#274 Celebrating Vaisakhi with Naheed Nenshi

We celebrate Vaisakhi with Alberta’s Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi and dig into what the day means beyond the festivities. We connect seva to leadership, community resilience, and the choice to push back against division with steady acts of service. 

• Vaisakhi as a time to reconnect with faith, family, and shared values 
• Seva as the foundation of community life and public service 
• Nagar Kirtan as a religious procession that builds neighbour-to-neighbour connection 
• A story of a bird fighting a forest fire as a guide for responding to racism and hate crimes 
• The Guru Nanak Free Kitchen and what food insecurity reveals about Calgary 
• Sikh Heritage Month in Alberta and what celebration can teach about belonging 
• Canadian unity, Alberta separatism concerns, and choosing to “put out the fire” 

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Transcript

Welcome And The Holiday’s Meaning

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Universal Radio Network. Today is Vesaki. We are all celebrating. And to talk about this further, I have the Leader of the Opposition of Alberta, Mr. Nahit Nanshi. Welcome, Mr. Nunshi. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:12

I am so great. Happy Vasaki, everyone. I hope people are excited about the holiday, about the opportunity to connect with family, but also reconnect a little bit to faith and the values that drive Sakhi, but also drive all of us here on this land.

What Vaisakhi Means To Nenshi

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Absolutely. Happy Vasaki to you as well. It's such a joyous time of the year, as you know, not just for the sick community, but I would say the community at large. It's a time of the year where we see a lot of communities come together, celebrate together, and get to know more about Vasaki. I would love to know, Mr. Nanshi, what does Vasaki mean to you personally, but also in leadership as well?

A Story About Fighting The Fire

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Well, so I'll tell you a little bit personally. I live in Northeast Calgary and in Edmonton these days, but uh in Northeast Calgary, I sometimes joke about the number of Punjabi and Sikhs that uh live in my neighborhood. I sometimes say my neighborhood is neither urban nor suburban, but actually turban. And so over the long period of time that I've had, being able to live in Northeast Calgary has been really a remarkable exposure for me to the Sikh community and to the real grounding of that value of seva. And you know, Vasaki reminds us of the ethics and the values on which the faith was based. But for me, the critical one is selfless service, is seva. And I talk about it all the time. So if you're a Calgarian, everybody knows the word seva because I always talk about it, because I think it's the foundation of who we are. But I will also tell you that I have been to many, many, many Nagarkirtans. Yes. And just the size and scale of those events getting bigger and bigger and bigger. You know, I remember the first time I went to a Nagarkirthan in the community of Martindale and Calgary near the Dashmesh Cultural Center, the non-sick neighbors, I thought they'd be so irritated because, you know, the traffic and the roads being closed and everything. But in fact, they were coming out, they put their lawn chairs on their lawn, they chat with their neighbors as they were going by, and most of them ended up at the Dashmesh Cultural Center at the end for the mail out for the celebration. Um, and as it's grown larger and larger and taken more and more space, to me, it reminds me of the fact that even though we're living in a world where there's a lot of division, there's a lot of hatred, and you know, racism is on the rise, hate crimes are on the rise. Being at this sort of event and being at Basaki reminds me of the permanence of our communities, but also the contribution of different communities in this place. So let me tell you that the best the best legislator, the best orator, I should say, in the legislature, the best speaker in the legislature, I think, is MLA Grinder Brahe, the MLA for Calgary Northeast. And it's sort of funny because he's got a bit of an accent. So when he starts speaking, there are some people who go, ah, he's got a bit of an accent, you know, what has he got to say? But he is a beautiful public speaker. One of his uh speeches on Facebook has had over 10 million views, and he just gave a better one, which I hope has a hundred million views. And if you don't mind, I will briefly paraphrase the story that he tells, which I think is very important for this Masaki. He tells the story of a forest that caught fire. And the forest was being destroyed, the animals were losing their habitats, they were trying to escape, it was very difficult. But of course, the people who the the animals who could escape were the birds. They could fly away. So the birds started to fly away and look at the devastation below them, except for one bird. That one little bird went to the lake, filled his beak with water, and came back and spit a few drops of water on the fire. And the other birds made fun of him and said, What are you doing? You're not going to put this fire out. And he said, When the history of this forest is written, I want my name to be counted as someone who tried to put out the fire, not someone who started it. And the reason I think that story is so important on this Visaki is because in these times of division and hatred and increasing racism, people are watching how we react. They want us to be angry. They want us to be a tool of the racism against us. But I think that we will be counted as the people when the history of this place is written. I hope that we'll be counted as the people who tried to put out the fire. The people who try to say we are better when we pull together, we are better together, and we're not going to allow ourselves to be torn apart as Albertans and as Canadians. And I think that's the real message that I'm trying to bring this year.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

