The Caravan — February 2018

32 THE CARAVAN

model minority · reportage

strength to form the basis of Canada’s reputa-

tion as a progressive stalwart, even as right-wing

populism has gradually overtaken the country’s

southern neighbour, the United States. Canada’s

federal government now spends roughly a billion

Canadian dollars a year—about $800 million—on

ethnic heritage festivals, immigration-friendly

television programmes and other celebrations of

diversity.

It is not driven by just good ethics. “They des-

perately need these immigrants,” Papia Sengupta,

a professor of political science at Jawaharal Nehru

University and a student of Canadian multicul-

turalism, told me. The influx of new residents has

helped Canada avoid the kind of demographic

ageing crisis that now confronts much of the

developed world. Even the spectre of indefinite

economic stagnation caused by an ageing popula-

tion has not done much to convince some other

countries, such as Japan, to rethink their long-

standing aversion to immigrants. Canada, by

contrast, continues to have some of the world’s

most open borders.

In 1993, Gurbax Singh Malhi became the first

turbaned Sikh to sit in any federal legislature in

the Western world. He was elected to represent a

federal constituency that closely maps on to the

district Jagmeet represented in Ontario’s provin-

cial parliament. Two other, non-turbaned Sikhs

were simultaneously becoming visible figures.

One, Herbance Dhaliwal, became Canada’s first

Indian-origin cabinet minister, in 1997. The other,

Ujjal Dosanjh, a Sikh born in Punjab, became the

country’s first Indo-Canadian provincial leader,

in 2000.

Few groups, if any, have as effectively capital-

ised on Canada’s relative accessibility as have

Sikhs. The Canadian Sikh community nearly

doubled in size between 2001 and 2011, and its

members are concentrated in important electoral

districts. All three major parties—the Conserva-

tives, the Liberals and the NDP—actively try to

below: The

Komagata Maru—

with 340 Sikhs on

board—was not

allowed to dock

when it reached its

final port of call.

It spent over two

months parked

offshore, before

being turned away.

courtesy leonard frank / vancouver public library vpl

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