English PageIssue 288 (4) Asian Tribune August 27, 2021Council of India Societies of Edmonton (CISE) celebrated 75 th India Independence day withgaiety and fervour at India Center, Edmonton. Ms. Gunjan Sharma, President greeted theattendees and extended good wishes to the Indian diasporaINTERIOR RAILING3211-97 St. NW Edmonton. AB T6N 1B7780-667-0031P: 780-249-0031F: 780-249-0041E: info@elitespindlesandrailings.ca www. elitespindlesandrailings.cawww.asiantribune.ca. Also, follow us on twitter @AsianTribuneEdm
English PageIssue 288 (5) Asian Tribune August 27, 2021AsianStarNative village/Country, parents’backgroundMirpur, Jammu & Kashmir, India(Now part of Pakistan). Father servedas Superintendent of Police, J & KPolice and mother was stay homemomYour early educationI am certified Charted Accountantand also completed Post GraduateIndustrial Management fromScotlandWhen & why you came toCanada?1964. My quest to opt for peacefulcountry and civil society landed mein CanadaHow many dollars you brought in?I think I had eight dollars in mypocketWhat you did for initial survival?I joined as Financial Controller in atrucking company of Winnipeg and turnedaround this loss making companyYour career advancement initiatives andpresent occupationI developed high rise buildings in Winnipegas one of the partners. Besides, I alsopublished monthly community newspaper forten years on provincial as well as Nationallevel which was named as Alberta Link, PrairieLink and finally Canada Link. I served asmember, Federal Human Rights Commission(8 years) and Judge, Court of CanadianCitizenship (12 years). I was bestowed Orderof Canada, Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal &Salute to Excellence by City of EdmontonYour regret in lifeI lost my father in Indo-Pak partition war. Icould not obtain his body to perform last ritesPick any one of your the bestachievementsMy initiatives to promote Canadian values andconnect diversified culture amongcommunities are very dear to me. Recently,City of Edmonton has bestowed a greathonour upon me and my wife by naminga park as “Jiti & Gurcharan Bhatia Park”Were you ever discriminated?Yes. In those days, whenever I mentioned thatI am an Indian, I was mistaken as native andsubjected to undue discrimination. However,my subsequent correction of “Indian” to “EastIndian” provided me a lot of solaceWhat you miss in Canada?Absolutely nothingGurcharan Singh BhatiaRavina Team expressedsolidarity in a unique wayFrom left: Zoe Harveen Kaur Sihota, Ravina Toor, Harneet Kaur Chahal Photo : (Gagan Brar)Edmonton(ATB):RavinaKaur Toor, HarneetKaur Chahal and ZoeHarveen Kaur Sihotaexpressed theirsolidarity by creating“Still I Rise” mural atBUMP Festival,Calgary last week.Inspired by the massprotests by farmers inIndia after thegovernment passedthree farm bills toderegulate markets inNovember, the muralis meant to bringattention to a fightthat is close to theyoung Punjabi Sikhartists. Like most whohave ancestral ties tothe region, all three ofthe Alberta-bornmuralists have afamily history thatinvolves farming inIndia. It’s a sectorthat has been fraughtwith poverty anduncertainty evenbefore thegovernment passedlaws that farmers saywill favour corporatefarms and devastatetheir earnings. Themural was a way forthem to help fromafar.But it’s also amassive undertakingthat none of the threehad attempted before.Toor and Sihota areprimarily digitalartists. Chahal is anabstract painter. Socreating murals wasuncharted territory forthem. Nevertheless,last week the threebegan work on Still IRise at the back ofJamesons Pub – 17thAvenue. It requiredthem to paint whileperched on a scissorlift high above theground.“The first daywas super stressful,”says Toor. “We did doa lot of safety trainingprior. But just beingon it physically was alittle different. We gotstuck the first day. Sowe didn’t know how toget back. But welearned a lot from itand now it’s like abreeze. But it’s beengood workingtogether andsupporting eachother.”By midweek,the mural was wellunderway. The threeartists spent monthscoming up with thedesign after applyingto the BUMPAre you happy in Canada?Very happyWhy?Canada is the land of equal opportunities andhuman rights are governed to the bestpossible levelAny comments on Canada’s weatherI have not to bear the brunt of harsh wintersnow as I shift to warmer places during bonechilling weatherAny comments on Canada’s cultureBridging the culture and heritage of 200countries is a great challenge. Vibranteconomy, sustainable resources, equalopportunities and gender equality are theessence of this wonderful country. I amPresident of International Association ofCitizens for A Civil Society and we celebrateDaughters’ Day in Canada since 1 stSeptember, 2010. 