Adam Zivo: Canada needs more bhangra dancing in hockey jerseys

A screenshot of 2017 Global News segment on two friends bhangra dancing in Canadiens jerseys.

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“There’s no event, city or country they haven’t diluted and conquered throughout Western civilization,” wrote Canadian nationalist influencer Nathan Cooke in a viral X post this week. These words, read by millions, were accompanied by a video supposedly demonstrating the rot of Western civilization, producing an odd flash in the national immigration discourse.

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What was in this video? A news clip of two Indian-Canadian men joyfully bhangra dancing in the snow while wearing Montreal Canadiens hockey jerseys. That’s literally it. I’m not exaggerating: just twenty-five seconds of two guys dancing with smiles on their faces, while a news reporter explains that they immigrated to Canada five years ago and love hockey.

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“They take advantage of broken government policies that allow them to exploit our system and ride on our coattails,” wrote Cooke in a related post: “In other words, failed governance is being used to maintain power, eroding the foundational fabric of our nation by importing these people at our expense.”

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But there was no indication from the video that these men, Prateek Saini and Harshjot Singh Nijher, had exploited the Canadian system in any way. On the contrary, their behaviour suggested a desire to constructively assimilate into their adopted home – a fact that many, if not most, respondents on X noted.

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“Actually, this is awesome. Sorry, but why are people upset about this,” posted Jonathan Kay, a Canadian journalist and editor of Quilette. His sentiment was echoed by Western Standard columnist Cory Morgan, who separately wrote: “I see this as a couple of fellows successfully integrating and celebrating local culture with a mix of their own. Doesn’t bother me a bit,”

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In a reply which received twenty thousand likes, another X user put things into perspective: “They’re wearing the Habs jersey. They’re doing their dancing for the team. They’re fans. This is what it’s all about. Community. They’re not demanding some separate Indian team. They want to be Canadiens fans. Let’s f–cking go boys.”

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Although Cooke presented the dancing clip as if it were recently recorded, it actually originally aired on Global News Montreal in 2017. Ergo, the two men arrived in Canada around 2012, during the Harper years, when immigration rates were much lower and admissions were geared towards skilled labour and well-educated applicants.

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Since the late 2010s, the men (or at least Singh Nijher) have run a choreographic group named Power Bhangra, whose still-active Instagram, when not promoting group classes, provides some insights into their values.

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In 2018 and 2019, for example, Power Bhangra gave dance performances in support of mental health awareness and the Girl Guides of Canada. In another video, they performed in front of Parliament in Ottawa with the caption: “O CANADA! Thank you for being so WARM, KIND and WELCOMING to all cultures and diversities! More POWER to you!”