Canada: Sikhs for Justice plans to hold Khalistan referendum on July 28

Toronto: The secessionist group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) has announced it will hold the next phase of its so-called Khalistan referendum at a government facility in the city of Calgary in the province of Alberta later this month.

Sikhs march in a parade to mark Khalsa Day celebrations in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on April 28. (AFP)

The venue, announced on Thursday by SFJ’s general-counsel Gurpatwant Pannun is the Calgary Municipal Plaza which is owned and operated by the city of Calgary.

Pannun said the referendum, slated for July 28, “is expected to be thronged by pro-Khalistan Sikhs in thousands”. If the referendum does go ahead at that particular venue, it will be the first time since September 2022 that it has been held at a government location.

Interestingly, the site for the Calgary Municipal Complex Atrium and Plaza shows no event listing. Listings for the Atrium are blank while those for the Plaza show that it is closed on that day for “resurfacing”. Booking of the Atrium is limited to registered non-profits, charities and school groups and space has to be reserved at least 30 days before the event, while the Plaza is available to any group or person between the hours of 7am and 11pm. A permit is not required for this space, but users can secure exclusive use of the Plaza by registering their events.

Calgary’s local government is headed by an Indo-Canadian mayor Jyoti Gondek.

A flyer for the referendum states that to obtain a ballot paper, the person must be a Sikh living in Canada and over 18 years of age with valid ID.

The last time a government facility was registered for the referendum was the Tamanawis Secondary School in the town of Surrey in British Columbia. However, on September 3 last year, week before the scheduled date for the referendum, a spokesperson for the Surrey District School Board said, in a release, that it had “cancelled a community rental of one of our schools due to a violation of our rental agreement”.

The ostensible reason for withdrawing permission was that promotional materials for the event featured images of the school, alongside images of a weapon. The poster for the referendum actually featured both an AK-47 machine gun as well as a kirpan.

“Despite repeated attempts to address the issue, the event organisers failed to remove these concerning images, and materials continued to be posted throughout Surrey and on social media,” the release noted.

That referendum was ultimately held on September 10 last year at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey.

Prior to that on September 18, 2022, it was organised at the Gore Meadows Community Centre, a municipal property in Brampton in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).