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'Single issue can't define us': Researcher responds to ethnic vote scandal

If anyone understands the complexities of the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, where hundreds of boat passengers of Indian origin were denied entry to Vancouver, it's Naveen Girn.

The locally-based cultural researcher spoke to descendants of the ship's passengers for an online exhibition of the event produced in part by Simon Fraser University.

But in a blog entry on Huffington Post Canada, Girn argued the incident informs only part of his identity.

And that's why he's incensed the BC Liberals, according to their leaked multicultural outreach strategy, thought they could win his support by apologizing for it.

"I can understand that the history of the Komagata Maru is nuanced and complex, but as a citizen, I also care about issues that are not necessarily based on my ethnicity," he wrote. "Housing, homelessness, the environment and climate change are just a few of these, and I can choose more than one political issue to care about."

Girn added: "My ancestry doesn't define what I feel is most important."

In his opinion the outreach strategy treats all members of B.C.'s ethnic minorities like recently arrived immigrants, when in fact, "We're diverse, we're multi-generational, and a single issue can't define us."

Many South Asians legitimately desire an official apology for the Komagata Maru incident from Canada's federal government, Girn writes.

But assuming that the incident's resolution "would sway me to support a particular political party," he writes, "is insulting."

The results of an investigation into the outreach scandal, conducted by deputy minister John Dyble, are expected to be made public this week.

Geoff Dembicki reports for The Tyee.


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