By Sahib Kaur Dhaliwal
Ever since I could remember, I speculated on who ruled our country. Who had the superiority? Is it just the 338 Members of Parliament designated to sit in the House of Commons?
Recently, I traveled to Ottawa as a participant in Forum For Young Canadians. As the only Sikh participant in Canada, I witnessed the phenomenon that is Canadian politics.
From breakfasting with senators to dining with Members of Parliament, our days were crowded with unique experiences established around traditional politician’s actions. Our days consisted of examining social concerns alongside the Members of Parliament, the ethics in civilization, and how to turn our objectives into actions. Together with MP’s, we reviewed our individual communities as if we had been colleagues for years at last reunited.
We walked the same halls as Honourable Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and even had a lifetime ambition accomplished by sitting in the Prime Minister’s seat. However, the next time one of us returns to Parliament we hope it will be as a Member of Parliament, or even as the Prime Minister.
As impressive as the Canadian government seems it did not always hold true to its responsibilities. The same House of Commons we sat in was the identical one that decided to force the Komagata Maru to depart in 1914. Regarded as an incident, 376 passengers from India on a continuous journey, who were only anticipating a better life, were denied docking. 19 passengers killed for one reason, because Canada was only to be White Man’s Country. As stated by the Honourable Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the 2016 Vaisakhi Celebration in the Parliament Hill, “We should never forget the prejudice suffered by the Sikh community at the hands of the Canadian government of the day.”
102 years after the departure of the Komagata Maru the Sikh community received an official apology for this injustice from the Canadian Government on May 18th, 2016.
For one week we witnessed the Canadian Government engage hand in hand with Canadians. There is more than one leader, more than 338 members; in a literal sense, there are millions. It took me five days to realize that our government aspires the entire nation to have voices, encourages us to have opinions, and looks to the youth to be the leaders of tomorrow. In reality, it sincerely takes a nation to govern a country and the change is brought by Canada’s present: You and me.
Sitting in the Senate
Sahib Kaur Dhaliwal is a grade 10 student from W.J. Secondary School went to Ottawa in 2016.
