Research Students
Since its inception, the South Asian Studies Institute has been a vibrant space for all UFV students to be a part of. Our students have been involved with the SASI through their volunteering, research assistanships, work study positions, internships and practicums. Because of their immense hard work and efforts, many of our students have been involved in some innovative research projects, with some of them eventually earning them the annual Undergraduate Research Excellence (URE) award awarded by the Research and Graduate Studies Office.
Samarah Siddique
Position: Research and Cataloguing Assistant
Year: September 2024 - present
Samarah Siddique is a third-year undergraduate student at UFV majoring in Communications with a minor in Media and Communication Studies. She is working as a research assistant at South Asian Studies Institute (SASI) for the BC Muslim Social History Project. She is responsible for conducting interviews with various members of the South Asian Muslim community in British Columbia, while additionally transcribing and narrating their stories to prepare them for digital archiving. Her ability to connect with interviewees helps create a comfortable space for them to share their stories openly. By engaging thoughtfully, she ensures their stories are preserved accurately and respectfully.
Amrit Sahota
Position: Research and Cataloguing Assistant
Year: October 2024 - present
Amrit Sahota is currently enrolled in the Library and Information Studies program at the University of the Fraser Valley. Her previous exposure at an archive led her to the doorsteps of the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI), where she works as a Research and Cataloguing Assistant. Passionate about preserving the past and connecting it to the present, Amrit aspires to work in the world of archives one day.
Amarnoor Kaur
Position: Web developer - Research Assistant
Year: October 2024 - present
Amarnoor is a dedicated web developer currently working at SASI, where she is responsible for building a website focused on Transnational Marriages. With a background in web development, she brings her expertise to design and develop user-friendly, engaging digital experiences. Her passion and commitment to impactful work allows her to create platforms that address and portray such significant social topic.
Saumyaa Gelani
Position: Research Assistant
Year: September 2024 -
Saumyaa Gelani, a third-year Bachelor of Computer Information Systems student at the University of the Fraser Valley, assists in developing digital archives on South Asian Muslims in British Columbia at the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI). She researches historical records, contributes to website design, and creates promotional materials for SASI events, helping preserve and share South Asian heritage.
Mehr Anand
Position: Research and Cataloguing Assistant
Year: September 2024 -
Mehr Anand is a third-year student at the University of the Fraser Valley, majoring in psychology with a minor in Media and Communication Studies. She works as a Research Assistant at the South Asian Studies Institute for the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive, focusing on organizing and classifying archival materials. Mehr is passionate about research, effective communication, and leadership, embracing new experiences with enthusiasm.
Devyank Gosain
Position: Financial Research Assistant
Year: September 2024 -
Devyank Gosain is a dedicated third-year Business Administration student at UFV, pursuing a double major in Accounting and Finance. In his role as a Finance Research Assistant at SASI, Devyank plays a crucial role in preparing budgets, managing departmental expenses, and addressing accounting inquiries. Driven by a goal to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Devyank is currently completing the necessary coursework to qualify for the CPA PEP. Outside of academics and work, he enjoys creating social media content, exploring nature, and traveling.
Asmita Gupta
Position: Graduate Research Assistant
Year: September 2024 - Present
Asmita Gupta is currently in her first year of Masters in Library and Information Studies at iSchool of University of British Columbia. She is working as a research assistant for SASI and will be responsible for metadata related work for multiple South Asian Collections at SACDA.
Sadhikpreet Singh
Position: Video Editor and Social Media Content Creator
Year: July - October 2024
Sadhik is currently pursuing a General Studies program, specializing in graphic design. He is an active contributor at the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI), where he plays a critical role in editing and translating interviews for the Folk Music Archive Project, ensuring the preservation and accessibility of cultural narratives. Additionally, Sadhik is responsible for managing SASI's social media presence, where he creates engaging content and develops strategies to enhance online visibility and community engagement. His creative expertise extends to composing original music for SASI’s documentaries, showcasing his versatility in both visual and audio storytelling.
Raaynaa Madaan
Position: Research and Cataloguing Assistant
Year:
June – December 2022
January - March 2024
July 2024 - Present
Raaynaa Madaan is a fourth-year undergraduate student at UFV majoring in psychology in the Bachelor of Liberal Arts Program. She is working as a Research Assistant at SASI for the South Asian Canadian Archive (SACDA) Project, responsible for conducting background research to characterize and classify archival records into item-level metadata. Raaynaa aspires to work in the field of research and this project provided her with a much-needed experience and knowledge of the rich history of the South Asian Community in Canada. Beyond her academic pursuits, she takes pride in her ability to communicate effectively, lead teams, and make decisions efficiently. She's open-minded and loves to learn about new things!
Rashneet
Position: Research and Cataloguing Assistant
Year:
October 2024 - Present
September 2023 - March 2024
Rashneet is a fourth-year undergraduate student majoring in Graphic and Digital Design. She currently works as a Research and Cataloguing Assistant at the South Asian Studies Institute. She has contributed to the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive by helping digitize and catalogue books, magazines, and research papers, and by creating manuals for the archive. Additionally, she has worked on photography, social media design, and web development for projects like the Komagata Maru lesson plans and South Asian Muslims in BC. Currently, she is working on a research project.
Akshit Marwaha
Position: Web Developer
Year: September 2024
Akshit Marwaha is a third-year Computer Information Systems student at UFV. As SASI's Web Developer, he ensures the website is functional, user-friendly, and visually appealing, contributing to the institute's digital outreach. With a passion for creating seamless online experiences, Akshit brings both technical expertise and creative problem-solving to his role. When he’s not fixing bugs, he’s building better web experiences—because every website deserves some love!
Tirth Pahouja
Position: Fundraising Planning
Year: January 2024
Tirth is currently a third-year Business Administration student, specializing in the field of sales. He is actively involved with SASI in planning the annual fundraising event, the 'Bajwa Dhami Building Bridges Golf Tournament 2024.' In this role, he manages various aspects of the event, communicates with sponsors, and handles additional responsibilities to ensure its success.
