“Wheels,” photo by Hari P. Sharma. | Photos by Hari P. Sharma, courtesy of Hari Sharma Foundation

Promoting change through education, a Vancouver-based foundation is sponsoring several events this summer to spread awareness of the South Asian community.

The Hari Sharma Foundation, formed by the estate of Hari Sharma in 2011, is an organization for the advancement of education on South Asia and the South-Asian presence in Canada. While focusing on labour issues and the rights of marginalized peoples in India, the foundation also raises awareness of social justice issues relating to the global South Asian community.

“Its goal was to enable the development of the South Asian community here, its integration into Canadian society, its cultural productions, and the enrichment of its social life,” says Chinmoy Banerjee, the foundation’s president and a professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University (SFU).

Advancing scholarship

To accomplish this goal, the foundation sponsors initiatives for positive change. It promotes education regarding South Asia and the South Asian presence in Canada, particularly pertaining to labour.

“We give an annual graduate scholarship at SFU for people who are working in an area that concerns the welfare of South Asian society,” Banerjee says. “We also give five annual grants of $1000 each to help students who are in need to take courses in Labour studies [at SFU].”

The foundation also gives grants to students in other universities conducting research on South Asia and the South Asian diaspora. These grants fund fieldwork and academic research for publications and dissertations.

Enriching Vancouver’s cultural life

Filling the Basket,” photo by Hari P. Sharma.

The foundation also funds cultural activity in Vancouver. Banerjee says this year, they are funding three programs in the Indian Summer Festival, which holds annual events on South Asian issues.

“We have invited a very prominent Indian environmentalist, Dr. Vandana Shiva, [who] is coming to give a lecture on July 14.”

After receiving her doctorate in physics in Canada, Dr. Vandana Shiva returned to her home in India and has since become an active participant in the environmental movement there. Her lecture Seeding the Future will cover the environmental movement’s fight to protect nature and people’s rights to knowledge, biodiversity, water and food. The lecture will inform the public on the necessities of food security and sovereignty, along with a democratic and sustainable food system.

The foundation is funding two other programs at the festival: Maple Leaf Islam, which deals with Islam in Canada, and Don’t Let Them Know, which deals with LGBT rights in South Asia.

“We’re also giving grants to a kapala group that’s developed a program last year called Songs of Revolution. They are a very active bhangra group, so we support them,” Banerjee adds. “This year, we are also supporting the Vancouver Art Gallery in a major exhibition they have on an Indian artist called Bharti Kher, beginning in July.”

According to Banjeree, the Hari Sharma Foundation also promotes dialogue on modern day issues relevant to the global South Asian community.

“We are giving money for lectures, public lectures and conferences,” says Banerjee. “There is a conference on climate change that we funded last year; we are funding a conference on genocide this year. We also provided funding for an SFU conference on mining last year called Extractivism.”

The foundation’s first conference in 2011 was on migrant workers, with a focus on the difficult conditions in which migrant workers live and work. The foundation’s intent was to make people aware of the conditions of oppression and so challenge their governments to provide better conditions for the underprivileged and marginalized.

Promoting change through public engagement

Banerjee says that promoting education and promoting social justice are intertwined:

“It is only through education that a political force can be created, because the government’s policies can only be changed by public engagement. So we engage in public education so that the public can become aware both of the conditions of oppression and the means and necessity of changes in public policy.”

For more information, please visit www.harisharma.org.