Are Sikh's Fighting a Tarnished Image..

Sikhs singled out in media stories
By Ken Herar,
A couple of days ago, I met an old friend who I haven't seen in a long time. It was nice to see an old high school friend who now lives in Vancouver. It has been a few years since we last met.During our lunch meeting we talked about some of the different issues that have made headlines. Our discussion circled around the topic of Indo-Canadian violence in the past year. Whether it was a drive-by shooting or the Air India trial or the revelations last week of two senior aides to Ministers in the B.C. Liberal government, more and more Sikhs are in the news than ever before.Is the BC Sikh community fighting a tarnished image in the news media? This was the question proposed by my friend. I couldn't answer it at that time.I have the answer now! I agree some Sikhs are involved in high profile crimes that have made major news in this province and this is very unfortunate and as a community we must reverse this trend. What we have to make clear is that these people involved in these horrible acts are individuals who represent themselves not the community.It is very easy in these circumstances to blame the Sikh community due to the style of reporting by some media. I don't want to shift the blame to the media but how they report some these stories they should change. Some of these stories create a stereotypical image in readers minds of Indo Canadians. The working relationship between the various visible minorities in B.C. and the different media networks need to improve. Many different people read the paper or watch the news and viewers have to see through the smoke screen and see people as individuals not as nationalities.The Indo-Canadians who commit these crimes have to think about the community they belong too and the image it creates for everyone. They don't seem to foresee the future for every action there is a reaction. On some occasions it has been difficult to go into public without someone mentioning these horrible headlines. The majority of Sikhs come to Canada for a better life and are not involved in crimes and these acts include only a small percentage of people. So my answer to the question above is is not all Sikhs are not fighting a tarnished image in B.C. but should be concerned as a community by this trend.Proactive steps are being taken within the Sikh community to address this concern. I had the opportunity to speak with editor Paul Dhillon of the South Asian Link newspaper in Surrey about this issue.Dhillon explains, "In the early '90s the Indo Canadian community has been struggling with the rise in youth violence which has lend to gang violence. Second or third generation Indo Canadians as youths often struggle with some aspect of their cultural or social surroundings. As the violence has grown the community has taken a strong stance there has been at least four community forums in the last year to address gang violence in the Indo Canadian community."Precautionary measures and outlets are being put in place so professionals in the field can closely monitor any violence risk, Dhillon said.Over the last decade the Sikh community has gone through some growing pains due to the constant changing of its population in the Lower Mainland. I am proud of being from the Sikh heritage and as Canadians working together will make us stronger.
KenHerar@gmail.com
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