Sitting on the ground in the Shri Guru Ravidass Sikh temple, rue Durocher, north of rue Jarry, Paval waits to be served food. Volunteers offer chapati, a traditional Indian bread, and vegetarian dishes to those who are hungry. Others cook. Or wash the dishes.
Paval explains that she has just arrived and has no money.
“Have you asked for asylum?”
– Yes. Can you help me ? »
She entered the country on a tourist visa, she said, before seeking asylum at Montreal-Trudeau airport.
“How much did your visa cost you?
– $30,000. »
Paval’s case is not unique. The Press met several Indian asylum seekers, recently arrived from Punjab, a Sikh-majority state, whose government is led by a party opposed to that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is trying to win a third consecutive term at the head of the country .
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
The Shri Guru Ravidass temple, in Parc-Extension
All had obtained a tourist visa to enter Canada. And everyone had paid tens of thousands of dollars to get it. Soma and her husband said they paid $66,000 for two visas. Kuku, $37,000. Prince and his wife, pregnant with their first child, $30,000.
However, on the federal government website, it is indicated that a visitor or tourist visa costs $100. To obtain it, citizens of countries where this travel document is required, such as India, must convince an immigration officer that they will return home at the end of their stay, because of the ties they have. have: a job, property, financial assets or family.
They must also prove that they have enough money for the duration of their stay.
Four rooms filled
How do those who come with the intention of requesting asylum and who clearly do not have the profile of a tourist go about it?
Is there corruption?
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) confirmed to The Press information first revealed by Radio-Canada, according to which “IRCC has already received reports of alleged corruption or bribes from locally recruited employees in India towards Canadian visa applicants” .
“All reports were taken seriously and the majority did not require any further investigation. Reports that were investigated were either resolved or found to be unfounded,” the Ministry said.
The answers provided by IRCC therefore do not allow us to understand what is happening in India. Who did these people pay these large sums to? How did these highly paid intermediaries manage to obtain these visas?
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Rattan Jakhu has been the president of the Shri Guru Ravidass Sikh Temple for 10 years.
“Most people hire an agent, pay for a tourist visa and come,” explains Rattan Jakhu, president of the Shri Guru Ravidass temple, who has lived in Quebec for 26 years.
“Then they ask for asylum when they arrive. »
The poor cannot come. No no no. These people will stay where they are. It takes money to come. It is only people from the middle and upper classes who can come.
Rattan Jakhu, president of Shri Guru Ravidass temple
In the basement of the temple, there are four rooms, the man explains. “They are always full. New people arrive, they are allowed to stay here four, five days. We give them food, we help them. Afterwards, they leave and others arrive. »
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Several volunteers work to prepare and serve meals.
“We don’t talk about politics here”
Indians are very present in Canada. There are 1.35 million Canadians of Indian ancestry. More than a quarter of new permanent residents in 2023 were also Indian. But they are not very present in Quebec, where barely 66,000 of them live, or 4.8% of the Canadian total.
And yet, 40% of Indian asylum seekers, whose number will explode in 2023, are in Quebec, or 4,675 out of 11,295.
A large number of them are of the Sikh faith. Their decision to leave their country and seek asylum is explained by their fears that Prime Minister Modi’s Hindu nationalism threatens religious minorities, including their own.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
In the kitchen, women prepare food. Everything offered at Shri Guru Ravidass Temple is free.
Many attend Sikh temples, such as Shri Guru Ravidass, in Parc-Extension.
That day, there were a few dozen of them, sitting cross-legged on the ground at lunchtime. They hold out their hands to receive bread, a metal plate with several small compartments placed in front of them. Men on one side. Women on the other. New asylum seekers, for the most part.
Everyone is welcome, including Hindus. When entering the temple, you must remove your shoes and socks, then wash your hands.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
A man praying at Shri Guru Ravidass temple
A meal is served in a large room on the ground floor. The upstairs is reserved for prayer.
“The Sikhs are very welcoming,” explains temple president Rattan Jakhu.
We offer food 24 hours a day. When it’s closed, it’s closed. But if someone comes at midnight, knocks on the door, says: ‘I’m hungry, I need to eat something’, we’ll open the door and give them food.
Rattan Jakhu, president of Shri Guru Ravidass temple
What does he think of India’s elections, the world’s largest democratic exercise, which opened on April 19?
“I don’t like talking about elections much because everyone is welcome in the temple,” he replies. In this temple, my temple, we never talk about politics, caste, religion. We like the idea of an equal India, like Canada.
“If people talk about politics, I tell them: no, you can’t talk about that here. We do not want. »