‘I am not South Asian’: Why the provincial government is being called to find a new name for its proposed museum
The Canadians of South Asian Heritages museum is engaging with citizens to create the best possible outcome for the community
A photo from the Komagata Maru incident, one of the most well-known injustices Sikh, Muslim, and Hindu people faced in Canada. (City of Vancouver Archives/James Luke Quiney)
On April 2, the provincial government announced $500,000 in funding to the BC Museums Association (BCMA) for communities to facilitate engagement and dialogue over the proposed Canadians of South Asian Heritages museum.
Grants of up to $5,000 will be available to applicants to cover the cost of facilitating community-led conversations, with the goal of having as many voices as possible be heard. Individuals can also share their insights through a new website, in either written or video format, and take part in an online survey.
“We do not want a museum that’s put together by bureaucrats who know very little about the lived experiences of the people that this museum is going to reflect. And so it is very important to connect,” says MLA for Surrey-Panorama, Jinny Sims.
The engagement phase of the project opened in October and will remain open through the summer, when they will publish a report with their findings. The museum was originally announced as part of a New Democratic Party’s campaign promise in 2020.
On the same day the funding and updated website for community engagement opportunities were announced, a group known as the Museum Liberation Force (MLF) hosted a “Where is Our Museum?” panel, where they called for provincial action on prioritizing genuine community involvement, ensuring the museum will be anti-racist and a departure from the term ‘South Asian.’
The group includes former museum advisory committee member and University of the Fraser Valley sessional history instructor, Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra, who left due to frustrations with the project.
“However, during the past two years since this promise was made by the provincial government, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport — mandated to undertake this work — has broken promises, harmed relationships, and excluded community voices,” the MLF wrote in an open letter via Instagram.
“Time and time again, we are not afforded a chance to engage in a meaningful way, let alone unpack important issues, including, but not limited to, the use of the word ‘South Asian,’” they wrote.
Kwantlen Polytechnic University nursing instructor and cultural safety teacher Balbir Gurm is the chair of the museum advisory committee. She says the government has done everything to accommodate their wishes for the museum.
“There hasn’t been stonewalling to say, ‘Oh, no, we can’t do it that way.’ It’s always been, ‘Okay, what do you guys want?’” Gurm says.
Despite this, there is community pushback on the use of the term ‘South Asian,’ which continues to be used as a placeholder name during the engagement phase of the project.
Gurm says the term ‘South Asian’ was meant to be an inclusive placeholder name to encompass people whose heritage is from that geographical area, as it is referred to in academia. The name is not set in stone, and people are encouraged to participate in the engagement phase of the project.
Raj Singh Bhandall, a local collector of rare and antique books and artifacts, says he was approached by the province to contribute to the museum, however, refused to accept until the title removed the term ‘South Asian.’
“We’re not asking to replace [the] term, we are saying delete this term,” says Bhandall, who is the owner of Wanjara Nomad Collections and part of the “I am not South Asian” campaign.
“I’m a Sikh Canadian, I’m a Punjabi Canadian. I’ll define myself. … What Canada is doing to me is deleting my identity, and I don’t understand that.”
Bhandall says an alternative approach is to create a museum where many heritages and contributions to B.C. are celebrated for their work in building this country, rather than trying to lump together a select few under an umbrella term many from the community do not identify with.
“We have to be very careful of this, … that we are not creating a place where someone is feeling left out, because of their number [or] because of their contribution to Canada. And it will happen under this term,” Bhandall says.
“I just have one request. Treat me as a Canadian. That’s all I want.”
