Amid continued extortion threats to B.C. business owners, hundreds of community members turned out to a town hall in Surrey on Saturday, saying they’re scared for their lives and pushing for changes to Canada’s laws.
The event, organized by the Canadian Trucking Association of B.C., followed a January 6 public forum in Surrey where close to 700 people showed up to address a string of shootings and extortion letters.
RCMP have said a White Rock shooting last December is linked to the ongoing extortion cases.
“I got a threat, if you’re not paying us, we’re going to burn your Range Rover,” Parminder Sanghera told the town hall.
It was an eerily familiar situation for the transportation company owner, who recounted how his father received an extortion letter in India in 1989.
Sanghera said that letter came one month after his father bought a car for under 10,000 rupees.
At the time, he said a car was a big deal in his home country.
Sanghera said the extortionists demanded his father pay them the same amount he had paid for the car.
Get breaking National news
“My dad said we’re not going to pay whatever happens,” recalled Sanghera.
Instead, Sanghera said his father told him he should go abroad to Europe, the U.S. or Canada to be safe and have a better life.
Sanghera came to Canada in 1996 and worked extremely hard to build his own business, Reliance Logistics Inc.
“Today we are standing in the same position, they came after my car,” Sanghera told Global News. “Where should I go, where should I send my kids? We are not feeling safe.”
Sanghera is one of two members of the Canadian Trucking Association of B.C. who recently received extortion threats.
“If I’m getting calls tomorrow, someone else is getting calls, maybe somebody’s getting shot on their houses,” Sanghera told the public forum.
Sanghera and other Fraser Valley business owners are demanding action months after the RCMP established a task force to tackle extortion attempts.
Jas Arora of Highway King Transport Ltd. told Global News he’s been receiving threats since last summer and that during one phone call, the extortionist told him that police wouldn’t do anything, knowing an officer was in the room with him.
“Police are tied, like they’re helpless, they cannot do anything,” said Arora. “They need to change the laws.”
Although there have been arrests in some extortion cases, the community is concerned suspects are not being kept in custody before trial.
“This is unacceptable,” said Amit Kumar with the Canadian Trucking Association of B.C. “You guys have to give the police, you guys have to give the judiciary all the tools they need to put these people behind bars.”
“The laws are so soft,” added Sanghera. “They come with illegal weapons and they’re shooting at our houses and we don’t even protect ourselves with a legal weapon.”
Politicians from all three levels of government used the town hall as an opportunity to speak, and also take shots at their opponents.
Community members told the crowd they wanted solutions, not lip service.
“The lower government, upper government: work together to solve this issue,” urged Vedic Hindu Cultural Society of BC president Satish Kumar.
“Don’t blame each other.”
Sanghera said he hopes others in the community will have the courage to speak out and like his father, he will not be handing over any of his hard-earned cash to criminals.
“I’m not working for them, I’m working for my family,” Sanghera told Global News.
“I’m taking a stand for myself and I’m taking a stand for my family.”
Comments