Grant applications are due Feb. 15, 2008….and I will not have enough time to complete this on my own to meet the deadline, so help is definitely in need.  Also, some of the answers to the application will emerge from tomorrow’s meeting, so it’s very important for all to be there.

Mike.

http://bc150.gov.bc.ca/bc150.aspx?page=mosaic_grant

Mosaic Grant

Prior to the arrival of the first Europeans and the founding of the Crown colony of British Columbia, the region was home to indigenous Aboriginal communities with distinct languages, cultures, spiritual beliefs and vibrant societies, whose unique ways of life were important to shaping this province. Since the arrival of the first Europeans to British Columbia, pioneer immigrants, and more recent newcomers, have also contributed to British Columbia and the creation of its identity and current reality. BC150 Years provides an opportunity for the province to recognize the past, but it is also a lens through which to focus on the future.

BC150 Years recognizes and acknowledges that, in addition to the stories of the founding of British Columbia, there are stories of people and community milestone events and achievements that have shaped our provincial identity. To record, honour and celebrate British Columbia’s cultural diversity, the Mosaic Grants will support cultural diversity projects that increase public awareness through initiatives that honour the contributions that Aboriginal people and immigrants have made to the success of cultural diversity in British Columbia.

 http://www.komagatamaru.ca/

From the Search Institute:

http://www.search-institute.org/ 

http://www.socialdoc.net/kazimi/ali_html_pages2/1AK2Cont.html 

In 1914, Gurdit Singh, a Sikh entrepreneur based in Singapore, chartered a Japanese ship, the Komagata Maru, to carry Indian immigrants to Canada. On May 23, 1914, the ship arrived in Vancouver Harbour with 376 passengers aboard: 340 Sikhs; 24 Muslims and 12 Hindus. Many of the men on-board were veterans of the British Indian Army and believed that it was their right as British subjects to settle anywhere in the Empire they had fought to defend and expand. They were wrong…

Continuous Journey is an inquiry into the largely ignored history of Canada’s exclusion of the South Asians by a little known immigration policy called the Continuous Journey Regulation of 1908. Unlike the Chinese and the Japanese, people from British India were excluded by a regulation that appeared fair, but in reality, was an effective way of keeping people from India out of Canada until 1948. As a direct result, only a half-mile from Canadian shores, the Komagata Maru was surrounded by immigration boats and the passengers were held in communicado ­ virtual prisoners on the ship. Thus began a dramatic stand-off which would escalate over the course of two months, becoming one of the most infamous incidents in Canadian history.

During their two-month detention in the harbour, Canadian authorities drove the passengers to the brink of thirst and starvation. The stand-off was broken with the intervention of Prime Minister Robert Borden who also called in a Canadian battleship to underline his stance. On 21 July, over two-hundred fully armed local militia lined the shore, while The Rainbow, prepared for confrontation on the sea. All of Vancouver was out for the spectacle. Major confrontation was averted through eleventh-hour negotiations, and in the end, provisions for the Komagata Maru’s return journey were provided.

The consequences of the incident were dire: informants within the community were murdered, and a key player for the Empire was assassinated. Upon its return to India, the Komagata Maru encountered hostile British authorities who fired on the passengers, suspecting them to be seditious. Over forty people went missing or were killed. Some of the passengers escaped, including Gurdit Singh, who lived to tell the “true story” of the Komagata Maru.

Several hundreds of Indians from Canada returned home to join an armed struggle against the British, that would later be brutally crushed by the colonial authorities.

The Komagata Maru’s voyage and its aftermath exposed the Empire’s myths of equality, fair-play and British justice, and became a turning point in the freedom struggle in India.

By examining the global context and repercussions of a Canadian event, Continuous Journey challenges us to reflect on contemporary events, and raises critical questions about how the past shapes the present.

As young South Asians, we find ourselves faced with particular realities, challenges, and questions about our histories, our cultures, and our identities. Our objective in organizing this mela is to facilitate a platform in which to empower and inspire South Asian youth to dialogue on and explore community social issues through self-expression, education, and arts & culture.

The mela will include a variety of mediums through which young South Asians express themselves and communicate through- visual art and photography, films, dance such as classical dance and bhangra, performances of hip-hop/tabla/ Asian underground/spoken word & poetry and other musical performances, discussion groups, workshops, popular theatre, and educational panels.

In the mela, young South Asians will be able to exchange, debate, critique, and explore different issues such as: what it means to be a south asian youth, our experiences in the educational system, family and peer pressures, the influence of popular culture in our lives, how we are represented in the media, reclaiming cultural traditions, our ability to access culturally-relevant services such as for women’s health, religion in our personal lives and as a political reality, our roles and realities in the labour force, sexuality, cultural taboos, violence, inter-community prejudices, immigration, race, social/economic/political histories of the subcontinent, globalization, caste, environmental sustainability, civil rights in the post 9/11 climate, migration history of the South Asian community, peace in the subcontinent, and much more.

