Zul-Fiqar786

Dude, obviously you didn’t actually read it apart from the title. Never judge an article by its title. It is addressed to Muslims and is concerning Islamic purification laws, has nothing to do with racism or bigotry.

Ontario is 8% South Asian according to the 2011 census, and as a growing community I'd estimate its numbers are actually as high as 10%, especially if you include Middle Eastern people since they pretty much have the same political interests as we do. Ignoring the specific interests of such a large part of the province should be political suicide. Pakistan cannot be compared with Canada, as it was specifically created as a Muslim state in 1947 just as Israel was created to be a Jewish state in 1948. Canada is a secular state which is suppose to have freedom of religion including religious expression. Besides, what does the state of religious freedom in other countries have to do with Ontario not exempting Sikhs from the helmet law for religious accommodation? It's nothing but deflection on your part.

Prove that I'm racist, don't just make accusations without any basis, otherwise you lose all credibility.

Anti-Muslim sentiment doesn't concern me. Be as anti-Muslim as you want, you can't do anything to us. Our community is young and growing, while the anti-Muslim bigots are a bunch of old white rednecks that will soon die off, and good riddance to them.

Nope, I'm not racist at all dude. Bowing to the interests of your constituency is the job of a politician. By denying Sikhs an exemption to the helmet law, the Premier shows how out of touch she is with the constituency she is suppose to be governing. The level of religious freedom in South Asia has nothing to do with the issue, it's a red herring you want to throw in for no other reason but to put down South Asians but then you have the audacity to call me racist. India is actually very free in terms of religious freedom, but the helmet exemption for Sikhs is also in BC, Manitoba and the UK, so why not Ontario which should be the most progressive of them all?

Dude, yelling is signified by typing in all caps.

Dude how ignorant is this comment. My personal blog is about religion not politics. Not all South Asians are Muslims either, most in Canada are Hindu or Sikh. Very few people including of my own religious community subscribe to my personal views expressed on my blog, let alone South Asians of other religions. Even a religiously inclined person in power doesn't necessarily mean he or she will enforce his or her personal beliefs on the rest of the public.

I beg to differ. Trudeau repatriated the Constitution with the Constitution Act of 1982. Therefore, I consider the modern Canada we live in today, the multicultural and liberal Canada that is meant to be non-racist and redress grievances of Indigenous people, as beginning in 1982. Pre-1982 Canada is not our Canada and we must disassociate ourselves from it.

Racist for wanting our next Premier to be South Asian? Should we keep parachuting White teachers from the exurbs into schools that are heavily Brown and thus continue the institution of White privilege? No, its time to start walking the walk! We are not merely a vote bank, we have politically matured and ready to assert ourselves on the national political scene let alone the provincial one. If you want to see real racism, look at Quebec's Bill 62 which bans kippa-wearing Jews, hijab-observing Muslims and turban-wearing Sikhs from providing and receiving public services (very similar to Jim Crow if you ask me)

Dude, Canada doesn’t belong to any single race or ethnic group. I am the exact opposite of a racist, and I resent such an unholy accusation. If hypothetically it did, that prize could only conceivably go to First Nations people. Neither English people created this State nor French, because when I say the Canadian State, I recognize it as beginning in the Pierre Trudeau era, not in 1867. I have nothing against British people, despite their history of exploitation and colonization of my land of origin (India). I’m talking about the specific trend of British people from Britain coming to Canada and in their minds it is their ‘holiday home’, bit like having a cottage, a home away from home. This attitude suggests these British people still consider Canada a province of theirs and they have an air of entitlement. They need to recognize that Canadians want to dump the monarchy and that we are a nation in our own right. Otherwise I continue to say that they should pack their bags and go back to their island.

Wrong, dude. Your view isn’t equal to mine in the specific area of what Canada is all about. You came here from Britain because you were tired of living on a tiny island and enjoy the beauty and nature of Canada. You don’t know the Canadian narrative or story. It would be like me moving to Hawaii without knowing its unique history and story and start claiming to know as much about Hawaii as someone who has lived there for a while. It has nothing to do with multiculturalism, especially since you don’t embrace multiculturalism in the first place.

Dude, don’t take it personally, but the fact is that as someone who was born in raised in Canada I know my view has greater weight than yours in defining what this country is all about. Canada is an ideological state, and multiculturalism and racial diversity is at our core, along with respect for the Indigenous people and embracing their narrative. Canada isn’t just some colony for some rich Europeans to come here and start acting like they own the place, especially if they aren’t willing to embrace our multiculturalism values. I think its appalling how easy it is for British people to move to Canada like moving from one city to another in their own country. Canada isn’t a province of Britain remember that, but at the same time, people from non-European countries struggle so hard just to make it here because of a very biased but tough immigration system.

Hitting your wife doesn't mean sending her to the hospital, only expressing your displeasure with bad behavior, similar to how parents should have the right to spank their kids when the latter need disciplining. In a traditional family, the husband is in charge and the head, his wife is expected to follow his lead and support him. Destroying the traditional family has resulted in all the social problems we see today.

Canada needs to accept more refugees, especially the Rohingya Muslims that at present are being slaughtered by the Burmese military and violent Buddhist mobs. Canada must once again prove to the world that it is a peace-loving and humanitarian nation that is more than willing to lift it’s fair share. Meanwhile, I think that there are too many White British people who have moved to Canada quite recently, and this is a growing trend. They need to be sent back to Europe. Canada is not part of the so-called 'Western-civilization', this nation's history is rooted in the Indigenous First Nations, they too must have a major say in what kind of people they want in this country and what kind they would like to see go back to Europe.

Our pathetic premier Kathleen Wimp was the only obstacle to the Sikh community winning an important victory to be able to drive a motorcycle without a helmet. This exemption for Sikhs exists in BC, Manitoba and even the UK. Ontario should be the most progressive and religiously free place in the world but as I said Kathleen Wimp is to blame. We are definitely looking forward to replacing her with another premier, hopefully one that is South Asian to better reflect our growing and more politically involved community. Those who say this is a public safety issue are just grasping at straws. Not many people drive motorcycles, obviously because this is Canada where over half the year is freezing cold winter, so its like making a mountain out of a molehill to begin with.