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More Sikhs seeking public office in 2012

March 23, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Sikhs in this country are still seeking greater involvement in public politics. It is a different journey than that of our Sikh neighbors to the north in Canada, who have been able to leverage their greater proportion of the population and size of their Sikh communities to garner seats at provincial and federal levels. However, whereas in Canada, Sikh candidates can quite often contest on a platform espousing Sikh-specific issues (and political parties of all stripes court that vote), this […]

Categories: Politics • Tags: 2012 elections, Canada, Dalip Singh Saund, Jack Uppal, United States Congress, United States House of Representatives, US Congress, US House Representative

Guinness lets the air out of Fauja Singh’s balloon

October 25, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Centenarian Fauja Singh’s record-setting completion of the Toronto Waterfront Marathon won’t be record-setting, after all. Guinness World Records will not recognize Fauja Singh’s achievement because he cannot present a birth certificate – a document that was not produced in India in 1911 – to prove the year of his birth. His passport and other documented evidence is not acceptable to Guinness. His trainer, Harmandar Singh, suggests that there is a disconnect in recognizing the status of developing nations: Harmandar Singh, […]

Categories: News Bits • Tags: Canada, Centenarian, Fauja Singh, Guinness World Record, marathon, Toronto Marathon, Toronto Waterfront Marathon

Can’t find a job? Perhaps your name isn’t English enough

October 20, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Sikhs often suffer workplace discrimination as a result of maintaining their religious articles of faith – particularly the turban, uncut hair or the kirpan (sword). In many of these cases, qualified Sikhs are not hired or are asked to remove these items in order to qualify for a job even when these articles of faith do not interfere with job requirements. However, in employment, such discrimination isn’t always so obvious, and can occur long before an employer has even seen the candidate. A […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Reports/Studies • Tags: Canada, Employment Discrimination, English language, Language proficiency, microaggression, Simon Fraser University, United States

Picture of the Day: Fauja Singh, age 100, finishes Toronto Waterfront Marathon

October 17, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The 100-year-old British citizen Fauja Singh (nicknamed the “Turbaned Tornado”) completed the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in Canada this past weekend, setting a Guinness World Record as the oldest person to complete a marathon. He completed the race in eight hours, 25 minutes and 16 seconds. Watch Fauja Singh cross the finish line: You can also read the NPR story on Fauja Singh’s inspiring accomplishment.

Categories: Picture of the Day, Profiles • Tags: Canada, Centenarian, Fauja Singh, Guinness World Record, marathon, Toronto, Toronto Waterfront Marathon

“Terror” does not equal “Turban”

July 28, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

It amazes me how quickly and easily the media points to the turban when acts of terror are committed across the globe, even when the individuals who performed these acts do not themselves wear a turban. In the case of Norway’s horrendous attack, the perpetrator was a cleancut, white male. There was one person involved who does wear a turban: a young Sikh woman, who witnessed the shooting and was lucky to escape from the killer’s rampage. And yet, the conversation in the media would […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, News Bits • Tags: Canada, Cape Breton Post, Muslim, Oslo, Racial profiling, Terrorism

Could American Sikhs ever be as important as Canadian Sikhs?

May 13, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Our neighbors to the north, Canada, just went through a federal election in which a conservative government – one that had just lost a no-confidence motion that gave rise to this election – ended up strengthening their power for the next four years. It was an odd twist of events. A noteworthy character of this election was the wooing of the ethnic minority vote – and especially of the Canadian Sikh vote – by all parties across the political spectrum. The […]

Categories: News Bits, Politics • Tags: Canada, Conservative Party, Gurbax Singh Malhi, Herb Dhaliwal, Republican Party, Stephen Harper

Is religion still “socially useful” in the west?

March 24, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In an interesting follow-up to last week’s post comparing worship attendance in the United States and Canada, TIME.com reports on another study that looks at the numbers of people claiming a religious affiliation in nine western countries: Researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Arizona gathered census data in nine countries—Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland—where officials have traditionally included questions about religious affiliation in their population count. They found a […]

Categories: News Bits, Reports/Studies, Sikhism • Tags: Australia, Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, religious affiliation, Switzerland, United States

Is the United States more religious than Canada?

March 18, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

An interesting article in Canada’s National Post presents a comparison of religion above and below the 49th Parallel: Competition, innovation and entrepreneurialism, all qualities normally associated with business, may explain why the United States is more religious than Canada, and determine the future of organized religions in our country, says a leading sociologist. The article summarizes an upcoming book by Reginald Bibby called Beyond the Gods and Back, in which he presents some interesting statistics: The United States is considered one […]

Categories: Interfaith, Reports/Studies • Tags: Beyond the Gods and Back, Canada, National Post, Reginald Bibby, Religion, Secularism, Sikhism, United States

Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Tag: Canada