Two Sikh-Canadian Men File Constitutional Challenge To Canada’s Secret No-Fly List!

Why is the Canadian government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which has the largest number of Sikh-Canadian MPs and cabinet ministers executing anti-Sikh agenda by putting Sikhs on no-fly list and for the first time in Canada’s history adding “Sikh extremism” in the country’s Terror Report (which was removed just before Trudeau attended the Vancouver Vaisakhi celebrations two weeks ago)? Critics say all this anti-Sikh agenda by the Canadian government is being done to appease the Indian government and that Trudeau government is playing games with the Sikh-Canadian community, trying to punish them for being generous and upstanding Canadian citizens only to make the Indian government happy. All this while Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) seems to be asleep at the switch and the Indian government agents are freely interfering in Sikh-Canadian affairs as well as clearly meddling in Canadian politics as seen in the Globe and Mail story this week on disgraced former Progressive Conservative Ontario leader and current Brampton mayor Patrick Brown, who was pressured by the Indian Consulate in Toronto to not give the green-light for nomination to a Sikh-Canadian candidate.

By R. Paul Dhillon

With News Files

OTTAWA – Two Sikh-Canadian men have filed a constitutional challenge to Canada’s secret no-fly list after they believe they were put on their to appease the Indian government who wants to punish Sikhs living abroad for their outspoken stance against human rights abuses in India and for Sikh causes worldwide.

Another Sikh-Canadian man, whose name hasn’t made public, is also on the no-fly list. One of the men on the list had flown from Ontario to Vancouver, only to be told when he attempted to board his return flight he was on the list, requiring him to drive back across the country.

But the two identified men – Parvkar Singh “Parry” Dulai, who is involved in running the west coast part of the global Punjabi Television station, and Bhagat Singh Brar – argue in a pair of court cases that the secret roster violates their Charter of Rights guarantee of fundamental justice.

In a submission to the Federal Court of Canada, Dulai says he received a “denial of boarding” notification under the no-fly program last May 17 at the Vancouver International Airport.

He took steps to appeal the decision the following month and in August federal officials gave him an unclassified summary of information related to the case. Dulai was told the public-safety minister’s office would consider additional, classified information in the appeal, reported Canadian Press

Dulai told DESIBUZZCanada he tried to resolve the matter through local Indo-Canadian MPs, saying they have not provided any credible evidence to support his name on the no-fly list and he was hopeful that the matter could be resolved soon in his favor as the flying ban has been bad for his business and personal leisure travel.

But Dulai received a letter in late January 2019 saying his name would remain on the no-fly list, which prompted him to file his application to the Federal Court.

He is asking the court for an order striking him from the roster or, at the very least, further examination of his case.

Dulai also seeks a declaration that the no-fly provisions violate his constitutional guarantee of freedom to enter, leave and travel within Canada, as well as his charter right “to know the case against him and the right to answer that case.”

Federal lawyers have not yet filed a response, and a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale declined to comment while the matter is before the court.

Rights advocates have long found the no-fly program problematic, denouncing the listing process as opaque and the redress process as inadequate.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has criticized the system for allowing use of hearsay and secret evidence without access to a special advocate who can test that information or represent the interests of the listed person.

The court challenges from Dulai and Bhagat Singh Brar, were first reported this week by the National Post newspaper.

In his court filing, Brar says he was barred from getting on a plane at the Vancouver airport last April 24. He also went through the appeal process and a decision to keep his name on the list came in December.

Like Dulai, Brar argues the no-fly regime violates his mobility rights and fundamental justice guarantee under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

No dates have been set to hear Dulai and Brar’s cases.

Many Sikh-Canadians charge that the three Sikhs were put on the no-fly list by the Canadian government in an “attempt to appease” the Narendra Modi-led Indian government post Canadian PM’s controversial February 2018 Indian sojourn, where rogue Indian government agents made a mockery of PM Justin Trudeau by helping to get the entry of a convicted Sikh-extremist into one of Trudeau’s events in India.