40 NGOs support ourinitiative to serve the girl child cause. I amalso founder of John Humphrey Centre forPeace & Human Rights and Mahatma GandhiCanadian Foundation of World Peace.Norquest College, Edmonton offer “JudgeBhatia Citizenship Award” for the last 12 yearswhich is a great honour for meWhat brought you success in Canada?I am the staunch believer of whatever youdo, do it wellYour message for Canadians of AsianoriginAlways believe in equality. Respect HumanRights and live and let live peaceful life.Festival, ensuring thatthe mural would notonly encompass all oftheir artistic stylesbut also spread theirmessage to thepublic. Central to StillI Rise will be two mainfigures: a bibiji andbabaji, which are thetermsforgrandmother andgrandfather inPunjabi.The muralalso featureoutstretched handsholding various foodsfrom the region thatare now ubiquitoushere, including naanand chai latte.Toor’s lategrandparents werefarmers in the Punjaband Haryana states,which are the twobiggest agriculturalproducers in Indiaand where most of theprotesting farmershave travelled from.Her grandparentsgrew cotton, wheatand various spices onthe farm.Their labourallowed Toor’sparents to immigrateto Canada, she says.The protests havebecome among thelargest ever staged,with tens ofthousands of Indianfarmers abandoningthe fields in late 2020and descending onNew Dehli in tractorsand trucks. They havedemanded that thethree agricultural lawsbe repealed. PrimeMinister NarendraModi’s governmenthas insisted thechanges, whichloosen the rulesaround the sale,storage and pricing ofproduce, arenecessary tomodernize theindustry.Proponentsof the laws say theywill increase farmincomes, attractinvestment and boostproductivity.While theprotests have beenlargely peaceful,some sources havereported thathundreds of farmershave died during thedemonstrations,now in its fifth year,with 50 murals goingup in the Beltline,Mission, Bridgeland,Greenview Industrial,Kensington,Inglewood anddowntown throughoutthe month of August.There will also be anumber of freeevents, includingartist talks, outdoormovies, self-guidedmural tours andmusic events.“As a child, if I wereto walk by a wall andsee someone wholooked like me, thenthat’s a massiveidentity thing,” Toorsays. “It just showsthat this is yourhome, even thoughyou are miles awayfrom where yourparents were or yourgrandparents were. Italso showcases thebeauty of diversitythat we uphold inCanada.”Ravina Toor isdaughter of MohinderToor, the reputedeither through businessman ofaccidents, health Edmonton.issues or suicide.The BUMPThe BUMP (Beltline Festival runs untilUrban Murals Aug. 29. VisitProject) Festival is yycbump.ca.www.asiantribune.ca. Also, follow us on twitter @AsianTribuneEdmSAD wins DSGMC polls; Manjinder Sirsaloses his seat, nominated to gurdwara panelAkali Dal wins 27 of the 46 seats, earning clear majority;SAD (Delhi), led by Sarna brothers, wins 14 seatsShiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh along with Delhi unit leaders and supporterscelebrates his party victory in DSGMC election in New Delhi on Wednesday.New Delhi, (ATB)- The ShiromaniAkali Dal has retained its control over the DelhiSikh Gurdwara Management Committee(DSGMC). It won 27 of the 46 seats, earninga clear majority.SAD (Delhi), led by the Sarna brothers –Paramjit Singh and Harvinder Singh—won 14seats while the Manjeet Singh GK led JagAsra Guru Ott (Jago) party managed to winjust two.The Akal Sahai, Akali Dal Panthak,and Kendri Singh Sabha won one seat each.The sitting DSGMC presidentManjinder Singh, lost his Punjabi Bagh seatto Harvinder Singh Sarna. However, onWednesday evening Sirsa was nominated tothe committee under the provision allowingDSGMC to co-opt nine members besides the46 elected ones.SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badalannounced the nomination. On being asked ifSirsa would continue to be President, Badalsaid, “The House will decide on electing