Reacting to the Journal de Montréal headline, Vijay Thomas, President, Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC), said in a statement issued in Toronto that “the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce supports all the measures the Canadian federal and provincial governments are taking to control the resurgence of Covid-19 within the Canadian borders, including imposing temporary travel restrictions for people coming from India.

The Covid-19 situation in India is a serious cause of concern for the 2-million strong Indo-Canadian community across Canada, most of whom have strong family ties in India.

The Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce condemns the racist interpretation that the Journal de Montréal has given to a medical emergency that has engulfed not just India but large parts of the world.

At a time when people and governments globally are working unitedly to swiftly bring under control the virulent resurgence of the virus, it is up to all of us as global citizens to band together and look at this crisis from a secular and global lens.