Anne-Marie de Waard
Position: Practicum Student
Year: February - March 2024
Anne-Marie is a practicum student with the Department of Information Studies at the University of the Fraser Valley. She was responsible for conducting background archival research and describing and classifying archival records for the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive.
Rui Lu
Position: Practicum Student
Year: February - March 2024
Rui conducted background research and described Lumber Industry Collection, reviewed Doman Family fonds, reviewed and cross-checked the names with the Chinese Head Tax database from Prof. Henry Yu/UBC, wrote a detailed report/reflection regarding the findings from the Mayo Lumber Company payroll book and the history of Chinese workers in Paldi, BC.
Gauri Sethi
Position: Research Assistant
Year: January 2024 - March 2024
Gauri is a 2nd year Bachelor of Business Administration student who aspires to major in finance. She is a research assistant at SASI, her primary role is to create item level metadata of various collections.
Faria Firoz
Position: Research Assistant and Graphic Designer
Year: September 2023 - March 2024
Faria completed her BFA from University of Fraser Valley and is currently pursuing her Master of Fine Arts degree from Emily Carr University of Art & Design.
Her research interests explore migration, the South Asian diaspora, displacement, and equity, with a focus on examining identity and cultural hybridization. Faria designed the panels for the Komagata Maru permanent exhibit at the site of the Sikh Heritage Museum in Abbotsford and is currently working on the digitization of Chandra Bodali fonds.
Kiara Dabreo
Position: Research and Cataloguing Assistant
Year: October 2023 - March 2024
Kiara is a second-year student in the Bachelor of Arts program. She is currently working on a project titled, "Mapping the social histories of Muslim immigrants of South Asian origin in British Columbia."
Her work involves conducting archival and historical research specifically related to the immigration histories of early Muslim immigrants to BC, including their settlement and community adaptation.
Annshul Kashyap
Position: Research and Cataloguing Assistant
Year: October 2023 - March 2024
Annshul is currently a 3rd year student in the Bachelor of Computer Information and Systems program at the University of the Fraser Valley. He is working as a Research and Cataloguing Assistant at the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI), where his primary work is to catalogue South Asian books, magazines, research papers, and reports.
Pratham
Position: Research Assistant
Year: February 2023 - March 2024
Pratham is currently enrolled as a 4th year student in the Bachelor of Computer Information System program at the University of the Fraser Valley. He worked as a Research and Cataloguing assistant, primarily focusing on digitizing, creating metadata, translating, and editing multiple collections for South Asian Canadian Digital Archive (SACDA).
Arnav Mehta
Position: Research Assistant
Year: August 2022 – March 2024
Arnav Mehta is a 2nd-year student in B.Sc. with a major in computing science at UFV. Arnav is a research assistant SASI, where he handles updating and upkeep of SASI websites as a web developer. Arnav worked on development of multiple pages for the website, southasiancanadianheritage.ca and other SASI websites. He also worked on creating digital exhibits for SACDA.
Tarun Sharma
Position: Research Assistant
Year: January 2024 - March 2024
Tarun is Research Assistant at SASI and is currently pursuing Computer Science at UFV. He has a strong background and interest in film production. At SASI, he is involved in documenting and cataloguing South Asian religious monuments situated in the Lower Mainland and the Fraser Valley region through professional photography.
Prati Kapoor
Position: Research and Cataloguing Assistant
Year: October 2023 - December 2023
Prati is currently in her second year of the Bachelor of Business Administration Program. She worked as a research assistant in the fall semester and worked on digitizing, editing, and organizing the meta data of Dr Dr. Palaniswami Rathanaswami Fonds and Dr. Normal Buchigani Fonds. Currently, she is volunteering in the same role and working on the Mewa Singh collection.
Arshdeep Sandhu
Position: Web developer
Year: January 2022 - December 2023
Arshdeep Sandhu has completed his Bachelor of Computer Information Systems degree at the University of the Fraser Valley. He worked as Web Developer for the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive Project (SACDA) at the South Asian Studies Institute. He worked on the exhibitions of Komagatamaru, (Dis)Enfranchisement- 1907-1947 and maintaining the SACDA Website. In addition, he also worked on updating the SACLP website.
Ravjeet Dyal
Position: Research and Cataloguing Assistant
Year: January 2023 - August 2023
Ravjeet Dyal is in her final year in the Bachelor of Arts program at UFV. She worked as a Research and Cataloging Assistant and was responsible for classifying and organizing archival records for the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive. Ravjeet was responsible for classifying archival records according to the Rules for Archival Description (RAD), Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), Thesaurus for Graphic Materials (TGM) and SACDA's internal thesaurus. Archival content analyzed includes photographs, textual records and audio files.
Ravjeet is also a member of Enactus at UFV which is a student led organization that creates businesses to help local communities. Ravjeet recently participated in the Enactus Regional Competition in Calgary, B.C. where her team presented their project in front of a panel of judges and placed first place in the Climate Action Challenge.
Mitali Bhardwaj
Position: Research Assistant
Year: February 2023 - August 2023
Mitali Bhardwaj is currently in her second year of a Business Administration Diploma at UFV. She is working as a Research Assistant and is responsible for describing and classifying multiple collections for the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive (SACDA).
Isaac Barker
Position: Research Assistant
Year: January - April 2023
Isaac Barker is a fourth-year student from UFV with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice Honours and an extended minor in Psychology. As a practicum student at SASI, he conducted both archival and contemporary research on the misrepresentation and sensationalistic coverage of Indo-Canadian communities and its association with organised crime in mainstream news outlets.
More specifically, Isaac’s work has focused on prominent Vancouver Sun journalist Kim Bolan whose career is deeply entrenched within Sikh and broader South Asian criminal justice issues of the Lower Mainland. After graduating from UFV, Isaac is heading to the United Kingdom to study law as he was recently accepted into the University of Birmingham’s LLB Graduate law program.
Pat Garland
Position: Research Assistant
Year: February - March 2022 and May - August 23
Pat Garland is a fourth year Library and Information Technology student at UFV. For SACDA, Pat created item-level metadata for two archival collections: the Wilmer Gold Collection and the Kabir Cultural Centre Collection.
