After India’s most recent election in June of last year, only 11 members of India’s parliament are Sikh, representing only opposition parties.
In contrast, Canada has 15 Sikh MPs, representing Canada’s three largest parties: the Conservatives, Liberals, and the New Democrats.
Together, the 15 Sikh MPs represent four ridings from four different provinces; British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and one member from Quebec.
Two of these Liberal Sikh MPs are cabinet ministers in Trudeau’s current government.
Harjit Sajjan, Canada’s minister for emergency preparedness, had a scandal in 2024 after it was revealed that he gave Canadian military personnel the order to prioritize saving Afghan Sikhs during the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal.
Kamal Khera is the minister of diversity, inclusion and persons with disabilities, a cabinet position Trudeau first introduced in 2019.
At the provincial level, there are around 32 Sikh members of legislative assemblies. British Columbia has the most Sikh representatives with 12, followed by Ontario (11), Alberta (5), Manitoba (2) and Saskatchewan (2).
The single most popular Sikh in Canadian politics is the federal NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh. The “champagne socialist” is an ardent supporter of the Khalistan movement for an independent Sikh state in the Punjab region in India, where over 16 million Sikhs live according to India’s 2011 census. That number is believed to be much higher today.
In Canada, Ontario hosts the largest Sikh community, followed by British Columbia and Alberta. Brampton, Ontario, is home to 163,260 Sikhs; Surrey, B.C. has 154,415; and at least 40,000 live in both Calgary and Edmonton.
Sikhs have contributed to Canada’s social fabric for a significant period of time. The first Sikhs arrived in Canada in 1904, however since 1991 there has been a wave of Sikh immigrants.
Nearly 70% of Sikhs today are first generation immigrants, according to 2021 data from Statistics Canada.
