École Panorama Ridge Secondary teacher brings Sikh culture to the classroom for Sikh Heritage Month

École Panorama Ridge Secondary teacher Jasleen Sidhu is highlighting Sikh culture, history and heritage over the month of April in celebration of Sikh Heritage Month. As a director and founding member of Sikh Heritage BC, Sidhu and her fellow non-profit members have prepared 21 lesson plans and dozens of informational posters over the years to recognize the contributions of Sikh Canadians.

April is Sikh Heritage Month, and an École Panorama Ridge Secondary teacher is bringing conversations about Sikh history and culture to classrooms in Surrey, B.C. and Canada by providing numerous resources to educators nationwide.

Jasleen Sidhu is a director and founding member of Sikh Heritage BC, a non-profit organization that designs lesson plans, resources, posters and workshops on Sikh history, traditions and observances, and organizes events throughout B.C. over the month of April. Sikh Heritage Month has been recognized in Canada since 2013 and celebrates the contributions of Sikh Canadians to the country’s cultural, economic and social fabric.

The origins of Sidhu’s work have roots in her time at Tamanawis Secondary, as a student who didn’t see herself or her Sikh culture represented in what was being taught in class.

“I remember sitting in History 12 thinking of how I didn’t really see myself in the classroom or in the curriculum itself in any way,” she said. “The only time I saw myself reflected was when we talked about the Komagata Maru incident, and I felt like it didn’t really highlight the resiliency that the community has – the strength, the power, the contributions whether it’s in the education system or in politics, law, the economy, of the province and Canada.”

After graduation, Sidhu enrolled at Simon Fraser University and joined the Sikh Students’ Association where, in her third year, she and her clubmates decided to do something to recognize Sikhs in Canada and founded Sikh Heritage BC.

What started as a few events to celebrate her community has grown over five years to feature 21 events this month alone, as well as dozens of teaching resources to further education about Sikh heritage, including 21 ready-to-use lesson plans and five yearly educational posters that are distributed to schools across B.C., Alberta and Ontario.

“The education side is a personal passion project of mine – when I became a teacher, I started looking for resources to bring into my own classroom, and I realized there wasn’t much available out there,” said Sidhu. “I felt it was a missed opportunity, that the education that children receive would be much more meaningful if they could actually see themselves.

“We didn’t really have a long-term vision in mind, it was more so that these were the things I was already doing in my classroom. I wanted to publish them so other people could use them in their classrooms as well.”

This year, Sidhu has distributed more than 1,900 posters, highlighting Sikh history, culture and heritage, and featuring:

• the celebration and unity of Nagar Kirtans, first recognized by the B.C. government in 1995;
• Sikh human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra;
• Sen. Baltej Singh Dhillon, Canada’s first turbaned RCMP officer; and
• Justice Palbinder Kaur Shergill, the first turbaned Sikh to be appointed to any court in Canada.

Sikh Heritage BC’s efforts have also led to the establishment of numerous scholarships for students, with the non-profit giving out more than $27,000 over the past five years.

Sidhu said the work of Sikh Heritage BC has had farther reach than she could’ve imagined, and she is grateful that her efforts have resonated with so many students.

“Personally speaking, it’s so meaningful to see the impact that all of this has,” she said. “When I was still TOCing, I would go into different schools and see some of these resources being used – this was just a small dream of sorts that I was working on on the side, and it’s great to see how much it’s grown.

“I see myself reflected in a lot of these students, and being someone who was born and brought up in Surrey, went to Tamanawis and J.T. Brown and Martha Jane Norris, it’s something that I feel like I would’ve really valued and appreciated.”

While Sidhu has been the lead of this initiative, its success is truly the result of collaboration among many dedicated educators and community stakeholders who have recognized the importance of this work. Contributors from Surrey Schools include Amrit Minhas of Frank Hurt Secondary, Semiahmoo Seconary vice-principal Anupreet K. Bal, Indervir Kaur Kang of Guildford Park Secondary, Jassi Kang of Tamanawis Secondary, TTOC Justine Jawanda, Sandip K. Sodhi of Sunnyside Elementary and Sim S. Sidhu of Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary.

The efforts extend beyond Surrey Schools, with key contributions from educators such as Ballu Kaur, Harjas Kaur, Mun-lene K. Sangha, Prabhjot Kaur, Prabh Mann, Raman Sarai and Sandeep Glover.

A special thank you goes to Lord Tweedsmuir student Erinn Hitchinson for her work on the graphic design of this year’s posters, and Lindsay Hutchison of Tamanawis Secondary for her unwavering support of this initiative.