A crowd of excited community members spent Friday afternoon waiting patiently for a special visitor on the grounds of the Gur Sikh Temple national historic site on South Fraser Way in Abbotsford. And, at around 1:45 pm, they were rewarded as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau emerged from a private tour inside the gurdwara to give…

The Indo-Canadian community has been part of the Canadian multicultural mosaic for more that 100 years. Its members contributed to society and help build the economy during the early decades of their time here without having the right to express their opinions through voting in provincial or federal elections. In current times, candidates running for…

An impressive, important photography exhibition entitled Betrayed: Portraits of Strength is being featured for a very limited time in UFV’s Library rotunda. Running until Sept. 30, this debut of the exhibit reveals the faces and first-person accounts of human trafficking survivors (see photos of the exhibit launch here). Taken by renowned photographer Tony Hoare in…

Several Fraser Valley women are sharing how they reconcile what at times feels like leading a double life. A special exhibition that opened on September 29 at the University of the Fraser Valley’s Abbotsford campus looks at how Sikh women’s Sikh identity is integral to their feminist world view. (Mis)Interpretation — Sikh Feminisms in Representations,…

There are events in history that tell us much about the era’s social views and prejudices. The Komagata Maru incident is one of those. One hundred years ago a ship named the Komagata Maru dropped anchor in Vancouver with 376 passengers on board. The majority of these passengers were Sikh men (and British subjects) intending…

Abbotsford’s One Billion Rising event added a powerful voice with the recent inclusion of women’s rights advocate Rumana Monzur. The event, co-presented by the University of the Fraser Valley, takes place at Thunderbird Civic Plaza and The Reach Gallery Museum on International Women’s Day, March 8. Monzur made international headlines in June, 2011 after being…

A veteran of the Indian Army who made history in Canada by fighting for his right to wear his turban in Royal Canadian Legion halls has written a book on the subject. A Soldier Remembers is the first book to be published by the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies (CICS) at the University of the Fraser…

UFV president Mark Evered, along with vice provost and associate VP academic Peter Geller and Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies director Satwinder Bains, is currently visiting India to meet with students, faculty, and administration connected to UFV's Bachelor of Business Administration program in Chandigarh, including Team Peary (George and Sylvia), who are teaching business courses there (see…

After an extensive search and recruiting process, Satwinder Bains of Abbotsford has been chosen as the the Director of the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies at the University College of the Fraser Valley. “We are extremely lucky to have been able to recruit someone like Satwinder,” said UCFV Dean of Research Yvon Dandurand. “She is very…