New Delhi: An anti-immigration pamphlet in Sikh-dominated Brampton town of Canada has enraged many people as it depicts the picture of a Sikh man with a red slash across it as a sign of prohibition, according to a Times of India report. Asking Brampton residents to "say no to the massive third world invasion of Canada" the flyer, which started doing the rounds earlier this week, adds, "Immigrants will reduce white Canadians to a minority. This is disgusting and seems to be the handiwork of some depressed people. Most of the Sikhs here are doing very well and are affluent, which does not seem to be going down well with someone," said Nazar Nawaz Singh Aujla, an IT professional from Brampton told the daily.
The flyer says immigration is to blame for lowered wages, increased poverty and unemployment. A section of migrants whom TOI contacted maintained that such racism against Sikhs or hate crimes were uncommon in Brampton till April when a similar anti-immigration flyer directed against Sikhs surfaced. "One would hardly hear of such incidents from this part, that's why appearance of such flyers is disturbing," said Jasbir Singh Malhi, a manager at a metal fabricating factory who migrated from Kapurthala in 1984. It has caught attention of elected representatives as well. New Democratic Party MP Jagmeet Singh who represents the electoral district of Bramalea Gore Malton has given a call for a rally against racism. He asked residents to come out and help stop such flyers from being circulating.
Brampton mayor Susan Fennell has described these flyers as disgusting and said, "Those who created them are not welcomed here," she said. A section of local newspapers have quoted Dan Murray the co-founder of the Vancouver-based group Immigration Watch Canada which has its logo printed on the flyer saying as he did not authorize the latest flyer. Though maintaining that the group agreed with the overall message, he admitted that the picture might have gone too far. Denying that the group's cause was racist, Murray is quoted as saying, "Our cause is pro- Canadian." Brampton has one of the highest concentrations of South Asians outside the subcontinent.
