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CTV (Canadian Television), Canada's national news network (second to the formidable, and formidably leftist CBC), reported on the Easter festivities yesterday evening on its local news. I was interested to see what parades took place around the city. I happened to be around the Queen/Bay area late afternoon, and upon hearing a commotion past Queen Street, I asked a bystander if that was an Easter parade. Looking out, all I could see was a swarm of Sikhs walking along Queen Street to the West. I immediately said: "That's not an Easter parade. That's a bunch of Sikhs. They've done this before on Easter. They have nothing to do with Easter!" The woman looked (mildly) disgusted, and her expression agreed with my strong comments. I wished her a Happy Easter, and walked on.
Sure enough, CTV reported on the Sikh parade, calling it the city's "third largest parade" which has been going on since 1986! I'm guessing that it's third following the gay orgy parade in June and the Caribbean carnival (where there is often a shooting incident) Caribana in July.
Of course, the Sikh parade has absolutely nothing to do with Easter, or any Christian, Western, Canadian holiday, but instead "celebrates" the Sikh New Year. The parade starts at the lake shore, and continues downtown, terminating at Queens Park, which is the seat of the Provincial government. And like clockwork, Ontario's Premier, Dalton McgGuinty, appeared on the screen. He had ("respectfully") attended the celebration. It has now become a tradition for politicians to pop up at multi-culti events to canvass for votes. Harper this year was out west in British Columbia, attending "one of the oldest and biggest Sikh celebrations in North America."
The only other parade going on in the city, as reported by CTV, was way out east in the quasi-suburban Beaches, where mostly the area's (non-multi-culti) residents attend a Lion's Club sponsored Easter Parade. The Beaches Lion's Club Easter Parade travels eastward (about two kilometers) away from the city. The formidable Sikh parade, on Easter Sunday, travels more than double that distance at five and a half kilometers, and weaves through major downtown areas, with road blocks for most of the afternoon, and culminates at the building which seats the provincial government in the center of the city. These Sikhs sure know how to make a parade significant.