January 30, 2022

We, the undersigned Canadian residents draw the attention of the House to the following: 

As members of the world’s largest non-state nation, the Kurds, we take pride in calling Canada home particularly for its inclusiveness and respect for linguistic and ethno-cultural diversity. We strongly believe that with Honorable Justin Trudeau's  statement on the occasion of Nowruz/Nawroz marked by March 21st, the intension is to cherish and strengthen the exceptional Canadian value of multiculturalism. We are grateful for that.

However, by calling the occasion a “Persian new year” millions of Afghans, Kurds, Azerbaijanis, and others, who have celebrated Nowruz for centuries without thinking of themselves as Persian, are unintentionally but effectively excluded. According to the United Nations, Nowruz is celebrated by 300 million people around the world. This includes over 45 million Kurds who believe that Nowruz has played a major role in constructing their national identity and has come to symbolize what it means to be a Kurd. Proclaiming Nowruz as a Persian New Year questions the identity and integrity of millions of non-Iranian (e.g., Afghanis) non-Persian (e.g., Kurds), ethnic (e.g., Azerbaijani Turks), or religious groups (e.g., Yazidis/Ezidis) who are celebrating this festival as their own. We regret to say that our Honorable Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau's statement has not brought inclusion, respect, and harmony to the nation; on the contrary, it has produced a hegemonic and oppressive mentality from Iran and has created tension between the Iranian/Persian and non-Persian communities such as Kurdish communities at the workplace and school. 

Each year before Nowruz, our families and children are looking forward to seeing how our Prime Minister and representatives mark the occasion. They wish to interpret your statements as an acknowledgment of their Kurdish-Canadian identity; Instead, they feel let down for being ignored and often feel compelled to find ways to explain themselves and their culture to their classmates and colleagues. The feeling of disappointment is genuine as our government representatives are partly responsible for fostering such exclusion towards members of our community.

Persian is an ethnic group with a distinct history, language, and cultural traditions. Yet, Nowruz is celebrated by over twenty other ethnic groups and nationalities across the world. These ethnic communities and nationalities do not consider themselves Persian just as millions of Canadians do not self-identify as Anglophone, or millions of Christians do not consider themselves Catholic.

We are kindly calling on our Honorable Prime Minister and respected representatives to reflect on their previous statements and simply refer to this occasion as an international celebration to ensure that all communities in Canada who are celebrating Nowruz this year find harmony, peace, respect, and joy on this important occasion.

Most respectfully,