The resolution, introduced by Kshama Sawant, was approved by the Seattle City Council by a vote of six to one.
Washington:
After Seattle in the United States, the race battle has now reached Toronto in Canada, where two sides—one supporting a ban on caste-based discrimination and the other opposing any such move—a school district I have started fighting it.
Last month, Seattle became the first US city to end caste discrimination after its local council passed a resolution floated by an Indian-American politician and economist to add caste to its non-discrimination policy.
The resolution, introduced by Kshama Sawant, an upper-caste Hindu, was approved by the Seattle City Council by a vote of six to one. The results of the vote could have far-reaching effects on the issue of racial discrimination in America.
Proponents of racial discrimination were successful in bringing the proposal to the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) for consideration. The board, at its meeting on March 8, referred it to the Ontario Human Rights Commission as a neutral observer to study and assess the issue. In doing so, the Board noted that it did not have sufficient expertise on the issue.
The TDSB’s move comes after a February 21 vote by the Seattle City Council, which passed an ordinance banning race-based discrimination in the city. This made Seattle the first city outside India to do so.
“A ‘yes’ vote on this proposal is in the best interests of all public school students in Toronto. Students can experience racial discrimination in many forms in the educational environment, including racial vilification, discrimination in social and online. Seattle City councilor Sawant said in a letter to TDSB members, “setting and exclusion from dominant-caste places.”
On the other hand, the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA), which has been waging a campaign against it, said that segregating a community on these otherwise comprehensive markers resulted in significant opposition from South Asian immigrants to Canada.
CoHNA Canada helped the community send over 21,000 emails and make several phone calls to the Trustees to make their voices heard. Large stand-in protests erupted during the vote at the TDSB office in North York, with community residents braving cold weather for hours to make sure they were heard, a media release said.
The CoHNA said the caste discrimination activists’ demand for South Asians to be assigned a “collective crime” based solely on unreliable personal anecdotes, if applied to almost any other group, was seen as bigotry, xenophobic and outright racist. Will be considered.
CoHNA President Nikunj Trivedi said, “This is again simply colonialism where law makers who are supposed to be fair-minded casually make Hinduphobic comments and echo outrageous propaganda by hate groups.” “There should be no tolerance for attempts to profile a vulnerable minority group,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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