Category: Canada

The New Delhi-Ottawa ties have been under duress lately due to the recent vandalisation of Hindu properties and religious shrines, hate crimes…reports MEENAKSHI IYER

As India witnesses an alarming rise in cases of hate crimes racism, and vandalism across North America, students and Indians in Canada say they feel much safer and that there is no rise in crimes against them.

“There is no rise in crime against Indians in Canada. It is extremely peaceful. Overall, it is much safer in Canada for Indians than it was in the previous century when our forefathers came. Canada is a peaceful nation,” said Balbir Gurm, community activist and founder of Network to Eliminate Violence in Relationships,

The New Delhi-Ottawa ties have been under duress lately due to the recent vandalisation of Hindu properties and religious shrines, hate crimes, and a referendum to garner support for the secession of �Khalistan’ from Punjab in India.

Last month, the BAPS Swaminarayan temple in Canada was defaced with anti-India graffiti, and in July, a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at a Vishnu Temple in the Richmond Hill neighbourhood of Canada was desecrated.

Indian-origin Sikh Joti Singh Mann, a radio host based in Brampton, was attacked by three people in August this year, and Kartik Vasudev, a 21-year-old student from Uttar Pradesh, was shot dead in Toronto as he stepped out of a metro station in April.

Echoing Gurm’s views, Sara Wasson (name changed), a student of Brock University in Ontario, said that she “feels much safer in Canada than in India. This is such a peaceful country with fun-loving and helpful people”.

“This is a friendly country. At 20, I have a job here and I am not dependent on my family to pay for my university education. Canada makes me feel independent and confident, and I am happy to be here,” said Ashwin Malhotra, a student who works part-time at a departmental store in Ontario.

There are over 622,000 foreign students in Canada, with Indians numbering 217,410 as of December 31, 2021, according to figures released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

A recent report by Bengaluru-based research firm Redseer Strategy said that as many as 217,410 Indian students applied for Canadian education in 2021.

“What we are seeing is an aberration and not the norm. I feel that overall racism is decreasing in Canada against Canadians of Indian-origin. Today we can vote, be MPs, own property, and become members of any profession we choose,” Dr Gurm said, highlighting that the majority of Canadians are very accepting of all peoples.

“Everything’s peaceful here. No commotion happening here, seriously. Also, the Bhagavad Gita Park thing is a misunderstanding,” Divya Shankaran, who permanently moved to Canada three years back, told IANS.

While there was much hue and cry over vandalism of a sign board at a park in Canada’s Brampton that has been named Bhagavad Gita Park, the Mayor of the town clarified saying that the cops had investigated the matter and it was just a matter of “maintenance and reprinting work”.

Though there is no country-wise break-up of the numbers, Indians are the top immigrant group to take up residence in Canada this year.

In 2021, nearly 100,000 Indians became permanent residents of Canada as the country admitted a record 405,000 new immigrants in its history, according to an Economic Times report.

During 2021-2022, over 210,000 permanent residents also acquired Canadian citizenship, the report said.

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Defense Minister Anita Anand said troops would help remove fallen trees, restore transportation links and do whatever else is required for as long as it takes. She didn’t specify how many troops would be deployed…reports Asian Lite News

Hundreds of thousands of people in Atlantic Canada remained without power Sunday and officials said they found the body of a woman swept into the sea after former Hurricane Fiona swept away houses, stripped off roofs and blocked roads across the country’s Atlantic provinces.

After surging north from the Caribbean, Fiona came ashore before dawn Saturday as a post-tropical cyclone, battering Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Quebec with hurricane-strength winds, rains and waves.

Defense Minister Anita Anand said troops would help remove fallen trees, restore transportation links and do whatever else is required for as long as it takes. She didn’t specify how many troops would be deployed.

Fiona was blamed for at least five deaths in the Caribbean, and one death in Canada. Authorities found the body of a 73-year-old woman in the water who was missing in Channel-Port Aux Basques, a town on the southern coast of Newfoundland.

Police said the woman inside her residence moments before a wave struck the home Saturday morning, tearing away a portion of the basement. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a release on social media that with assistance from the Canadian Coast Guard, as other rescue teams her body woman was recovered late Sunday afternoon.

Police said the woman was last seen inside the residence moments before a wave struck the home Saturday morning, tearing away a portion of the basement.

As of Sunday, more than 252,000 Nova Scotia Power customers and over 82,000 Maritime Electric customers in the province of Prince Edward Island — about 95 percent of the total — remained in the dark. So were more than 20,600 homes and businesses in New Brunswick.

More than 415,000 Nova Scotia Power customers — about 80 percent in the province of almost 1 million people — had been affected by outages Saturday.

