While there’s some relief that charges have been laid in the killing of Prabhjot Singh Katri, there’s also a need for more public education, according to the Maritime Sikh Society.
The group is already planning awareness programming in Truro, where he was killed.
Its president, Simardeep Hundal, estimates more than 1,000 people showed up to a vigil just days after Singh Katri’s death, all in a large showing of support to the community.
She says some young people have left Nova Scotia in response to what Truro Police Chief Dave MacNeil has called a “senseless, tragic loss of life.”
There’s a sense of fear among some of them, she says.
“Especially the students and other people on work permits, I can definitely sense that they have some sense of unease on it,” she says. “Some of the community members who have constant interaction with young people, they tell me that some of them choose to move back to Ontario or B.C. Quite a few of them.”
“I tried to put a post, I tried to reach out to see if somebody wanted to communicate but nobody came forward,” Hundal says.
University student Prem Kundhi, 17, didn’t know Singh Katri. He was initially shocked to learn of the murder, but that shock lessened — and reality set in.
But leaving isn’t the best way to address the situation, Kundhi says.
“I respect that… it is very scary, for a lot of people,” he says. “But what we’re taught, as Sikhs, what we’re taught is this isn’t how we respond to something like this… This is an education problem.”
He says in a multi-cultural society like Canada, “we all should be aware of what our neighbours believe in.”
“We’re not trying to go in-depth,” he says, “just simply how to respect each other.”
Hundal says they’re working on awareness programming in Truro regarding turbans and what they mean, but it goes beyond that, too.
“As a person, I’m more inclined about the humans,” she says. “Religion and everything else comes second. We are all humans. I think we need to start understanding that different cultures… they just make us better.”
Hundal says education should start early in the school system.
The awareness programming in Truro is expected to roll out in the new year.