That is beautiful. And thank you for sharing that. And that's a great reminder. Like you said, unfortunately, we are seeing an increase of hate crimes, a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of anxiety in a lot of the community right now. And I think Vasaki is a great time to sort of reconnect with the community. Understanding, like you mentioned, Seva is such a beautiful principle of Sikhism. I know you and I have spoken about this previously, of what Seva means to you as well. And I want to also share that with our audience, with our listeners as well, of what does Seva mean to you? And how do you demonstrate that and reflect that in your leadership style as well?

SPEAKER_00 5:28

It's a great question. And you know, I was just at a big Sikh gathering recently, and I said one of my favorite things about meeting sick people is even if I've never met you before, I can always start by saying thank you for your Seva, because I know there will be Seva, and that they will always tell me the story of what they do. And, you know, for so most recently, I'll tell you a funny little story and then I'll get back to me. I was, I had been away for a few days and I got to Calgary and I was running some errands. It happened to be my mother's birthday. So I was running errands for my mother's birthday party, and I saw it was a very, very cold morning in Calgary, and I saw hundreds of people in line at the Whitehorn Sea Train Station, and I did not know why they were in line. And so I, me being me, I pulled my car over parked illegally and got out to see what was going on. And this was the Gurunanak Free Kitchen. And there were volunteers from all kinds of communities, lots of Sikhs, but lots of other people there as well, handing out hampers and handing out bananas to people passing by. And they said that that day they expected to serve 4,000 families in that bitter cold, people had lined up for hours. And that story both reminds me that we have a lot of work to do in our community. If people are facing food insecurity in a place as rich as Calgary, we have a problem. But it also reminded me of the power of resilience, the power of humanity and community, and the power of SIBA. And so I don't want to make a big deal over how I think about public service. But to me, my role is not about politics. It's about SIBA. And that's why I talk about it all the time. You know, when I was mayor, one of the things that I pushed out, and I and I would love to bring it back again, was a program called Three Things for Canada, which simply encouraged every citizen every year to do at least three acts of community service. Three acts of SIBA. And these are the sorts of things that build community. But the way that we deal with the division and the hatred in our community, which is largely caused by careless and shameless politicians, is through our actions. And I hope that I live that. You know, I'm not perfect and I probably get it wrong a lot, especially in the political realm. But I hope that I live that. I hope that I live that I'm doing this not because I need the money or the fame or the wealth, but because I said those words that every Sevadar has said at one point. Somebody's got to do something about this. And when you say that, sometimes that somebody is you. And I'm thrilled that I have been humbled to be given the opportunity to hold in my hand, even just for a minute, people's hopes and dreams for their future and try and serve them in that way. And I hope that I will stay true to those principles. But this Vasaki is a great opportunity for me to remind myself of that when we get caught up in politics, the reason that we do what we do.

Sikh Heritage Month And Nagar Kirtan

SPEAKER_01 8:27

I think that's a very great point of like it's a great time, and I invite everyone who's listening to also reflect, like you mentioned, what are some selfless acts that we're doing as citizens, as community members? And this Wasaki, I think, is a great time, and generally Alberta, which is known as Sikh Heritage Month, for which also the NDP has a huge role of that recognition throughout Canada as well. So with it being Sikh Heritage Month, with it being Vasaki, is there any particular celebration over the years in Alberta that you felt very connected to?

