Fear has settled among the Indian community living in Canada after there has been an increase in incidents of fatal attacks targeting people of Indian origin. There have been reported three incidents of attacks during the last 1.5 months, nevertheless, it has not been confirmed whether only Indians are at target or they are falling prey to racial hatred. It is concerning that a large number of NRI youth are working part-time for a living, most of whom work till late at nights.
Recently, one Sanraj Singh (24) was killed in Alberta, and in December, Pawanpreet Kaur (21) was shot dead in Ontario’s Mississauga. Back in November, Mehekpreet Sethi (18), was stabbed to death in British Columbia.
Khurshid Ahmed, President, South Asian Heritage Association of Hamilton and Region, said that a large number of Indians are working in the service sector and many a times, have to stay out for work late at night, and therefore, the threat of attacks on them augments. He added that when, 50 years ago, he moved to Canada from Uttar Pradesh, the people of Canada discriminated against Indians and other Asians, and that was when a lot of cases of attacks on Indians used to come to the fore. But during the last decades, the situation had changed.
