Canada has tightened its rules on money laundering and financing of terrorists and will not allow using its territory to promote Khalistan, its public safety minister Stockwell Day has said.
The minister was responding to a media report that a Sikh leader is lobbying to delist organisations such as Babbar Khalsa, Babbar Khalsa International and the International Sikh Youth Federation as terrorist entities under the Criminal Code.
Day said he has not been approached by anyone in this regard.
"The decision to list organisations such as Babbar Khalsa, Babbar Khalsa International and the International Sikh Youth Federation as terrorist entities under the Criminal Code is intended to protect Canada and Canadians from terrorism," Day said.
In order to have stringent regulations to curb terrorism, Ottawa last week amended the money laundering and terrorism financing legislation, which was enacted after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
The government said real estate developers will now be 'required to meet client identification, record-keeping and transaction-reporting requirements'. The gambling casinos will have to report any large cash disbursements to Canada's financial intelligence unit and keep records on those transactions.
Under existing rules, financial institutions and intermediaries must report all cash transactions of $10,000 or more to authorities.
A British Sikh leader and former member of the International Sikh Youth Federation, Dabinderjit Singh, who has advocated the delisting of banned terrorist groups, has been on a tour to Canadian to drum up support for a new lobby group to advance the so-called 'Sikh Agenda'.
He met with 250 to 300 Sikhs in British Columbia and Ontario to finalise the seven-point agenda, which includes reversing the ban on two terrorist organisations and support for the creation of a separate Sikh country called Khalistan.
Singh said a lobby group has been formed to get commitments from Canadian politicians for at least some of the agenda points, particularly during an election campaign.
Most of the agenda is about issues affecting Sikhs in their countries of residence, such as increased political representation, government funding for Sikh schools and groups and in Canada, working with police to tackle the gang and drug problems, he said.
"The most controversial issue is the proscription or the banning of the two organisations," Singh said in a wide-ranging interview, Vancouver Sun reported.
The Canadian Sikh Agenda will be formally released at the end of March, Singh said. The lobby group plans to open at least two Sikh resource centres - one in BC and one in Ontario - with government funding if possible.
The agenda also includes support for the creation of a separate Sikh nation called Khalistan - the movement for which both the ISYF and the BK were formed in the 1980s.
