All of us at the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI) at the University of the Fraser Valley, are so proud that our Director, colleague, and friend Dr. Satwinder Kaur Bains was presented the King Charles III Coronation Medal by Lieutenant Governor Janet Austin and Premier of British Columbia David Eby in Vancouver on August 27, 2024.
The award recognizes Canadians like Satwinder who’ve had a positive impact on their communities and country, particularly in the areas of diversity, sustainability, and the environment.
Dr. Satwinder Bains has been the director of SASI for eighteen years. During these years, in what often feels like a race against time, she searches, finds, collects, preserves and restores the South Asian Canadian historical record. Through digitization, publications, exhibits, books, documentaries, public speeches and events, this history is finding it’s place in the Histories of Canada and especially British Columbia’s history.