Canadian city declares September 5 as ‘Gauri Lankesh Day’

The Canadian city of Burnaby has declared September 5 as ‘Gauri Lankesh Day’ to commemorate the day the activist-journalist was assassinated four years ago.

This was approved by the Burnaby City Council on August 30 where the ‘Gauri Lankesh Day’ proclamation was listed on its agenda, the civic body’s corporate communications manager Chris Bryan told DH over email.

The ‘Gauri Lankesh Day’ proclamation is signed by Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley.

The proclamation hails Gauri as “a courageous Indian journalist who stood up for truth and justice” and that she encouraged her readers to “reject religious fanaticism and caste-based discrimination and bigotry”.

Gauri was shot dead at point-blank range by three assailants outside her Rajarajeshwari Nagar home on September 5, 2017. Many motives were suggested, but eventually the investigation pointed to the involvement of radical Hindu groups.

In April 2020, the city of Burnaby proclaimed April 14 as ‘Dr BR Ambedkar Day of Equality’. Also, the city declared a day dedicated to civil rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra.