'For everybody': Southwestern Manitoba Indian group fundraising for community centre

Southwestern Manitoba's Pragati Indian Cultural Association is raising funds to build a community centre to help the area's growing number of people stay connected with their Indian heritage.

Brandon's Indian and South Asian communities have grown exponentially in the last decade, says Nidhi Patel, one of the association's three directors.

She says this is why an Indian Cultural Community Centre is needed — to give people a place to gather, socialize and preserve their culture for new generations. 

"We have a lot of people of East Indian origin coming to Westman ... choosing Brandon to be their hometown and living here with their family," Nidhi said. "I really want ... a cultural association where every person from the Indian diaspora can meet other people."

Pragati wants to build a 3,000 to 4,000-square-foot building with space for parking, outside activities and an outdoor community garden where people can grow their own plants. 

The association has looked at locations about five to 10 minutes outside of Brandon, Nidhi says.

The centre will be a place of social, cultural, and language exchange, she says, connecting different generations and keeping Canadian-born children connected to their heritage.

Pragati Indian Cultural Association hopes to raise enough money for a down payment on the centre by the end of the year.

On Saturday Pragati celebrated Holi at Brandon's Dinsdale Park — a festival celebrating the arrival of spring. While usually held in March, Pragati wanted to do it when the weather was nicer. 

It marked the association's first major fundraiser for the centre. More than 200 tickets were sold.

"[The centre] is for everybody to come in, everybody to enjoy, everybody to be a part of the community," Nidhi said. "The women in the family, the men, the kids, everybody gets to come out and enjoy."

Pragati is also rolling out memberships. Nidhi says people can sign up, tell the association about themselves and what they want to do at the centre.

"There are some people who want to do weekly prayer meetings. There are some people who would like to celebrate festivals like ... colour fest," Nidhi said.

Pragati is planning a Kite Festival called Uttarayana celebrating the August harvest season. 

Shri Atul Purohit and Indian folk singers will be in Brandon for Garba Mahotsav in November in an association-sponsored event. More than 2,500 people are expected to attend. 

Pragati director Maulin Patel says the popularity of these events shows why an Indian cultural centre is needed in Brandon.

"This is a literal connection between our old heritage festivals plus new generations. So it's a lot of connectivity," Maulin said. "It helps us in both ways to show our kids what's our traditional festivals and plus we can generate the money for our community centre."

Keeping culture alive

Maulin moved to Brandon in 2013. Back then there was a small community of just over 100 people from India and South Asia. 

Now, there are thousands from the diaspora who call the prairies home. 

In Brandon alone, there are at least 1,500 people from India according to Statistics Canada. This number also grows with the number of international students attending university or college, along with an expanding population in surrounding Westman communities.

Many people who came to Brandon as students now have their entire families here, including children born in Canada or elderly parents who immigrated to be with their adult kids, he says.

"Brandon is a home because I live my golden era when I start my career. I bought my business. Whatever I'm here today is everything is given by Brandon," Maulin said.

But, there can feel like there's a separation from the culture and traditions he grew up with, he says. Maulin's son was born in Canada and has only been to India once when he was a one-year-old. 

"We are disconnected from our festivals and stuff, that's why we do ... events so we can pass on to our next generation."