Punjabi Canadian Legacy Project Phase 1
The Royal BC Museum, in partnership with the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI) at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV), and in consultation with the Punjabi Canadian Legacy Project Advisory Committee, engaged with British Columbia’s Punjabi communities, organizations and individuals to create a Punjabi Canadian Legacy Project (PCLP). This work aims to preserve, explore and share the contributions that Canadians of Punjabi descent have made to the history of BC and Canada.
The first phase of the PCLP project, the Indo Canadian Sawmill Pioneer Family Oral History Collection Project, 2015-2016, included the interviewing of 52 Punjabi men who worked in the sawmill industries in British Columbia in the mid- ladder 20th century. These stories offer a glimpse into a significant part of the experience of Punjabi migration – the sawmills.
These interviews will be used to share the experiences of South Asians with other British Columbians and to help South Asians better understand and feel a connection to their history.
** The transcriptions for each of the interviews are available at the offices of The South Asian Studies Institute.
Other projects undertaken by the Royal BC Museum and South Asian Studies Institute as part of the Phase I work included:
- The Punjabi Pioneer Food History Project which resulted in a new collection and the development of educational material on the Royal BC Museum Learning Portal in 2014–2015.
- The establishment of the Punjabi Canadian Legacy Project Advisory Committee in 2015.
- The province-wide Community Consultation including a gallery intervention event and seven consultations, in 2015–2016
- The South Asian Historic Places Project in partnership with the province of British Columbia in 2016–2017