Good morning everyone, this Sunday is world mental health day which is a reminder to us all to be kind to oursleves in these difficult times. One way to lift our spirits is to read about inspirational personalities that have thrived through difficult times. From them we we can learn ways to manage the challenges in our lives. The book of South Asian Supergirls is full of such stories and the Excelsior club invites you to pick up a free copy from the library this lunchtime. Teachers / Counsellors are welcome too because there’s a teachers guide authored by a local award-winning SD36 teacher. Full details can be found at the library. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Excelsior was privileged to kick off this year's events with an invitation to display and distribute our South Asian Supergirls book at the Ex-Indian Servicemen's annual dinner. The theme of this event was to recount past heroic actions to inspire and educate the families of military veterans about the sacrifices of our ancestors. As tradition has it, it's the boys that typically enjoy these stories of war but for us at Excelsior we thought it would give us a chance to distribute the books to offer the girls in these veteran families an insight into the other battles we may have to fight in the modern world. We are glad to say there were many takers for the book!
Photo with veterans and candidate MP for Fleetwood ( Dave Hayer). September 13th Surrey A couple of weeks ago, a few of us gathered to watch Pink Attidute's 2021 Awards gala online; this was its sixth event and the first gala of its kind in Canada. This organization is also the first non-profit organization in Canada where women of South Asian origin are empowered to achieve their full potential in their chosen endeavours. Its board consists of a cross-section of professionals with a shared vision of making a difference in this under-developed area. Pink Attitude aims to recognize and celebrate the significant achievements of South Asian women and young adults in their communities, in Canada and internationally through a series of awards. The recipients are recognized as leaders who have overcome personal and professional obstacles and made meaningful contributions to a wide range of fields. Each year the gala recognizes the exceptional artistic, professional, personal, political, and economic achievements of "Game-Changing" South Asian women who shatter barriers while inspiring and empowering others to be prominent leaders. Past honorees have included Manjit Minhas, CEO & Co-founder at Minhas Breweries, Distilleries & Wineries, Hon. Bardish Chagger, Leader of Government House of Commons, and Samra Zafar International speaker, to name a few.
This years winners are: (Reference: Pink Attitude Awardees 2021) Leadership Award Recipient: Fatema Dada - Counsel, Ontario Human Rights Commission Fatema Dada is a Windsor law graduate and currently holds a spot on the board of the Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association. She spent ten years working at the Crown Law Office, specializing in civil litigation. Fatema served as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Attorney General, and is currently a council member on the Ontario Human Rights Commission where she specializes in racial profiling and discrimination within policing. During her free time, she enjoys exploring the art of photography and dance and is a self-professed tree-hugger. Fatema is also an executive member of SMILE Canada, an organization that supports children with disabilities in minority communities. Inspiration Award Recipient: ElsaMarie DSilva - Founder of Red Dot Foundation ElsaMarie DSilva left a successful career in aviation in order to found her company, The Red Dot Foundation, a non-profit Mumbai based organization that works to combat sexual violence and harassment against women. As CEO of the company, she worked to cofound Safecity, an anonymous reporting platform that tracks reports of public sexual assault and harassment and maps the data; the platform has risen to become one of the largest of its kind in India. Rising Star Award Recipient: Nav Dhillon -Senior Fraud Technology Consultant & Founder of iCollective Nav Dhillon is an MBA graduate from Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and is currently involved in leading delivery programs in CIBC's Technology and Fraud Management lines of business. After being involved in a freak accident that cost her half her eyesight, Nav founded iCollective as a platform to share her story and others alike in an attempt to reduce the stigma surrounding disabilities that women in the South Asian Community often face. She focuses on subjects such as vision loss and its effects on mental health as well as breaking down outdated beauty standards. Innovation Award Recipient: Vasanti Cosmetics Driven by the lack of South Asian representation in the beauty industry, Pinki Gosal, Monal Patel, and Gargi Patel Cofounded Vasanti Cosmetics in 1998. Their brand quickly become a coveted Canadian beauty brand that delivered skincare and products for all skin tones, types, and ages. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Vasanti cosmetics ceased the manufacturing of their makeup products and shifted to producing hand sanitizer to alleviate the shortage we experienced at the start of lockdown. They also launched a social media campaign called #WeSeeYou in order to support and raise funds for front line healthcare workers. On April 24th members of the Excelsior club attended a clothing drive organized by Kidsplay. The event attracted members of the South Asian community in the hopes of helping those struggling through these especially hard times. At this event we held and sponsered a raffle giving those who donated a chance to win a copy of the book, “Stories For South Asian Super Girls," a best seller that features a powerful combination of inspiring biographies and beautiful illustrations by South Asian artists. With a strong message of female empowerement resonating through the stories it’s the perfect book for young girls. Fifty copies of the book were given out, 25 of which went to the raffle and the other 25 were given to the Kidsplay volunteers in hopes of them passing the treasure trove of inspirational stories on to other members of the community. Honorary Lieutenant Jarnail Singh Chima, who is now 85 years old, hails from a distinguished military family. His grandfather, Honorary Lieutenant Ram Singh Bahadur of the village Badduwal Punjab enlisted with the 15th Sikhs, a regiment of the British Army in 1887. In 1911 Ram Singh was given the honour of being appointed Aid De Camp to the King on the occasion of King George's Durbar in Delhi. During World War 1 Ram Singh saw action with the Indian Expeditionary Forces in France ( 1914 -15) and Mesopotomia (1916 - 18). In 1916, as part of the 82nd Punjabis, Ram Singh was promoted to Subadar-Major (Major) and saw action in the capture of Baghdad - the first enemy capital city to fall in the Great War. Ram Singh entered into the Order of British India (OBI) in 1917 for his distinguished service. Ram Singh's brothers Sham Singh and Inder Singh also served in the First World War with distinction. Jarnail Singh works with the Surrey-based indian Ex-Servicemen Association to help veterans with their military pensions and the general welfare of their families and properties back in India. Jarnail Singh's grandchildren now attend schools in Surrey.
On March 11th, Dr Henry announced that outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people would be allowed- yay just in time for spring break! Another stipulation of the announcement was that gatherings should stick to the same group - that sounds like a good reason for the Excelsior club to get together and get out there to exercise some of the pandemic blues away. Some of us got together initially for a walk which became a talk and decided that a 'walk & talk' could revolve around sharing stories about our favourite Asian Supergirls from the publication "Stories For South Asian Super Girls" by Raj Kaur Khaira, which features a powerful combination of inspiring biographies and striking artwork by South Asian female artists. A powerful theme of never giving up resonates throughout the pages, and so by focusing on those heroines that are born in Canada , the USA and the UK we have decided to home in the biographies of the following: Anjali Sud, Farrah Storr, M.I.A (Mathangi Alrulpragasam), Hannah Simone, Jhumpa Lahiri , Jameela Jamil, Kalpana Chawla, Lilly Singh, Shaina Azad, and Sana Amanat.
Stay tuned for some other brainstorms that are bound to arise from the discovery South Asian girls can be superheroes too! Last November, a few members of Excelsior club were invited onto the set of a movie to help out behind the scenes alongside our partners from Kidsplay Foundation. It was an exciting opportunity to be part of a film industry project because to date, the Canadian entertainment and film industry have not been very inclusive. We are a country made up of immigrants from all across the globe so all of our stories should be represented in the media as we all now live in Canada together. However, it's not always obvious how interconnected we all are. The short film "Promises" helps to show how our histories intertwine in profound ways. It features a re-enactment of a battle that took place in Italy during WW2 in which Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army are portrayed fighting side-by-side with Canadians against the Nazis, as they did historically during the Italian Campaign in 1943-1944. The film also touches on the story of the Punjabi troops that fought alongside Canadians in WW1.
