Untold Stories:
The South Asian Pioneer
Experience in BC
ORDINARY PEOPLE. EXTRAORDINARY IMPACT.
Published by Suki Pangalia & AAJ Media Group
Curated & Edited by Karen Dosanjh
Untold Stories: The South Asian Pioneer Experience in BC captures a pivotal time in our province’s history. The book documents and preserves the forgotten voices of the first wave of South Asians who immigrated in the early 1900s from Punjab, India to British Columbia, Canada. Their meaningful stories of struggle and resilience are relatively untold and are a critical yet lost piece of the Canadian record. Untold Stories leaves a lasting legacy to help educate future generations about the challenges faced by the South Asian pioneers, as well as the significant contributions they made to the rich fabric of our province and our country. This historic publication shines the light on many vibrant, multi-generational South Asian pioneer families whose legacies date back to the early 1900s. Their voices come to life through hundreds of rare and never-seen-before images, artifacts and captivating storytelling. In every page of this extraordinary 250-page book, we honour and remember the trailblazers who struggled greatly in order to help light the way for the entire South Asian diaspora.
About the project
Honouring History & Inspiring the Future
In 2019, Suki Pangalia, CEO of AAJ Media Group, AAJ Media Group and volunteers like Karen Dosanjh, Reshma Mohammed, Gaitry Kaul, and many others established the AAJ Legacy Initiative to bring Untold Stories: The South Asian Pioneer Experience in BC to the broader community. This critical project has garnered the support of The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada; The Honourable Harjit Singh Sajjan, Minister of National Defence; and The Honourable John Horgan, Premier of British Columbia. The stories in this publication were collected and published by AAJ Media Group amid the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Despite the school closures in BC this Spring, we at AAJ Media Group are fully committed to ensuring this important publication is distributed to BC schools in time for complete re-opening in the Fall of 2020. Untold Stories serves as an invaluable teaching tool for BC students and teachers alike who are in great need of South Asian historical content in their classrooms.
Untold Stories features the original works of artist Jagdeep Singh Raina. The book’s design and layout was done by Kristy Hill of Umbrella Squared Design Group. www.umbrellasquared.com
TO PURCHASE BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT
Suki Pangalia
sukipangalia@yahoo.ca | 604-590-0007
102-12889 84 Ave, Surrey BC, V3W 0K5
To schedule media interviews, or speaker engagements for groups following current COVID-19 protocols, please contact AAJ Media Group at 604.590.0007 or info@aajmag.ca