Earlier this month, in a historic move demonstrating commitment to democracy and human rights, the Ontario Legislature passed a motion to recognize the 1984 anti-Sikh violence as genocide.

The term genocide is politically charged and because of this it is rarely used. But, in this instance, acknowledging what happened in 1984 was genocide was truthful, sincere and healing.

In the 1980s, Canada opened its borders to Sikh refugees fleeing persecution at the hands of the Indian government. Sikh youths were being disappeared by the thousands, with the government claiming they were terrorists that had gone underground. With Canadian assistance, it was later revealed that the government had engaged in a campaign of extra-judicial killings.

The campaign to systematically exterminate Sikhs in Punjab lasted over a decade. In 1995, Jaswant Singh Khalra uncovered police cremation records proving the murders of innocent Sikh youth. He presented his findings to the Canadian Parliament in June of that year. Upon returning to India that September, he was abducted by police and tortured for a month. His body was cut into pieces and dumped into a river.

Belatedly, Indian Supreme Court Judges Justice Kuldip Singh and Justice Saghir Ahmed expressed ‘horror and shock‘ at the evidence Khalra had collected, describing the acts it proved as ‘worse than genocide‘.

Today, Amnesty International recognizes Jaswant Khalra as an International Defender of Human Rights and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights has an entire exhibit dedicated to his honour.

Jaswant Singh Khalra shed light on a horrific historical episode that many including myself grew up witnessing. During my childhood, the weekly newspaper was full of photos of the bullet-ridden bodies of Sikh men, some emasculated and dressed in saris, but all photographed with police officers hovering over them the way that hunters might loom over their prey. Women, too, were objects of extreme sexual violence, including rape by officers of the State. This was the plight of Sikhs in India, a hunted minority that comprised 2% of India’s total population.

Disappearances were unfortunately only the tip of the iceberg. Human rights violations were widespread and in November 1984, when the genocide climaxed in four days of State-facilitated, unhinged violence. While the Indian Government has often claimed that the violence was a result of Indira Gandhi’s assassination, this canard was debunked by the Nanavati Commission report headed by the former Supreme Court Justice, G.T Nanavati. In his report, Justice Nanavati concluded that “[a]ll this could not have happened [in November 1984] if it was merely a spontaneous reaction of the angry public. The systematic manner in which the Sikhs were thus killed indicate that the attacks on them were organized.“

At that time, anti-Sikh violence was facilitated by political leaders who used voter lists to identify Sikh homes and direct mobs armed with incendiary materials and bussed into the capital city of Delhi via the State-owned and operated transit system. For four days, Sikh men were burned alive. Women were subject to grotesque and inconceivable sexual violence. Children were beheaded.

Justice Nanavati confirmed that at many places the Police had taken away their [Sikhs’] arms or other articles with which they could have defended themselves against the attacks of mobs and that rumours to incite violence against Sikhs had been systemically circulated by many, including the police.

I was born in 1986 and raised in the aftermath of what has come to be known as the 1984 Sikh Genocide. I was raised among trauma-afflicted families, and carried much of my own. In university, I elected to study genocide. I completed an Honours degree in Social Justice and Peace Studies, a Master’s in Conflict Studies, and weeks from today I will be graduating with a Law Degree from the University of Windsor.

From all of my studies and reviews of the academic literature, it is clear that the Indian government committed genocide. Arguments to the contrary overwhelmingly and disproportionately come from organizations heavily linked to India’s consular services in Canada, who have exerted pressure on the Ontario Legislature with threats of economic sanction. Jagmeet Singh, Deputy Leader of Ontario’s New Democrats, has been denied a visa to India, and has openly spoken about the Consulates attempts to blackmail him. Fortunately, the divisive message propagated by these organizations are not reflective of many, including India’s very own Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who himself has referred to what happened in 1984 as genocide.

Canadian democracy is resilient, but more importantly it is compassionate. For decades, violence carried out by the Indian state has deeply traumatized Sikhs. That hurt has been intergenerational.

Nonetheless, there is a path to healing from all of this. As noted by leading trauma and reconciliation specialist Dr. Judith Herman, the path requires remembrance and truth-telling as prerequisites. That is why the Ontario Legislature’s motion is unifying and healing.

