EDMONTON – A Sikh Gurdwara in Edmonton has been targeted by racists with threatening phone calls and racial slurs.
Leaders at the Singh Sabha Gurdwara in the Mill Woods area of southeast Edmonton are speaking out about months of targeted harassment.
Since March, the gurdwara — where thousands of Sikh Edmontonians worship — has received daily multiple threatening phone calls. Voices on the other end hurled racial slurs and espoused anti-Sikh sentiment, reported CBC News.
There has also been calls from local businesses expecting payments for estimates and services, as well as deliveries of meat products, that no one in the gurdwara ever ordered.
“This is where we grew up. This is a place that we were born into. We attended every Sunday or every day. And just seeing the people that we grew up with, being so affected by this, it honestly is heartbreaking,” said Gurpreet Kaur, a spokesperson for Sangat Youth, a group that amplifies Sikh voices and provides support and resources for the community.
Last May, a large delivery of meat pizzas and chicken wings showed up at the gurdwara.
No one there had ordered it. In fact, meat isn’t allowed on the premises and there are even signs outside saying so.
Community leaders decided it was time to call the Edmonton police service’s Hate Crimes and Violent Extremism Unit.
“We just want our lives and our community, our gurdwara to be normal again. That’s honestly all we want is just for it to stop and for us to just have some peace in our lives,” Kaur said.
It’s one of the reasons Sangat Youth decided to go public — posting a statement online on Wednesday encouraging Edmontonians to condemn the incidents, and for anyone with information to contact police.
The group also wants to warn unsuspecting businesses that orders from the Singh Sabha Gurdwara are likely a malicious hoax.
Courtesy CBC News