Utility companies say it could be days before the lights are back on for everyone.

Cape Breton Regional Municipality Mayor Amanda McDougall said Sunday that over 200 people were in temporary shelters. Over 70 roads were completely inaccessible in her region. She said she couldn’t count the number of homes damaged in her own neighborhood.

She said it was critical for the military to arrive and help clear debris, noting that the road to the airport is inaccessible and the tower has significant damage.

McDougall said it is amazing there are no injuries.

“People listened to the warnings and did what they were supposed to do and this was the result,” she said

Prince Edward Island Premier Dennis King said that over 100 military personnel would arrive Sunday to assist in recovery efforts. Schools will be closed Monday and Tuesday. He said many bridges are destroyed.

“The magnitude and severity of the damage is beyond anything that we’ve seen in our province’s history,” King said, and that it would take a “herculean effort by thousands of people” to recover over the coming days and weeks.

Kim Griffin, a spokeswoman for Prince Edward Island’s electricity provider, said it would likely take “many days” to restore power across the island. She added that she was “terrified” that people could be injured or killed by downed power lines as they tried to clean up the storm damage.

Entire structures were washed into the sea as raging surf pounded Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland.

“This is not a one-day situation where we can all go back to normal,” Mayor Brian Button said on social media. Unfortunately, this is going to take days, it could take weeks, it could take months in some cases.”

Much of the town of 4,000 had been evacuated and Button said asked for patience as officials identify where and when people can safely go home. He noted that some residents are showing up at barricades angry and wanting to return.

In Puerto Rico, too, officials were still struggling to grasp the scope of damage and to repair the devastation caused when Fiona hit the US territory a week ago.

As of Sunday, about 45 percent of Puerto Rico’s 1.47 million power customers remained in the dark, and 20 percent of 1.3 million water customers had no service as workers struggled to reach submerged power substations and fix downed lines.

Gas stations, grocery stores and other businesses had temporarily shut down due to lack of fuel for generators: The National Guard first dispatched fuel to hospitals and other critical infrastructure.

“We’re starting from scratch,” said Carmen Rivera as she and her wife mopped up water and threw away their damaged appliances, adding to piles of rotting furniture and soggy mattresses lining their street in Toa Baja, which had flooded.

Officials across Eastern Canada also were assessing the scope of damage caused by the storm, which had moved inland over southeastern Quebec.

Mike Savage, mayor of Halifax, said the roof of an apartment building collapsed in Nova Scotia’s biggest city and officials had moved 100 people to an evacuation center. He said no one was seriously hurt.

The Canadian Hurricane Center tweeted that Fiona had the lowest pressure — a key sign of storm strength — ever recorded for a storm making landfall in Canada.

“We’re getting more severe storms more frequently,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said more resilient infrastructure is needed to withstand extreme weather events.

Peter MacKay, a former foreign and defense minister who lives in Nova Scotia, said he had never seen anything to match Fiona, with winds raging through the night and into the afternoon.

“We had put everything we could out of harm’s way, but the house got hammered pretty hard. Lost lots of shingles, heavy water damage in ceilings, walls, our deck is destroyed. A garage that I was building blew away,” MacKay said.

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The Indian High Commission in Ottawa has demanded strict action against the culprits for desecration at the BAPS temple…reports Asian Lite News

As the so-called Khalistan referendum by the banned outfit Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) on September 18 nears, Toronto’s most prominent BAPS Swaminarayan Temple was vandalised with pro-Khalistan graffiti on Wednesday.

The graffiti by the miscreants read ‘Khalistan Zindabad, Hindustan Murdabad’.

Posters have come up in the city of Brampton in Toronto suburbs, which is home to the biggest concentration of Indian community in Canada, calling for people to vote in the referendum. But there is hardly any support for the referendum among the local Sikh community.

The Indian High Commission in Ottawa has demanded strict action against the culprits for desecration at the BAPS temple.

“We strongly condemn the defacing of BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Toronto with anti-India graffiti. We have requested Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action against the perpetrators,” a tweet read.

Expressing her outrage, Brampton South MP Sonia Sidhu tweeted, “I am distraught by the act of vandalism that has taken place at the #BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Toronto.

“We live in a multicultural and multi-faith community where everyone deserves to feel safe. Those responsible should be located to face the consequences of their actions.”

Calling the act of vandalism disgusting, Brampton North MP Ruby Sahota said, “All faiths have the right to practice in Canada without intimidation or fear. The criminals behind this act should be punished.”

Chandra Arya, a prominent Hindu MP in the House of Commons, also tweeted to express his shock at the act of vandalism.

