13.2°C Not observed 
3
OTTAWA - A Canadian Sikh group is calling on the federal government to block an Indian cabinet minister from making a speech in Toronto this month.
The World Sikh Organization of Canada says it's concerned that Indian Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath has been invited to speak by the Canada-Indian Business Council.
The group says many witnesses accused Nath of leading anti-Sikh riots in India in 1984 when 3,000 Sikhs were killed.
A commission in India indicted Nath, but after looking at the case could not determine whether he was involved in the violence.
No one was ever prosecuted in connection with the riots.
The World Sikh Organization says many survivors of the violence in India now live in Canada and it's difficult for them to accept that Nath will be allowed to speak here.
The group is also calling on event organizers to reconsider allowing him to speak.
The riots were sparked by the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in October 1984 by two of her Sikh bodyguards.
Nath met Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty in December 2009, when the premier visited India.
