one community. Number two the ethnic, cultural diversity of Vancouver, BC is only going to grow more in the future like it is everywhere else.
You need to get PROPER FACTS before writing something like this.
G, that was a magnificent job of repeating every single irrelevant / untrue cliche sputtered in response to the facts about non-white crime and overall nation-wrecking.
Whining that whites commit crimes too is laughable. It’s like trying to refute someone saying that men commit crime at a higher rate than women by saying that women commit crimes too, and that most men are peaceful. The fact remains that men are far more dangerous.
And in contrast to men who overall not only contribute to society but make it possible, Sikhs are an enormous burden on Canada and everywhere else they go. No benefit they offer makes their presence worthwhile, and if they all went home overnight, Canada would be far better off.
I wonder how well Sikhs would respond to “Khalistan” being overwhelmed by large numbers of blacks. To Sikh women being impregnated by blacks. Diversity is such a wonderful thing, right?
Finally, nothing is inevitable. Non white immigration is not a force of nature like the tides, but merely a policy decision that can be reversed immediately at any time.
A policy decision like bilingual education, affirmative action, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Fairness Doctrine, banning private ownership of gold bullion, or the federal government forcing every state to hand out cash rewards welfare mothers for having more children. All those decisions were reversed at the federal or state level eventually when their folly became so obvious that most whites forced the reversal via elections or referenda.
Allowing in Sikhs, letting them stay, and giving them citizenship is so obviously stupid that it will also be reversed in time as well. Have a house picked out in “Khalistan”, G. - if you and your people are so marvelous, you will be making your homeland even more marvelous with your presence.
Wow,
I have a few thoughts to post. You might agree, disagree, or a combination of both. But opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.
First of all, I am a white male living in Surrey. I have grown up with white kids, chinese kids, punjabi kids, etc. I have friends from EVERY possible nationality you can imagine. So that should tell you what kind of person I am before I even say anything further. I am not at all a racist. I judge people individually, not as a group.
So that being said…
Yes this article is VERY one sided. However, some of the facts stated in it are undeniable and true, biased as they may seem. I do not have the time to go into this fact by fact (I intended this to be a quick response to a jaw dropping article and it will likely be even longer than I originally intended).
Unfortunately, it is true that yes there are MANY sikh people out there who are exactly the type of people mentioned in this article. You cannot refute that fact. However, that isn’t to say they are the only bad apples in BC, because there are chinese people out there causing problems, white people causing problems, first nations, and so on.
Also, that is not to say every single sikh person is as described in this article. On the contrary, I have two or three good friends who are sikh, and outside of their religious beliefs, are just like everyone else. It’s no wonder there is white hatred among sikhs, when they likely hear “I HATE FUCKING BROWN PEOPLE” out of 2 out of every 3 white people. How would I know? They have told me so themselves. They were shocked as hell when I talked to them for the first time and was nice to them.
Basically to sum up my thoughts, yes there are sikhs out there who exemplify the exact behavior and attitude shown in this articles. Yes, I have met some of them. And yes, they are assholes who do no good to society. But to paint an entire group of people based on a select few of their members is just stupid. I have met people of other nationalities who are just as bad, white people included.
Hi, I have been in this GREAT country since 1967. I was 2 when my family immigrated from India. I love Canada and its people. Every year when I have enough money to go on vacation I go up North. I live in Ontario and we have great forests and lakes. I am known as THE GREAT NON WHITE GRIZZLY ADAMS……..lol. I have no wish to go anywhere else.
One thing that bugs me is the Sikh community. I live in Brampton On where I believe is the largest Indian population in Canada. I hate when these Sikhs come here and set up their shops with Punjabi writing. You live in Canada you idiots. If you want some place to live that is like home than STAY IN THE PUNJAB. The Sikh community does do lots of good like donate 50 million to a new hospital here. To my shock, an ad ran in the paper that stated that to apply for a job at the hospital, you have to speak Punjabi or Hindi. WHAT!!! I only speak English and a bit of French. Needless to say, I didnt get a job there.
I pay my taxes and think I am a good Canadian. People who don’t know the languages of Canada get jobs and I and thousands more like me are excluded…. This is so WRONG.
By the way I have no problem with anybody coming to Canada. No one is telling you to lose your culture. You should be proud and share it with other cultures. Don’t ram it down others throats!!!