Shivam Vashist
Position: Research Assistant
Year: January 2022 – December 2022
Shivam Vashist is a 4th-year student in Bachelor of Computer Informatics System (BCIS) at UFV. Shivam worked at SASI in the South Asian Canadian Archive (SACDA) Project as a Research Assistant. Shivam worked with multiple archival collections at SACDA and assisted in the digitization, processing and editing of the archival records and workflows. He had also overseen the quality assurance of the assets and prepared assets for ingesting.
Tyler Falk
Position: Research Assistant
Year: July - December 2022
Tyler is a 4th-year Criminology student at UFV. He was a practicum student at SASI where he worked on a project examining the Impact of Sport-based Programs on Youth Development and Crime Prevention. Tyler also helped organize a SASI-hosted colloquium and a forum where academics from across Canada engaged in an interdisciplinary discussion on Youth Crime Prevention and Sport.
Manveer Singh Chatha
Position: Research Assistant
Year: September – December 2022
Manveer is a 3rd year Business Administration student at UFV. He edited and processed the Canadian Image Project Interviews collection and Canadian Sikh Heritage Interviews collection for the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive (SACDA).
Balraj Singh
Position - Research Assistant
Year - July - December 2022
Balraj Singh is a 1st year BCIS Student at UFV. Balraj worked at SASI for the South Asian Canadian Archive (SACDA) as a Graphic Designer. He worked on editing and digitization of archival materials for multiple collections and designing seasonal newsletters for SACDA.
Sargun Kaur
Position: Research Assistant
Year: September - December 2022
Sargun Kaur is a 3rd year student studying BBA with majors in Marketing at UFV. She worked as a Digital Archival Assistant and her main objective was the promotion and distribution of a documentary on the farmer’s protest that happened in India. She also assisted in website development and networking with people across Canada who were interested in the screening or watching the documentary. The promotional efforts were also amplified via her through social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Gurkiran Aulakh
Position: Research Student Intern
Year: May – August 2022
Gurkiran Aulakh is a 3rd-year Business Administration student at VIU majoring in Marketing. She worked on the South Asian Canadian Digital Archives (SACDA) at SASI as a Research Intern. Gurkiran has primarily worked on classifying archival records at the item-level for SASI’s ‘Where Are the Women’ collection. At the same time, she prepared the ‘Where Are the Women’ collection’s series-level and collection-level metadata. Also, she looked through volumes of the Register of Seamen Shipped Ledger, identified South Asian seamen, then classified them at the item-level.
Prabhpreet Singh Gill
Position: Research Student Intern
Year: May – August 2022
Prabhpreet Singh Gill is a student-athlete from Rick Hansen Secondary School. His passion for Sikh history and Punjabi culture led him to volunteer with the South Asian Studies Institute at UFV as a volunteer. He digitized and described SASI fonds for SACDA.
Amreen Kaur
Position: Research Student Intern
Year: July – August 2022
Amreen Kaur is a grade 11 High school student in Rick Hansen Secondary School, Abbotsford. She is majoring in school of business. Amreen Worked with multiple archival collections for SACDA including the South Asian Studies Institute fonds, Register of Seamen Shipped Ledger collection, ‘Where are the Women’ collection, and the Canadian Image Project Interviews collection. She processed textual and multimedia archival records and created item-level metadata, contributed to the development of SACDA thesaurus, and identified and listed South Asian Canadian heritage materials from other institutional repositories for inclusion in SACDA.
Megan McGinnis
Position: Practicum Student
Year: January – April 2022
Megan is a practicum student with the Department of Information Studies at UFV. During her practicum she helped the team in preparing records for the SADCA launch slated for April 2022. She was responsible for analyzing and cataloguing items and engaged in some research to ensure the records were accurately analyzed. Meg graduated with her Bachelor of Arts from UFV in 2014 majoring in English. She will be completing her current program this year.
Ansh Seth
Position: Research Assistant
Year: January – April 2022
Ansh is a 3rd-year Business Administration student with a major in accounting at UFV. He worked at SASI as Research and Cataloging Assistant. He was responsible for describing and classifying archival records at the item level in accordance with standard Rules for Archival Description (RAD), Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), Thesaurus for Graphic Materials (TGM) and SACDA's internal thesaurus. The content included but was not limited to wedding photography, graduation pictures, portraits and much more.
Ankit Nirankari
Position: Research Assistant
Year: May 2021 - August 2021; January - April 2022
Ankit is a BBA student at UFV. He worked as an event planner at SASI in order to organize the annual fundraising ‘Bajwa Dhami Building Bridges Golf Tournament’ for the year 2021 and 2022. He was responsible for communicating with the sponsors and sending sponsorship packages, managing website changes highlighting the sponsors on regular basis, communicating with marketing and events team and much more.
Varshaa Kashyap
Position: Research Assistant
Year: November – December 2021; January - April 2022
Varshaa is a Bachelor of Arts - Psychology student. She aspires to become a clinical psychologist in her future. She worked on various research projects at SASI, more particularly about Census of South Asian Immigrants as well as Canadian born South Asians living in Canada. The topics included but not limited to racism, diversity, religion, health, and education. She also prepared reports on recent immigration trends and ethnocultural diversity of South Asian Immigrants based on latest Canadian Census.
From January, 2022 until April 2022 Varshaa worked as a Research and Cataloguing Assistant at SASI, while reporting to the Digital Asset Archivist. Primarily, she conducted background research, described, and classified archival records at the item-level in accordance with the standard rules for Archival Description (RAD). She researched the catalogue archival records according to SACDA’s internal scheme and classified records by subject using the Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH), Thesaurus for Graphic Materials (TGM) and Canadian Geographic Names Database (CGNDB). Furthermore, she suggested new terms to be added to the SACDA thesaurus, pending approval, identified gaps in existing controlled vocabularies that are relevant to South Asian Canadians and suggested new terms according to established Library of Congress Subject heading syntax.
Jahnavi Chawla
Position: Research Assistant
Year: September – December 2021; January - April 2022
Jahnavi is a 4th year BCIS student at UFV who worked at SASI in SACLP Project as Social Media Research Assistant. She worked closely with SACLP ManaJahger on social media content, finding pictures, writing relevant content, and listing facts and figures. In addition, she also designed different posters and covers for SASI events.
From January, 2022 onwards, Jahnavi worked as a digitization and post-processing research assistant. She lead the Mayo Singh Family Fonds and Joan Mayo Fonds, and other different archives for SACDA, and she edited and processed the scanned images and documents.
Ireland Bellsmith
Year: October 2021 - December 2021
Ireland is a Criminal Justice student at the University of the Fraser Valley. With a special interest in human rights and social justice, Ireland's work at SASI involved researching the potential exploitation of international students in Canada. Her work included examining immigration policy, gathering statistics, and compiling academic literature and anecdotal evidence on international student experiences.
Tania
Position: Practicum Student Cataloguing Technician
Year: September 2021 – December 2021
Tania is an Information Studies student at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV). She has a Bachelor of Interior Design Degree, in the Faculty of Architecture from the University of Manitoba, with a major in History of Art. Her practicum at SASI involved describing and classifying archival records and thesaurus construction for the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive (SACDA). Tania has a passion for social justice and engagement. She is a member of UFV’s Race and Antiracism Network (RAN), a planning member of the BIPOC Library Workers Group, and a student member of BCLA. Tania thoroughly enjoyed working together with SASI’s talented and dedicated team, with the purpose of preserving and sharing the history of South Asian Canadians, with the world.
Alisa Sohi
Position: Research Assistant
Year: May to August 2021
Alisa is a current graduate student at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information, studying archives and records management. Previously, she completed her undergraduate degree from Simon Fraser University, with a double major in History and Humanities. Passionate about social justice, diversity and representation, Alisa was the Assistant Digital Asset Archivist for the South Asian Digital Archives (SACDA) project at the South Asian Studies Institute. Alisa was excited to be part of a project that honors the history and legacies of South Asian Canadians.
Tim Ubels
Position: Practicum Student (Archive Assistant) and Digitization and Cataloguing Technician
Year: February 2021 - March 2021 / May 2021 - August 2021
Tim Ubels is a Library and Information Technology student at the University of the Fraser Valley who previously completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2015, majoring in History. His practicum work at SASI on the South Asian Canadian Digital Archives involved digitizing, cataloguing and thesaurus construction for the purpose of preserving archival material with relevance to the history of South Asian Canadians.
Dhanshree Shetye
Position: Research Assistant and Assistant Web Developer
Year: January 2021 - April 2021 / May 2021 - August 2021
Dhanshree is a Bachelor of Computer Information Systems student at UFV. She worked on designing and updating the web pages on Canadian Sikh Heritage website and South Asian Studies Institute website. In addition to this, she was also helping with Maintaining Records, Preparing Marketing contents and Planning Events for various Legacy Projects at SASI.
Amanjot Dhaliwal
Position:Research Assistant
Year: January – April 2021
Amanjot is a Bachelor of Arts student majoring in Psychology, with an interest in Anthropology. She compiled research to support the creation of the first ever South Asian Canadian museum in British Columbia. Her work included reviewing and writing reports about other ethnographic museums, governance, and community engagement.
Varun Chadha
Position: Research Assistant
Year: January – April 2021
Varun is a BBA student at UFV with majors in Marketing. He worked as an event planner at SASI in order to organize the annual fundraising ‘Bajwa Dhami Building Bridges Golf Tournament’ for the year 2021. He was responsible for creating sponsorship packages, managing website changes, creating budgets, communicating with marketing and events team and much more.
Arshdeep Sandhu
Position: Assistant Web Developer
Year: January 2021 - April 2021
Arshdeep Sandhu is an Assistant Web Developer for the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive Project at the South Asian Studies Institute. He is a Bachelor of Computer Information Systems student at the University of the Fraser Valley.
He worked on creating Digital Archive for the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive Project, configure the Collective Access and UX preparations for the website. He also worked on updating the SACLP website.
Benjamin Arends
Position: Work Study
Year: February - March 2021
Ben, a student in the Library and Information Technology diploma program. He assisted with the building of SASI's digital repository: The South Asian Canadian Digital Archive. He primarily assisted with cataloguing and digitization of archival material, as well as some thesaurus construction. Ben's long-term goal is to work in public libraries and ensure that people of all backgrounds are able to access relevant information resources.
Simran Chabba
Position: Research Assistant
Year: January 2021 - April 2021
Simran is a BBA student majoring in marketing at UFV. She worked on analysis and collecting information on South Asian immigrants with a focus on the Mv Sun Ship. Getting information from varies sources and putting them together as several story lines and supporting documents.
Harpreet Singh
Position: Accounting Research Assistant
Year: November 2020
Harpreet Singh is a business student majoring in accounting. He is currently in his final year at UFV and aspires to become a CPA in the near future. He has worked on SASI’s budget for various projects including the Punjabi Canadian Legacy Project. In addition, he has helped with accounting-related inquires and processing expense claims.
Jordan Rumsey
Position: Research Assistant
Year: September 2020 - December 2020
Jordan is a Bachelor of History and Cultural Anthropology student. He performed the task of consolidating research at SASI. He formulated compelling and important work which shows the history of the Gur Sikh Temple, and the surrounding areas. His work included racist Canadian policies, Indigenous history, settler history, and the importance of the Gur Sikh Temple as a staple sentiment of community, love, and acceptance in the Abbotsford community.
Imroze Singh Deol
Position: Research Assistant
Year: September 2020 - December 2020
Imroze Singh Deol is a Graphic Design student and is worked on the further development of content for the 'We Are Hockey' exhibit.
