17th Nov 2014, Vancouver, Canada – After a groundbreaking start, when a cross section of people walked four km from the Totem Poles to the Komagata Maru Memorial in Vancouver on 25th October, various groups have expressed an interest to be part of an annual Good Will Walk against Violence.

The Good Will Walk against Violence, participated by diverse faith groups, NGOs, politicians and children who not only took in the fresh October air along the seawall in Vancouver, also won the hearts of the participants who have urged UNITED SIKHS to make it an annual event. A list of supporters and participants at the Good Will Walk against violence may be read here

The coverage on the Good Will Walk against Violence last month by the mainstream and ethnic media may be viewed here

You may watch a video on the walk at http://youtu.be/hzMo8ErAYu4

You may view photos of the event at
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/unitedsikhs-pictures/sets/72157648712476480/

“Through the act of walking one is able to claim spaces to transmit knowledge and send a message in solidarity that violence against innocent people, including state violence with impunity will not be tolerated. Such a space was symbolized through the Good Will Walk against Violence which enabled an awakening for an inner wisdom to surface and above all emit a sense of agency with hope in resisting injustice,” said Indira Prahst, Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Langara College, Vancouver.

Violence can never be wiped away but civil society must not stop its march against violence to reduce its impact on communities. We, therefore, feel that the Good Will Walk against Violence must be held as an annual event that will bring a cross section of society together to raise a greater awareness of how peace can prevail over violence,” said Mr Charan Pal Singh Gill, founder and CEO of PICS, the Progressive Intercultural Community Services Society, which has for the last 27 years run residential homes for the elderly and vulnerable victims of violence and served immigrant communities’ youth, women and the elderly.

“As partners in the global effort to bring peace amongst all religions, HWPL supports and encourages the continuation of UNITED SIKHS’ peace walk against violence, and we look forward to working with all peaceful Sikhs in the futures,” said Joseph Suhng, Director of North America and International Affairs, Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), whose representatives attended the walk last month.

The Good Will Walk against Violence was organized by UNITED SIKHS last month in response to the surge in violence in the Middle East and unrest in the Ukraine this summer. For Sikhs, this year marked the 30th anniversary of two violent attacks on its people- firstly, the June 1984 attack on the Sikh sanctum sanctorum, Darbar Sahib, Amritsar (also known as The Golden Temple) that killed thousands of innocent people then and afterwards and, secondly, the genocide against Sikhs in Nov 1984 when thousands of Sikhs were killed in Delhi and many other cities of India.

“UNITED SIKHS’ first Good Will Walk was held in Malaysia in May this year, to show solidarity with the families of the passengers and crew of Malaysia Airlines MH370 that had disappeared mid-flight earlier in the year,” said Rishiwant Singh, UNITED SIKHS humanitarian relief coordinator, who launched the Good Will Walk series.

You may read a press release on the Good Will Walk against Violence in Malaysia at https://unitedsikhs.org/Good_Will_Walk_Malaysia/

To enable us to carry out awareness and advocacy efforts, we need your support. We hope you will donate a portion of your dasvand to UNITED SIKHS at www.unitedsikhs.org/donate

Issued by:
Mejindarpal Kaur
International Legal Director
UNITED SIKHS
contact@unitedsikhs.org