Last week turned out to be a very bad one for Surrey MP Randeep Sarai.
During Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s weeklong visit to India, it surfaced that a man convicted of attempting to murder an Indian cabinet minister on Vancouver Island was among invited guests to a state dinner at the Canadian High Commission in Delhi.
Jaspal Atwal and three other men were convicted of attempting to murder Malkiat Singh Sidhu, a cabinet minister in the Punjab state government, in 1986. That was a time of great tension in the Sikh community in India and Canada, following a series of events: the invasion of the Golden Temple, the assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi and the bombing of Air India flight 182.
Atwal was invited to attend a number of events connected with the Trudeau tour. At one of them, a Bollywood reception Tuesday night, he was photographed with the prime minister’s wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, and with Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi. His invitation to Thursday’s dinner was rescinded after the prime minister’s office became aware of it on Wednesday.
It turns out Atwal was invited by Sarai, who said in a statement: “I alone facilitated the request (to attend). I should have exercised better judgment.”
Trudeau, pressed to explain the invitations, said: “The individual in question never should have received an invitation… Obviously, we take this situation extremely seriously.”
At the time of the 1986 attack, Atwal was a member of the International Sikh Youth Federation, which has since been banned as a terrorist organization in Canada. The ISYF was among a number of organizations calling for Punjab state to become a separate country known as Khalistan.
While support for independence has greatly declined, some Indian politicians believe there continues to be significant support for the Khalistan movement in Canada.
Atwal was also charged, but never convicted, of an attack with a metal bar on Ujjal Dosanjh, a prominent opponent of the Sikh separatism movement, in 1985.
Dosanjh went on to become an NDP premier in B.C. and a Liberal cabinet minister in Ottawa.
More recently, Atwal was ordered to pay $28,000 to ICBC, relating to a stolen car ring involving his son.
In 2012, Atwal was at the centre of another invitation scandal, as a special guest to the tabling of the provincial budget. Then-premier Christy Clark said she did not know him.
Sarai is a first-term MP, having defeated NDP incumbent Jasbir Sandhu in the renamed Surrey Centre riding. He is a lawyer and real-estate developer, and is one of 14 MPs who accompanied Trudeau’s family on the trip.
One of the main purposes of this trip was to strengthen Trudeau’s credentials with Canada’s South Asian community, many of whom are Sikhs, and an important reason why all five of Surrey’s federal seats are now held by Liberals.
Depending on how this controversy develops, Sarai may find he is a one-term MP, either losing his seat in next year’s election or being deprived of the Liberal nomination.
If ever asked to invite community members to future events, he will need to check their backgrounds more carefully.
Frank Bucholtz writes Wednesdays for Peace Arch News.
