Members of Canada's House of Commons unanimously voted to condemn the recent death threats against their colleague, Indo-Canadian MP Ujjal Dosanjh, who had voiced concern over Sikh extremism in the country.
The House of Commons (Lower House of Parliament) in a unanimous motion condemned all violent Sikh extremism and re-affirmed the House's unflinching support for Canada's elected officials' right to speak freely and openly without threats of violence or intimidation.
Ujjal Dosanjh, a former Liberal cabinet minister and one time British Columbia premier, had said Sikh extremism, was on the rise in some parts of Canada and nothing was being done about it. Dosanjh has been facing threats to his life.
Dosanjh said he was touched by politicians putting aside their differences to pass a motion "that all members of this House stand united in condemning any form of extremism that incites violence in Canadian society, and re-affirm the rights of elected officials to freely express their views without fear of personal intimidation".
"Occasionally all parties in an otherwise fractious parliament come together - as they did today on a very important and serious issue," he said.
Over the past week, Dosanjh has received a number of online death threats on a Facebook page called 'Ujjal Dosanjh is a Sikh Traitor'.
The threats followed his public criticism of comments made by an organiser of the April 17 Vaisakhi parade in Surrey, as well as condemnation of some photos on a parade float glorifying the leaders of banned terrorist groups.
The float featured as 'martyrs' two members of the Babbar Khalsa terrorist group who were convicted of assassinating the chief minister of Punjab, as well as another former BK leader, Sukhdev Singh Babbar, killed in 1992.
The Integrated National Security Enforcement Team is investigating the threats, which continued to be made this week.
A man claiming to live in Brampton, Ontario said yesterday Dosanjh should be "snuffed" in the face. Last week, a poster said he should be 'shot ASAP'.
