SURREY, B.C. – Thousands of Sikh voters are expected to turn out today in the Metro Vancouver municipality of Surrey, to vote in an unofficial referendum at the centre of Canada’s ongoing tensions with India.
Organizers say the referendum on Khalistan — an independent state in India proposed by some Sikhs — is taking place at the same Surrey gurdwara where activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead in June.
Today’s vote is the second round of the referendum in British Columbia, after organizers said the first ballot on Sept. 10 was so popular that voting couldn’t be completed in one day.
