Celebrating 20 Years of Community Service
www.theasianstar.com Vol 21 - Issue 1
Saturday, February 5, 2022
Freedom Convoy shunned by South Asian truck drivers The conspicuous absence of South Asian truck drivers in the so-called Freedom Convoy that is protesting border vaccine mandates in Ottawa, is reflective of the
truck drivers hail from, after Bollywood diva Kangana Ranaut derided Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for “hiding at a secret location” as the protesters choked the nation’s capital.
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Conservative MPs oust their leader Erin O’Toole A majority of Conservative MPs today voted to remove Erin O’Toole as party leader, paving the way for another leadership race only 18 months after the party finished the last one. The result wasn’t particularly close: 73 of the 118 MPs on hand — the party’s caucus chair, Scott Reid, did not cast a ballot —
voted to replace O’Toole with someone else. O’Toole, a four-term Ontario MP who has fought only one federal election campaign as the party’s leader, will be replaced by an interim leader later today after another caucus vote. New Brunswick MP John Williamson, who was a senior staffer in former prime minister Stephen Harper’s office, immediately put his Continued on page 7
Gujaratis in USA live the American dream that family found frozen to death wanted for themselves
community’s willingness to get vaccinated against COVID-19, say industry experts. The protest has also hit the headlines in India, where almost a quarter of Canada’s 300,000
Trudeau, who has denounced the protests, has been in quarantine since last week after testing positive for COVID-19 alongside two Continued on page 7
Canadian soccer coach Herdman highlights role of immigrants in National team growth Canadian men’s national soccer coach John Herdman has earned plenty of praise for his growth of the program. In the four years since being named head coach, Canada has gone from an afterthought on the world stage to be on the verge of qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In his post-match press conference following Canada’s 2-0 victory over the
United States on Sunday, Herdman touched on plenty of reasons behind Canada’s win: tactical changes, big saves, and the grit and intensity that his players played with. But with his final answer, Herdman reminded reporters of a lesser-discussed reason behind the team’s success on their path to the World Cup: immigration.
As a young man, Julio Punjani hitched his ambitions to a faraway country he knew little about. Like other Gujarati-speaking Indians, the most important thing he knew about the United States was the opportunities it held. Forty years later, he’s standing in a crisp black sweater in a gas station he runs just outside Minneapolis. His friend brags that Punjani doesn’t let the frigid cold prevent him from hauling and filling propane tanks himself. He’s made it in America. “[My] dream is that in life, you live healthy and happy,” Punjani said, from his gas station in Ham Lake, Minn. “I’m happy health-wise and happy with my life.” The allure of living in the U.S. still drives Gujarati people, originally from the westernmost state in India. It’s the motivation that tragically
led to the loss of the lives of an entire family on Manitoba’s southern border, more than 500 kilometres northwest of Minneapolis. There were 11 undocumented Indian migrants, fluent in Gujarati, who tried to sneak into Minnesota in bitter conditions last month; four of them — a family, with the youngest only three years old — died trying. Jagdish Baldevbhai Patel, 39, Vaishaliben Jagdishkumar Patel, 37, and their children, Vihangi Jagdishkumar Patel, 11, and Dharmik Jagdishkumar Patel, 3, died of exposure to extreme weather conditions while trying to walk across the CanadaU.S. border near Emerson, Man., on Jan. 19. The court case against Steve Shand, who was charged with human smuggling in connection with the treacherous trek, will unfold in Minnesota.