Commemorating a Career of Impact: Dr. Satwinder Kaur Bains Receives Heritage BC Lifetime Achievement Award

On May 5, 2026, Heritage BC celebrated its 45th anniversary with an awards ceremony at the Britannia Mine Museum. Among this year’s recipients was someone whose work has shaped this field in BC for over two decades.

Dr. Satwinder Bains, a University of the Fraser Valley Professor Emeritusand founding director of SASI, received the 2026 Heritage BC Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in the Professional Achievement category. The award recognizes heritage professionals whose career-long contributions have made a cumulative and lasting impact on the practice and understanding of heritage in British Columbia.

With respect to Dr. Bains life’s work, that impact is difficult to overstate. She began advocating for a dedicated centre for South Asian Canadian research and history in the early 2000s, long before any institution existed to house that work. What followed was the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies, which officially opened in 2006 at the University of the Fraser Valley, which evolved into the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI) in 2016, and grew into the research institute it is today.

In presenting the award, the Heritage BC jury noted that Dr. Bains has “transformed heritage practice” in the province. They recognized her for pioneering participatory heritage models that place equity, inclusion, and intercultural dialogue at the forefront, noting that her commitment to these values has set a “new benchmark” for heritage practice.

This benchmark is perhaps best reflected in how Dr. Bains has consistently bridged the gap between institutional research and public engagement. Under her leadership, the South Asian Canadian Legacy Project translated a vast breadth of heritage and cutural research into accessible public resources. This included, but was not limited to, a comprehensive social history of South Asians in BC and educational materials to promote inclusive curriculum in BC schools through Saffron Threads. SASI has worked to ensure that South Asian Canadian histories are not confined to academic spaces but are accessible to the broader public through public exhibitions, community programming, and educational outreach.

The development of the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive (SACDA) serves as a key example of this impact by bringing together oral histories, photographs, and archival records spanning over a century of South Asian life in BC. SACDA has since become a resource drawn upon by academic researchers, heritage institutions, educators, and community organizations across the country, contributing to scholarship, curriculum development, and public programming well beyond the Fraser Valley.

Image Credit: Ian Babbitt, Heritage BC Board Member Orville D. Lim (left) and Dr. Satwinder Kaur Bains (right) at the Britannia Mine Museum

Beyond exhibits and archives, Satwinder’s legacy is carried forward by the people she has inspired. Throughout her tenure, she has mentored hundreds of students through research assistantships at SASI, many of whom have carried that training into heritage, education, and community work across the province.

We at SASI are incredibly moved by this recognition of Satwinder’s career and remain inspired by the path she continues to forge for inclusive heritage in Canada.