An Indo-Canadian woman who sent a present to Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty and later enquired whether he had received it has been charged with making death threats.
Neelam Vir, a freelance reporter says she has been misunderstood
TORONTO: An Indo-Canadian woman who sent a present to Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty and later enquired whether he had received it has been charged with making death threats to a staff member of the province head.
Neelam Vir, a freelance reporter for the Asian Daily newspaper, claims it was a case of “cultural misunderstanding” and she had no malicious intent. The charge follows an incident on September 30, when Vir sent a packet of ingredients for making gulab jamun to McGuinty to express her “love and affection,” dropping it off to staff member Monica Masciantonio, Toronto Star reported.
The same night, she e-mailed McGuinty, asking whether Masciantonio had given him the mix. “I said, ‘If she didn’t give it to you, I’ll kill her’. It’s just slang,” Vir said. She said she used the term main tumhari jaan nikal dungi (I will kill you) all the time with her husband and kids.
Police arrested Vir in November and seized her laptop, camera and other documents, and later released her on the condition that she would not contact the premier, his staff, family, and not enter the provincial assembly, known as Queen’s Park.
But 40-year-old Vir, a PhD in Botany who migrated to Canada with her family in 2002, wrote to the premier again, apologising for her mistake, which she called “a cultural misunderstanding”.
She was re-arrested for this breach of her release terms, and the court ordered her to see a psychiatrist. Her case comes up for pre-trial this week. “I never meant to harm anyone,” a tearful Vir said. “My Canadian dream is shattered. I just want to go back to India.”
The premier said the whole case was “sad” and hoped it would be resolved “sooner than later”. Vir is supposed to report back to India for a teaching job in June, but she isn’t allowed to leave the country.
Vir, a prolific mailer, has sent messages — mainly decrying the plight of foreign-trained professionals — to many leaders including Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Last year, she sent about 200 rambling e-mails to McGuinty.
“In India, you can’t even approach a politician. Here, they’re accessible and open to hearing from constituents, so that’s what I was doing,” Vir says.
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