Thousands of Sikh voters are expected to turn out today in Surrey to vote in a referendum that is at the centre of Canada’s ongoing tensions with India.
Members of the Victoria Sikh community will be among those waiting in line for a second round of voting in an unofficial referendum on Khalistan, at a gurdwara where activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot and killed on June 18.
Saanich resident Gurinder Singh, who is flying in from Alberta after a business trip to volunteer at the referendum proceedings, said that he knows of at least 20 people from Victoria who will be going to vote in the referendum.
Singh has been offering to co‑ordinate transportation for Sikhs from Victoria and will be showing up today ready to hand out bottles of water to those in line.
“There are people [going] who have lived in Canada for more than 20 years,” Singh said of the voters. “There are people who just came to Canada like six months ago.”
The referendum on whether to support an independent Sikh state — Khalistan — in India is being organized by Sikhs for Justice, a U.S.-based group. Similar votes have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy and Switzerland.
Sikhs who support the movement will not be intimidated into staying home by the actions of the Indian government, Singh said, referencing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement that there are “credible” allegations of a potential link between the Indian government and Nijjar’s killing.
Nijjar was previously a key referendum organizer in Canada.
The Khalistan movement is considered a security threat by the Indian government, which regards the referendum as “anti‑India” and “deeply objectionable.”
— With files from The Canadian Press
