Sikhs gathered outside the Vancouver Art Gallery
VANCOUVER, BC, Canada (June 10, 2014)—On Sunday, June 8th, a Candle Light Vigil was held at the Vancouver Art Gallery to commemorate the events of June 1984, when the Indian Army stormed the Darbar Sahib Complex in Amritsar, Punjab, 30 years ago.
Sikhs from all over the Lower Mainland came to show their support. Buses were arranged from most major Gurdwara Sahibs in the Lower Mainland area to bring Sangat to the Art Gallery in downtown Vancouver. The Vigil has been happening annually since the first one held on June 10th, 1984.
The event featured a number of speakers, both from and outside of the Sikh Community. The speakers spoke in English and Punjabi, appealing to the diverse crowd at the Vigil.
This year, the event attracted more people than usual from outside of the Sikh Community. Many of the people who were just passing by, stopped to interact with volunteers who were handing out pamphlets and bringing awareness to the events of 1984.
The organizers had set up large posters around the Art Gallery that quickly summed up the events of June 1984 to allow those walking by the Art Gallery to quickly gain some knowledge about 1984.
While speaking to Sikh24, one passerby remarked that he had no idea about what had happened in India with Sikhs and was shocked that a genocide like the events of 1984 are not widely known in the public.
Events like these bring awareness to the wider community and help gather support to seek justice for those that were wronged by the Indian Regime in the 80′s and 90′s. Sikh Youth of British Columbia put in a lot of effort to organize the event.