“Vandalism of Toronto BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir by Canadian Khalistani extremists should be condemned by all. This is not just an isolated event. Canadian Hindu temples have been targeted in the recent past by these kinds of hate crimes. Hindu Canadians are legitimately concerned,” Arya tweeted.

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Multiple sources have confirmed that the victim of the fatal shooting is a Toronto police officer, according to the media reports…reports Asian Lite News

A Canadian police officer was killed and a suspect is in custody following two daylight shootings in Toronto, local media reported.

Police said on Twitter that a suspect has been located and is in police custody, reports Xinhua news agency.

One person has been pronounced deceased at the scene and at least three others have been transported to hospital, the police said.

“I’m horrified by today’s senseless violence, including the killing of a Toronto police officer,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Twitter.

Multiple sources have confirmed that the victim of the fatal shooting is a Toronto police officer, according to the media reports.

The police issued a public alert about an active shooter Monday afternoon and said that they were searching for a suspect who was “armed and dangerous”.

The police are investigating the shootings and there is no word yet as to what led to the shootings, said the media reports.

Mass stabbings

Canadian police have said that 10 people were killed and 15 others injured after stabbings at multiple locations in Saskatchewan last week.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a press conference that they found 13 incident locations in James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon of the province in central Canada and are hunting for two suspects.

The whereabouts of the suspects are unknown and everyone in Saskatchewan needs to remain vigilant as this is one of the largest and most significant events they have seen in recent years, the police added.

A provincewide dangerous persons alert issued for the suspects in the random stabbings has been expanded to two neighbouring provinces, Manitoba and Alberta. Police checkpoints have been set up throughout Saskatchewan, Xinhua news agency reported.

James Smith Cree Nation is located about 25 km northeast of Weldon and nearly 60 km southeast of Prince Albert. The local government of James Smith Cree Nation declared a state of emergency, which is set to remain in place until 5 p.m. on September 30.

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Regina police chief Evan Bray said late Sunday they still believe the suspects are in Regina….reports Asian Lite News

Canadian police searched across the expansive province of Saskatchewan for two suspects believed to have stabbed to death 10 people in an Indigenous community and a nearby town in one of the deadliest mass killings in the country’s history.

The suspects also injured 15 people in the series of knife attacks that led the James Smith Cree Nation to declare a state of emergency and badly shook residents of the nearby village of Weldon.

“No one in this town is ever going to sleep again. They’re going to be terrified to open their door,” said Weldon resident Ruby Works, who was close to one of the victims.

Police, meanwhile, said a vehicle reportedly carrying the two suspects had been spotted in Regina, about 335 kilometers (208 miles) south of the communities where the stabbings occurred.

Regina police chief Evan Bray said late Sunday they still believe the suspects are in Regina.

“If in the Regina area, take precautions & consider sheltering in place. Do not leave a secure location. DO NOT APPROACH suspicious persons. Do not pick up hitch hikers. Report suspicious persons, emergencies or info to 9-1-1. Do not disclose police locations,” the RCMP said in a message on Twitter.

The suspects were identified as Damien Sanderson, 31, and Myles Sanderson, 30.

“It is horrific what has occurred in our province today,” said Rhonda Blackmore, the Assistant Commissioner of the RCMP in Saskatchewan, adding there were 13 crime scenes where either deceased or injured people were found.

Blackmore said some of the victims appear to have been targeted by the suspects but others appear to have been attacked at random.

She couldn’t provide a motive, but the chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations gave a statement suggesting the stabbings could be drug-related.

The elected leaders of the three communities that make up the James Smith Cree Nation, including the Chakastaypasin Band and the Peter Chapman Band, declared a local state of emergency and opened up two emergency operations centers.

Chakastaypasin Chief Calvin Sanderson — who is not related to the suspects — said everyone has been affected by the tragic events.

“They were our relatives, friends,” Sanderson said of the victims. “It’s pretty horrific.”

“This is the destruction we face when harmful illegal drugs invade our communities, and we demand all authorities to take direction from the Chiefs and Councils and their membership to create safer and healthier communities for our people,” said Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations.

Among the 10 victims killed was Lana Head, who is the former partner of Michael Brett Burns and the mother of their two daughters.

“It’s sick how jail time, drugs and alcohol can destroy many lives,” Burns told the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. “I’m hurt for all this loss.”

Last May, Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers issued a wanted list that included Myles Sanderson, writing that he was “unlawfully at large.”

The attack is among the deadliest mass killings in Canadian history. The deadliest gun rampage in Canadian history happened in 2020 when a man disguised as a police officer shot people in their homes and set fires across the province of Nova Scotia, killing 22 people. A man used a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto in 2019. But mass killings are less common in Canada than in the United States.

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