Joe Dickson

Los angeles : Canada is finally embracing Indians by dedicating a complete month to celebrate Hindu Heritage Month annually.

A bill to proclaim October as the month of heritage month in Canada's Ontario province has been introduced in the provincial assembly here. Interestingly, Ontario is home to more than 700,000 Indo-Canadians.

After introducing the bill, Joe Dickson, who is a Member of the Provincial Parliament (MPP), said, “By proclaiming the month of October as Hindu Heritage Month, Ontario will recognize the "important contributions that Hindu Canadians have made to Ontario's social, economic, religious, political and cultural fabric. Right from the start, Ontario's Hindu communities helped build our province into the greatest place to live, work and raise families. We're all proud of the achievements of the Hindu community and how they have helped each other and enriched our province."

“Each year, three important festivals that members of the Hindu community celebrate occur in and around October. These festivals include Navratri and Durga Puja, which were celebrated earlier this month, and Diwali, the festival of lights, which will begin next week.”

The leader also mentioned that October month holds a special significance for Hindus all over the world.

Significantly, the first Hindu immigrants arrived in Canada at the beginning of the 20th century and made several contributions in all fields - science, education, medicine, law, politics, business, culture and sports.

Interestingly, the Ontario assembly has just passed another bill to proclaim October also as Islamic Heritage Month.

There are over 1.2 million Indo-Canadians living in the country.