Canadians Celebrated Saarc Charter Day With Hope Of Cooperation And Enthusiasm

by Zubair Choudhry

December 9, 2004, Toronto – "With economic, social and cultural cooperation in the region, particularly between India and Pakistan, South Asia is poised to move forward as a global force, said Zubair Choudhry, Chairman of SARC CANADA in his welcome address."  SARC Canada organized an event in Scarborough Civic Centre on December 8, to commemorate the foundation of the (SAARC), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, 19 years ago this day in Dhaka, Bangladesh. "An emerging market of 1.4 billion consumers and an economy of more than one trillion dollars will provide significant business and economic opportunities for products and services from Canada, Zubair added."  SARC CANADA is planning to hold the International South Asian Women’s Conference in May 2005 during the South Asian Heritage month celebration in Ontario and also organize a Symposium on Canadian initiative for Peace in Sri Lanka, he mentioned.

SARC Canada was established in 1999 in Toronto, Canada, as a non profit organization to represent people of South Asian origin living in Canada. It is comprised of communities from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka. SARC Canada takes inspiration for its objectives from SAARC; the government led official body of the region, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, and will strive to advance its agenda.

 

Members of the South Asian community, and invitees from other communities and associations, including elected representatives attended the SAARC DAY celebration event. Young student Dilshaan Panjwani started the event with Canadian anthem.  Speeches were followed by a cake cutting ceremony. The cake depicted the flags of 8 countries, the 7 member nations of SAARC and Canada. 

 

The keynote speaker, Prof. David Cameron, U of T, in his speech said he was pleased to attend an event where the South Asians were coming together as one. Too often, he said, immigrants carry the conflicts from their home countries to Canada. The same issues that divided people in their countries of origin linger and divide the same communities here. He described how confrontations and hostilities in Sri Lanka, Kashmir and other places in South Asia have slowed the pace of progress for these areas.

 

He suggested that Canadians who have originated from these areas could promote the Canadian style of reconciliation and accommodation by using their shared experience of neighborly coexistence in this country. Canada has handled its own simmering political crises in a peaceful and democratic way.

 

Immigrants travel back to their countries of birth and maintain their ties with people still living there. He suggested that all such contact could filter the new country’s sense of cooperation to the societies in South Asia. Establishing peace, doing conflict resolution and developing understanding of one another has to help the South Asian countries progress much faster.

 

Senator Consiglio DiNino, a noted member of the Italian community, was the guest speaker. He told the South Asians present that their position was similar to many Italians in their early years here. He described how he had worked in banking for many years until one day he and some partners decided to start their own very successful bank. South Asians, he said, are dynamic and entrepreneurial. They have also used initiative to create thriving businesses and other ventures. They are coming into the political arena, including fielding the first husband and wife team (Gurmant and Nina Grewal) to be current MPs simultaneously. He encouraged SARC Canada to continue their bridge building efforts. 

 

Bard Duguid, MPP from Scarborough Centre in his speech applaud the initiative of promoting cooperation among South Asian communities in Ontario and read the greetings from Dalton McGuinty, the Premier of Ontario.

 

Ajit Deshmukh and Salma Ataullahjan read the greetings from Paul Martin, the Prime Minister of Canada, the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shoukat Aziz, and the Secretary General of SAARC, Q.A.M.A. Rahim, Stephen Harper, MP, Official Opposition Leader and Toronto City Mayor David Miller.

 

Gitu Parikh, director of SARC CANADA thanked the audience and encouraged them to join the organization with pride and responsibility to promote the peace and harmony among South Asian Canadians.

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