A Living Archive: SACDA, 75 collections and more

In the summer of 2017, at the initial gathering organized by the South Asian Studies Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, a passionate group of scholars and heritage professionals came together to ask the question, What is a South Asian Canadian Digital Archive (SACDA)? The above mapping on the white board was the collective dream and vision that was successfully carried out shortly after.

In 2022, five years later, the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive (SACDA) was created to document the 120+ years of history and heritage of the South Asian Canadian diaspora in Canada. Over the past years, the SACDA team has worked on developing 75 unique multilingual archival collections. These collections speak to the histories, heritage, cultures, and key contributions of South Asian communities in Canada that range from migration and social histories, arts and culture, and labour activism to built environment histories.

As we reflect on our work at this juncture in 2024, we are immensely grateful for the following individuals and families who have shared their own and their family and immigration stories and histories with us for all to access on a free and public domain:

Baltej Singh Dhillon

Charan Gill

Chindow Sidhu

Devinder Kaur Johal

Dr. Gurdev Singh Gill

Dr. Kanwal Singh Neel

Dr. Norman Buchignani & Dr. Doreen Indra

Dr. Palaniswami Rathnaswami

Dr. Paul Fontaine

Dr. Sarah Beaulieu

Greg Nesteroff

Piara Singh Bains

Harinder Jit Sunga

Jeavan Deol

Joan Mayo

Judge Gurmail Singh Gill

Kamaljit Sidhu

Kelly Sangara

Nirmal Gill

Paul Hundal

Ram Sundaram

Raymond Atwal

Rob & Rubeena Sidhu

Robin Mayo

Rosamund Norbury

Subbu Govindarajapuram

Sylvia Mahal

Chandra and Vimal Bodalia

We built the following institutional partnerships over time to work collaboratively to develop archival collections, educational resources, and sharing skills and resources to further the documentation of the history and heritage of the South Asian Canadian communities:

B.C. Forest Discovery Centre

B.C. Labour Heritage Centre

Burnaby Village Museum

Chilliwack Museum & Archives

City of Coquitlam Archives

City of Delta Archives

City of Surrey Archives

Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives

Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University

Kaatza Station Museum & Archives

Kabir Centre for Arts & Culture

Khalsa Diwan Society Vancouver

Legislative Library of B. C.

Paldi Historical Museum

Sikh Heritage Museum, Abbotsford

Simon Fraser University Library

Tamil Cultural Society of B. C.

The Reach Gallery Museum

The Royal BC Museum

University of British Columbia

University of the Fraser Valley, Department of Information Studies

University of the Fraser Valley Library

University of Toronto Scarborough Library

Vancouver Maritime Museum

Waterloo University Library & Archives

White Rock Museum and Archives

Yucho Chow Community Archive

We have had an incredibly talented team that digitized each and every photograph, from family albums to 100+ years old ledgers, and wrote every word of metadata, so that the histories of the South Asian Canadian communities had a presence and voice in the Canadian record.

SACDA team (2020 – 2024)

Dr. Satwinder Bains (Director, January 2020 – present)

Thamilini Jothilingam (Digital Asset Archivist, November 2021 – present)

Aishmitta (Volunteer, September – October 2023)

Alisa Sohi (Assistant Digital Asset Archivist, August 2022 – March 2024)

Anne-Marie.De Waard (Practicum Student, February – April 2024)

Annshul Kashyap (Work-Study Student, September 2023 – March 2024)

Ansh Seth (Research Assistant, January – April 2022)

Amreen Kaur (Research Student Intern, July – August 2022)

Arnav Mehta (Assistant Web Developer, September 2022 – March 2024)

Arshdeep Sandhu (Assistant Web Developer, January 2021 – December 2022)

Balraj Singh (Research Assistant, September 2022 – present)

Benjamin Arends (Work-Study Student, February – March 2021)

Dharani Persaud (Graduate Research Assistant, May – August 2023)

Faria Firoz (Graphic Designer, September 2023 – March 2024)

Gauri Sethi (Research Assistant, January 2024 – March 2024)

Gurkiran Aulakh (Research Student Intern, May – August 2022)

Jahnavi (Research Assistant, December 2021 – April 2022)

Jaideep Kaur (Volunteer, March – May 2024)

Jesse Kaufman (Communications Consultant, September 2021 – April 2022)

Henna Mann (Filmmaker & Coordinator, January – May 2024)

Kamal Sidhu (Translator, June – July 2023)

Kiara Dabreo (Research Assistant, September 2023 – March 2024)

Dr. Kusum Soni (Translator, October 2020 – October 2022)

Madhavee Inamdar (Project Manager, June 2022 – July 2021)

Magnus Berg (Digital Asset Archivist, September 2020 – September 2021)

Manveer Singh Chatha (Research Assistant, September – December 2022)

Meg McGinnis (Practicum Student, February – March 2022)

Mitali Bharwaj (Research Assistant, January – August 2023)

Pat Garland (Practicum Student, February – March 2023)

Prabhpreet Singh Gill (Research Student Intern, May – August 2022)

Pratham (Research Assistant, January 2023 – March 2024)

Rashneet (Co-op Student/Research Assistant, September 2023 – March 2024)

Raaynaa Madaan (Research Assistant, June – December 2022; January 2024 – March 2024)

Rui Lu (Practicum Student, February – April 2024)

Prati Kapoor (Research Assistant, November – December 2023)

Ravjeet Dyal (Research Assistant, January – August 2023)

Sadhvi Suri (Assistant Web Developer, September 2020 – January 2022)

Shivam Vashisht (Research Assistant, January – December 2022)

Tania Teixeira (Cataloguing Technician, September 2021 – February 2022)

Tarun Sharma (Research Assistant, February – May 2024)

Tim Ubels (Digitization & Cataloguing Technician, May – August 2021)

Varshaa Kashyap (Research Assistant, December 2021 – April 2022)

Hamad Abdullah Nazar (Coordinator, May 2024 – present)

SACDA has been wonderfully supported by our generous funders and donors:

Government of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council: Connection Grant (2017)

Government of British Columbia: South Asian Canadian Legacy Project (2020 – 2022)

Government of Canada: Museum Assistance Program (2022 – 2024)

Government of Canada, Young Canada Works (2021 & 2023)

University of British Columbia, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre: BC History Digitization Program (2021, 2023 & 2024)

University of the Fraser Valley, Research and Graduate Studies: SSHRC Explore Grant (2023 & 2024)

University of the Fraser Valley: Work Study Program (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, & 2024)

University of the Fraser Valley, Department of Information Studies (2021, 2022, 2023, & 2024)

Happy International Archives Week! We welcome all to join this collective archival journey! Contact us at sacda@ufv.ca .