By the way, if you guys see someone like me with no accent and tanned skin, please dont ask me a stupid question like ‘Whats your real name?’…….IDIOTS
I have proven over and over that I probably know more about Canadian history, geography and economy and politics than the average Canadian will ever learn……..and I learn more every day………
GOD BLESS CANADA………….
This is a shocking article, during this age of time in the world. Who cares whether you are white/black/brown, we are all one race, and that is the human race. Nothing else matters, diversity is intended as God’s or the Creator’s creation. There is nothing wrong in being who you are. Just be yourself, as long as you don’t hurt another intentionally.
Get over negative history, it will do us no good no matter what. We have to focus about the future.
What is Canada, India, China? It is just 1 world, you ALL will die no matter what your race is or ethnicity or nation.
Please open your heart to what is more important.
Alberta Born said:
To paint an entire group of people based on a select few of their members is just stupid. I have met people of other nationalities who are just as bad, white people included.
It’s not a “select few”. It’s a trend so significant as to be a major social phenomenon. The point is not the there are some nice Sikhs and some good-for-nothing whites.
The point is that the PROPORTION of useless and dangerous Sikhs is consistently far higher than the proportion of useless and dangerous whites.
Just as the proportion of dangerous Rottweilers and pit bulls is much higher than the proportion of dangerous cocker spaniels and golden retrievers. Yes yes yes there are nice Rotts and some mean cockers. But we all know which breeds we’d prefer not to move in to our neighborhood, don’t we?
Jasveer Singh, your post is hilarious. It’s like a chronically unemployed wife beater telling her “forget the past and focus on the future” when he has done nothing to change. Also, since there is only one world, I look forward to your support for the British or Hindus taking over the Punjab and “Khalistan” - makes no difference, right? And if they bring in 50 million AIDS infected extremely violent blacks to your homeland, who proceed to impregnate your women, no problem, right - since race doesn’t exist?
The comments in this post are laughable. I find it extremely ironic that people are laying all the blame on the sikhs in BC now. Does anyone even remember how bad it was in the 70’s and 80’s? H.A. had infiltrated nearly every aspect of law and society and drugs were rampant. You morons need to get off your soapbox.
You obviously have very prejudiced and racist approaches to simple facts. You think the Sikhs just migrated here one day and decided to turn into gangsters? You think the Chinese did the same? No, they came and saw how useless our legal and justice system is. They saw how white gangs such as the H.A. are making millions and not being persecuted.
As for the terrorist/violent aspect, you forget that our worthless government let in a majority of “pro-khalistan” sikhs who were fled from Punjab after a failed separatist uprising. These were people who were against law and order and were even deemed a terrorist organization. So let’s say at least 10,000 of these sikhs came in the late 1980’s and each of them had kids and sponsored other family members and invited their families over. So now, you have a huge population of extremist/fundamentalist sikhs who sold all their land in India and have tons of money and their kids being brought up here.
However, that does not mean you can paint all of them with the same brush. Also, you people seem to forget that most major gangs are caucasian controlled. The Red Scorpions, UN Gang have white leaders and employ young youth in high volume areas such as Surrey and Richmond where a ton of vietnamese or sikh people live. Those people get caught and the media sensationalizes it and all of a sudden you have a huge ethnic problem right?
Wrong. You don’t take into account that white people, like myself, make up 80% of the prison population, the majority of murders, homicides, rapes, assaults, break-in-and-enter are still committed by white people. That whites make up 80% of the homeless and drug addict population.
Violence isn’t learned and neither is crime, so you “holier-than-thou” people need to get your head out of the sand and realize this problem affects everyone in every country.
I’m a fourth generation Canadian and proud of it, but bastards like you make me sick. We’re standing on the backs of those in the third world and you pansies think you’re better than them.
I also find it laughable that people call Canada a multicultural country when whites still make up 90% of the population. Read the official census.
