A White Rock author’s book tells stories of B.C.’s South Asian pioneers.
A family celebration a century in the making spurred White Rock’s Karen Dosanjh to undertake an ambitious project – documenting the oft-forgotten stories of not just her own ancestors, but those of hundreds of other South Asian families in British Columbia.
In 2006, Dosanjh and her family were celebrating the 100-year anniversary of her grandfather’s journey from Punjab, India to B.C. when she realized the impact that his sacrifices, and those of others like him, had on her family.
“He came to Canada in 1906 and was really instrumental in sponsoring other key members to come here, including my father,” Dosanjh said.
“That’s where my love of documenting and preserving South Asian history started.”
Her interest piqued, Dosanjh set out to interview and learn from a number of other South Asian pioneer families in B.C. – including her father-in-law, whose own father arrived in Canada in 1907.
Those stories were written by Dosanjh and turned into a book, Untold Stories: The South Asian Pioneer Experience in B.C., which was released in the spring, and has since been gaining popularity not just in the South Asian community but beyond – including local schools, she noted.
The book has also been endorsed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, B.C. Premier John Horgan and Canada’s Minister of Defence, Harjit Sajjan.
Dosanjh has been working with a pair of teachers at L.A. Matheson Secondary – who are creating a teacher’s guide for the book, to better help teachers fold it into their curriculum – as well as the Surrey school district’s Safe Schools program.
“There are a lot of other South Asian pioneer families whose stories haven’t been told. So now it’s less about it being just for (our family), and more for the entire community,” she said.
“I started working with local schools – schools that have a very high South Asian immigrant population – because I thought these students could really benefit from learning these stories and learning about the journey that these early settlers faced. It’s about acknowledging it, and then thinking, ‘What can we learn from it?’”
For the full story, visit: https://www.abbynews.com/community/white-rock-a...
A family celebration a century in the making spurred White Rock’s Karen Dosanjh to undertake an ambitious project – documenting the oft-forgotten stories of not just her own ancestors, but those of hundreds of other South Asian families in British Columbia.
In 2006, Dosanjh and her family were celebrating the 100-year anniversary of her grandfather’s journey from Punjab, India to B.C. when she realized the impact that his sacrifices, and those of others like him, had on her family.
“He came to Canada in 1906 and was really instrumental in sponsoring other key members to come here, including my father,” Dosanjh said.
“That’s where my love of documenting and preserving South Asian history started.”
Her interest piqued, Dosanjh set out to interview and learn from a number of other South Asian pioneer families in B.C. – including her father-in-law, whose own father arrived in Canada in 1907.
Those stories were written by Dosanjh and turned into a book, Untold Stories: The South Asian Pioneer Experience in B.C., which was released in the spring, and has since been gaining popularity not just in the South Asian community but beyond – including local schools, she noted.
The book has also been endorsed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, B.C. Premier John Horgan and Canada’s Minister of Defence, Harjit Sajjan.
Dosanjh has been working with a pair of teachers at L.A. Matheson Secondary – who are creating a teacher’s guide for the book, to better help teachers fold it into their curriculum – as well as the Surrey school district’s Safe Schools program.
“There are a lot of other South Asian pioneer families whose stories haven’t been told. So now it’s less about it being just for (our family), and more for the entire community,” she said.
“I started working with local schools – schools that have a very high South Asian immigrant population – because I thought these students could really benefit from learning these stories and learning about the journey that these early settlers faced. It’s about acknowledging it, and then thinking, ‘What can we learn from it?’”
For the full story, visit: https://www.abbynews.com/community/white-rock-a...