Editing Tara Singh Hayer

{{AAType
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|Type=Person
}}'''Tara Singh Hayer''', [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_British_Columbia OBC] (November 15, 1936–November 18, 1998) was a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh Sikh] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] newspaper publisher who was [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/murder murder]ed.

Hayer was born in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddi_Jagir Paddi Jagir], a small village in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab,_India Punjab, India]. He emigrated to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canada] in 1970, where he worked as a miner, teacher, truck-driver, manager of a trucking firm, and journalist before establishing a community newspaper, the ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Canadian_Times Indo-Canadian Times]'', in 1978. He is the father of Surrey MLA [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Hayer Dave Hayer].

Hayer initially supported a theocratic sectarian-based [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh Sikh] homeland called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalistan Khalistan] in the Punjab region in India but after the continuous terrorist acts by Khalistani extremists against Sikhs and non-Sikhs in Punjab and the later bombing of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India_Flight_182 Air India Flight 182] in 1985, Hayer began to speak out against violence in the Sikh separatist movement.

In August 1988, he survived an attempt on his life that left him in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wheelchair wheelchair].<ref>http://www.freemedia.at/awards/tara-singh-hayer/</ref>

In 1992, he was honored with the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canada and a Certificate of Appreciation from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Canadian_Mounted_Police Royal Canadian Mounted Police] (RCMP). Among his other awards, Mr. Hayer received the Journalist Award by the Municipality of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrey,_British_Columbia Surrey] for courageous and outstanding contribution to Punjabi Journalism in Canada, and the International Award of Distinction for Journalism from the International Association of Punjabi Authors and Artists. In 1995, he received the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_British_Columbia Order of British Columbia].<ref>http://www.orderofbc.gov.bc.ca/members/obc-1995/1995-tara-singh-hayer/</ref>

On October 15, 1995, Hayer gave an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/affidavit affidavit] to the RCMP regarding a 1985 meeting in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London London], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England England] in the offices of the Punjabi-language newspaper ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desh_Pardesh Desh Pardesh]'', where he overheard a conversation between [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarsem_Singh_Purewal Tarsem Singh Purewal], the editor of Desh Pardesh, and accused bomber [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajaib_Singh_Bagri Ajaib Singh Bagri].  According to Hayer: 

:"Bagri stayed talking to Purewal for about 1 hour during which time the subject of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India_Flight_182 Air India Flight 182] bombing came up. Purewal bestasked Bagri how he managed to do that. Bagri replied that they (the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babbar_Khalsa Babbar Khalsa]) wanted the government of India to come on their knees and give them Khalistan. Bagri then said that if everything would have gone as planned the plane would have blown up at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathrow_airport Heathrow airport] with no passengers on it. But because the flight was a half hour or three quarters of an hour late, it blew up over the ocean.  Purewal then asked how he managed to have the bomb inside the plane. Bagri said that when the device was ready, Surjan Singh Gill was supposed to take it to the airport but when it was ready and it was shown to him, he got scared and resigned from the Babbar Khalsa. Bagri then suggested to Talwinder Singh Parmar that they should kill Surjan Singh Gill but Parmar said no because that would bring suspicion on them and so they just warned Gill not to say anything.  Bagri then said that he got someone else to take the bomb inside a suitcase to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_International_Airport Vancouver airport] and put it on the plane."<ref></ref>

On January 24 of the following year, Purewal was killed near the offices of ''Desh Pardesh'', leaving Hayer as the only other witness.

On November 18, 1998, Hayer was shot to death, execution-style, while getting out of his car in the garage of his home in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrey,_British_Columbia Surrey]. His statement is now [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/rules_of_evidence inadmissible as evidence] in court and was later cited as a reason why the suspects in the bombing were eventually acquitted in 2005.

In 1999, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Journalists_for_Free_Expression Canadian Journalists for Free Expression] renamed its Press Freedom Award the "Tara Singh Hayer Press Freedom Award" in Hayer's honour. Each year, the award is given to a Canadian [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/journalist journalist] who, through his or her work, has made an important contribution to reinforcing and promoting the principle of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/freedom_of_the_press freedom of the press] in Canada or elsewhere.  In 2000 journalist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Donaldson_(journalist) Gordon Donaldson] added Hayer to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_News_Hall_of_Fame Canadian News Hall of Fame].  He was the first Canadian of non-English, non-French origin to be added to the Hall.<ref>"Inducted into hall of fame," ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Post National Post]'', January 6, 2001, pg. B.6.</ref>

In 2000, Hayer was also selected as one of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Press_Institute International Press Institute]'s 50 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Press_Freedom_Heroes World Press Freedom Heroes] of the past 50 years.<ref></ref>

In ''Loss of Faith'', a book written by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Sun Vancouver Sun] reporter [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Bolan Kim Bolan], Bolan suggests that Hayer's murder was preventable. Bolan argues that the RCMP ignored or bungled numerous clues that suggested the 1988 attempt on his life was part of a larger conspiracy. Bolan also argues that the RCMP's attempts to penetrate into radical Sikh organizations brought the police "up against powerful people with connections to the highest political levels in Canada." The National Post noted that in December 1998, just a month after Hayer’s funeral, Canadian Prime Minister [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Chrétien Jean Chrétien] appeared at a fundraising dinner attended by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripudaman_Singh_Malik Ripudaman Singh Malik] and various other Flight 182 suspects.<ref>[http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/11/17/a-true-sikh-martyr-jonathan-kay-on-the-10th-anniversary-of-the-assassination-of-tara-singh-hayer.aspx A true Sikh martyr: Jonathan Kay on the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Tara Singh Hayer] by Jonathan Kay, National Post, November 17, 2008.</ref>

{{From wp|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara Singh Hayer}}