Justin Trudeau attends Toronto’s Vaisakhi celebrations

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returned to Toronto’s Vaisakhi nagar kirtan on Sunday after a gap of seven years.

He also addressed the gathered crowd at Nathan Phillips Square in downtown Toronto for just over four minutes, flanked by Cabinet colleagues, including Harjit Sajjan and Omar Alghabra as well as Liberal Party MPs from the Greater Toronto Area or GTA.

“I remember attending the Toronto Khalsa Day parade a few years ago and I’ve been across the country many times since. I always have fond memories of visiting Vaisakhi celebrations here in Toronto, in Ontario and across the country,” he said.

Trudeau had last been present at the Toronto Khalsa Day event in 2017, which irked the Indian Government as it had featured Khalistani flags, posters of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and celebrated the carrying of a motion on the Ontario Assembly in April that year terming the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as “genocide.” Trudeau was the first PM to attend the event since Paul Martin in 2005.

Some Khalistan flags were visible in front of the rostrum from which Trudeau spoke. However, the organisers of parade, the Ontario Sikhs and Gurdwara Council or OSGC largely prevented the occasion from being hijacked by separatist elements this year.

“Sikh values are also profoundly Canadian values,” Trudeau told the congregants. Khalsa Day marks the establishment of the Khalsa order by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699.

Trudeau was not the only prominent Federal leader at the nagar kirtan. Also making his presence felt was Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre.

Trudeau mentioned the Indian Government during his brief speech, though in the context of improving air connectivity between the two countries. He said his Government had signed a new agreement with New Delhi to add more flights last year, and had continued to raise the matter of a direct flight to Amritsar.

He later tweeted, “From Vancouver to Edmonton to Toronto, I have fond memories of attending Vaisakhi celebrations. Today, we were back in Toronto for this year’s Khalsa Day parade – celebrating with friends old and new. Happy Vaisakhi!”

The day witnessed almost incessant rain, but the nagar kirtan still attracted a crowd of over 30,000. OSGC chair Kultar Singh Gill said, “The weather was very bad but still thousands of committed people came.”

This was the first full-fledged Khalsa Day celebration in Toronto since 2019, due to COVID-19-related restrictions since then.