{"id":569641,"date":"2026-03-30T00:12:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T00:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/569641\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T00:12:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T00:12:27","slug":"gala-aims-to-expand-sikh-studies-program-at-university-of-calgary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/569641\/","title":{"rendered":"Gala aims to expand Sikh Studies program at University of Calgary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leaders, academics and supporters from one of Calgary\u2019s largest diasporas gathered on Sunday to celebrate and expand the future of a University of Calgary community co-created program, with the Sikh Studies Gala.<\/p>\n

The afternoon affair at the Empire Banquet Hall hosted several members of Calgary\u2019s Sikh community for the fundraising event.<\/p>\n

UCalgary Faculty of Arts development director Cathy Billington said the Sikh Studies program offered by the university is a community co-created initiative.<\/p>\n

From their first standalone gift in 2016, followed by their first successful \u201cGiving Day\u201d in 2021 \u2014 all have played a significant role in developing the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to the community support paired with matching funds from the University of Calgary, we\u2019ve been able to establish six courses in Sikh Studies at the University of Calgary, fund a four-year limited-term professorship dedicated to Sikh Studies,\u201d Billington said. \u201cThis has impacted over 500 students at the university, had dozens of community events and five community research-based initiatives as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also helped create the Sikh Studies Endowment Fund, dedicated to supporting the ongoing expansion of Sikh Studies at the U of C.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of this amazing support and vote of confidence from the community, the university has stepped forward to make that four-year limited term professorship a permanent faculty position dedicated to Sikh studies at the university,\u201d Billington said.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Guests gather at Calgary\u2019s Empire Banquet Hall for a fundraising dinner for the University of Calgary\u2019s Sikh Studies program on Sunday, March 29, 2026.<\/p>\n

Moving forward, the university aims to establish\u00a0an endowed Sikh Studies Research Chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a rare opportunity to establish a world-class Sikh Studies chair right here in Calgary,\u201d said Jaskaran Sandhu, Sikh Studies community advisory council member. \u201cIt would create a space to research, share, and elevate Sikh history and contributions while strengthening cultural understanding across communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since it is a community-informed initiative, Billington said community positions are available to help give feedback in an advisory capacity to the university on Sikh Studies.<\/p>\n

\u2018Doing it for everyone\u2019<\/p>\n

For Canadians who have an interest in the Sikh faith, former Calgary councillor and Calgary-Skyview MP George Chahal said the program offers students a unique opportunity to learn more about their culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a great initiative that community members have worked extremely hard to bring forward, and today\u2019s a day of recognition, but a day of giving to support the Sikh Studies program at the University of Calgary to raise funds to make sure that we have a strong, vibrant program for the future,\u201d Chahal said.<\/p>\n

Canada is host to one of the largest Sikh populations outside of India.<\/p>\n

As a born and raised Calgarian in the Sikh community, Chahal said their community is dedicated to working together to build a stronger Calgary and Canada alongside all their neighbours.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time there\u2019s a need to support each other, we have an important saying is \u2018Sarbat da Bhala\u2019, and that\u2019s doing it for everyone,\u201d he said. \u201cWe come together as a community, so the Sikh community is a community here in Canada, but we\u2019re Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Guests gather at Calgary\u2019s Empire Banquet Hall for a fundraising dinner for the University of Calgary\u2019s Sikh Studies program on Sunday, March 29, 2026.<\/p>\n

As the third largest ethnic group in Calgary, Sikh Studies student Manvir Kaur Sidhu said the program allows for proper representation of their culture in academia.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a program here that gives us an opportunity to do our research, talk about ourselves, to learn more about our ancestry, and share it with other people in our classes, which are always triple-filled, I think is an amazing opportunity, and that the university is supporting us in this endeavor,\u201d Sidhu said.<\/p>\n

Fellow student Harveen Kaur Toor said it also gives Sikh students an identity within U of C, while promoting multiculturalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanadians, they pride themselves on multiculturalism,\u201d Toor said. \u201cSo we\u2019re trying to build that same multiculturalism through Sikh studies, and I think it\u2019s a great initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Guests gather at Calgary\u2019s Empire Banquet Hall for a fundraising dinner for the University of Calgary\u2019s Sikh Studies program on Sunday, March 29, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leaders, academics and supporters from one of Calgary\u2019s largest diasporas gathered on Sunday to celebrate and expand the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,48,219167,212083,219166,112709],"class_list":{"0":"post-569641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-calgary","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-cathy-billington","12":"tag-sikh-community","13":"tag-sikh-studies","14":"tag-university-of-calgary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}