Canada’s and Ontario’s democratic institutions have demonstrated their commitment to seeking the truth. I offer my thanks to those courageous MPPs that voted to support this motion, but also some counsel. The path forward will be unifying and healing, but it will also be difficult. As Dr. Herman almost prophetically notes:

“Secrecy and silence are the perpetrator’s first line of defense. If secrecy fails, the perpetrator attacks the credibility of his victim. If he cannot silence her absolutely, he tries to make sure that no one listens. To this end, he marshals an impressive array of arguments, from the most blatant denial to the most sophisticated and elegant rationalization. After every atrocity one can expect to hear the same predictable apologies: it never happened; the victim lies; the victim exaggerates; the victim brought this upon herself; and in any case it is time to forget the past and move on.”

I see this happening now. To those who are standing up for truth and justice, all I can say is, stay on the path. Stay strong. Truth, in the end, is the only way we can heal.

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If one asked about the violent hot spots in the world, even a reasonably well informed Canadian would usually think of the Middle East and Africa. Very few would mention Burma, now officially known as Myanmar, as a serious concern despite there being a large scale ethnic cleansing underway with implicit acquiescence, if not explicit sanction of the government; and that is because the apparent genocide underway there is not receiving the attention it deserves.

After several decades of brutal military dictatorship, there were democratic elections in 2015. Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won the vast majority of seats in parliament. But the 1.3 million Muslim minority Rohingyas in a country of 50 million Buddhists could be forgiven for believing that Myanmar’s murderous military junta was still in charge, because there has been no let up in the violent persecution of the Rohingya. They were mercilessly butchered during the military rule. Under Suu Kyi’s rule, with government usually looking the other way, the Rohingya continue to be massacred by the majority Buddhists, often led by Buddhist Monks.

A Rohingya community are seen outside their makeshift refugees camp in Kutupalong , Bangladesh on Feb. 15, 2017. (Photo: Samsul Said/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The world famous former political prisoner, a Nobel Laureate and the democratically elected leader of Myanmar, Suu Kyi has been conspicuously silent on the systematic killings of the Rohingya. Once a beloved icon of millions from all over the world for steadfastly resisting the brutal military dictatorship that ruled her country for many years, she is now being criticized by the likes of Dalai Lama for her uncharacteristic silence about the beleaguered minority.

The persecution of the Rohingya continues unabated; and Suu Kyi has spoken only to make excuses for her grim silence on the terrible civil war underway in her country where the Rohingya have no right to legal citizenship or recourse to any legal protections against the continuing violence. Entire Rohingya villages have been destroyed. Fleeing the violence in Myanmar, thousands of the Rohingya have taken refuge in neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and Thailand; thousands more have died fleeing, many drowning in overcrowded boats.

Suu Kyi’s defenders argue that the constitution gives the military control over ministries such as defence and home affairs. That is offered as an explanation for her evident unwillingness to control or criticise the continuing brutality of the military and the Buddhists’ against the Rohingya. But Suu Kyi is not as powerless or voiceless as she wants international observers to believe. After all she did fight for democracy in the country and she did so employing the language of equality, freedom and human rights. She is a powerful national and world figure that can, if she chooses to, raise her voice against the atrocities the Rohingya suffer in Myanmar. But in the face of extreme violence against the Rohingya minority at the hands of over 50 million Buddhists, she has turned a mute spectator to what looks more and more like genocide.

BBC’s Fergal Keane and Al Jazeeraa’s Mehdi Hasan have called what is happening to the Rohingya ethnic cleansing. In a recent interview of Suu Kyi, Kean had told her “that having covered many conflicts I thought that what I’d seen in Rakhine state amounted to ethnic cleansing,” but she refused to budge from her deliberate silence, refused to accept the ugly truth of genocide occurring under her watch, in the very country thta she had fought so hard to liberate from the brutal military junta.

Keane has compared the plight of the Rohingya to what he had seen elsewhere saying:

“[O]ne of the most powerful memories I have of ethnic intolerance — and this is after reporting on Rwanda and atrocities in the Balkans — is seeing the plight of the Rohingya penned into a ghetto in Sitwwe, the Capital of Rakhine, and listening to the toxic rhetoric of Buddhist monks near a burned out Muslim village.”

Suu Kyi’s response to Rohingyas’ tragic situation has been totally disappointing. After a long and glorious struggle for freedom and democracy for the Myanmar people, she has turned into an apologist for the ethnic cleansing of an entire minority. Even more disappointing has been the reaction, rather the non reaction, of the Western leaders who had once hailed her as an apostle of freedom, democracy and human rights. While one doesn’t expect much from the gong show that is Trump Presidency, one would have expected more than mere silence from Canada’s Trudeau, Germany’s Merkel, Britain’s May and France’s Hollande.

