A10 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 24, 1998 A new generation adapts Sikhs vote to retain chairs A MINORITY of local Sikhs have failed in their ef- fort to persuade Icaders of Terrace’s Sikh temple to remove tables and chairs from the temple’s dining hall. Ravi Gill, speaking on be- | half of the temple’s leader- ship, said a 107-signature petition representing about 40 families — less than one- third of local Sikhs ~—- called for the removal of the furniture, Those people, who want to obey an edict from bigh priest Ranjit Singh in India and relum to the Sikh prac- tice of sitting on the floor while cating, argued the matter is not one that can be voted on. But a vote is exactly what happened June 14 at the an- nual general meeting of the Skeena Valley Guru Nanak Brotherhood that runs the temple, Many of the traditionalists tefused to show up for the vote, but the 147 temple members who did come voted unanimously to dis- regard the edict and keep furniture in the dining hall. For good measure, they also passed a motion that nobody be allowed to remove the furniture or alter its configuration in the hall. Gill said temple leaders strongly believed they had to follow Canadian laws that gover societies and setile the matter wilh a vote, or else they would have been in violation of the law and their own constitution. The local temple will con- tinue to keep a strip of car- pet along one wall to ensure a choice — those who don’t want to sit at tables can sit on the floor. **We do not want to create any walls or alienate any- one,’’ temple vice-president Jit Singh Bal said. ‘‘We want to put this behind us and keep everyone togeth- er.’’ Sikhism was founded on a principle of equality for all — in contrast to the Hindu caste system -- so original- ly all people in the temple would sit on the floor, rather than some having special thrones or preferred seating, Thinking evolved over the years and when temples started to form in B.C. a century ago, most groups decided that enough chairs and tables were now avail- able for all, so if everyone had a seat the principle of equality would still be served. Inspector Doug Whoeler Wheler takes Over THE RCMP didn’t have to go far to find a replacement for Terrace detachment commander Inspector Steve Leach who is being promoted to superintendent in Prince George. Staff Sergeant Doug Wheler, who has been the second in command at the detachment since the fall of 1996, takes over when Leach moves on in July. His promotion to inspector was effective last month. Wheler has been & mem- ber of the force for more than 20 years. Among his previous assignments was & decade with the RCMP’s drug section in Vancouver and f1 years with the force’s criminal extremism and terrorism section in Ot lawa. BC. Sikh temples answer to their members, not to authorities from India. Because the practice of sitting on tables and chairs has had a lengthy history in B.C, Sikh temples, many moderate Sikhs be- lieve the edict from India is , primarily a political attempt to impose control on temples outside of India. Gill said disputes over the and , use of tables and chairs don’t make sense when Sik- hism has adapted readily to technological change on other fronts. He noled the religion's holy book — the Gum Granth Sahib — was originally’ a handwritten text, but evolved to distribu- tion by printing press and now by CD-ROM and over the Enternct. " He said most Sikhs here are pragmatic and are inter- ested not in confrontation but in being productive, law-abiding members of Ca- nadian sociely. “The new generation growing up here is brought up in a way that is basically western and we have to adopt’ to the western values,” he said, Terrace’s’ temple has never had violent confronta- tions over the furniture is- suc, aS has happened at a couple of Lower Mainland temples, “We do not want to have anybody creating a prob- lem,’’ Bal added. About 140 Sikh families live in Terrace with a total Punjabi population of be- tween 400 ‘and 500, Gil said. 321 oe * A S ind will be instituting “summer hours” effective Monday, June 29th through Friday, August 28th, 1998 inclusive. Hours will be 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ABC Laundry Detergent 4 Litre or 8 Litre. 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