This spring and summer, in-person and online engagement sessions focus on creating a museum in B.C. to celebrate Canadians of South Asian heritages.
The website is where people can upload written or video submissions and .
Surrey resident co-chairs a 13-member ministerial advisory committee tasked with gathering public input about the project.
鈥淭he B.C. government promised to build a museum, but the engagement is all about trying to figure out what the objectives should be, and should it be a museum/cultural centre,鈥� Gurm said.
鈥淲hat kind of space should it be, that鈥檚 another question, and then what do we want to call it, and where do you want it built? There are lots of questions on the (survey), that鈥檚 just a few of them.鈥�
鈥� RELATED: .
No construction timeline is given for the museum, plans for which date back to the provincial election campaign of October 2020, when .
The museum will be the first of its kind in Canada, according to B.C. Premier David Eby, and will 鈥減reserve the rich history of the diverse South Asian communities in this province for generations to come.鈥� Eby made the statement May 23, 2024, .
At Surrey City Hall on April 2, the day the B.C. government launched expanded public engagement focused on the project, that aimed to push for the quicker creation of the museum.
The museum concept has been criticized by some for using a broad term 鈥淪outh Asian,鈥� but Gurm is quick to defend what鈥檚 considered a 鈥渢emporary working name鈥� for the facility.
鈥淭he criticism is that 鈥楽outh Asian鈥� does not reflect a person,鈥� Gurm said. 鈥淪outh Asia is a place, a space made up of seven countries. So when we鈥檙e talking about the museum, not only are we talking about that, but we鈥檙e talking about people who might have gone from there to Africa and then to Canada or there to England and then to Kenya and then to Canada. So it鈥檚 hard to describe who it is, other than it鈥檚 people from an area. That鈥檚 why we call it South Asian, to reflect all those people in that area.鈥�
Gurm, born in the village of Mangata, Punjab, India, grew up in Vancouver. Today, she鈥檚 an award-winning who is involved in history and museum projects.
Feedback will be summarized into a report published later this year, possibly before the B.C. election on Oct. 19.
鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping that by September we would have a report on the engagement so that we can inform government as to what we want,鈥� said Gurm, who co-chairs the advisory committee with Am Johal.
鈥淧olitically, with government cycles, you know that during election time they鈥檙e probably going to promise you more things than when they鈥檙e sitting in session.鈥�
The current round of engagement will be a good reflection of what the community thinks, Gurm hopes. The more people respond, 鈥渢he better the data and the better the decision,鈥� she added, 鈥渂ecause if nobody bothers to engage, then you鈥檝e just got people sitting around a table, you know, like myself and others that are on the committee deciding, and I didn鈥檛 want that.鈥�
So far, Gurm says people prefer either Vancouver or Surrey for the museum location.
鈥淚t would be great for Surrey,鈥� she underlined. 鈥淚 do teach at KPU, and KPU has multiple campuses where we have space. It could be a partnership between the province and KPU, you know. It鈥檚 an educational facility, and if there are lull times at the museum, then the university could use it (the space). But again, it鈥檚 a biased opinion and I will be the first to admit that.鈥�
The creation of such a museum is important, Gurm said, because when she was growing up, 鈥渢here was nothing reflected in our history books about contributions of South Asians. They were written from a very Western European perspective, and so that change is needed because if we look at self-identity, self-concept, it鈥檚 important to know who we are and where we come from. And when we don鈥檛 have that, it has an impact on health. And if you don鈥檛 have a healthy person, you鈥檙e really not gonna be a good citizen, so to me, it鈥檚 really important that we do try to do these types of things.鈥�
