TORONTO, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- A Toronto-area woman charged with e-mailing Ontario's premier threatening to kill an employee says it was a cultural misunderstanding.
Neelam Vir, 40, who immigrated to Canada from India in 2002, took a political liking to Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty, the Toronto Star reported. On Sept. 30, she left a package of powder used to make Indian candy with an employee at McGuinty's Toronto office and that night e-mailed McGuinty to ask if the employee had given him the gift.
"I said, 'If she didn't give it to you, I'll kill her.' It's just slang," Vir told the Star.
It took until Nov. 20 for police to show up at her home in Brampton, northwest of Toronto, and she was charged with conveying a death threat, the report said.
Sunder Singh of the Elspeth Heyworth Center for Women said the threat isn't regarded the same way in Indian society.
"It's just a friendly comment. It's not threatening at all and it's not meant to be taken seriously, so there's no need for the court to be involved," Singh said. "Is this a way to welcome someone to this country?"
Vir's pretrial hearing is scheduled for this week, the Star said.
