Dear Brother Hardeep,
You were in my thoughts when I recently visited the former site of the Indian residential school in Kamloops. Thanks once again for holding special prayers for those Indigenous children whose suspected unmarked graves were discovered nearby in 2021 with ground-penetrating radar.
It was close to the Canada Day when I went there for the very first time since I became a citizen of this country. Our friend, the Indigenous educator Jennifer Sherif, whom you invited for the prayers at the Surrey Delta gurdwara, took me there as part of a tour organized by her. I left a teddy bear and a small note from my daughter at the memorial site outside the school building as a powwow event was in progress. It was a very moving experience for me.
Early this year, we also lost Jarnail Singh, the artist who created a multimedia painting with Jennifer in gratitude to you for remembering Indigenous kids who became victims of genocide. While we were still mourning your death, we never imagined that he would be gone soon. I gave Jennifer a hug and thanked her for bringing me to the place whose inconvenient history had united us all. So much so, the Canadian government decided to lower the national flag and decided against celebrating Canada Day.
But that can only be expected in Canada. Not every government is like that. Surely, you understood it better than me. After all, you had to leave your home in India, the world’s so-called largest democracy, because of your support for a separate Sikh nation. The police did not let you live in peace, compelling you to move away from your birthplace and make Canada home. However, they did not let you stay here on your terms and snatched you away from us. They felt threatened by your growing influence outside your own community for speaking out for Muslims, Kashmiris, Adivasis, and political prisoners of any ethnicity.
You made time to remember the victims of Kamloops when Sikhs are still grieving over their own loss suffered during 1984. How could your enemies bear that? Even in your death, they continue to describe you as a terrorist and anti-national. By constantly portraying you as a dangerous extremist, they are trying to do everything possible to demonize you.
But believe me Hardeep, I as a journalist and a storyteller won’t let it go. Come what may, you will always be our hero and a martyr. You became a catalyst by laying down your life in the face of threats to make Canada open its eyes to a crime against humanity being committed by Modi, not only in India, but on foreign soil.
What we could not achieve through writings, petitioning or through angry demonstrations, you made this happen through your sacrifice. I may not have agreed with your political beliefs. I may have had and still have a dream for a society that isn’t based on any religious identity. However, I will always respect you for your uncompromising dedication to your cause and will make sure that you don’t become a footnote in history.
Gurpreet Singh is a B.C. author and co-founder of Radical Desi. Follow him on Bluesky @gurpreetradical.bsky.social. Follow Pancouver on X @PancouverMedia, Bluesky @pancouver.bsky.social, and Instagram @PancouverMedia.
