Send this page to someone via email

NDP leadership candidate Jagmeet Singh was heckled by a citizen at one of his JagMeet and Greets earlier this week, and responded by saying to her: “We welcome you.”

The 38-year-old former Ontario MPP uses the events for campaigning and for community outreach.

At the beginning of this event in Brampton on Wednesday, Singh was just getting started when a woman who identified herself as Jennifer came up to him.

“We know you’re in bed with Sharia,” she said, referring to Sharia law, a religious law in Islamic tradition. “We know you’re in bed with the Muslim brotherhood.”

She goes on heckling for a full four minutes before leaving on her own.

Story continues below advertisement

Singh is Sikh, not Muslim.

During her rant, Singh address the crowd saying, “We believe in love and courage, absolutely. We believe in an inclusive Canada where no one is left behind.”

“We don’t want to be intimidated by hate, we don’t want hatred to ruin a positive event… So let’s show people how to treat someone with love: We welcome you.

“We love you, we support you,” Singh goes on to say.

WATCH: Coverage of Jagmeet Singh on Globalnews.ca

Singh is being praised on social media for how he handled the event.

“Kudos for handling such ignorance with grace,” one commenter posted on the video, which was originally posted by community news outlet Brampton Focus.

Story continues below advertisement

After the heckler left, Singh addressed the incident, saying it’s not the first time he’s seen something like this.

“You know growing up as a brown-skin, turbaned, bearded man that I’ve faced things like this before. It’s not a problem. We can deal with it,” Singh said. “There’s going to be other obstacles that we’re going to face and we’re going to face them with love and courage.”

Singh is in the running as a top contender for the NDP leadership race, which will wrap up on Oct. 15. He’s running on a platform of diversity, and has “a record of fighting for vulnerable communities,” according to MP and former leadership candidate Peter Julian.

You can watch the full video here: