Viney Sharma

Of late, the Punjabi community in Canada’s mini-Punjab, Brampton, has witnessed an unprecedented surge in the number of violent incidents. This has cast a shadow of fear and uncertainty over the community here.

The brazen killing of Pradeep Singh, a truck driver, four days ago, was the 11th murder in Brampton in the past one year. Pradeep, as per the Canadian authorities, was ambushed and killed in a gunfire at his home in Donwoods Court in the area of Countryside Drive and Airport Road.

The increasing incidents of violence are not only a concern for the lawkeepers, but also for the peace-loving Punjabis here. Lakhwinder Singh, 84, who witnessed the changing times in Brampton, said, “I came here in my 30s and I have never seen such an epidemic of gun violence in Brampton before. Our community has always been considered as a hardworking community. We are scared and alarmed at the growing gun culture.

This gentleman was killed in his home. People have a reason to be scared.” ‘What do we need guns for?’ After a slew of recent shootings in Brampton, including two homicides in the past two weeks, Sukhdeep Kalra and her friends have asked the city police to introduce a “gun amnesty buyback programme”. Brampton resident Charmaine Williams, a mother to young kids, also backed the gun amnesty programme and said cash be offered when weapons are turned in. “It is high time that we sensitise our children about guns. What do we need guns for? They do no good to humanity. Rather, they can be misused in a fit of rage. Young blood doesn’t understand the implications of such impulsive acts. Someone has to tell them they are in a different country, where things are not taken that easily,” says Kalra. Many feel the developments would bring more residents under the scanner. In this case, the victim is Punjabi. However, whenever any such incident happens, there is a backlash and the authorities bring everyone under suspicion. From time to time, there have been crackdowns by the police on illegal immigrants. “No one likes people to be deported but that’s how Canadian laws are. In a nutshell, such incidents only make the future tough for our next generation. We were calling Canada a safe country to live in, are our kids safe now?” says Poonam Sharawat, a financial consultant. The Trump effect on refugee system The number of asylum-seekers has gone up in Canada since Donald Trump assumed office. The Justin Trudeau Cabinet is trying to seal its borders as the influx has strained Canada’s backlogged system for assisting people seeking refugee status, leaving aid agencies scrambling to meet the growing demand for housing and social services. Rough estimates suggest more than 27,000 asylum-seekers, of which Punjabis and Gujaratis form a substantial chunk, have walked across the Canada-US border. As per the Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board, refugee status claims are down from 53 per cent in 2017 to 40 per cent in the first three months of the present calendar year. “The government is trying to dissuade and turn back thousands who had crossed the border illegally. Since Trump’s election, asylumseekers have been entering Canada on foot, driven by fears over the US President’s approach to immigration,” says political scientist Prof Surinder Shukla. International vs domestic students Recently, a Brampton townhall attracted hundreds on youth violence. The discussion focused on whether the violence was being caused by international students or domestic students. Tempers flared as students shouted at each other.

The event was organised by the Ontario Gurdwara Committee and United Sikhs in response to the growing concern from the community as social media videos depicting people engaging in violent acts in the middle of the streets and parking lots in Brampton, mostly near the Sheridan College Davis Campus, have gone viral. Be it flaring up of tension between international students and their Indo-Canadian landlords, domestic violence, road rage or business rivalries and crime in Brampton has touched enormous proportions.