Rally against KKK flyers in Abbotsford to be held at heritage Sikh temple

    1 of 2 2 of 2

      Several groups have raised concerns about the rise of discrimination in Canada, following the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president.

      On this side of the border, racist flyers have been distributed in Montreal, HamiltonToronto, Edmonton, Vernon, and Vancouver in the wake of Trump's election.

      The National Association of Japanese Canadians denounced the increase in racist acts and speech and human-rights activist George Takei has warned that the proposed U.S. Muslim registry parallels the precursors to the Japanese American internment during the Second World War.

      Most recently, Ku Klux Klan flyers were distributed in Abbotsford on January 15 that made derogatory remarks about Martin Luther King Jr. on his birthday. Abbotsford police are conducting an investigation and are seeking information from any witnesses.

      In response to the distributed material, Radical Desi is joining up with the Pacific branch of the Coalition Against Bigotry to organize a rally against racism.

      On their Facebook event page, they condemned the flyers and the targeting of King Jr.

      "We find this extremely offensive and need to raise our voice together against growing tide of bigotry due to divisive politics of populist leaders like Trump in North America," they stated. "Since the Abbotsford Heritage Sikh temple is a space that was created by our elders to fight back against racism and occupation more than a century ago, we urge everyone to gather there to send a strong message to the hate groups which are trying to divide us once again."

      The demonstration will begin at 1 p.m. on Sunday (January 22) in the parking lot of the heritage Gur Sikh Temple (33094 South Fraser Way, Abbotsford) but organizers are asking people to gather at 12:30 p.m.

      For more information about the rally, visit the Facebook event page.

      Comments