From the House of Commons - March 24, 2000:

Mr. Bill Blaikie (Winnipeg-Transcona, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the NDP joins with all those who have condemned the massacre of 35 men of the Sikh faith by terrorists on March 21 at Chittisinghpura in the state of Kashmir.

Religious persecution and religiously motivated killings are to be abhorred wherever they occur. The world is an increasingly dangerous place for people of many faiths, depending on where they happen to be born or where they live. The Baha'is in Iran and the Christians in Sudan come quickly to mind, but Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and all other faiths each find themselves persecuted in various contexts. What I find most distressing is state sanctioned official persecution.

The NDP believes, as I am sure most Canadians do, that the 21st century is a time when religious discrimination and hatred should be put behind us forever.