Raptors super fan tries to better Toronto
He’s not a basketball player, but if you’ve ever watched a Raptors game you have probably seen him.
Nav Bhatia has never missed a Raptors game. Through his dedication to basketball, he has earned himself the title of the Toronto Raptors Superfan. Yet, Bhatia uses watching basketball as an opportunity for something much more than entertainment.
As a Sikh man, Bhatia has experienced racism on a number of occasions. Earlier this year CBC did a feature report on the Superfan. In the feature, he said that someone once assumed he was a taxi driver because of his turban and beard.
The Superfan is actually the owner of two of the largest Hyundai dealerships in the Canada, including a location in our Rexdale community. Bhatia pushes past the stereotypes he faces, and uses his money to buy NBA tickets to change the mainstream perception of Sikhs.
When Bhatia gets his usual ticket to the game he also orders thousands of extra tickets to share with other Sikhs and children in the Rexdale community. “We try to bring as many kids to the games, to try to touch as many kids as we can in our neighbourhood,” he said.
His efforts to get more Sikhs involved in the games have led to a noticeable change in NBA events. He said, “[Sikhs] are being accepted and get good treatment there just like anybody else. Actually, people go beyond that in order to look after us.”
Bhatia’s efforts as the NBA’s official South Asian Ambassador has even brought more culture focused events to the stadium.
One of these events, the Baisakhi Day games, is a long running basketball event that celebrates the Sikh New Year. During the celebration, there is a special show featuring duets between pop stars and Punjabi singers with Bollywood inspired dance choreography.
Bhatia said the cultural events are one of his best achievements in his quest to get Sikhs more involved in the community.
The Superfan’s newest efforts extend beyond Sikhs in Toronto and are currently trying to bring many other ethnicities their own cultural night to the NBA. Bhatia said he has been approached by representatives of other communities Greek, Polish and Lithuanian groups who want to bring more awareness of their cultures to Torontonians.
Still, the reputation of Sikhs has a long way to go according to Sukhvir Kaur a Sikh PhD Student at the University of Toronto.
Kaur is a leader of Toronto’s Sikh Retreat, an organization that offers workshops to teach the community about Sikhism. She said that Bhatia’s efforts of improving the mainstream perception of Sikhs are definitely working but problems for the religious group are still riddled throughout Toronto.
According to Kaur, celebrations of multiculturalism in Toronto fail to provide information on more than the culture’s different attire or food. Kaur said the representation of Sikhs is very shallow, “We do not talk about, ‘Why do I have the right to wear a kurta?’ or ‘Why do I have the right to wear a hijab’ or ‘Why should you be concerned about my rights?’”
Despite the hope of being an accepting and knowledgable community, Kaur said, “We [sikhs] are just a number, in a sense, to fill up diversity rather than being fully fledged citizens of this country.”
This coming April will mark the 15th year of Bhatia’s efforts to bring awareness of Sikhism to Toronto. Bhatia said he will continue doing what inspires him the most, “I want to be known as someone who has impacted some people during this life in Canada and if I can do that I am a very happy man.”
About the Author
Daniela Napoli 's work will change the future (at least hopefully!) When she's not busy making great big goals, Daniela likes listening to awesome guitar solos & increasing her Sneak to 84.
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