SPEAKER_00 8:58

Yeah, what a great question. Um, and thanks for it. And I should mention, you know, we are, I'm very proud that when the NDP was in government, they did proclaim Sikh Heritage Month. And the government continues to proclaim it every day. And I'm really proud that I get to stand alongside some incredible public servants. My own MLA here in Northeast Calgary, uh Parmit Singh Bhoprai, the aforementioned Gurinder Bra in Edmonton, Jazvir, they all and our our newest MLA, uh, who anyone who listens to Punjabi media knows very well Gurtej Singh Bra. We have two G brars, by the way, Gurtej Bra and Gurindar Bra. And they tell me that there are brars elected in every legislature in Western Canada. So it's not the prairies, it's the brais, but that's their line. Um, but anyway, I don't think they're related, but if we go far back enough, we'll figure it out. But that said, I'm really proud to stand alongside these people. And, you know, when I was mayor of Calgary, I would go to those Negarkirthans, which uh those processions, and I've always found that to be a wonderful moment. Probably the most interesting one for me this year was the first, this past year, was just this past year, which is the first time I went to Negar Kirtan in Edmonton. And I didn't know what to expect. And someone just told me, you can park on the driveway of this particular house. They say it's okay. And I was like, I don't, I don't even understand. Why would I park on someone's driveway? Not realizing how big it is and how incredibly crowded it is and how wonderful all those people there. It was a hot, hot day. I was eating my mango kofi, being uh in the melee there, and just speaking with people and understanding that, you know, my sick neighbors in Calgary and their values of Seva are things that are universal. And seeing that in Edmonton and different places has been wonderful. And this year, I'm hoping to spend some time in Edmonton, in Calgary, hopefully in Lethbridge and in Red Deer uh with the community uh in order to celebrate, which I'm really looking forward to.

Values, Unity, And A Canada CTA

SPEAKER_01 10:58

I think the Niger Gouth is such a beautiful time to connect with the community. I remember the first one in Edmonton was 1999, and I remember being there, and I was, I was. I was very young, but I was there. Um, and I remember the community at that time was maybe 100, 200 people, and just seeing how it's grown over the years, but also how many individuals look forward to coming to the Nugget Gear thing, connecting with the community, connecting with leaders like yourself. I think it is such a great time of the year, and I always look forward to both Calgary and Edmonton. We look forward to having you back in Edmonton this year as well. Lastly, I know Mr. Nancy, Visaqi, as you mentioned, it's very close to your heart, it's very close to Alberta. Any last message you'd like to share with all of our listeners on this Visaqi?

SPEAKER_00 11:43

I just want to say to everyone that it's a great moment for celebration, but I'm always reminded that the Nugar Kirton is not a parade, it is a religious procession. And this is a real opportunity for us to think about the founding of the Khalsa, to think about the values on which the Khalsa was founded, and to think hard about how we live those values every day. So in between the samosa and the mango kulfi, I hope people will rededicate themselves, especially now. You know, the biggest thing I'm working on these days is the separatism file. We launched a new thing called For Alberta for Canada last week, and I encourage people to go to for AlbertaForCanada.ca and sign up. But it just reminded me that we are lucky enough to live in a place in this country, in this province. It's not perfect. It's big and it's complicated and it's bruised sometimes. But where else could we be having this conversation? A Muslim in a sick, having a conversation about Vaisaki, about about universal values in our community. Canada is a special place. And by showing what Canada can be is how we fight for Canada and how we save this country. It's the fight of our lives right now, going into that referendum. But I know it's going to be great because it'll allow us, and Vasaki is a great moment to allow us to remind ourselves of who we really are as proud Canadians and proud Sikhs, proud Muslims, proud whatever, because there's no distinction between those things, and we can build community together.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

Absolutely. And that is the core of Canada, the core of Alberta is the beauty of how we all are able to recognize and appreciate and celebrate together. I'm looking forward to Vasaki this year, seeing you at the Nagagir Then. And I'd like to wish you very happy Vasaki from all of us at the Universal Radio Network.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Thank you. Happy Vasaki to you. Thank you for your seva for bringing the news to everybody and to everyone listening. Happy Vasaki.