Sadhvi Suri
Position: Research Assistant & Co-Op Student, Digital Asset Technician and Assistant Web Developer
Year: May 2020 & September 2020 – August 2021
Sadhvi is a student pursuing her BCIS degree at UFV. She interviewed, analyzed and transcribed interviews of some of the founding board members of the Fraser River Funeral Home, the first funeral home to have a crematorium in Abbotsford. She worked at SASI as Digital Asset Technician and Assistant Web Developer for the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive Project. In addition to that, she helped with the maintenance of the Canadian Sikh Heritage website.
Position: Research Assistant & Digital Asset Technician and Assistant Web Developer
Year: August -December 2021
Sadhvi is a student pursuing her BCIS degree at UFV. She worked at SASI as Digital Asset Technician and Assistant Web Developer for the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive Project. In addition to that, she helped with the maintenance of the Canadian Sikh Heritage website (www.canadiansikhheritage.ca).
Shan Dhaliwal
Position: Research Assistant
Year: September 2020 - December 2020
Shan is a BBA student majoring in marketing at UFV. He worked on marketing, design and helped with website development for the South Asian Canadian Legacy Project. He also worked on digital content strategy for an email and social media campaign for the Sikh Heritage Museum.
Landon Kaetler
Position: Research Assistant
Year: January 2020
Landon is a Bachelor in Criminal Justice student at UFV. He collated information from local news sources to look for bias in the reporting connected to the lower mainland gang conflict. Landon also created interactive maps and other internal resources based on his research. He would like to pursue a law degree or master’s in Audiology.
Raghav Modgil
Position: Research Assistant (Work Study)
Year: January 2020 - April 2020
Raghav is a student in the Bachelor's in Media Arts (BMA) with a focus on Concept Art. He designed the 2018/2019 SASI biennial report. Raghav's goal is to work in the entertainment industry as a concept artist, designer and illustrator(movies, video games).
Kabir Mann
Position: Research Assistant
Year: January 2019
Kabir, a BCIS student worked on the maintenance and development of the new SASI website. In addition, Kabir worked on subtitling for the Punjabi Canadian Legacy Project Phase II interviews.
Kajal Shah
Position: Research Assistant (Work Study)
Year: January 2020 till April 2020.
Kajal is pursuing her Graphic design diploma at UFV. She designed a number of posters for SASI programming including the 'Haq and History' exhibit opening, Ehsaas film festival, etc. Kajal also assited with data collection based on social media archival sites. After completing her studies she hopes to study at Emily Carr University and eventually become a freelance graphic designer.
Shan Dhaliwal
Position: Research Assistant
Year: January 2019
Shan is a BBA student majoring in marketing at UFV. He worked on marketing and helping design the Sikh Heritage Museum’s “We Are Hockey” exhibit. He also worked on digital content creation for all social media platforms and the Sikh Heritage website
Harshal Patel
Position: Research Assistant
Year: January 2019
Harshal, a BCIS student designed and developed the "We Are Hockey" section of the SASI research and project-based website: www.southasiancanadianheritage.ca. He also worked on the redesigning, development and maintenance of the new SASI website and the Canadian Sikh Heritage website.
Himalya Sharma
Position: Research Assistant
Year: September 2018
Himalya, a student pursuing his BCIS degree, transcribed, analyzed and translated interviews of the earliest Sikh settler people settled in Canada based on the Punjabi Canadian Legacy Project Phase II. In addition to this, he helped with the maintenance of the SASI website and took part in helping organize events at SASI.
Ravinder
Position: Research Assistant
Year: September 2018
Ravinder is enrolled in Bachelor of Computer Information Systems at UFV. She worked on the Video Editing based on the SASI and RBCM Partnership, “Punjabi Canadian Legacy Project” where she translated the audio and added subtitles to the videos.
Prabhjot Singh
Position: Research Assistant
Year: January 2018
Prabhjot worked on research for the SASI curated exhibit Desis in the Diaspora launched in Spring 2018. Prabhjot researched South Asian artists and assisted in the design and promotions of the exhibit and also spent some time assessing microfilm newspaper articles from the Abbotsford Post.
Sharon Sharma
Position: Research Assistant
Year: Fall 2017-July 2018
Sharon, a BCIS student worked on the redesigning, development and maintenance of the new SASI website and the new Canadian Sikh Heritage website. In addition, Sharon transcribed interviews and subsequent narrations.
Arshdeep Singh Sekhon
Position: Research Assistant
Year: Fall 2017
Arsh, a BCIS student worked on the redesigning, developement and maintenance of the new SASI website and the new Canadian Sikh Heritage website. He also designed graphics and posters for SASI.
Amitaj Bhinder
Position: Research Assistant
Year: Summer, 2017
Amitaj, worked on the various project. One of the main project was re-designing of B.C Regional Chair and South Asian studies Institute website. He also assisted on South Asian Canadian Digital Archive project.
Virendra Kumar
Position: Research Assisatant
Year: Winter and Summer, 2017
Viren, a post graduate DAC student worked on the redesigning of the new SASI website, redesigning the Canada-India Research chair page and editing the Canadian Sikh Heritage.ca website. He also worked on the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive Website.
Samar
Position: Research Assistant
Year: Summer 2016, Winter 2017, Fall 2017
Samar worked on a number of tasks including: English to Punjabi translation work for an upcoming Sikh Heritage Museum exhibit; preparing outlines for the execution of education kits and data management. According to Samar, his experience at the CICS has been an amazing learning experience which has taught him South Asian history in Canada.
Bhawandeep Kahlon
Position: Research Assistant
Year: January and February 2017
Translation of the Guest comments book ( Punjabi comments only )
Bhavan worked on translation of 180-200 punjabi comments to English. All the comments were typed in punjabi and saved in an excel sheet along with the visitors names, ethnicity, place and dates. She used Shabadkosh to search meanings of few punjabi words and I also referred a punjabi dictionary to use as correct words as possible for translating the comments.
We found really good results by knowing the thoughts and concerns of people about the heritage Gurudwara and its history from their comments written in that book
Yuvraj Singh
Position:Research Assistant
Year: May 2016 to April 2017
Yuvraj worked on Legacy Project with the Royal BC Museum focusing on the struggles and evolution of the South Asian Community in Canada since the early 1900.
