Through
the support of Khalsa Diwan Society, the first Sikh establishment in BC, the
very first Sikh temple in North America located in 1866 West 2nd Avenue (yes,
in Vancouver!) was built.
The
Second Avenue Gurdwara had became a hub for Vancouver's growing Sikh community
from 1908-1970. According to Naveen Girn, a South Asian-Canadian cultural
historian, "the gurdwara was the centre for spiritual, political and
social life for Indians of all faiths and stood at the forefront of social
justice campaigns for immigration reform and regaining the right to vote in
1947".
Recently, it was commemorated with a plaque as part of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation
Places That Matter project! I couldn't have
said it any better than what the people who nominated the site for the award
have said. It is, indeed, a "living proof of the living history of other
culture in BC history", one that has shaped our city.
The Khalsa Diwan Society, on the other hand,
which has greatly helped newly migrated Sikh families in need of communal
ground to share their collected experiences, and of assistance and support
emotionally and financially, has spread to areas, such as Abbotsford. There,
they built the Gur Sikh Gurdwara in 1911 which is the oldest existing Sikh
Temple in North America and a National Historic Site Canada - making it the
only Sikh temple outside of India and Pakistan that is designated as national
historic site.
The
Khalsa Diwan Society of Abbotsford, BC. Parks Canada’s news release in 2002
stated: “The Sikh Temple is the oldest surviving example of the temples which
formed the religious, social and political centre of pioneer Canadian Sikh
communities. Architecturally, it is an adaptation of traditional Sikh forms to
Canadian conditions which nevertheless embodies the fundamental beliefs of
Sikhs and their early experience as immigrants in Canada”.
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