ON National Indigenous Peoples Day on Friday, June 21, a special event was held at Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara where its president Hardeep Singh Nijjar was assassinated last year.

Nijjar was targeted by for advocating for Khalistan. On September 18, 2023, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in Parliament that credible evidence exists to substantiate the involvement of Indian government agents in Nijjar’s assassination. Four Indian nationals have been arrested in connection with the murder.

Close to his Nijjar’s first death anniversary, which fell on June 18, two prominent artists — Jarnail Singh and Jennifer Sherif — presented a multimedia artwork jointly created by them to the gurdwara officials amidst Sikh religious slogans raised by those present in the congregation. Nijjar’s son Mehtab Singh was also in attendance to receive the gift.

Singh is a well-known Sikh painter, whereas Sherif is an indigenous educator and beadwork artist.

Sherif wanted to express her gratitude to Nijjar for organizing prayers for the 215 indigenous kids whose remains were detected from the former site of the Indian Residential School in Kamloops in June 2021.

He had invited Sherif to talk about the history of cultural genocide of the Indigenous Peoples. She wanted to contribute to anything meaningful in his memory. Based on her discussions with Singh, the two decided to come up with a multimedia artwork, which include Nijjar’s water coloured portrait in an orange shirt recognizing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Sherif, who has previously made orange shirt pins, studded the painting with beads.

Those who spoke at the event included Gurdwara Secretary Gurmeet Singh Toor, the BC Sikh Gurdwara Council leader Moninder Singh, TV broadcaster Gurvinder Singh Dhaliwal, social justice activists and independent journalists Bhupinder Malih, Imtiaz Popat and Gurpreet Singh. They unanimously paid tributes to Nijjar and remembered his legacy for standing up for human rights of everyone, including the First Nations.