(TORONTO, ON) – Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) President Sid Ryan called for social justice for the Sikh community before a hundred thousand at a Baisakhi Day (or Vaisakhi Day) Celebration in Etobicoke, Ontario on Sunday, May 6, 2012. OFL Secretary-Treasurer Nancy Hutchison and Executive Vice-President Irwin Nanda also joined the annual event that included a parade from the Mississauga neighbourhood of Malton to a religious centre in Toronto’s west-end. The three officers participated with NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh (Bramalea-Gore-Malton), who is himself an outspoken advocate for social justice, human rights and workers’ rights.
Ryan took aim at recent changes made by the Harper government to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program that will allow employers to pay foreign workers only 85 percent of domestic wages and force Employment Insurance recipients to accept lower wage jobs. He called for all politicians to be challenged to defend their track record on social justice: “Have you lived up to the principles of social justice? Have you, for example, said that we will treat all workers in this province equally? Shall we treat everybody the same when it comes to wages and benefits? We’ve got a political party right now in Ottawa that just brought in a piece of legislation that basically says to foreign workers that you can be asked to work for 15 percent less than Canadian workers and that, my friends, is simply wrong.”
Featured among the speakers included in the event proceedings, Ryan’s remarks focused on the theme of social justice and marked the first time that a central labour leader addressed the Sikh community on such a platform. Ryan called for Canada and the world to recognize the state-sponsored genocide that took place in the capital city of New Delhi and across India from October 31 to November 4, 1984. His comments echoed the Indian Government’s Nanavati Commission, which found that high ranking officials of the ruling party had instigated attacks on the Sikh community that resulted in more than 5000 deaths.
Canadian politicians must speak out against all forms of government sanctioned violence, Ryan told the crowd: “Where does your government stand on the question of genocide in 1984? Are you prepared to stand with us and recognize that that was a state-sponsored genocide and should be recognized both here in Canada and around the world? That’s the question, my friends, that you ought to be asking every politician who comes to your door.”
In his remarks, Ryan argued that the principles of social justice connect communities: “We believe in the principles of social justice and the great guru Nanak taught us about love and unity and peace and I cannot help but think that Jack Layton on his deathbed took a vision – a Sikh vision – and he put it into his final words before he died and they were the principles of love and unity and peace.”
The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) represents 54 unions and one million workers in Ontario.
A full video of Ryan’s Baisakhi Day remarks can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8WWTRUhtqc&feature=share.
Photos can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ontariofedlabour/sets/72157629989561149/
For further information:
Sid Ryan, OFL President: 416-209-0066 (mobile)
Joel Duff, OFL Communications Director: 416-707-0349 (mobile) *ENGLISH/FRENCH*