Justin Trudeau had promised to be different and more engaged than his predecessor on the world stage. In many respects he has lived up to that promise. It was disappointing though to hear his hasty endorsement of Donald Trump’s dictum of regime change in Syria despite the horrible consequences of the same in Iraq and Libya for which the two countries and the west continue to pay a heavy price. On the other hand it has been disheartening to witness his complete and utter silence on the violently persecuted, threatened and frightened Rohingya.

Canada’s recent honouring of the Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai with Canadian citizenship reminded us that she joined five previous honourees including Aung San Suu Kyi and the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama has already told Suu Kyi of her “moral duty…to speak more openly” on the plight of the Rohingya and “to work to reduce the tension” between them and the Buddhist majority in Myanmar.

As prime minister of Canada and as a Canadian citizen, Trudeau should follow the honourary Canadian Dalai Lama’s example and ask the honorary Canadian Aung San Suu Kyi to stand up and be counted for the besieged Rohingya of her own country; that would send a strong message that Canada takes its honorary citizenships very seriously; and that it expects, as it must, even our honorary citizens to stand strong for peace and diversity, no matter what the consequences.

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Women are much more likely to experience pelvic pain due to conditions such as endometriosis, ovarian cysts, pregnancy, post-pregnancy, miscarriages, UTI’s and menstrual cramps. But men can also suffer from painful inflammation of the prostate called, Chronic Prostatitis that affects the pelvic area and lower back. To treat pelvic pain, many resort to using over-the-counter medications containing ibuprofen, acetaminophen or aspirin, all of which can cause liver damage, kidney damage, intestinal damage, ulcers and result in fatal overdosing if used frequently. We won’t even get into the harmful and addictive properties of opioid treatment for pain relief. But if you find yourself suffering from any form of pelvic pain, cannabis could be the miracle treatment you’ve been searching for.

The endocannabinoid system

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The endocannabinoid system is an important internal regulation system within the human body that promotes optimal health and repair.

When cannabis is ingested, it mimics the properties of these endocannabinoids to assist in healing, pain relief, and inflammation reduction. Cannabinoids, THC, and CBD are highly effective for pain management.

Cannabis better than NSAIDS for Pelvic Pain

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Studies have shown that cannabis is not only safer than NSAIDS, but can be much more effective. Doctor of Pharmacology, Phillip Leveque says

Inhaling marijuana fumes from a vaporizer gives relief in about five minutes. Not only that but marijuana is a much safer drug, with minor side effects, and no deaths ever in about 5000 years of use.

A 2014 study performed by researchers from the Canadian Urological Association Journal reported that cannabis use benefited participants who suffered from chronic prostatitis or chronic pelvic pain syndrome.

Over half of the participants reported cannabis use, and approximately 61% of cannabis users reported improvement in symptoms as a result of use.

Of the cannabis users whose symptoms were improved, 57% of clinic participants and 63% of online participants reported that cannabis was ‘somewhat/very effective.’ A number of studies have also revealed that medical marijuana reduces the neuropathic pain associated with pelvic discomfort.

Additionally, cannabis is considered a pharmacological treatment for endometriosis and feminine cramping. Due to lack of research and medical literature on the effects that marijuana has on period pain, women have had to self-medicate with weed and have overwhelmingly been satisfied with its pain-relieving effects.

Just take a look at the industry’s growing feminine product market.

Weed to the Rescue

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While smoking or vaping is the most common way to ingest cannabis, high-CBD topical applications like transdermal patches, ointments or oils might be the best way to treat localized pelvic pain.

Both CBD and THC have analgesic properties that relieve pain as well as anti-spasmodic properties to relax pelvic muscles.

Dr. Leveque continues,

Marijuana as an analgesic, has no peer. It can be used successfully and safely for the mildest pain as well as the most severe and debilitating pain. It is classified as a euphoric drug, making patients feel better. It is better and safer than any other drug.

Tiffany King

I’m a passionate writer and copy editor living in Las Vegas, NV. My love for cannabis developed a bit later than most but it’s never too late to put my writing talents to good use as a cannabis advocate. I also enjoy topics such as, health, fitness, spirituality and self-empowerment.

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