Canada’s first Sikh defence minister Harjit Sajjan had to face some harsh remarks from an opposition member in the Canadian Parliament.
Here’s what happened
Harjit Sajjan was responding to the parliament about the military mission against the Islamic State.
While he was talking, veteran Member of Parliament Jason Kenney, a defence minister himself, said MPs needed an ‘English to English’ translation of Sajjan’s responses.
This sparked a controversy in the question period.
Sajjan’s fellow Liberals were quick to pounce on Kenney, describing his heckling on Monday as racist, the Huffington Post Canada reported. After question period, Liberal Kevin Lamoureux rose on a point of order asking Kenney to apologise for an “inappropriate comment” directed at the defense minister.
45-year-old Sajjan was named Canada’s defence minister in November 2015.
He is a combat veteran and has served in Bosnia and has had three deployments to Kandahar, Afghanistan.
He was born in India but moved to Canada with his family when he was five-years-old.
Indian-origin Liberal MP Ruby Sahota did not mince words, calling Kenney’s refusal to apologise “unacceptable.”
