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Research Team
Baljinder Singh Bains
Past Vice President, Khalsa Diwan Society Executive Committee, Abbotsford
Baljinder Singh Bains moved to Abbotsford in the year 1986. His association with the Gurdwara has been since the day he arrived in Canada. In the year 2000-2001 he was entrusted with the job of Director of the society. In the year 2003-2005, he was the recording Secretary, and in the year 2006, he was the treasurer. Currently, since March 2006, he is the Vice President of the Society. “My personal life journey began in Canada with my marriage at this Gur Sikh Temple in the year 1986. I am delighted to see the progress being accomplished with the Gur Sikh Temple, National Historic Site. I was involved from the very beginning and feel proud at the progress and am humbled by the dedication of the Sangat towards this mega project in Abbotsford”.
Baljinder has been instrumental in providing a vital link for the researchers with the Khalsa Diwan Society.
Satwinder Kaur Bains
Director, CICS, UFV
Satwinder Kaur Bains is the Director of the Centre for Indo Canadian Studies at the University of the Fraser Valley and an instructor in the School of Social Work and Human Services. Currently, she is a PhD candidiate at Simon Fraser University in the Faculty of Education. Her research interest and expertise is in the field of cross cultural education. At the present time she is researching schools that are language rich because of their student demographics and the impact of language as a cultural tool. Satwinder has twenty five years work experience in community development in the Fraser Valley, provincially, nationally and internationally. She is a consummate community advocate and volunteer and has assisted numerous community organizations develop and grow. She is a supporter of community initiatives that reflect the diversity of the Fraser Valley.
Satwinder has been instrumental in developing the Canadian Sikh Heritage project from its inception.
Rishi Singh
Project Manager
Rishi Singh is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK. He was awarded the prestigious Felix Scholarship to do his research at the university. He has also been the recipient of the CRF Scholarship, the SOAS scholarship, the Charles Wallace Trust Scholarship and the Guru Nanak Education Trust, UK fellowship. He has a Masters degree in Philosophy from the University of Delhi, New Delhi, India, where he worked on rare Inshas (Persian Correspondence) associated with the Court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
He completed his Masters and Bachelors degrees with distinctions from the School of Languages, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He has also completed a programme in International Mediation and Conflict Resolution from Eramus University, Rotterdam, Holland. He has been involved with the prestigious National Institute of Panjab Studies, New Delhi, where he was a Research Associate, and managed a project on Sikh Relics. He has also co-authored a well acclaimed book on Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and researched books on Golden Temple, Anandpur Sahib and Hemkunt Sahib. He has been involved as a Project Advisor (India) for the United Nations University Leadership Academy, Amman. He is well published in National Newspapers, Research Journals, and magazines in India and Canada. He has presented papers internationally on the themes of History, Interfaith and Conflict Resolution. He has also been the Consultant for a documentary on Maharaja Ranjit Singh, made by Tara Channel for the occassion of the celebration of the Bi-Centennial year of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's coronation in 2001. He speaks fluent Persian, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu and English. He was instrumental in the structuring, planning and the execution of the project www.canadiansikhheritage.ca. Rishi has been responsible for the pioneer interviews and national heritage site, narratives.
He owns RISHI SINGH CONSULTANCY which deals with the execution of knowledge based projects.
Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra
Research Assistant , CICS, UFV
Sharanjit received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University College of the Fraser Valley with a major in History and extended minor in English. During her undergraduate career, Sharanjit was a research assistant and a regular volunteer for four years at the Centre for Indo Canadian Studies.
Sharanjit completed her Master of Arts studies in the department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia in August 2008. Her MA thesis is looked at the the discourses of power in the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the 19th century. She is a recipient of the Asa Johal Fellowship in Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia, twice recipient of the Community Prize in South Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia, and a recipient of the UCFV Entrance Scholarship.
Currently, Sharanjit works at the Centre for Indo Canadian Studies at the University of the Fraser Valley. Her work involves researching the pioneer history of Indo-Canadians, as well as other related historical projects.
Sharanjit has been instrumental in developing the content aspect of the Canadian Sikh Heritage website including the “Sikhism” section, as well as providing the content for subsections under “Passage to Canada,” “Khalsa Diwan Society, Abbotsford,” and the “Links & Affiliations.”
Karen Kaur Kang
Research Assistant
Karen Kang has been an active volunteer with the Khalsa Diwan Society for many years, by collecting donations, performing office work, being an Elections Officer, aiding the Consulate General of India with visas, or helping organize events. Her interest with the society was brought upon with her family’s involvement with the Abbotsford gurudwara and her grandfather being a regular senior citizen at the Old Sikh Temple.
Karen is in her final year of Bachelor of Science studies, with a major in biology at the University College of the Fraser Valley. She has been the link within the Sikh Community and aided in gathering information and artifacts related to the pioneer families as well as the interview collection, transcription, and narration. She has also provided content for the subsection “Youth”.
WebSix
Web Developers
http://www.websix.ca/websix/index.php
Bob Warick
Photography
With his recent retirement as a university administrator, Bob Warick has been able to focus more of
his attention on his life-long passion for photography. Over the years his work has included photojournalism, advertising, events, and many personal projects. His early work included many photographs of Canadian artists and craftspeople.
Most recently Bob’s photographs are featured in a new book entitled “Forestry A-Z” published by Orca Book Publishers. Along with portraits and special events, Bob also does architectural photography, commercial projects, and still photos for television production. Bob’s involvement in the Abbotsford Sikh Temple heritage project is a continuation of his former work at UCFV and his role in helping to establish the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies there. Bob works with high-end digital equipment and does his own post-production work and custom printing.