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WSO hails Sikh Canadians’ victory
But warns against undermining community interests
WSN Bureau
OTTAWA: The
World Sikh Organization of Canada has congratulated all Sikh
Canadian parliamentarians as well as the unsuccessful contestants
who participated in the recently concluded general elections. The
WSO has urged the new members to make strong contributions to make
Canada
a better, more harmonious, prosperous, mutually respectful and
peaceful nation for all Canadians.
In a statement
released to the media, the WSO has said that “While their
constituents deserve, and must get the best from their elected Sikh
representatives, the WSO would also like to remind them of their
additional responsibility towards their own community. They must be
very clear in their minds that representing their own – Sikh
ideology and way of life, does not, in any way, shape or form,
compromise their ability to serve their constituents honestly,
faithfully and diligently. There is neither any need, nor any
justification to hide their religious and cultural heritage as they
carry out their official functions as peoples’ representatives.”
The enthusiasm
of ethnic minority candidates did not wane despite the fact that it
was the third election in four years and a sizeable 60 percent of
the eligible voters exercised their franchise in the recently
concluded elections.
Ontario-led the
parliamentary contingent with three members of parliament -Mr.
Gurbax Singh Malhi, Mr. Navdeep Singh Bains and Ms. Ruby Dhalla
winning from their respective ridings and this was matched by three
members of parliament from
British Columbia
-Mr. Sukh Dhaliwal, Mr. Ujjal Dosanjh and Mrs. Nina Grewal. Harpreet
Singh (Tim) Uppal became the first Sikh Member of Parliament from
Alberta.
The World Sikh
Organisaion appreciated the efforts of those candidates who failed
to make it, which included Jagtar Shergill, Karanjit Pandher and
Jaswant Singh Puniya in Ontario and Indira Saroya in Edmonton,
Alberta.
The World Sikh
Organisation welcomed and appreciated the community’s active
participation in
Canada’s
national public processes by our community members. WSO has been
promoting and monitoring the participation of Sikhs in Canadian
public life for quiet some time now and has rightfully expresses
concern at the “dissipative and fractious conflicts that seem to
overflow into non-political domains and strain the social fabric in
the inter-community challenge that unfolds in such elections.”
Hoping that the
elected Sikh representatives would ensure that the common, misguided
and unfortunate tendency among our community’s public figures to
dissociate from their heritage would not be repeated, the WSO
expected that the parliamentarians would not do anything that would
hinder the community’s pursuit of its collective rights and
freedoms.
5 November
2008
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