26 THE CARAVAN
reportage
“my name is jagmeet singh, a member of provin-
cial parliament for Bramalea-Gore-Malton. I want
to thank all the organisers and all the volunteers
who made this event possible.”
It was December 2013, and Jagmeet Singh was
addressing an award ceremony taking place in
Punjab, hosted by the Social Educational Welfare
Association, in association with International
Fateh Academy. A legislator in Ontario—Canada’s
largest province—Jagmeet was receiving SEWA’s
“Sikh of the Year” award, given to a Sikh who has
“overcome challenges to restore the honour and
pride of Sikhism and to spread its fragrance in the
entire world.” He made it clear why he was, quite
literally, an attractive choice.
“The largest daily newspaper in Canada, the
Toronto Star, recognised me as one of 2012’s top 12
people or 12 personalities for the year,” Jagmeet
said. “I was also recognised and put on the front
page of the largest Canadian fashion magazine as
Toronto’s most stylish.” The catalogue of accolades
went on. “I was recognised in the list of Toronto’s50 most influential people as one of the five rising
stars on the verge of greatness,” he said, “and all of
this I have to attribute to my principles and beliefs
in Sikhi. I want to make sure that’s very clear.”
Jagmeet was speaking in a mix of English and
Punjabi. He emphasised how, as an elected official,
he had promoted “Sikhi values,” spearheaded ef-
forts to get the massacre of Sikhs in India in 1984
recognised as a genocide, campaigned to have
kirpans allowed inside courthouses and have April
designated as Sikh Heritage Month in his prov-
ince.
Though he was indeed on “the verge of great-
ness,” Singh’s address to SEWA seemed somewhat
muted. “I had prepared to be there in person,” Jag-
meet, impeccably dressed in a three-piece suit and
a yellow turban, explained. “But it is very sad that
the Indian government did not give me permis-
sion to reach you.” He was delivering his address
from behind a desk cluttered with papers, books
and files, via videoconference, while thousands of
kilometres away in Canada.Model Minority
The hard questions facing the poster boy of
Canadian multiculturalism
COVER STORY / POLITICS
DANIEL BLOCKalex tetreault