Toronto: Indo-Canadian groups have welcomed the passage of an anti-hate law by Canada’s House of Commons with the hope it acts to prevent the display of violent pro-Khalistan imagery, while appreciating the fact that it delinks the sacred swastika from the Nazi hate symbol.
Bill C-9, an act to amend the criminal code, addresses hate propaganda, hate crime and access to religious or cultural places.
The bill, which remains to be passed by the Senate, creates a new intimidation offence for conduct intended to provoke a state of fear in a person in order to impede their access to a building used primarily for religious purposes or by an identifiable group and for intentionally obstructing or interfering with another person’s lawful access to the same places protected under the new intimidation offence.
It also creates a new hate propaganda offence “of wilfully promoting hatred against any identifiable group by displaying, in a public place, certain terrorism or hate symbols” and a hate crime offence “motivated by hatred based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression”.
It will create “protest bubbles” or areas near places of worship within which demonstrations cannot be held.
These amendments were welcomed on the grounds that they may help address the problem of pro-Khalistan groups protesting outside temples in recent years and displaying overt symbols of the movement, including images of terrorists.
“After this bill becomes law, Khalistani terrorists would not be able to depict gory terror propaganda like terrorists killing (late Prime Minister) Indira Gandhi, General Vaidya and anti-Hindu insignia on the streets on Canada,” Maninder Gill, managing director of the Surrey, British Columbia-based Radio India, said. He was referring to the float that have been featured at demonstrations by pro-Khalistan groups that have depicted the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984 and that of General Arun Vaidya, former chief of the army staff, in 1986.
In a statement, the Hindu Canadian Foundation (HCF) said it “supports banning the public use of genuine hatred symbols and the glorification of terrorism”.
It added that the organisation will be “watching closely Khalistani groups who use symbols of designated terrorist entities like Babbar Khalsa etc. to target and threaten Hindu Canadians) and those who threaten Jewish communities and other faith groups”.
It also described as a “landmark victory”, the removal of the term swastika from the list of prohibited Nazi hate symbols and being replaced with the historically accurate term ‘Nazi Hakenkreuz’. That amendment was unanimously passed by a parliamentary committee studying the bill last year.
The Canadian chapter of the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA) described it as an “important piece of legislation” but asked parliament to “take cognisance of the growing Hinduphobia in Canada, particularly the attacks on dozens of Hindu temples in the last few years and the targeted hate and violence by CBKEs (Canada-based Khalistani Extremists) against Canadian Hindus.”
It said these groups have resorted to violent rhetoric and targeted threats preceding the actual acts of violence.
