By Surbhi Gogia
The City of Seattle made history on February 21st by becoming the first US city for passing a law that bans caste-based discrimination in businesses and other public settings. The initiative was led by Seattle Councillor, Kshama Sawant.
Her proposed law did get some pushback from organizations, but 6 out of 7 councillors voted for the law, signalling an overwhelming support by the city’s elected officials.
In addition, the ordinance received support and endorsement of local, national, and international organisations representing multi-faith and social sectors from across the world including Chetna Association of Canada. This overwhelming support shows widespread existence of caste-based discrimination in North America.
An ancient India’s system where an individual’s fate was decided not by hard work but on the basis of birth or decent into one of 4 castes. Although India passed the law against caste discrimination, strong remanences of the caste-based discrimination still exist not only in India but in Indian diaspora communities across North America.
Chetna Association of Canada, a community-based organization has been raising awareness about casts-based issues in Canada since its establishment in 1999. Jai Birdi, general secretary of Chetna says that incidents of casteist slurs continue to be received and reported by the local media in Canada.
The Association has been actively engaging Lower Mainland cities and the provincial government to support awareness campaigns. “Burnaby, Surrey, and the Province of BC have proclaimed April 14 – Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Day of Equality since 2020.”
The University of British Columbia is also working on a big project under Dr Anne Murphy and Dr. Suraj Yengde that investigates Dalit (those deemed “untouchables” in the caste system of South Asia) individual and community histories within Canada’s past and present.
The research focuses on the lower mainland of British Columbia, with special attention to locations where Dalits have established religious, cultural, social and political organizations. The project involves the completion of a series of interviews with Canadians of Dalit background to document their histories, experiences, and understanding of the implications of caste in Canada. These interviews will, if permission is granted, be made public on a project website and cIRcle.
“Dalit stories are often overlooked in the broader public imagination and historical and social science research; this oral history program represents an important first step towards the inclusion of the Dalit experience in our understanding of the South Asian Canadian, and particularly Punjabi Canadian, experience,” mentions UBC’s Centre for Migration.
Vancouver will be hosting a big international symposium on from April 21 to 24, 2023. Titled, Dr. Ambedkar International Symposium for Emancipation (www.ase2023.ca), the conference will feature various speakers from across India and North America.
Birdi informs that there will be one session on Caste in academic settings in Canada and other jurisdictions. “This will provide highlights of how caste based discrimination in universities is being proactively addressed and identify actions and strategies that need to take,” he said.
Chetna currently has a strong partnership with Dr. Hari Sharma foundation, Institute for the Humanities at Simon Fraser University (SFU),and various departments of University of British Columbia (UBC), University of the Fraser Valley, University of Victoria, and Kwantlen Polytechnic University. The partnership has planned and delivered Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Lectures since 2016.
But Birdi feels that awareness campaigns alone are not sufficient. “Legislations such as the one passed by Seattle are also needed in Canada. One of the reasons India made strong advancements towards equality is its legal framework provided by the Constitution. In absence of the legal framework, social reforms would have been less effective and certainly not sustained for over 70 years.”
According to Birdi, there are many similarities between Seattle and the lower mainland of BC. Therefore, there are opportunities to exchange and leverage learning from each other.”
“Just as Bellevue Tech Hub has gained prominence recently, similarly, Vancouver is expected to become the “next tech hub of North America”. There are many other similarities between Seattle and the lower mainland, including migration patterns.”
Two years ago, Chetna Association of Canada made a presentation to Surrey Council and requested that the City of Surrey consider making it a “caste free zone”. “It is time that the City of Surrey revisit the request and consider passing a similar law. Other cities of the lower mainland should also consider doing the same,” he said.
“The Seattle Ordinance or I call it the Sawant Ordinance was successful because it received support from a broad range of social and multi-faith groups. Such support from diverse groups also decimated criticism of some organisations who saw no justification for the ‘Sawant Ordinance’.”
“By working together in addressing Caste for over forty years in the Vancouver area, a broad-based support against casteism and in favour of “Sarbat Da Bhala ” already exists. Let us leverage this to take the movement to the next level of strengthening equality,” Birdi said.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said: “No one is free until everyone is free”. Similarly, “no one is equal until everyone is equal”.
“By addressing one inequality at a time, equality for all will be generated,” is the message from Chetna Association.
