Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Winnipeg North. I have a lot to say in two minutes, so I am going to try to get through it as quickly as possible.
First, I would like to thank the member for Surrey—Newton for introducing this bill to designate April as Sikh heritage month. I myself am a member of the Sikh community. I am also the first Sikh from Quebec to ever be elected to any of the three levels of government. What is more, I was the first Sikh to practise law in the courts of Quebec.
I would like to talk a little about the Sikh religion. Sikhs believe in a single God, who is the sole creator and who takes care of us. That sums up the Sikh philosophy. Sikh principles are in keeping with Canadian values. Sikhs must earn a living through honest work and give generously to the poor and those in need, always mindful that God is the one who gives us everything. When we share what we have been given, we are sharing it with others who were created by Him.
I am very proud of all my colleagues who talked about the Sikh community and this bill. It really warmed my heart to hear them talk about their visits to India and their own experiences in the community. It is very important for our community, whether here in Canada or elsewhere in the world, to help one another and to see one another as human beings. Kinship and solidarity are very important. I listened with great interest to everything my colleagues had to say, and I am very proud that all of the members of all of the parties in the House support this bill. I am very proud of them, and I thank them.
Members of the Sikh community abide by a code that governs the way we live and behave. For example, we must always accept the will of God. If something bad happens in life, we always say that it is God's will and everything He does is for our own good. This is how we keep the peace amongst ourselves and accept the will of God. There are a lot of bad things that happen in life, and they cannot always be explained, but it is important to understand this. Everyone has their own way of thinking or practising their religion, but Sikhs believe in respecting God's will and working hard to help one another.
Furthermore, the Sikh community has made great contributions to Canada, as we have heard in many of our colleague's speeches in the House of Commons.
For all these reasons, the Sikh community has been able to integrate well into the Canadian community. I think we can call it a success. Members have talked about the Komagata Maru and about the negative response to the Sikh community when it first arrived here. This community was subjected to a lot of violence and suffering. However, we eventually managed to integrate into the Canadian community, and now, like my hon. colleague just said, there are 17 Sikh members of Parliament here in the House of Commons.
[Member spoke in Punjabi]