We also hope to empower young South Asians through skills training in media, web design, radio production, film making, writing, public speaking, and performance art which will encourage young South Asian youth to advocate for themselves.

Our community is diverse, culturally rich, and maintains strong ties to South Asia, as well as diasporic ties across the world. We envision that through the mela we will strengthen our ties across different religions, regions and nationalities and define and create new political, cultural and social spaces for young South Asians.

The cost of this gathering is pay what you can afford ($0-$20). Food and snacks will be provided for free, free childcare will be available, and there will be multilingual presentations with translation available.

Organized by a diverse group of young South Asians with the support of community partners and organizations.

[desi -- desi (de 'see), n. [Sanskrit des' ] 1. some one with south-asian ancestry; of any one of the indic peoples; people of south asian ancestry 2. people who share a common history with origins in nepal, bhutan, sri lanka, bangladesh, pakistan, guyana, trinidad, india and the diaspora.]

OBJECTIVE OF GATHERING

To facilitate a platform in which to empower and inspire South Asian youth to dialogue on and explore community social issues through self-expression, education, and arts & culture.

PROGRAMMING

==> WORKSHOPS  (tentative list)
1.        What it means to be a south asian youth: South Asian identity/ subjectivity
2.        Racism in the educational system, media, popular culture & reclaiming cultural traditions, identities, representation
3.        Cultural taboos and family/peer pressures
4.        women’s health/
5.        South Asian gang violence:
6.        Power and privilege workshop
7.        Homophobia/sexuality/queer caucus
8.        Patriarchy and Violence against women (closed discussion for women)/Discussion of violence including young men of colour (socialization, racialization etc)
9.        Castism/Dalit issues
10.       Religion: liberation and oppression (religious fanaticism, secularism)/ interfaith dialogue
11.        Labour and working experiences (training wage, mills, schooling, migration, class aspirations)
12.        Comprehensive histories (social/economic/political) of the subcontinent
13.        Migration history of the South Asian community and links to other community histories (eg Chinese migration, indigenous histories)
14.        War and Peace (Nuclear proliferation, Kashmir etc)
15.        War on terrorism and profiling in post 9/11 climate
16.        Anti-globalization struggles/ environmental racism

Team (present):

(NP7): Lida Lore, Leilani Ocampo, Lucy Varghese, Brenda Bearisto

(NP6?): Jessie Sandhu, Sharyln Khan, Raj Khatra, Karm Sodhi

(Virsa): Balbir Gurm and Mike Powar

What did we talk about?

• There will be 2 teams working on two separate (but also connected) aspects of the project with Virsa
  • Community Change (NP7):
    • Literature Review: (suggestions: best practices of other youth programs (Bay Area), youth development, migrant community issues, etc.)
    • Project: unclear yet, but the general goal is to work towards a community event of some sort
  • Research:
    • Culture & Identity with Youth of Migrant Communities
    • Community visits

• Discussed goals of project-starting with the rationale for the creation of the committee from Virsa & the feedback from various forums held throughout the lower mainland
• Possible projects:
  • working with mentorship groups or mentors: perhaps an evaluation of the program, or delivering some useful material to incorporate into mentorship programs that meets the goals of the committee
  • MELA–My Experience Living as a South Asian
• TO DO:
  • figure out meeting schedules
  • research respective areas of concentration to start developing ideas about possible concrete work
  • develop a timeline for various aspects of project

WHY?
Community Building through Culture & History using a strength-based approach:
(Rationale)

Forums such as those held at Tamanawis & Princess Margaret (VIRSA), and Abbotsford (Speak Out) have dealt with many of the challenges facing the community. There have been quite a high number of these community forums that talk about the problems with the community—gang violence, substance use and trafficking, domestic gender based violence and discrimination—both within community circles and under the intrigued eye of the mainstream media/public-at-large. These forums have consistently demonstrated a need for a more dynamic understanding of what South Asian cultures have been, are, and will become. It is important to note that this understanding, this gained knowledge of self and of community entails more active processes and seeks to go beyond the static form that has dominated many of the forums thus far.

Building on the idea of praxis (to know, to be, to do), this committee will be dedicated to a long-term holistic approach. Meaning that several issues will be discussed, exploring critical self-reflection—both as communities-at-large (linguistic, religious, and regional, as well as friendships/peer groups, families, workplaces, etc.) and as individuals (recognizing one’s own position in relation to all issues taken on in terms of class, gender, ethnicity, etc.)—as a guiding principle for how and which multiple histories will be told, and how they will be connected to the conditions of the present.

At this moment, I only have my own experiences and studies to build these rationales and believe that this will ultimately be a primary, ongoing dialogue with committee members and community allies/partners.
Mike