Reluctant Rebellions by Shauna Singh Baldwin – a non – fiction book published by the Centre of Indo-Canadian Studies now South Asian Studies Institute. Main involvement - Book sale logistics, promotional video designing, Marketing and Social Media.
Census report for the South Asian population in Canada and the increasing trend of the population from 1900’s to 2016.
Olivia Ternent
Position: Work Study (CICS Book Project)
Year: Winter 2016
Olivia, a graduate of the Library and Information Technology diploma program, and current Continuing Studies student (Records Management and Library and Information Technology) worked as a researcher for the forthcoming CICS-published book on the history of Sikh immigration to Canada over the past 100 years.
The research primarily involved distilling meta-narrative themes from interviews given by members of the local Sikh community regarding their personal and family experiences as immigrants to Canada. Chief among the meta-narrative themes were the origins and journeys of the pioneers, their struggles and triumphs, applications of legal process, and community relations both within the immigrant community itself, and within the larger fabric of Canadian society. Researching and distilling these themes was an enriching experience according to Olivia, as this is a chapter of Canadian history which is largely dismissed by most historians, who prefer a “white-washed” version of events.
Rishma Johal
Position: Research Assistant
Year: Winter 2015
Rishma Johal, a 2014 SFU MA Graduate and currently a Visual Arts student at UFV, engaged in an extensive research project and literature review titled: A Space for Female Agency: Giddha Dancers in the Diaspora. This study will adopt a South Asian Canadian feminist lens to examine perceptions of giddha as a strictly female dance form among Punjabi-Canadian women in the diaspora and their opinions about culture and female agency through its performance. This paper will adopt a qualitative feminist methodological framework to examine women’s written or spoken words and observable experiences. Qualitative feminist methodology recognizes women’s experiences as fundamental to develop an understanding of women’s lives. In this study, qualitatative feminist methodology gives women’s voices precedence through in-depth interviews and focus groups. Feminists embrace subjectivity and the adoption of this framework provides a space for women’s voices to be heard on their terms as subjects.
Emily Seitz
Position: Research Assistant
Year: Fall 2015
Emily, a fourth year Honours student in the Department of English worked on the extensive editing of a book manuscript that the CICS will be publishing in the coming year. Emily worked with the author of the ficitonal novel over a 12 week period to provide assistance with content adjustment, grammar and sentence structure.
Alisha Soni
Position: Research Assistant
Year: Winter 2015
Alisha, a Bachelor of Science Major at UFV has played a pivotal role in the Race and Anti-Racism (ufv.ca/ran) Postcards from the Margin campaign that looked at the occurrences of race-related incidents or experiences on campus. Alisha designed and disseminated the postcards and also collated all the data. The data produced will be used proactively to look for solutions on campus and will also be published by the CICS. The impetus for this campaign is to raise awareness about racial discrimination and provide a confidential, anonymous avenue for these stories/opinions/experiences to be heard and shared. RAN’s goal is to understand incidents of discrimination based on race that occur on campus with an objective to have these issues emerge in the postcards. These postcards are being conceived as a form of record for the often silenced/silent issues of racial discrimination on UFV’s campuses.
Zaki Al-Dhamari
Position: Research Assistant
Year: Fall 2015
Zaki, a fourth year CIS student at UFV worked on a number of data collation projects for the CICS. He first collected, thematized and graphed the data results of the CICS 'Post Cards from the Margin' research project. These were collected anecdotes from across all UFV campuses that reflected on issues of race amongst students, staff, faculty and admin. Zaki also collected, thematized, and graphed the findings of the CICS 2014 'Tour and Try' project which worked with the Sikh Heritage Museum to assess the impact of experiential learning (through a museum) amongst middle and high school students.
Anecia Gill
Position: Research Assistant
Year: Winter 2015
Anecia, a Sociology Major at UFV has been working on creating the Komagata Maru Play Study Guide based on the CICS commissioned play that was performed on November, 2014. Anecia’s project is interdisciplinary in nature as she works with archival materials and ephemera, historical data, personal narratives, the script of a play, a video of the actual play to develop an interactive study guide for grade 8 students. The project will provide a useful and user-friendly (age appropriate) study guide about an important topic in Canadian history that has been omitted or barely studied in Social Studies in BC. The study guide is made up of four lesson plans/units that include in them accurately placed/culturally appropriate historical data, student led exercises, video-graphed vignettes from the play that speak to historical moments/law/discrimination and cultural bias, foundational text, ephemera, photographs, teacher’s notes, websites and resources. Anecia has produced a document that we will be approaching the Ministry of Education with for introduction into the school curriculum. Anecia also presented her work at the UFV Wide Professional Development Day on April 27, 2015.
Anish Bahri
Position: Communications Practicum Student
Year: Winter 2015
Anish is in his final year of studies in the Department of Communications at UFV and completed his final practicum at the CICS. During his four month practicum, Anish assisted with two events: the launch of the Sikh Heritage Museum’s seventh exhibition, Canadian Sikhs in WWI: The Forgotten Story and the Ehsaas South Asian Readers and Writers Festival featuring Shauna Singh Baldwin.
Sukhi Brar
Position: Research Assistant (RBCM Early Sikh Migrant Mill Workers Project)
Year: Winter 2015
Sukhi is a student in the Bachelor of Kinesiology program (Exercise Science major, Extended Psychology minor) at UFV and also a member on the UFV Board of Governors. Sukhi also worked on the Sikh Ethnic Food History Project: A Join Project by Royal British Columbia Museum (RBCM) and the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies (CICS) . The work involved interviewing, transcribing and narrating the stories of South Asian men who worked in the mill and wood working industry in the early, mid, and later 20th century, BC. The RBCM will then be taking the research collated to produce a future exhibition. Sukhi presented her work and experience of interviewing South Asian millworkers at this year’s student micro-lecture series hosted by UFV’s Research, Engagement, and Graduate Studies Department: for more details visit ufv blog.