These events and inclusion of “Sikh-extremism” wording in Canada’s terror report has triggered a sense of disquiet among Canadian Sikhs that Canada has “started toeing the Indian government’s line” and paying heed to India’s claims pertaining to activities of Sikh radicals in Canada even though there hasn’t been Sikh extremist violence over the past 30 years in Canada.

So why is the Canadian government under Trudeau, which has the largest number of Sikh-Canadian MPs and cabinet ministers executing anti-Sikh agenda by putting Sikhs on no-fly list and for the first time in Canada’s history adding “Sikh extremism” in the country’s Terror Report (which was removed just before Trudeau attended the Vancouver Vaisakhi celebrations two weeks ago)?

Critics say all this anti-Sikh agenda by the Canadian government is being done to appease the Indian government and that Trudeau government is playing games with the Sikh-Canadian community, trying to punish them for being generous and upstanding Canadian citizens only to make the Indian government happy.

All this while Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) seems to be asleep at the switch and the Indian government agents are freely interfering in Sikh-Canadian affairs as well as clearly meddling in Canadian politics as seen in the Globe and Mail story this week on disgraced former Progressive Conservative Ontario leader and current Brampton mayor Patrick Brown, who was pressured by the Indian Consulate in Toronto to not give the green-light for nomination to a Sikh-Canadian candidate.

Moninder Singh, president of Dashmessh Darbar gurdwara in Surrey, and an outspoken community leader, told the National Post the three activists who contacted him all received notice of their no-fly designation last year — in the wake of the prime minister’s ill-fated tour and he thinks maybe these are key people they’re focusing in on, trying to silence them, and this is one of the ways to do it.

“They are activists, all of them in the Sikh community, quite vocal, against India in many ways,” Singh said. “Maybe these are key people they’re focusing in on, trying to silence, and this is one of the ways to do it. Stop them from being able to move around, make them feel they are being cornered.”

Singh linked the apparent trend to the latest, controversial edition of an annual Public Safety Canada report on terrorist threats, which included alleged Sikh extremism for the first time. That reference sparked outrage among community leaders, prompting the government earlier this month to remove the specific mention of Sikhs or Khalistanis — those who advocate for an independent Sikh homeland in Punjab state. The report now cites those pushing for the separation of part of India.

Richard Fowler, Brar’s Vancouver-based lawyer, told the National Post he can’t comment as the case is before the courts, but claimed the evidence the government showed his client to back up its decision was “unbelievably thin,” including clippings from Indian media outlets that are often overtly pro-government.

The challenge of the legislation itself is based on the “almost impregnable” decision-making process behind the no-fly list, Fowler said. Blocked passengers are barred from seeing any information used against them if the government believes doing so would endanger national security or individual people.

Fowler suspects the recent inclusion of Sikhs is a response to the strained Canadian-Indian relationship. “It’s not a coincidence that people were added after the prime minister returned from what was widely described as a calamitous trip to India,” he said.

Trudeau’s tour was marred by a series of widely mocked photo opportunities, and the attendance at an event of Jaspal Atwal, convicted of attempting to murder a visiting Indian cabinet minister in B.C. in 1986, reported National Post.

Before the trip, Canadian officials held several meetings with their Indian counterparts to “address more effectively India’s growing concerns regarding the rise of extremism,” a parliamentary committee said in its report on the episode.

There were also charges of meddling by New Delhi. In a background briefing with Canadian media, the prime minister’s national-security advisor suggested the Indian government may have been behind the spread of the Atwal story.

The 12-year-old no-fly regime allows the federal government to bar someone from boarding an airplane because there are grounds to believe he or she would threaten the flight or travel to commit a terrorist act.

The parliamentary committee’s findings on allegations of “foreign interference,” however, were censored from the public version of its report.

Under the system, air carriers must inform Transport Canada when a would-be passenger’s name matches that of a listed person. If the match is confirmed, the public-safety minister can direct the airline to do additional screening or prevent the person from flying.

The names of listed people generally do not become public unless they take their cases to the courts. The government has repeatedly refused even to confirm the number of people on the list.