As a Sikh born and raised in Vancouver, BC, I find this article so misleading and infactual, I am almost speechless. I won’t go into detail with every thing in this article that is incorrect, or else my comments would have to be as long as the article itself. One thing I will comment on however is crime. This article is correct that our local community has a huge problem of middle class south asian youth partaking in a high risk lifestyle (binge drinking, drug use, drug dealing, etc, etc.), however this is the norm of BC youth from all backgrounds. The latest drug/gang war we had in BC over the last couple of years that has claimed dozens of lives has been between the Red scorpian gang (comprised entirely of middle class, white youth) and the UN gang (middle class youth of various backgrounds including whites). Further, the majority of crime south asian (ie Sikh) youth are involved in are against members of their own community who are also involved in a similiar lifestyle. Street crime, such as b&e’s, purse snatchings, armed robberies, etc. that affect your average joe, who’s not involved in a high risk lifestyle are almost entirely committed by whites. That’s not my opinion, that’s a fact. I take exception to the fact that you state that we don’t assimilate to the western culture as I just finished eating leftovers of yesterdays turkey dinner and my kids are busy playing with all the toys santa left under the Christmas tree last night.
“I’m a fourth generation Canadian and proud of it, but bastards like you make me sick. We’re standing on the backs of those in the third world and you pansies think you’re better than them.”
More like the third world is standing on the backs of white people in America and Europe.
If you doubt me, look at just how little of the food eaten by Black Africans is grown in Africa and how much of it is grown in America and Europe.
If we stopped supporting these racially alien parasites, hundred of millions of low IQ blacks in Africa would be eliminated from the Human Gene Pool via the mechanism of starvation.
And here’s the thing: Thanks to the Immigration of economically unproductive welfare loving non-Whites into the West, our economies may well soon be devastated to a point where we lack the surplus needed to keep those blacks alive.
But when we have the numerical equivalent of a Hundred Holocausts in Africa, I assume it will be your view that it had all been worth it to give Americans, Europeans, and Canadians the precious gift of diversity.
But will the Africans be thinking that as they slowly die?
Irish wrote:
“The point is that the PROPORTION of useless and dangerous Sikhs is consistently far higher than the proportion of useless and dangerous whites.”
Either you don’t live in this city, or don’t leave your home very often, or are extremely delusional. Have you ridden the skytrain lately? Who do you see hanging out at the skytrain stations carrying knives and mugging people? When the last time you heard about a group of sikh youth randomly attacking someone or robbing them? That’s right you haven’t. Now think about all the stories in the paper you’ve read in the last few years about white youth. As far as uselessness is concerned, have you seen the line up on welfare Wednesday lately, last time I checked it was all whites and natives.
Give your head a shake.
The fact that this article was written shows there is a genuine problem with the Sikh youth of today. A major contribution to the problem with the Sikh youth is the denial of the elder Sikhs. Almost all the Sikh comments in response to this article talk about racism and a biased view. The elder Sikh generation needs to take control of the younger generation and teach them right from wrong, but instead they throw money at their children, buy them expensive gifts and let their children do as they please because they believe they can do no wrong. In return their chidren, the Sikh youth, repay their parents by doing as they please. The Sikh community needs to stop calling out “racism” every time somebody sheds light on a problem that involves Sikhs. The Sikh movement was formed over 300 years ago to protect the innocent and feed those in need, how many Sikhs can say they have those values 300 years later? The Turban was worn so that a Sikh could be identified by those in need, the kirpan was worn so that a Sikh could protect themselves and others from persecution. Sikhs in todays world wear these items because other Sikhs before them wore them also. The idea of a Khalistan is a complete seperation of culture and people, is this not a form of racism? There are very few Sikhs in todays world, the Sikhs mentioned in this article are not truly Sikh.
I agree with the article and it was well researched. I’m Sikh and I find the Sikh Culture abused in British Columbia. The Khalistan terrorist Sikhs of Canada are a disgrace to true Sikh Warriors of India. Canada cannot even prosecute the khalistan Sikh terrorists that killed over 300 Canadians on the Air India bombing of 1985. Canada should deport them or put them in Jail.
The problem with these articles is that people are researching based on what makes the news. I use to work at VGH when I lived in Canada and have encountered my fair share of gang related victims in the ER and on the floor. I can tell you that there is not one race that is represented any more than another. In defense of Sikhs, many of them are the best doctors i had the privilage to go to school with and work with now. The Sikh contribution to BC has been unmeasurable. Many of the early immigrants worked in the lumber mills and farms and drove the economy. Many many of their children are highly educated. Infact, there representation at UBC medical and dental faculty is much higher than white canadians per capita. This article has chosen only to focus on the problems that are in the community which is no less than any other ethnic race in the lowermainland.
