When Surinder Takkar and his parents left their home in Punjab, India, for a new life in Mackenzie, BC, in 1981, there were another 85 Sijs families that lived in the small community between the rocky rocky boxes and omineca.
Takkar’s now is one of the only Sijs families that remain there.
“We try to keep the Gurdwara, but when Covid happened, [had] To close it, “Takkar said.
He said that over the years it became increasingly difficult to maintain the building, built in the early 1980s once it served almost 400 Sijs residents.
“There are only four or five [Sikh] People who live in Mackenzie, right? Then, our community decided that we have to do something about it because four people cannot handle that building, “he said.
Now, as the demography of the small city changes, the Gurdwara, once bustling, is finding a new life like the future home for many of Mackenzie’s local community groups.
Mackenzie was established in 1965 to support the development of two sawmills and a pulp factory, but in 2008, the city of approximately 4,000 experienced important factoring closures that saw more than a thousand forest workers lose their jobs.
“The SIJ community was a very, very important part of our community for many, many years,” said Mackenzie Mayor Joan Atkinson.
She said that since the closing of the mill, many of the SIJS families moved to the bass continent, retired or followed their children who moved to post -secondary education.
“Most of them have left the community.”
Community Center
Takkar said Mackenzie’s Sikh society asked the Mackenzie district if any organization could use the Gurdwara. At the same time, the Mackenzie Community Arts Council was looking for a new building.
“The building was falling into a state of poor condition and was not being used,” said the president of the Community Arts Council, Michelle Bobrel. “But as artists we only saw the potential.”
Now, they are busy renewing the Gurdwara to make a home not only for the Council of the Arts, but also for other local community organizations, including the local potters guild and the Mackenzie Men’s Shed, a support group for men.
“This is a place where you can learn and do things and meet people. That is what I am excited,” said the men’s volunteer Knut Herzog.
Although the SIJ population has decreased dramatically in Mackenzie, SIJ communities are growing in other parts of BC.
“I would say that part of me is a bit sad to see apart from that community to move away from the north,” said Gurkirat Kaur Kandola, who grew up in Prince George but spent time traveling to Mackenzie and other communities in northern BC for religious events.
Now he travels through the north as a pediatrician of Locum and has noticed increasing SIJ communities in places like Fort St. John and Terrace.
“It is also equally moving and incredible to see that much of the young generation and the new population of immigrants choose to call their home north and create another sense of community among the Punjabi sij population.”
Kandola said it is not surprised that the SIJ community in Mackenzie has donated the Gurdwara so that it can remain in use for the community, since selfless donations is a central principle of its faith.
“I’m very proud to see that happens,” he said.
Retain the sij history of the building
Bobrel said that although the Council of the Arts is making important changes, they want to retain elements of the history of the building and that they name it after Herb Singh, one of Punjabi’s first SIJS to come to Mackenzie at the end of the 1960s.
“We can help the community and pay the gift they have given us,” said Bobrel. “We will make sure everyone knows what this possible did.”
Betty Chahal, Herb Singh’s daughter, said her father was instrumental in establishing the SIJ community in Mackenzie, often spreading news of work opportunities in local mills to friends and family in the low continent.
“I think he would feel quite honored to know that he was being remembered as someone who lived there for a long time,” he said.
Chahal said he has good memories of Gurdwara, but admits that he needs some FTA.
“It is exciting that it can be used for something else and not only get lost because it is such an important building in our religion.”
On August 23, the Council of Arts will celebrate the project with an innovative and a mural presentation.
“It is building the community so that in 10 years or other things, we are thriving and people cannot say Town Ghost for the closures, the reduction,” said Bobrel. “I am here to say that this city is a underestimated treasure of the rocky mountains.”
