Canadian PM joins oldest Vaisakhi parade in North America
April 17th, 2011 - 1:21 pm ICT by IANSVancouver, April 17 (IANS) Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper joined thousands of Sikhs here Saturday for the weekend Vaisakhi celebrations. Called the Vaisakhi Parade, it is one of the oldest and biggest Sikh celebrations in North America.
Welcoming the over 10,000 participants in the Vaisakhi parade, the Canadian prime minister shouted the Sikh religious slogan of ‘Waheguruji Ka Khalsa, Waheguruji Ki Fateh’ amid applause.
British Columbia provincial premier Christy Clark, former Canadian health minister Ujjal Dosanjh, Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson and many other leaders also joined the Vaisakhi parade which carried the Sikh scripture from the city’s 100-year-old Ross Street Gurdwara through main thoroughfares.
In fact, the mayor became the centre of attraction as he came dressed in a jersey of the city’s national ice hockey team called the Canucks.
Along the long procession, people dressed in colourful clothes danced to drum beats as loudspeakers blared music in the city’s Little India area.
Diane Watts, mayor of the neighbouring Sikh-dominated city of Surrey, walked in the procession wearing colourful salwar-kameez.
“Vaisakhi is an event that is all about inclusion, it is all about pride, it is all about families, it is all about those things that we want for British Columbia (province),” said Watts who went on an 11-day business mission to India in February.
Thousands of non-Sikhs also joined the procession to have fun with the community and feast on free food and delicacies. People had set up free food stalls along the route of the Vaisakhi Parade.
Similar weekend Vaisakhi processions will also be taken out in Surrey and Toronto last this month.
Though their exact numbers are not known, Canada is home to about 400,000 Sikhs. They were the first Indian community to land in this country in the Vancouver area in the 1890s.
- Khalistani flags, slogans raised at Vancouver Vaisakhi parade - Apr 18, 2010
- Canada warns Sikh radicals against violence - Apr 27, 2010
- Canadian parliament condemns Sikh extremism - Apr 29, 2010
- Air India victims echo judge's remarks on Sikh radicals - May 12, 2011
- India warned about growing Khalistani pockets in Canada - Apr 17, 2010
- 'Indian city' mayor from Canada on Mission India - Feb 06, 2011
- Indian radio station ordered to pay defamation damages - Nov 12, 2010
- 25 years on, few takers for Khalistan in Canada - Oct 31, 2009
- Khalistanis want Indo-Canadian leader assassinated - Apr 24, 2010
- Mayor of Canada's 'Indian city' leads business trip to India - Jan 27, 2011
- Defamation suit against Indian-origin Canadian MP - Nov 27, 2010
- Canadian parliament may see more Indian-origin MPs - Apr 26, 2011
- Killing of wife by husband stuns Indo-Canadian community - Aug 04, 2011
- Ujjal Dosanjh joins company of Clinton, Tutu - Dec 04, 2010
- Top Indo-Canadian MPs lost in Canadian elections - May 04, 2011
Tags: business mission, canadian prime minister, canadian prime minister stephen harper, christy clark, city of surrey, colourful clothes, gregor robertson, gurdwara, india area, ka khalsa, little india, music in the city, national ice hockey, old ross, prime minister stephen harper, religious slogan, ross street, ujjal dosanjh, vancouver area, vancouver mayor