This is the most racist compilation of Sikh portrayal I’ve ever seen. The writer is truly a racist. Learn about the Sikhs first before writing about them. Learn about Sikhism rather. Sikhism is the 5th largest religion in the world, and the most difficult practicing religion as well. The Sikhs portrayed in the article are not true Sikhs of that the Ten Gurus had created. The true Khalsa never carried out such acts, people with cut hair did, which aren’t true Sikhs. Sikhism, a religion that maintains the perfect image of God, would never be a part of such stunts. I suggest this article be removed.
I find it quite amusing that this article goes on to show that Sikhs as “third world people.” This article is biased..most of the “Sikhs” you listed here arent following their religion correctly. When one becomes a Sikh he is taught to protect the poor and fight against injustice. Sikhs stride for truth in ever aspect of life. Sure there is good and bad people in this world. But by naming a handful of people who are suppossedly Sikh does not mean that every single Sikh who lives in Canada is a terrorist or supports gangs. This article is very dicriminating.
Well obviously this is biased. Look at the website name…WhiteAmerica….hmm I wonder if that has to do anything with the authors views..hmm..? It is a shame that some Sikhs these days choose a path of ganglife..ask and real Sikh at any Gurdwara and they would tell you that gang life smoking, drinking, domestic violence, and terrorism is all foul play and isnt allowed in Sikhi. Shame on whoever uses their religion’s name to spread harm.
The prisons are full of people of white european descent. Talk about the east side of Vancouver - full of white Canadians harrassing people for money.What use have these people serve Canada?
This article is written by the white but influnece by the Hindu(punjabi), This is the community which can not accept the sikh becasue they have the prolem with sikhs in india pls try to understand the naive and cunning tactice of this Hindu boy named Gaurav Ahuja.
This article is exactly true. I live in Vancouver and no one I have ever met has had good interactions with these individuals. They resent their hosts, they are not very great at sports, music, medicine, or any endeavour? How many have won medals in sporting events ? They are only strong if they stay in Richmond or Surrey… outside of that they stand out like sore thumbs and lets face it, they look ridiculous in their outlandish costumes and long greasy beards… sheesh.. No wonder so many of theyre young men go to crime, narcotics trafficking and murder they look foolish.. always screaming racism..
After Ravindra G. Singh revealed the hindu influence behind this article, soon after we see another hindu, binder dundat’s, anti Sikh comments. I guess, when the truth is out, it makes their coming out easy. Besides Binder, why the Sikh beards bother you, do you want to kiss the Sikh men? It is non of your business. I have seen these white people play in the hands of the hindu politicians to do this kind of anti Sikh propangda before as well, and these such white people think they are so clever while they don’t even know who is actually playing them. As far the gang wars in the Vancouver area, now that the gang leaders, which btw were all non Sikhs, and were white, are behind bars, we don’t see the gang killings anymore.
BTW I love the common White people, and the Hindu people. My comments above are targeted at only racist people from these groups.
binder says: “They resent their hosts, they are not very great at sports, music, medicine, or any endeavour?”
binder, have you been living in a cave all your life or something? Have you heard of Manomohan Singh, the prime minister of India? Let me enlighten you, he is a Sikh. From many guards of Queen Elizabeth II, two main guards are Sikhs. Sikhs make up 30% of the Indian army while they are only 2% of the nation’s population.
Aside from these, there are countless Sikhs, who excel as doctors, scientists, athletes, businessmen, engineers, soldiers… Do you even know what a big difference this small community is making in the world. Lets take the recent misfortune of Haiti, Sikh organizations were providing free meals and counselling to people of Haiti affected by the earthquake which was possible because thousands of dollars donated by Sikh community. Don’t be such a narrow-minded jerk! and I suggest, you get out some more.
