Canada’s Alberta Temple vandalised with Hinduphobic graffiti

Toronto: A temple in the capital of the province of Canada’s Alberta was vandalised with Hinduphobic graffiti on Monday.

The graffiti was found spraypainted on the exterior siding of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Edmonton on Monday morning. The temple management thereafter informed the Edmonton Police Service about the desecration. The graffiti targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indo-Canadian MP Chandra Arya, with the words “Hindu terrorist.”

Rakesh Patel, a devotee, said the front portion of the temple, which was inaugurated in 2022, was vandalised in the early hours of Monday. Patel, also the president of the Garvi Gujarat Association of Canada, said they were calling upon the city leadership, including MPs to condemn the targeting of the temple. “The community wants them to oppose such vandalisation and to ensure this does not recur,” he said.

This is the fourth time since September 2022 that a BAPS temple has been targeted. In earlier instance, the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Toronto was spraypainted with pro-Khalistan graffiti in September 2022. In April last year, the BAPS temple in the town of Windsor in Ontario was similarly targeted, with the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha temple in the Metro Vancouver region following in August 2023.

In all, nearly 20 temples have been targeted in this manner since the summer of 2022. Canadian law enforcement has yet to identify those behind these incidents of desecration.

India’s Consulate in Vancouver condemned the desecration. In a post on X, it said, “We have requested the Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action against the perpetrators.”

MP Arya, who the vandals named, has been among the most vocal critics of Khalistani separatism. An MP from the ruling Liberal Party, just last week, he had posted that Canadian politicians should “Call out Khalistanis who target Hindu-Canadians.”

Reacting to the desecration, he said, “As I have always been saying, Khalistani extremists seem to get away with ease with their public rhetoric of hate and violence. Again, let me put on record. Hindu-Canadians are legitimately concerned. Like a broken record, I again call on Canadian law enforcement agencies to take this issue seriously before these rhetorics get translated into physical action against Hindu-Canadians.”

This was the first such episode in Alberta. In a statement, Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said he was “saddened to hear” about the temple “being defaced by graffiti.”

“Everyone, especially people at places of worship, should be free to celebrate their cultures and faith without hate. I will be reaching out to the leadership of the Mandir to express my support and share my commitment to building an Edmonton for all, free from fear and hate,” he added.

Federal Employment Minister Randy Boissonault, also MP for Edmonton Centre, stated, “Hate has no part in Canada - much less in places of worship & prayer. This incident is wrong & goes against the values of our city.”

Others to slam the vandals included Tim Uppal, Conservative MP from Edmonton Mill Woods and Terry Duguid, Parliamentary Secretary to Trudeau. As has become the norm with such incidents in the past, the desecration was promoted with a video posted on social media.

In a statement, the Canadian Hindu Chamber of Commerce or CHCC said it was “deeply saddened” to learn of the desecration. “The act of vandalism is not only an attack on a physical structure but also an affront to the sentiments of the Hindu community and the principles of respect and tolerance that our society holds dear,” CHCC’s president Kushagr Dutt Sharma said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has yet to issue any statement in the past two years with regard to the continuing series of events targeting Hindu temples. However, in April last year, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre said, “We have to stop Hinduphobia and nasty comments that are made about Hindus and the vandalism and other violence targeting Hindu Canadians. This is totally unacceptable.”

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