Actually more than 1.3 million South Asians served in WW1 and over 2.5 million in WW2. The majority of these combatants hailed from the Punjab region of India- specifically from the ancestral lands of those Indo-Canadian pioneers that settled Canada as British Subjects at the onset of the 20th Century. Punjabi soldiers fought alongside their Canadian brothers-in-arms as fellow British citizens (Canadian nationality was enacted in 1947) under one flag and a common Crown, yet their contributions to our democracy and freedoms go overlooked in classrooms, media, and in Remembrance. Indus Media Foundation, the producer of the film, seeks to address this deficit in awareness through "Promises." Being on the film set at the invitation of Indus Media Foundation was an exciting opportunity where we helped out behind the scenes to set up tents and keep the catering, sanitizing, security, wardrobe packing and clean up aspects of the shoot running smoothly. It was an exhausting day but at least we didn't have to fill sandbags for the war scenes as our counterpart volunteers had to do on the film set in the Okanagan the week before! Over all it was an incredible experience and the excelsior club is honoured to have been part of it. More information about the movie can be found here : www.Promises.Movie South Asian Youth Talk to Reduce Mental Health Stigma November 27, 2019. Article by: Government of BC RE: As an ambassador with the South Asian Youth Mental Health (SAYMH) program, Jashandeep Gill is part of a team of young people working to reduce stigma in B.C. by highlighting the importance of talking about mental health and substance use challenges. Drawing on his personal experiences as a young immigrant to Canada, Jashandeep shows that strong personal networks, open conversations, and education about mental health and substance use challenges can make a huge difference to people who may require support. Read Jashandeep’s insights below. What inspired you to get involved with the South Asian Youth Mental Health Ambassadors?"I came to Canada from India in 2018. This transition was tough, as I was suddenly in a community where I didn’t know anyone. I was working five hours a day to earn extra money, and under pressure to get good grades at school. In that same year, my maternal uncle died of an overdose. I was feeling very lonely and wasn’t able to manage it all and started to experience depression. "I decided to start talking to people. I started to make friends and shared my problems with them. Conversations with my friends, support from my teacher and sports helped me to cope with my stress. "After these experiences I decided I wanted to create awareness about the stigma of mental health issues and drug overdose in our community so got involved with SAYMH ambassadors." How do you think we can reduce stigma?"I think every stigma in any society can be reduced by conversation. When we talk about our thoughts and problems, we can find a lot of helpful solutions. And we should always remember that with one smile and being open, we can change someone's life. "We must make everyone feel included and important. "SAYMHA are doing lots of different things to reduce stigma. I started an initiative in my school to make grade 10 kids aware about the drug overdose and mental health issues in teenagers. Also, we’ve been doing radio and TV interviews, and attending conferences and events, such as BC Lions games, to talk to people about mental health and substance use and deliver the message that it’s important to have conversations about these topics." Why is it important for youth, and youth from South Asian backgrounds, to talk about mental health and substance use?"I feel that young people are caught up in a rat race. Everyone is concerned about their grades, future careers or other things that they forget to take care of themselves. This stress can make us feel lonely and lead to mental health issues and substance use. These feelings can be like a swamp, and that’s why there must be conversations about mental health and substance use. If we don’t talk about these problems, young people would never know how they can deal with them. "I feel that in the South Asian community, it's tough to talk to anyone about a mental health issue. People often struggle to understand what the term “mental health” means and feel a lot of shame if people are affected by mental health challenges, which makes it harder for people to ask for help. That’s why it’s very important to teach people about stigma and that it’s OK to need support. What would you say to young people who might be experiencing mental health or substance use challenges, but are nervous about reaching out for help?"I would give young people experiencing mental health or substance use challenges this piece of advice; every person on this earth is valuable, and we want everyone to live a healthier life. No matter what you face, what you suffer from, people around you can help and support you. But be brave because you are the only person who can ask for that help. The only thing you need is faith in yourself. The South Asian Youth Mental Health Ambassador program is part of the South Asian Mental Health Alliance. Learn more. StopOverdose BC resources are now available in Punjabi, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese to ensure South Asian and Chinese Canadian communities can access information and resources to encourage conversations about mental health and substance use, and that language is never a barrier to support. If anyone wants to chat, Excelsior club meets Thursdays at lunch in room D204! During their grade 11 year, a few members of Excelsior had the opportunity to go to an anti drug and gang forum in Surrey. There were numerous speakers who discussed their struggles with drugs and gangs and how they overcame them to be where they are today. The speakers discussed their stories and how their lack of support in their youth affected them even as adults, and how youth need to be given opportunities to succeed. Our community needs to unite to make a difference. BC has the highest number of overdoses and gang problems in Canada, and this isn't how it should be. Speakers at the forum discussed their stories and how they are making a difference in their communities today.
