India Cultural Centre of Canada Gurdwara Nanak Niwas Will Celebrate The Anniversary This Sunday!
By Balwant Sanghera
This year,Canadians from coast to coast to coast are celebrating this country’s 150th anniversary with a great deal of enthusiasm. On occasions like this it is only appropriate that we remember and appreciate the visionaries who put aside their political ideologies and differences and worked to ge-ther to form the Canadian Confederation. Though hundreds of people worked hard to put to-gether the Dominion of Canada, yet two names stand out. Conservative Party leader John A. McDonald, who became newly created Dominion’s first Prime Minister and Whig (Liberal ) leader George Brown were two of the visionaries ,along with others, who brought to-gether four British colonies (provinces) to form a brand new country called Canada.
In 1789, under George Washington’s leadership, the Americans had established their own country independent from Great Britain. Thus, the British colony north of the U.S. was under constant threat from its neighbours to the South. With this objective in mind it was in the best interest of Great Britain and Canadian provinces/colonies-Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to come to-gether and form the country of Canada on July 1, 1867. Manitoba joined the Confederation in 1870. In 1871, British Columbia came on board with the promise of rail link from east to west. Canadian Pacific Railway made that possible in 1885 when British Columbia was linked with the rest of the country via railroad through the Rockies. In1873 Prince Edward Island joined the confederation
It wasn’t till 1905 that two more provinces-Alberta and Saskatchewan -became part of Canada. In 1949, the last remaining British colony –Newfoundland- joined the Confederation. So our present day Canada has three territories –Yukon, Northwest and Nunavut –in addition to the ten provinces. In 1961 Canada’s population was 18 million which has doubled to more than 36 million. Canada has come a long way during the past 150 years.
In this context, this is a very special year for Canada and Canadians as we celebrate this nation’s 150th birth anniversary. It was great to see this special event being celebrated throughout the country on July1. In places like Vancouver and Surrey, hundreds of thousands of people came out to celebrate this special day. In Richmond, the Steveston Community Association and the organizers of the annual Steveston Salmonfest Canada Day Parade did an excellent job in getting the entire community involved. More than hundred thousand enthusiastic people took part in these celebrations. In this regard, the Highway to Heaven Association (H2HA) was also pleased to participate with its Float and a large contingent of volunteers. Like other participants, we also received very positive comments from the audience lined up throughout the Parade route. On behalf of H2HA I would like to thank them all. Celebrations like this bring us all to-gether as a community and as Canadians. We are blessed to live in such a welcoming, inclusive, generous and compassionate country.
On Sunday, July 16, India Cultural Centre of Canada Gurdwara Nanak Niwas, 8600 #5 Road in Richmond will be celebrating Canada’s 150 years as a Confederation. The celebration will commence at 10 AM with kirtan. At 10:30AM participants will gather in the beautiful park just outside the main entrance of this spacious place of worship for prayer and singing of Canada’s national anthem.This will be followed by a cake cutting ceremony inside the lobby. Speeches and tributes to Canada will follow thereafter in the Diwan Hall on the second floor. The celebration will conclude with a delicious vegetarian langar on the main floor in our community kitchen .
We have invited a number of dignitaries to join us on this special occasion. The elected officials who have confirmed their attendance includeRichmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie and Councillors, Canada’s Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan, Richmond Steveston MP Joe Peschisolido, Richmond MLAs Jas Johal and Teresa Wat, Richmond RCMP Superintendent Will Ng, Surrey-NewtonMLA Harry Bains and many others.On behalf of the GurdwaraManagement Committee I would like to invite you, your staff, your readers and the community to join us in celebrating this very special occasion.
Balwant Sanghera is a retired School Psychologist and Community Activist. He is a member of the Gurdwara Nanak Niwas Management Committee.
