Canada’s Sikh MP denies supporting motion on 1984 riots

TORONTO - Gurbax Malhi, Canada’s longest-serving Indo-Canadian member of parliament and the first turbaned Sikh MP in the West, has denied signing the motion on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots which was tabled last week in the Canadian parliament.

Reportedly signed by 10,000 people, the motion by Indo-Canadian MP Sukh Dhaliwal - and supported by MP Andrew Kania - called upon Canada to recognise the 1984 riots as ‘genocide.’

Malhi, who was reported by the media to have signed the motion, Tuesday denied this.

In a statement here, Malhi said, “Recent media reports have alleged that I supported the petition. I did not sign the petition. I was not present at the June 9 memorial/rally event on Parliament Hill (the seat of parliament) when the petition was read out in public and I was not in attendance on June 10 when the petition was read in the House of Commons.

“The statement read by me in the House of Commons on June 9, 2010, demanding justice for the families of victims in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the 1985 Air India bombing is independent, not related to the petition.”

In his own statement in parliament June 9, Malhi had said, “In November 1984, an anti-Sikh pogrom of violence, rapes and killings took place in New Delhi and many other Indian cities, resulting in the deaths of thousands more. In June 1985, Air India flight 182 was blown up mid-air and over 300 people died.

“I strongly urge the Indian and Canadian governments to take all reasonable measures to ensure that justice prevails for innocent victims’ families. Both countries should work together to ensure that such tragedies never happen again.”

Malhi, who created history in 1993 by becoming the first turbaned Sikh MP anywhere in the western world, has been elected six times uninterrupted since then.

He represents the Punjabi-dominant constituency of Bramalea-Gore-Malton on the outskirts of Toronto.