The first speaker, Rob Sidhu, is currently a recovering cocaine addict. He discussed his struggle with addiction and how he lost everything important in his life due to it. Mr. Sidhu had a tough childhood. His parents were quite strict, and what mattered most to them were getting good grades and getting a high-paying job. Having dyslexia and ADHD caused it to be more difficult for him to focus in school, and he struggled. As a teen, he was afraid to tell his parents that he was struggling because of his mental health issues. He would constantly lie to his parents to get them to leave him alone. Due to this atmosphere of loneliness at home, Mr. Sidhu always felt like he was on the outside. He felt as though he didn’t fit in, and would do whatever it took to belong somewhere, no matter who it was with. Although he dropped out of highschool at the age of 16, Mr. Sidhu still became successful through hard work. He began an oil company in Alberta, which is currently worth over 5 billion dollars. He also married and had a daughter. Still, Mr. Sidhu had that empty feeling that stuck with him from his childhood, so one day when he was offered drugs at work, he felt as though he was obliged to say yes. He already felt left out, and he didn’t want to be criticized by his colleagues. After trying cocaine that one time, he became addicted. He couldn’t stop, and it became the most important thing in his life. He felt as if he couldn’t function without cocaine. Due to his addiction, he lost his wife, his daughter, and his entire company. His addiction left him with nothing. He said that if he could, he would go back and not try drugs that one time. If he had someone to talk to that he trusted, and didn’t have so much pressure from his parents as a child, he wouldn’t have ever felt as though he was forced to say yes. This sense of ‘not belonging’ affects so many youth in our society today, and far too often they feel as if joining with the wrong people or doing drugs are their only solution. The second speaker was another ex-addict. He was addicted for ten years, and ironically enough, now he’s an addiction counsellor. What stood out from his speech was when he said “addiction doesn’t always have to do with drugs”. He brought up the point that we can be addicted to other things, or have habits that are like addictions. It can be something like lying, which he believes is taught to us. Like Rob Sidhu, he didn’t have much of a sense of identity. His father was never there for him, and his family constantly pressured him to do things that he didn’t want to. Although he didn’t want to make the career and life choices he was pressured into making, he quietly followed what his family and society wanted him to do so that he could fit in and be accepted. He also brought up the fact that there is so much negative stigma around drugs and addicts. When his family found out he was struggling with addiction, instead of trying to help him recover, they pushed him away. They ignored his calls for help and didn’t listen to what he had to say. Because of this, he began to rely on the drugs to numb his emotions, relieve stress and be happy when nobody would accept or help him. Due to everything going on, he joined a gang. While in that gang, he said it used to be that everyone was friends with each other and knew each other, so it was less dangerous than gangs are today. Nowadays, it’s different because you don’t know who’s in the gangs, so it’s easier painful to hurt someone or get “revenge” for something without feeling bad, because they're a stranger. He brought up the idea that in schools, although there is already counselling, they should educate children so that they know that they always have people to rely on, and that they are never alone. He talked about how we should steer away from the negative stigma and mentality that mental health issues aren’t really there and that people can just “get over it.” From this forum, we learned about how ignoring the issues we have can lead to serious consequences, so we need to steer away from having this negative mentality and address what is going on in the lives of so many youth before they have to face the same issues that many of the speakers unfortunately had to face due to the fact that they didn’t have the support system they needed. “So what inspired you to first get involved with Kidsplay?”
