ICA Vancouver with the support of the Province of B.C. successfully engaged, a well planned and a well thought of public engagement event on September 29, 2024.
The main objective of this event was to give the people an opportunity to express express their ideas, opinions and vision for the proposed museum/cultural centre dedicated to the Canadians of South Asian Heritages in BC.
When I entered the venue (Bridge and Enrich Lives Society), there was tremendous positive energy of people who care and are excited about the south Asian museum/cultural centre! There were many known faces of people who always come forward for the betterment of community and who always want to promote cultural upliftment. There were also many new faces who were keen, excited and willing to share their opinion and have a voice and let the government know what their vision for this one of a kind museum/cultural centre is.
We all were greeted with an appetizing aroma of spiced tea and snacks. After everyone settled, the event began with Ms. Neeraja Aptikar, singing a ceremonial offering of a prayer to Lord Ganesha, a traditional practice for starting any auspicious or beneficial event.
What made this event successful was the fact that it wasn’t only a discussion and brainstorming event, which would end without any recorded responses.
It was rather a very well planned and thoroughly thought through process where Mr. Neeraj Kumar of India Cultural Association (ICA) Of Vancouver gave out a questionnaire with meaningful and purposeful questions prepared by the BC Museums Association, the answers to which would lay the foundation of the vision for the museum/cultural centre for people originating from South Asia.
The questionnaire had some very important and insightful questions as what the people originating from South Asia want to showcase, want the world to see, what are the core values of our community, our contributions for the world to recognize and appreciate.
The people were divided into groups of 6 to 8 members who had a coordinator with whom there was deep and insightful discussion and exchange of ideas and opinions for the proposed making of the museum/cultural center.
After almost an hour of group discussions, the group coordinators were called upon the stage, one by one and express the groups voice through the answers to every question or through a synopsis of the ideas exchanged.
It was interesting to observe that almost all groups felt the importance of representation of not just one particular state/community, but of the entire region of South Asia as such. For decades together, the Indian community and the community from the surrounding countries has largely been misunderstood as members of the community from Punjab and nothing more. It is unfortunate to know that so many people in North America don’t even know that people from India don’t speak language called “Indian” but rather a large population from India speaks Hindi and there are more than 16 to 20 scripted languages and many more unscripted languages.
The coordinators also expressed a desire to have a library for exchange of books replete with the knowledge of ancient Indian culture, simplified versions of books from ancient times, etc. Emphasis was laid upon proposing a digital library, interactive learning, and teaching sessions for children, a language, school, and various other activities.
Everyone agreed upon having a food court representing various states of India and other nations from South Asia.
All the groups expressed desire for the world to know about ancient Vedic scholars of mathematics, pure sciences, Ayurveda, art and architecture, etc. whose work and contributions could be showcased in the museum.
The members of various groups felt that the world needs to know how resilient the people of Indian subcontinent have been. How they have survived the attacks and destruction by various invaders and colonists who changed the social and demographic built up of the huge region of the Indian subcontinent.
There were various opinions about the name and the location for the proposed Centre. But everyone agreed that the museum/cultural centre should be very well connected to the public Transit making it easily accessible for the residents and tourists of British Columbia.
Location of this Museum or Cultural Centre: People discussed various options including Vancouver, Burnaby, Tri-Cities, & Surrey. Most seems to have seen in favor of Vancouver or Burnaby.
In my opinion, this event and public engagement was a very successful many of the first steps to be taken to let the government of British Columbia have an idea of the vision for the proposed museum/cultural centre for people of south Asia.
Coverage by Local Mainstream Media: The Global News BC found the event significant one for the community and covered the session. Please click here to watch the news coverage (the video plays after an advertisement)
As a member of South Asian community I would really like to make a request to everyone to express their opinions, ideas, and give your feedback at Canadians of South Asian Heritages Museum Questionnaire
Let’s make a significantly positive impact on our society by letting them know how much more there is to the identity of the people from Indian subcontinent than just Bhangra, masala dosa and Bollywood.
Share the article with friends and help us bring awareness about this project. If you missed attending the community engagement session in-person, you may submit your feedback online. At the time of writing this blog post online feedback option was available.
We are excited to know what shape this South Asian Heritage place in question takes in near future! We are hoping this place will represent all the communities from the South Asian region and not just one particular section.