aPresident, when it meets.”The DSGMC general secretaryHarmeet Singh Kalka retained his seat atKalkaji while Manjeet Singh GK, who is formerpresident of the DSGMC, retained his seat ofGreater Kailash.Addressing a press conference, BadalIn a jolt to dissidents, Rawat saysPunjab Assembly election to befought under Capt Amarinder SinghChandigarh, (ATB)-Ahead of the start of themeeting with four dissidentministers andthree MLAs atDehradun, Punjab affairsin-charge andAICC general secretaryHarish Rawat onWednesday said the2022 Punjab Assemblyelection would befought under the leadershipof CaptAmarinder Singh. Theindication given byRawat was a jolt to thedissidents.After themeeting, Rawat saidthe four ministers andthree MLAs, who onTuesday went publicdemanding replacementof the CM,wanted a clearroadmap for party’s winin the 2022 Punjab Assemblyelections.“They had expressedserious concernsover the functioningof the state governmentand district administration.If a partyMLA is feeling insecurethat the district administrationwould work forhis defeat in the election,then it is a matterof concern. I have similarcomplaints earlier,but the issue shouldnot come in way of theparty,” Rawat said whilerefusing to share detailsof the discussionsThe Punjab affairsin-charge said hewould take up the issuesraised by theleaders with seniorleaders concerned andwould be going to Delhito brief the party highcommand.hailed the victory and termed it as a forcefulreferendum of Khalsa Panth in favour of thePanthic identity and religious commitment ofhis party. “The Community totally rejected theCongress-backed and BJP-sponsored groups,including those of Sukhdev Singh DhindsaSahib and the Sarna group.”Both, Sirsa and Kalka alleged that theCentre and state government “tried their verybest to defeat us”. Sirsa said more than 20per cent of the votes cast (postal ballots) “inour favour were rejected” as invalid.“This is victory of Guru Teg Bahadurand a slap on the face of those who were doingthings at behest of Government,” Sirsa said.The DSGMC body runs the affairs ofthe Sikh community. This includes gurdwaras,schools, colleges and hospitals. The DSGMChas been in the forefront in providing help duringCovid, housing Afghan refugees or gettingbail for farmers arrested after the January 26incident in the National Capital.3.42 lakh members of the Sikh Communitywere listed as voters for the electionsand 37.27 per cent of them cast their votes toelect the prestigious body. Elections forthe DSGMC were earlier scheduled on April23, but postponed due to lethal wave of Covidin the national capital during the period, andwere rescheduled for August 22.The four ministers—TriptRajinderSingh Bajwa,Sukhbinder SinghSarkaria, SukhjinderSingh Randhawa andCharanjit SinghChanni— had gone toDehradun to meetRawat.After the meeting,they were likely togo to New Delhi andmeet Rahul Gandhi onThursday. These ministersand around twodozen legislators onTuesday had held ameeting here andsought replacement ofthe chief minister, sayingthey had lost faithin him over the unfulfilledpromises.Western nations race to complete Afghanevacuation as deadline loomsKabul (ATB)-Western nationsrushed to evacuatepeople from Afghanistanon Wednesdayas the August 31 deadlinefor the withdrawalof foreign troops drewcloser and fears grewthat many could be leftbehind to an uncertainfate under the country'snew Taliban rulers.In one of thebiggest such airliftsever, the United Statesand its allies haveevacuated more than70,000 people, includingtheir citizens, NATOpersonnel and Afghansat risk, since August14, the day before theTaliban swept into thecapital Kabul to bringto an end the 20-yearforeign military presence.US PresidentJoe Biden said UStroops in Afghanistanfaced mounting danger,while aid agencieswarned of an impendinghumanitarian crisis forthose left behind.Biden has spurnedcalls from allies to extendthe deadline, setunder an agreementstruck by the previousadministration ofDonald Trump with thehardline Islamist grouplast year. But he saidon Tuesday the deadlinecould be met."The sooner we can finish,the better," Bidensaid. "Each day of operationsbrings addedrisk to our troops." TwoUS officials, speakingon condition of anonymity,said there wasgrowing concern aboutthe risk of suicidebombings by the IslamicState at the airport.
Change language