This article is ridiculous… I can’t believe in this century such articles are published. I think the author may have some sort of personal grudge against Sikhs, otherwise anyone in their right mind, wouldn’t write something like this about the entire community. As many have mentioned above, all communities have some bad blood but we can’t label the entire community as that… If you call these gangsters Sikhs you don’t know Sikhs at all, go talk to a real Sikh and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
If you just hate non-white people (especially Sikhs) or have hidden agenda for personal gain, don’t try to justify your senselessness with such reasons…
A. You can find bad people from all ethnic groups and religions. However, you should not generalize it to apply to the entire group. B. The people that are doing these crimes are not following “Sikhism.” Although they might call themselves “Sikhs,” their actions are far from following the guidelines established by Sikhism. Under no circumstance are they supposed to fight, kill, or attack someone. Hell, even Sikhism rules of engagement say that you’re not allowed to start fighting back in battle until the opposite side makes the first strike. But that is besides the point. What I’m saying is that all these people that are doing these things are giving Sikhs a bad name. What about all the good Sikhs out there that have done so much for the country? You never mentioned them. C. Most of the people doing these crimes are young people that are caught up in their own imaginary world (ie. in a Scarface movie). They don’t know what the hell they’re doing. As a matter of fact, you can find F***ed up youth from all cultures and backgrounds. D. While I’m a Sikh, I do appreciate this article. You present the article in a straightforward manner. I live in Cali and over here we don’t have any problems at all with the youth and gang incidents. For that matter, I never even heard of any indian gangs out here because they don’t exist. The problem with Canada is that I’m assuming it’s saturated with too many Indian people and the parents are too busy out making money and not spending enough time with their kids to make sure that they are on the right path and are learning proper cultural, religious values. Hell, even I have friends that drink and smoke and when I tell them that’s totally forbidden by our religion tell me that their parents never told them that. So you tell me who’s at fault, the kids or the parents? But for the most part, this article is pretty starightforward. The only part I don’t agree with is the Air India Bombing. The indian government is probably one of the most corrupt governments in the world and it was totally an inside job just to give Sikhs a bad name. But that’s besides the point.
It’s easy to make generalizations but we should learn not to apply them to all people from that ethnicity/religion. Cheers!
People are too diverse to be lumped up in one group. There are good and bad in every race, culture, nationality, religion and gender. And that’s the reality. So let us all be opened minded and realistic. The planet does have good and bad inhabitants. So let us all stop the stereotypes, ignorance and misconceptions about a particular group of people.Let us all look at people as individuals, and not condemn the entire group. A few bad apples do not spoil the entire tree. And not only that, a few bad apples do not have the power and never will have the power to spoil the entire tree. Let’s be analytical, open minded and wise. Be human,and be humane. Let’s understand the world we share. Come to Queens, N.Y. where America literally meets the world. You will learn something from our most ethnically diverse part of the United States!
I recognize that the grammar here is better than traditional racist or racialist sites, but the reasoning is still flawed. If you are going to suggest that there is a racial propensity for criminality, then you should document how some non-white group is statistically different in behavior than whites. I won’t go into the discussion on whether North Indians are white, however, this article could have been written about Italians-Americans in the 20s, or the Irish or any other new immigrant group. It is the nature of immigrant group that a signifigant percentage of the children of the first generation will turn to crime to acheive wealth. And each time it happens, a group rises up to proclaim that the country must be saved from degenerate, less intelligent and rapidly reproducing scum. Yet now, the Italians, Irish and other immigrant groups are accepted in the pan-European movement.
Enough for logic. Now for critique: How can a serious thinker accept anecdotal documentation with broad generalizations as having any signifigance. Where are the statistics? What is the control group? You guys are supposed to be smarter than my buddies Skeeter and Junior, but at least they don’t publish their likkered up ramblings.
IF anyone is racist it has to be FOR sure the whites of this world after reading this article. You tell me who lived in canada before all these whites. Native Indians and now they are all thorwn into reserves. DID you whites respect their culture and live their way? No when your great grand parents and so on came to canada did they have any visas or passports? NO i think not. YOU whites are racist twords everyone blacks, muslims, hindus, sikhs and everyone. Im so furious after reading this article and i can go on and on about how damn racist white people of the world are. I WILL NEVER EVER TRUST A WHITE PERSON AND WOULD RATHER DIE THEN TO TRUST THEM.
regarding binder dundat’s comments:
it’s not true that they don’t excel in sports. in BC they totally dominate wrestling. the best wrestler in canada is sikh. also, the best muay thai fighter in canada is sikh. the captain of the olympic boxing team in 2004 was also sikh.
Excellent piece. In debates about immigration egalitarians will sometimes point to Canada as some kind of ‘success story’ in multiculturalism. Articles like this disabuse one of any such illusions.