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Celebrate Your High Holiday With Pride:
Sikh-Canadian MP Nina Kaur Grewal
Tells Christians

RYAN MALONEY

 

 

 

For the sixth year in a row, a Conservative Member of Parliament in Canada has cautioned that the forces of political correctness need not dilute the celebration of the Christmas season by Christians.

Nina Kaur Grewal, a Sikh-Canadian who has represented the Vancouver-area riding of Fleetwood-Port Kells since 2004, rose in the Canadian House of Commons Wednesday (December 10, 2014) to say it is a "shame that many feel the need to abandon their traditions to appease the sensibilities of non-Christians."

Nina Kaur said being respectful of other beliefs needn't mean Canadians must "water down" their own out of fear of upsetting others.

"Mr. Speaker, I’m a Sikh and I’m not offended by people celebrating Christmas in a traditional way," she said. "So instead of silly political correctness, all of us should feel proud in our traditions and beliefs, and rejoice in this season of joy, peace and good will. Merry Christmas, everyone."

Nina Kaur received big applause from Conservatives and some congratulations from her colleagues. But her addressing this topic in the House has become something of a tradition in itself.

Last December, she rose in the House to say Christmas can't be celebrated without Christ in it.

"In an effort to be inclusive and to avoid causing offence, some Canadians are trying to dampen its spirit," she said. "Political correctness and commercialization dilute the true meaning and the spirit of Christmas."

In 2012, she warned political correctness was weakening the holiday in a "well-intentioned but unnecessary attempt to be inclusive."

"How can we as a society join together to celebrate Vaisakhi, the Chinese New Year, Hanukkah or Diwali but, at the same time, rob Christians of the true meaning of Christmas?" she wondered.

In 2011, Grewal provided examples of what she called a "relentless attack" on the holiday.

"Judges remove Christmas trees from the court houses, school concerts are postponed to take away the Christmas theme, the lyrics of Christmas carols are changed, the distribution of candy canes is banned," she said. "And all the references to God, Christ and the Lord are removed."

Nina Kaur painted much the same gloomy picture in 2010, suggesting forces were at work to "remove all that is Christian" from Christmas.

"Nativity scenes are banned, holiday trees replace Christmas trees and references to God, Christ and the Lord are cast aside, leaving us with just another meaningless, consumer-oriented holiday," she said.

And, back in 2009, she took issue that "the 12 days of giving" is, for some Canadians, replacing "the 12 days of Christmas."

"The spirit of the season is often bruised by unnecessary political correctness," she said at the time.

Those words were similar to ones years earlier used by her husband, Gurmant Singh Grewal, a former Reform, Canadian Alliance and Conservative MP who represented a neighbouring B.C. riding from 1997 to 2006.

In 2002, Gurmant Singh spoke in the House about the need for cultural tolerance and said Christians should celebrate Christmas proudly.

"It is a time for giving and helping those less fortunate, but the spirit of the season has been bruised by unnecessary political correctness," he said.

 

[Courtesy: Huffington Post. Edited for sikhchic.com]

December 12, 2014

 

Conversation about this article

1: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), December 12, 2014, 3:55 PM.

A minority pandering to the majority for votes. Now I've seen everything! These bozos are feeding the Christian mentality that their religion is at siege at the expense of everyone else. These two have taken pandering to a religious community to the extreme, straight out of the book of an Indian politician.

2: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), December 12, 2014, 6:58 PM.

This is unfortunately what happens when you have not so bright people elected into positions of power. They are essentially conflating two separate issues, freedom of religion by Christians and separation of church and state. If a public federal building is not allowed to put up a big statute of Jesus, this is okay! This makes sure that the state is not making a declaration of supporting one type of religious doctrine over another. This does not prevent Christians from going to church on Christmas and worshiping Christ. You do not have to be a genius to know why these two are sponsoring such an idiotic issue. As visible minorities in terms of ethnicity and religion who are bowing down to the excesses of the majority, they are presenting themselves as the dream foreign citizens to conservatives. We as Canadians should not allow the religious right to make the same inroads into the judiciary and legislative as it has in the United States. Secondly, we as individuals from a minority faith certainly shouldn't allow the majority to highjack our secular institutions which ensure us protection to practice our religions freely.

3: Parmjit Singh (Canada), December 12, 2014, 8:33 PM.

Oh, what a tangled web they squirt when they first try to convert.

4: Jasvir Kaur (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), December 13, 2014, 7:04 PM.

Please stop wasting my tax dollars. There's no reason to stand up in parliament and beseech others to feel proud of their traditions and beliefs. On a side note, when is our community going to start electing people of substance? People who are articulate, diverse, educated in the laws of Canada. At least check these basics before marking an X beside their name on the voting card. Once you elect an un-qualified person, it's an opportunity wasted and the rest of us are stuck with paying them a pension.

5: Harjinder Kandola (Surrey, British Columbia, Canada), December 14, 2014, 9:41 PM.

Nina usually takes on trivial issues, for example: 1) TV commercials utilize volume which is too loud; 2) End violence in video games. But this is one thing I agree with, let's end such political correctness!

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Sikh-Canadian MP Nina Kaur Grewal
Tells Christians"









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