Signs of the times
Wed, September 17 2008
This has become a major election issue in Surrey, where Punjabi is the second most widely spoken language after English and the majority of British Columbia’s 250,000 Indo-Canadians reside.
The three prominent Punjabi candidates who are contesting the election from Surrey have not used Gurmukhi (a Punjabi script) on their signs, an omission that culturally-sensitive voters find offensive.
Two of them are sitting MPs, Sukh Dhaliwal (Liberal) and Neena Grewal (Conservative), both seeking re-election in Newton North Delta and Fleetwood Port Kells, respectively. The third candidate, Sandeep Pandher (Conservative) is running against Dhaliwal.
A quick survey of these ridings reveals that any information in Punjabi is missing from their signs and billboards. Ironically, the name of a non-Punjabi candidate, the NDP’s Teresa Townsley, who is running against Dhaliwal and Pandher, was found written in Gurmukhi on many of her signs.
“It’s just common sense,” she told the South Asian Post. “My riding has a significant population of Indo-Canadians. Not everybody will be able to read my signs. If I were in Richmond, I would have used Mandarin on my signs.”
“The Punjabi candidates particularly should be more careful about it,” he said.
According to Sanghera, candidates in Abbotsford and New Westminster should realize that Punjabi is the second language after English in those municipalities too.
Sanghera also demanded that federal political parties and their candidates should print their flyers in Punjabi – as well as English – in order to bolster the democratic process with voters whose first language is Punjabi, and who often don’t understand written English.
“I also urge the Punjabi voters to grill their candidates on this issue and pressure them to get their language a wider recognition,” insisted Sanghera.
Sukhwant Hundal, the editor of Watan, a Punjabi online magazine, and a prominent Punjabi writer, has written a number of articles on the state of the Punjabi language.
He agreed that politicians in Punjabi-speaking ridings should do all they can to encourage political involvement from potentially marginalized voters.
“This would equally benefit the candidates, who wish to reach out to the maximum number of people,” he said.
He questioned why it is that the federal government recognizes Punjabi to the degree that it publishes key public information in the language, while federal candidates pay no attention to the issue.
But social activist and Indo Canadian Workers’ Association President Surinder Sangha was not so quick to condemn aspiring members of parliament for the oversight.
“It is not the responsibility of the politicians and the candidates alone to recognize Punjabi,” he said. “The Punjabi community should first encourage its younger generation to be proud of their culture and language, which is not happening at all.”
Nevertheless, he demanded that political parties recognize Punjabi, particularly in those ridings with a sizable number of Indo-Canadian voters.
According to the 2006 census, 368,000 people declared Punjabi as their mother tongue across Canada.
Statistics Canada conservatively estimates that Punjabi is the primary language spoken at home by some 160,000 B.C. residents. PLEA president Sanghera says that figure is closer to 200,000.
Elections Canada says federal candidates can promote themselves and their messages in any language they choose.
“The Election Act is silent about the language of the advertisements and signs,” said spokeswoman Susan Friend. “There is no reason why the election signs cannot be in languages other than English or French. There has never been any restriction on the languages of the signs in Canada.”
The language issue prompted a flood of angry reaction from callers to Punjabi radio stations this week, including Radio India.
The outcry prompted quick responses from some politicians trying to woo the so-called ethnic vote in advance of the October 14 election.
The Punjabi candidate from the Communist Party of Canada for Newton North Delta, Harjit Daudhria, got his flyers printed both in English and Punjabi.
“Canada is a multicultural country,” he said. “It is therefore important to recognize languages other than English and French as well.”
Encumbent Sukh Dahliwal admitted that his campaign “forgot” to use Punjabi on its signs.
“It may be because of our hectic schedule,” he said. “But we are now getting stickers in Punjabi ready.”
He claimed that not a single voter complained to him about the missing Punjabi signs.
“As an MP I have always stood for the cause of Punjabis in the house,” he said.
Contacted by the South Asian Post, Sandeep Pandher refused to comment on the language issue.
The Punjabi language is increasingly becoming an issue in both provincial and federal politics. Politicians of all parties and stripes continue to pick several words of greetings to please Punjabi voters come election, while others are determined to learn the language for themselves.
Liberal Party leader, Stephane Dion, who visited Surrey last Friday, greeted the crowd of his Punjabi supporters with. “Sat Sri Akal”.
Nancy Clegg, the NDP candidate for Newton North Delta in the last federal election, has started using more words in Punjabi, while at least two NDP MLAs, Sue Hammel and Bruce Ralston, are learning Punjabi at Simon Fraser University – where they have already completed Level One.
In the last provincial election, Hammel reportedly embarrassed her Punjabi teammates by using Gurmukhi in her signs. They soon copied her, however, following criticism from their political compatriots.
The B.C. government implemented Punjabi in provincial schools in 1994. The former Punjabi cabinet minister in the NDP government, Moe Sihota, who was considered instrumental in this implementation, was honoured by PLEA on the occasion of the International Mother Tongue Day in 2006. Still, Sanghera cautioned that the Punjabi language is not getting recognition in all the Metro Vancouver schools and elsewhere, for which, he argued, Punjabi voters should hold both provincial and federal politicians accountable.
By Gurpreet Singh
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