According to the Williams Lake Tribune “ After five decades, the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara (Temple) community gathered to celebrate the Cariboo's first Sikh temple.
With multiple generations returning to Williams Lake to mark the occasion, there were people from as far away as California, Ontario and Alberta coming back to the Sikh temple many grew up at.
"It was like family," said Kulvinder Kang, who returned with her family to mark the 50th anniversary of the Sikh temple she has fond memories of while growing up.
"I wouldn't have missed this for the world," she said.
Kang is the daughter of Baldev Sangha, one of the men who helped make the gurdwara happen. Kang remembers her father travelling around the region with others to collect donations to raise funds to build the gurdwara for the Cariboo Sikh community.
Most of Sangha's family made the journey from Richmond and California to reunite with old friends and help to celebrate the gurdwara's anniversary. Sangha, who moved to Williams Lake in the 1960s, had two sons and two daughters, his eldest son was the first Sikh to graduate in Williams Lake wearing a turban. He now lives in California and works in Silicon Valley as an electrical engineer.
Jit Saini, who was a past president and also one of those who helped establish the gurdwara, returned for the anniversary, bringing 30 family members with him. Saini lived in the lakecity for 42 years, raising his children here, but has since moved to the Lower Mainland.
Gurbux Saini, MP for Fleetwood-Port Kells, was also back in Williams Lake for the festivities, which would continue on Sunday, July 20 with dignitaries and a lunch open to the entire community.
Saini said when he came to Canada in 1970, he recalled West Fraser Mills having a contract with the society raising funds to help build the temple. Men would work on weekends doing mill cleanup and the funds would go to the society for the gurdwara.
As a politician, Saini got his start in Williams Lake, sitting as a city councillor for 14 years. His three sons were born and raised in Williams Lake and he said he still believes Williams Lake is his hometown and it is the blessings of the gurdwara which have helped him be successful.
"We were part of one big family," he said of the early days of the gurdwara, with everyone helping one another.
"Canadian values of caring, compassion, and love are the values that I believe in," he said.
The Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara was the first in the Cariboo, and was built in 1975.
At the event on July 19, there were Williams Lake Tribune articles printed and posted on the wall documenting some of the early days of the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple, as it was originally called. One article announced the election of the youngest president of the society at the time, Surinderpal Rathor, Williams Lake's current mayor.
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