Meena Bolla
Position: Practicum (School of Social Work and Human Services) and Research Assistant (RBCM Early Sikh Migrant Mill Workers Project)
Year: Winter 2014 and Winter 2015
When I first began, my major task was to assist with the launch of the exhibition “Challenge and Denial: Komagata Maru 100 Years Later” and to create a touring program. For the first 150 hours, I worked at the centre and did a variety of things for the exhibition. I created a brochure, promotional video and panels for the site at the Gur Sikh Temple. We started a Tour and Try program for students to explore the exhibition as a field trip and I worked on everything from creating student booklets to coming up with creative activities. I was given the freedom to construct the Komagata Tour however I liked for students ranging from grades 1-10 and I seized the opportunity to get as creative as I could. I created a passport activity for students and many trivia questions in their booklet to challenge them.
Suhail Shaikh
Position: Research Assistant
Year: Summer 2014
Suhail has been working on a number of projects for the CICS including beginning his work as a volunteer and helping with the 100 Year Pioneer Project and the online publishing of South Asian pioneers and their stories in the Fraser Valley. In addition, Suhail has also been helping to prepare the Canadian Sikhs in WWI exhibition which will be launched in January 2015.
Faisal Alhumaidi
Position: Communications Practicum
Year: Fall 2014
Faisal was a practicum student in the Summer 2014 (from the Communications program) and assisted with our management of the Canadian Sikh Heritage website and helped upload the new pioneer stories to the website. Faisal also helped design posters and materials for CICS related events during the time of his practicum.
Bharat Nayyar
Position: Research Assistant
Year: Winter 2014 and Summer 2014
Bharat Nayyarv was 3rd year Business student at UFV. His major was Finance.
Lovepreet Vehniwal
Position: Internship
Year: Spring, 2013
Lovepreet Vehniwal has been working under the guidance and supervision of CICS Director, Satwinder Kaur Bains. Lovepreet is an MSW student and will be defending his dissertation in the next month. His topic was on health related problems of senior Punjabi immigrants and other problems faced by them inside the house and outside in the society.
John Park
Position: Practicum (Minor in Communication)
Year: Winter 2013
Worked for Centre of Indo Canadian Studies (CICS) about 80 hours during semester such as CICS's development, maintenance, and strengthening of linkages that lead to diverse experiences for students, faculty, and community.
Work Outcomes are use research skills as well as design skills, transferring knowledge in information technology & media, and advertise CICS through Facebook and CICS blog.
Karan Vohra
Position: Research Assistant
Year: Fall 2013
Karan Vohra helped us design our exhibit at the Sikh Heritage Museum commemorating the Komagata Maru story of 1914. He designed our text panels and images in the Fall of 2013.
Donna Gomes
Position: Research Assistant
Year: Summer 2013, Fall 2013, Winter 2014
Donna has a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and English Literature and is currently enrolled as a Library and Information Technology student. She has worked for the Center for Indo-Canadian studies as a research student over the summer and fall of 2013 working with historical primary documents. During the summer she created subject and key word headings and abstracts for two hundred and fifty newspaper articles from 1906 to 1915 donated to the center by Dr. Norman Buchignani and designed an online database to make them widely accessible. The newspaper articles offer incredible insight into the many hurdles the first South Asian immigrants to B.C. faced and the discriminatory immigration laws that placed an embargo on further immigration. A historical events covered in the newspaper articles include the building of the first Sikh temple in B.C., the amendment to the voting act that disenfranchised South Asian immigrants, and the Komagata Maru incident. The database is now accessible through the CICS website and is available to students and the public for research purposes. During the fall she will be working with a collection of documents donated to the center that belonged to Dr. D. P. Pandia, an Indian lawyer who came to B.C. in the 1930s and 1940s. Dr. Pandia was instrumental in winning the fight to get the franchise reinstated for South Asian immigrants in Canada. He also assisted many South Asian immigrants to fight deportation proceedings and to successfully apply to bring their families to Canada. Over the fall semester she will be creating an index of the documents, subject and key word headings, abstracts, and creating an online database to make them widely available for research. "Working for the Center for Indo-Canadian Studies has been an amazing experience. The environment is welcoming and stimulating. Everyone is passionate about their work and the research projects I've worked on have been fascinating and both professionally and personally rewarding."
Ankita Garg
Position: Work Study
Year: Fall 2013
I am a fourth year Business student at UFV with marketing majors. I just took transfer from Chandigarh to the Canadian campus. My main reason of coming and studying overseas is to explore and grab as many opportunities as I can. I have always aspired working under Ms. Satwinder Bains and being a part of CICS as it would give me great working experience. I hope to learn and help the organization with full determination and best of my efforts.
Divya Sharma
Position: Work Study
Year: Fall 2013
I am a student from the Chandigarh campus of this university and I have completed my three years of education in Chandigarh and this year I took a transfer to the Canadian campus. Now, here I am in Canada trying to start a new life far away from home. I am a very cheerful person I like to meet new people make new friends.
Parveer Ghuman
Position: Intern
Year: Summer 2013
Parveer Ghuman, a student visiting from Panjab University had been engaged in a research internship under the supervision of CICS Director, Satwinder Kaur Bains. Parveer was a law student from Panjab Univeristy. Parveer wokred on the project named "Canadian government Justice and community response to Domestic Violence aganiast Women in realtionships policy in British Columbia; Recommendation for improving the policy and framework in india. The report focused on the British Columbia Violence against Women policy 2010.
Stacy Thoreson
Position: Intern
Year: Fall 2013
In Fall 2012 I went to Chandigarh, India as an intern on a scholarship funded through CIDA and AUCC, organized by the Global Development Studies program and the Centre for Indo Canadian Studies. I worked with a local NGO in a settlement just outside of the city and at a local school for underprivileged children. Our goal was to provide education to the families in the settlement and the children at the school about gardening, healthy food and nutrition. In the settlement we implemented a roof top gardening project which provided supplies and education to families in need in order to grow their own vegetables. Our project helped to develop community involvement and to create an awareness about how easy and cost effective it is to grow your own food. At the school we planted class gardens and were able to work hands on with the kids outside which was really a lot of fun.