“Well, it started off with me being a shy little girl and as I began, I was able to find different opportunities and when i was in about grade 11 I got to meet Kal Dosanjh, who is the founder of Kidsplay and he told me the type of work that he does, so I started volunteering with him and before I knew it, I was a part of a bigger group, a bigger family, and eventually, when Kidsplay was started in 2015, I happened to be around, so I was given an opportunity that I took. And thats the message that i always try giving out is, there are many opportunities out there.” “Yeah, you have to see it and grab it.” “You have to seize it, it's your job to seize it and then make something out of it because you’ll always have opportunities.” “Yeah and it's important not to let them pass you by.” “Yeah try it! You might not like it, but thats okay.” “So, whats your official position in Kidsplay and what are some challenges you face in that?” “I am right now the vice president of Kidsplay foundation. Some of the challenges I do face are because right now i’m a student, so I balance student work, I balance work life, I tutor, so I balance that, and then I try balancing family time. So one of the struggles I see is to be able to spend time with everything else while I do this because this so important to me, but another big thing is, just getting everyone involved, it’s a challenge but also easy at the same time. Its a challenge to get people in a room but its not a challenge to engage them.” “If they’re passionate about something, yeah.” “So it works out.” “Yeah, so how did you work your way up? So, you mentioned that you were first a volunteer and then you worked your way up into the role of vice president.” “Yes, so I had to stay determined. I had to stay determined with anybody at Kidsplay or anywhere else. You know, if you’re go into real life, you can’t just go into work one day and not come back 10 days, so its very important you stick to it. If you think it’s important, stick to it. I- I don’t know if you’ve heard of our BC place tournament, but I started volunteering years ago with them before Kidsplay started, and I used to just make sure that kids had water. That would be my role and as I came out more, I learnt more from them I became a part of it, and slowly I was able to develop skills that are now helping me run the organization alongside many other leaders.” “Yes, so its progressive. You need to slowly make your way up to the top. and , what was your goal? What was your specific goal? What did you wanna bring to the organization?” “My role was to give. If I was giving 5 minutes of my time, it was to the fullest. If i’m here for 10 minutes, my fullest- I have to be present. I don't wanna sit here and be on my phone. Or I don't wanna sit here and not do anything but if i’m here and given the opportunity, even if its 10 minutes, 20, 30, half a day, one day, I have to be in it fullest and thats what I want to bring to the table and thats what I encourage everybody else to bring to the table because if you are going to be here, if you’re going to be present, if you're going to be making change in someone’s life, try to be there for the fullest, because generally, with Kidsplay foundation, we’ve touched thousands of lives without knowing it. When you hear stories like, “hey I didn’t want to be a part of it at all but now I come to every event.” ’d like to share a small story. This year, November 2018, we did the forum, same forum we do annually, so last year we did it in November 2017, and a single mom and a child came out. He was a child age 12 and they were having a lot of trouble at home. He was doing things that he shouldn't be and the mom didn't know how to tackle it. We worked with him, we worked with each other, we tried making sure we gave him everything he needed and this month, not too long ago, just two weeks ago, the mom called me, telling me how great the son is doing and how happy she is. When I messaged him saying, “hey dude, you’re doing so good, i’m so proud of you,” he replied saying, “Kiran, honestly its because of you guys.” and that tells me, I got to stay determined because 10 kids I won’t be able to help, but 1, if I am able to help, that's what its all about.” “Yeah, so, you know now that the gang scene in Surrey has become something like an epidemic, how have your goals or the goals of the club changed and evolved to suit that need?” “Well absolutely the biggest goal and objective of Kidsplay foundation is taking our communities away from the cycle of drugs and gangs. So thats why Kidsplay was started. Because as you know, our founder is a police officer. Thats all he’s seen. So the biggest component is to stay away from that. So everything we do just revolves around keeping kids out of it. Whether thats through education, whether thats different faculties, whether thats different types of work, everything- the main goal, the main objective is drugs and gangs. We go into classrooms, we go into different schools, we do presentations, just with the goal of raising awareness for kids of how much there is out there for them to seize compared to what they’ve been exposed to.” “And, just for us, do you have any advice for us in our endeavours (?) to start our own club?” “You know what, you guys are doing amazing- you always have to start. The hardest part is to start something because you think, “I'll do it tomorrow, I’ll do it the day after, or you might even think, its not my problem.” that happens a lot, so the fact that you actually are determined, you’ve set a goal, make sure you do everything you can to achieve that goal. You know, sometimes it will get tiring, sometimes it will get frustrating, sometimes it won't work out, but its very very rewarding. And you know what they say, “the longer you wait, the better the food is.” |