Premier Right to Boycott Vaisakhi Parade

The annual Vaisakhi parade, celebrating the birth of the Sikh faith, went ahead this weekend in Surrey without participation from Premier Campbell and with condemnation from Surrey's mayor Diane Watts. The Surrey Vaisakhi parade has been a source of controversy in the last few years for having floats with images of known terrorists and murderers being celebrated as "martyrs" for the Sikh separatist movement. The reason for the snub this year was the outrageous remarks of one of the organizers that were aimed at MLA Dave Hayer and MP Ujjal Dosanjh. The organizer claimed that these two elected representatives were not welcome at the parade and if they chose to come, they should bring their own security as their safety could not be guaranteed. These comments display an alarming arrogance and hate that has no place in our communities. Hayer and Dosanjh are well known opponents of the kind of Sikh extremism and terrorism that many in the Surrey Sikh community sympathize with. These two representatives have faced repercussions for being moderate and peaceful before. Mr. Dosanjh was severely beaten in the 1980's for his moderate beliefs and Mr. Hayer's father was viciously murdered for being a moderate. This year, by threatening elected officials and refusing to remove the "martyr" floats, the parade has crossed the line. Premier Campbell was right to demand an apology from the organizers and when they outrageously refused to, he was right to boycott the parade. This type of behaviour is unbelievable and unacceptable. So let me paraphrase Mr. Hayer's comments from this weekend and direct them at the parade organizers: "This isn't India. If you are so concerned with India-stay in India." We must expect and demand that those who come to Canada to start a new life actually do so, and don't bring their bitter animosities and violent, extremist baggage with them.

A Spark Away From Disaster

On Christmas Day 2009, an Airbus 330 carrying 279 passengers exploded over the city of Detroit during its descent. Flaming debris showered down across city blocks and neighbourhoods many more people on the ground were killed as the wreckage fell. This is the scenario terrorists had in mind when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to ignite explosives he had snuck onto the plane. Many people do not seem to understand the gravity of this attack. And that's what it was, an attempted terrorist attack. It was not a botched plan, or an uncovered plot, or a threat. This was an attack that would have, but for the chance failure of Abdulmutallub to ignite, killed hundreds, terrorized millions, bankrupt the aviation industry and likely plunged the US deeper into recession. For some reason, because this was a failed attack, many people are brushing it off and are moving on to complaining about the full body scanners and the country of origin profiling that is being implemented in its wake. Those people need to wake up and realize that this was an attempt organized by Islamic terrorists that was a spark away from fruition. I'm glad to see Canada taking the lead in installing the full body scanners that would have thwarted this kind of attack. Privacy concerns are legitimate, but largely overemphasized. The images are not as detailed as many imagine and aren't downloaded to some pervert's USB for fun time back at home. In fact, the person screening the images can't even see you--they're kept behind the scenes in a separate room. Also implemented is a list of countries from which travellers heading to the US will be doubly screened. Coming to New York from Libya, for example, will garner extra scrutiny. This kind of profiling should have been enacted years ago and it should be expanded to include all past trips as well. Check everyone's passport and if they've visited a "terror-prone" area-- recently been on a jaunt to the Swat region of Pakistan?--flag them for extra security. Almost all recent terrorists have been connected to these terror-prone states: the London bombers travelled to Pakistan prior to their attacks, the 9/11 hijackers visited and trained in Afghanistan, the mastermind of the Madrid bombings trained in Afghanistan and the Christmas Day bomber visited terrorist cells in Yemen. It's time the countries that foster this kind of extremism are flagged and those people travelling to, from and through them get the most rigorous security screening available.