VANCOUVER—Growing up in a small Southern Alberta town, Harnarayan Singh says hockey was the glue that bonded him to his classmates.

As the first Punjabi NHL broadcaster, that glue would extend throughout his entire life. The small town wasn’t exactly diverse and Singh knew going to school wearing his turban and silver bracelet every day that kids looked at him differently.

“Even though I’m born and raised here, and my family has been in Canada for over 100 years, my experience as a Canadian would be totally and completely different had it not been for hockey,” he said.

“It’s beautiful in terms of how it brings us together and it’s been my entire life.”

Singh’s comments come hours after Don Cherry was fired by Sportsnet following remarks he made on Coach’s Corner on Saturday evening. During the segment, Cherry said he’s seeing fewer people wearing poppies to honour fallen Canadian soldiers — and singled out immigrants living in Toronto and Mississauga.

“You people … you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that,” Cherry said. “These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, these guys paid the biggest price.”

Though Cherry has been an iconic part of “Hockey Night in Canada” for many decades, Singh said Canadian hockey fans have plenty of options for their commentary and analysis.

“Don Cherry was 85-years-old,” Singh explained, adding Cherry’s comments were inappropriate and disappointing. “There’s a ton of capable commentators.”

A social media storm erupted following Cherry’s comments — polarizing people into camps, as reflected in the viral hashtags #Firecherry and #DonCherryIsRight. For Singh, the values of acceptance and respect are inherently Canadian.

But, he says, the divisive public opinion over Cherry’s comments shows that Canadians need to reflect on who we are and to respect our differences.

Growing up, Singh kept his heritage in his back pocket. And he still does today. That is, if someone tells him to go back where he came from, Singh answers that his great-grandfather moved to Canada more than 100 years ago.

Clips of Don Cherry's past controversial moments on Hockey Night in Canada over the years.

“I have to use that. But maybe I shouldn’t have to answer that question in the first place,” he explained.

Even though nobody on television looked like him, Singh always dreamed of being a hockey broadcaster. The current host of “Hockey Night in Canada: Punjabi Edition” finally got his chance in 2008.

Still, Singh and his colleagues had to deal with a repeated question: Why is hockey being shown to us in a different language?

Initially, those questions were constant. But eventually, they lightened up. Most people seemed to recognize they were participating in the fabric of the nation’s culture, Singh said.

But in recent years, that’s changed.

“That sort of sentiment, questioning why we are on the air … has come back. It’s unfortunate we are having to re-answer those questions again to a select few of fellow Canadians,” he explained. “Now it seems like things are going backwards, where a person like myself has to justify my Canadianness, more often than not.”

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That concerns him. It’s taken a lot of people going through challenges just to get to this point, he said, and those struggles still exist.

He cited several examples: One South Asian coach reached out to him after a parent said he shouldn’t be teaching his son. Another Ontario coach asked for advice because when his diverse team went to smaller towns for competitions, the kids were facing “hateful comments” and discrimination from members on the opposing team.

“If that’s still happening nowadays, then we still have a long way to go,” he said. “For the game to grow, we need to open the door to all sorts of different communities. There’s a lot more room.”

With files from the Toronto Star and Kieran Leavitt

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