Overall my time in India was the best practical and educational experience I could have hoped for, along with the added benefits of a wonderful cultural experience. Even after being home for a few months I find I'm still learning about myself from the experiences I had in India. The relationships I've built through the success of the project have left me with a feeling of longing to go back. I love the people, the food, the clothes and the kindness that exudes from within each and every person I met.
Abdulelah Alyami
Position: Practicum for his minor in communication
Year: Fall 2012
He spent about 80 hours to make the centre more popular in the community by: Introducing the centre to the social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flicker, Google+, etc), helping make a short video about the centre, and helping update the centre’s website. He has had a very good experience and had fun working with everyone at the centre.
Deepi Dolla
Position: CICS Special Events Assistant, Volunteer
Year: September 2010-2012
Over the past few years I have worked and volunteered with CICS to help plan and set up several different events including: Virasat Pioneer Gala and Conference, Diwali and Holi celebrations, International Women's Day and Chai Times, amongst many others. My experience with the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies has always been a memorable and enjoyable one. I have had the opportunity to meet many different people and learn so much in the process.
Rasleen Uppal
Position: Work-Study Research Assistant
Year: Winter 2013
As a research assistant she worked on several projects. Some of them included researching and creating a database of different Canadian businesses who are working with India , editing a bibliography, gathering and editing information on the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies website, and organizing articles related to the Komagata Maru. The part which she really enjoyed and learnt a lot from was the research portion as it taught her how to use different databases and what the future relationship between Canada and India’s businesses may look like.
Suman Lally
Position: Work-Study Research Assistant
Year: Winter 2013, Fall 2013
Suman started volunteering at the Centre for Indo- Canadian Studies while she was in high school. When she started attending UFV, she became a little more involved and was given the position of a research assistant this year. Her work consisted of going through the Punjabi pioneer interviews and comprising a narrative with pictures for each person. She found this task very interesting because of all the stories she heard and the information she learned about our history. Suman thinks it’s very neat to be a part of this process in preserving personal stories so people in the future can learn more about their history.
Priyesh Naik
Position: Student Research Assistant
Year: 2012
He has sorted, catalogued and labeled source documents and provided key words and phrase that will be used to create a keyword search for articles that are to be placed on the website. He says that the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies is a very welcoming place to work, everyone is willing to help and they are always ready to answer any questions you have. It has been an interesting experience for him to learn about how life was for the first immigrants in British Columbia.
Shea Wind
Position: Research Assistant
Year: 2012
As a Research Assistant for the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies he was responsible for transcribing and thoroughly proofreading approximately news articles from 1906-1915, that were published in Vancouver’s The Daily Province newspaper. The articles cover a number of news stories that display numerous attempts of British Columbians to repel Indian migration and the efforts of many Indo-Canadians to settle here and attain the rights that should have been guaranteed to them as British subjects. These primary sources were donated to the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies by Dr. Norman Buchignani, co-author of a “Continuous Journey: A Social History of South Asians in Canada.” He also engaged in researching successful online cataloguing methods and developed a work plan for the following research assistant working on this project.
Tanvir Mavi
Position: Research assistant - Komagata Maru Project
Year: 2012
It was an amazing experience to work at the CICS, during this time I learned a lot about the history of Indians in Canada. What they had to go through, how they survived, and much more. I would love to work with CICS again.
Aman Dhami
Position: Research Assistant
Year: 2009 - 2011
I came to Canada in fall 2009 to continue by BBA studies from Chandigarh, India. I met Prof. Satwinder Bains on campus, who gave me the opportunity to work with CICS. I stared volunteering with CICS. I made new friends and met with great people while organizing chai time, holi and other events at the CICS through which I got the chance to attend the Mehfil Magazine Gala in 2010, which was great experience. I got the opportunity to learn more about Canadian Sikhs by visiting the reach gallery museum. Later I got a work study position at the CICS. One day while working on Sikh pioneer interviews at the CICS, Prof. Bains offered me to work on a project for participating in Undergraduate Research in UFV. With Prof. Bains’s and Sharanjit’s guidance I was able to complete my project “LIONS OF THE SEA” A timeline of one hundred years of heritage 1911-2011 which explores the challenges South Asians faced over their 100 year history in Canada as well as their contributions. I was also honoured to receive the Undergraduate Research Excellence Award for Indo‐Canadian Studies for the project at UFV.
“Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great.” -Orison Swett Marden
This quote always encourages me every single time I read it. 2011 was the year when Gur Sikh temple, Abbotsford marks its 100th anniversary. CICS and Reach gallery organized Centennial conference at UFV. I was lucky to meet great people from all over the world and learn about culture and religion. Along with other students of SAPNA organizing conference and Prof. Rajnish guidance, I got the opportunity to participated in a play “Once upon a time in Kneda” which demonstrated the hard life of Sikh pioneers in Canada. While practicing the role of Sikh pioneer I learned how hard it was in old times to find work and settle in a new country without knowing the language. Their hard work made so easy for future generation to settle in Canada. I was a great experience.
After graduating I got chance to work as research assistant at CICS. The first day I came to UFV everyone was stranger and in few months it became my second home. Volunteering and working at CICS was great gift. After learning about Sikh history in Canada and the experience I gained from the CICS I feel I grew up in the country and was never actually from India.
Raji Heer
Position: Research assistant
Year: 2009
In September 2009, Raji travelled to Punjabi, India under the leadership of Ms Satwinder Bains to conduct research on the Canadian Diaspora in India. The purpose of her research was to interview Canadian citizens who had moved to India and find out their reasons of return to their homeland. The experience was enlightening to say the least. She experienced a new India from the previous three trips she has made. Travelling alone throughout Panjab on locals buses was daunting at first, but it just made her more confident. She formed some great friendships at the University of Panjab. She became more confident and was able to develop interviewing skills, as well as interpersonal communication skills, which was an important component for this study. Raji would encourage every student to take advantage of international internships, because it builds your confidence and self esteem. You build more connections, helping you become more successful in the future.
