Edmonton Police investigate racist and harassing incidents against the Sikh community – Edmonton

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Edmonton’s Sikh community says it has been the target of hate for several months.

Gurpreet Kaur, with Sangat Youth, said Singh Sabha Gurdwara in southeast Edmonton has been receiving harassing, racist and anti-Sikh phone calls several times a day since March.

Kaur said the situation had worsened recently, with meat banned at Gurdwara being delivered to the site.

“You just have to call the local businesses and let them know to drop something off at a specified address and that address ends up being the Gurdwara, which the caller is certainly well aware of,” Kaur said.

“Meat products and meat will be delivered here right on the steps of Gurdwara which is prohibited, then the caller will ask us how we like the meat. “

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Kaur said Edmonton Police are investigating and a few local nonprofits have also stepped in to support it.

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“We have the Alberta Hate Crimes Committee helping us, we have the John Humphries Center for Peace and Human Rights, we have Social Stride Advocacy helping on the online front, fighting any hate online, then EPS has been really great. useful, ”she said. mentionned.

“They brought in the Hate Crimes Unit and hopefully Cybercrime as well. They also came to visit us and they were super super helpful.

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Edmonton Police confirmed to Global News that the Hate Crimes Unit and Violent Extremism Unit are investigating the incidents.

Alberta Hate Crimes Committee vice-chair Irfan Chaudhry said the committee was helping document the situation, which he said is vital.

“To be really able to work with members of the community just to recognize that, yes, there is definitely something going on that could possibly be motivated by hatred or prejudice towards this group, and then what can we do about it.” Chaudhry said.

“Just being able to make sure that everything is documented, make sure that the conversations with the police, who, the file numbers, the registration of agents, just so that there is this continuity so that it does not get lost. not, in a way, in the weeds. “

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Kaur said the situation was difficult for members of the Gurdwara and she hopes Edmontonians will help just by being vigilant.

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“We hope that with more eyes on the situation and with more ears lending a hand, we will certainly be able to find them and I hope, fingers crossed, they stop, because it is our goal doesn’t even have anything to do with the law, it’s just to get them to stop, ”she said.

Kaur asks anyone with information about the incidents to report them to Edmonton Police.

Edmonton Police said 44 hate crimes have been reported to them so far this year. Police said 60 such incidents were reported in 2020 and 57 in 2019.

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