Billboards promoting a Khalistan independence referendum have appeared in and around Edmonton, including one that honours Talwinder Singh Parmar as a “martyr.”
Parmar was identified by a Canadian public inquiry as the leader of the plot behind the 1985 Air India bombing, which killed 329 people aboard Flight 182 and remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Canadian history.
The billboards are promoting an unofficial vote on independence for Punjab, India, scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 18.
The timing is deliberate. The vote will be held one day before Alberta's official referendum on Monday, Oct. 19, which includes a question about whether the province should remain in Canada or begin a process toward a future vote on separation.
Some of the advertisements explicitly put the two referendums side by side, invoking the right to self-determination.
The Khalistan referendum is organized by the U.S.-based advocacy group Sikhs for Justice. It has no connection to Elections Alberta or the Alberta government, and its results have no legal effect in Canada or India.
Two votes on one sign
One billboard reads "Khalistan Referendum, 18 October" on one side, and "Alberta Referendum, 19 October" on the other. Above both is a line from a United Nations treaty: "All peoples have the right of self-determination."
A similar sign near Airdrie advertised an "Alberta Referendum on Independence of Punjab," according to the Western Standard.
The pairing is on purpose. Sikhs for Justice general counsel Gurpatwant Singh Pannun told the Edmonton Journal the date was chosen to fall the day before Alberta's vote.
"If Alberta is given a chance to vote on the question of whether Alberta should move ahead with a binding referendum or not, they are allowed. It's a democracy," he said.
The two votes are very different.
Alberta's referendum is run by Elections Alberta. It has 10 questions. Question 10 asks whether Alberta should stay in Canada, or start the legal process toward a future binding vote on separation. Its result isn't binding, and wouldn't make Alberta independent. Advance voting runs Oct. 13 to 17.
The Khalistan vote is unofficial, run by a private advocacy group. It can't create a country or change India's borders.
The Parmar billboard
A second billboard reads: "Canadians are fighting to liberate Punjab since June 1984. First, defensively with arms. Now, offensively with ballot."
It shows three men, each labelled "Shaheed," a Punjabi word for martyr. Smaller images show other men, also labelled "Shaheed," including two holding rifles.
Talwinder Singh Parmar led Babbar Khalsa, a militant group that sought an independent Khalistan through violence. Canada lists it as a terrorist organization.
On June 23, 1985, a bomb destroyed Air India Flight 182 off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people aboard, most of them Canadian. About an hour earlier, a second bomb exploded at Tokyo's Narita Airport, killing two baggage handlers.
In 2010, a public inquiry led by former Supreme Court justice John Major concluded Parmar was the leader of the plot. He was never convicted. Indian police killed him in 1992.
Supporting an independent Khalistan isn't the same as supporting violence, and many Khalistan supporters don't. The controversy is over who the billboard chooses to honour.
The other men on the sign
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a Sikh activist and an organizer of the Khalistan referendum in Canada. He was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey, B.C., in June 2023. Canada has said there are credible allegations linking agents of India's government to his killing. India denies it. India had called Nijjar a terrorist, which he denied.
Lakhbir Singh Rode led the International Sikh Youth Federation, which Canada lists as a terrorist organization. India designated him a terrorist. He died in Pakistan in 2023.
What happened in June 1984
The date on the billboard refers to Operation Blue Star. In June 1984, the Indian army stormed the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Sikhism's holiest site, to remove armed militants inside. Hundreds were killed, including civilians. The exact toll is still disputed.
In October 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards. In the violence that followed, thousands of Sikhs were killed, most of them in Delhi.
Those events remain a deep wound for Sikhs around the world, and are central to the Khalistan movement.
What the Khalistan referendum is
Khalistan is the name supporters use for an independent Sikh homeland in Punjab.
Sikhs for Justice has held unofficial votes in several countries. Canadian votes have taken place in Brampton, Ont., Surrey, B.C., and Calgary. The group says it plans to take the results to the United Nations.
India has banned Sikhs for Justice and designated Pannun a terrorist. Canada hasn't listed the group as a terrorist organization.
U.S. prosecutors have charged an Indian government employee in an alleged plot to kill Pannun, who holds Canadian and U.S. citizenship. India denies any role.
Khalistan is a divisive issue, with both supporters and opponents among Sikh Canadians.
Are the billboards allowed?
Peacefully arguing for an independent Khalistan, including holding an unofficial vote, is legal in Canada. That kind of political expression is protected.
Honouring a man linked to a terrorist attack, or showing firearms on a political ad, may draw complaints. But a billboard isn't automatically illegal because it celebrates a controversial figure. Whether a sign breaks any law depends on what it says and which rules apply.
The billboards also have to follow the City of Edmonton's rules on signs and outdoor advertising. Nobody has said publicly whether they do.
Elections Alberta has its own rules for advertising about the provincial referendum. In guidance issued July 8, it said an ad generally has to encourage people to vote a certain way on a referendum question to count as referendum advertising. Simply mentioning the referendum isn't enough. Elections Alberta hasn't said anything about these billboards.
Threats ahead of the Edmonton vote
Sikhs for Justice says the RCMP issued a "duty to warn" notice this week about a threat against one of its organizers, Avtar Singh Pannu, who's in Edmonton for the vote, the Edmonton Journal reported. The RCMP hasn't commented on that case.
In September, Pannun told Global News the RCMP had warned him of a threat to his own life. The RCMP confirmed at the time that it had issued duty-to-warn notices to members of the South Asian community, but didn't name anyone.
"We are going to go ahead without fear for the bullet, without fear for our lives," Pannun told the Journal.
Not the first fight over a poster
In September 2023, the Surrey school district cancelled a rental that would have let organizers hold a Khalistan vote at Tamanawis Secondary School. The district said promotional posters showed the school alongside images of a weapon, and that organizers didn't remove them when asked.
The district said it cancelled the rental for breaking the rental agreement, not because of the vote itself.
Sources
Referendum, Elections Alberta
Elections Alberta, referendum advertising interpretation bulletin, July 8, 2026
Air India Flight 182: A Canadian Tragedy, Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182, 2010
Currently listed entities, Public Safety Canada
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