Historic Ground-Breaking Ceremony marks a Milestone for the PICS Guru Nanak Diversity Village Project

In a momentous occasion for the South-Asian community, seniors, and the city of Surrey, the PICS Society proudly participated in the historic ground-breaking ceremony for the Guru Nanak Diversity Village. This project is set to become one of the largest community developments in Canada, funded by the government to support seniors, and also amongst the largest global projects named after Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The Guru Nanak Diversity Village project is going to be a 3-storey, 125 bed, residential care home that will provide culturally sensitive care to the seniors.
PICS Society paid gratitude to the Fraser Health, BC Housing, Ministry of Health and the Provincial Government for providing the required $118 million financing and support for the long-term care facility.
“This was the vision and dream of the Founder and Founding CEO, late Mr. Charanpal Gill to build the Diversity Village for our seniors. And today, we are starting on our journey to build it and fulfil that vision”, said the President & CEO Satbir S. Cheema.
The ceremony was a significant event, bringing together key figures from various sectors to celebrate this landmark development. The key people present included:
– Minister Adrian Dix, Minister of Health
– Minister Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing, who also served as the emcee
– Brenda Locke, Mayor of Surrey
– Randeep Sarai, Member of the House of Commons of Canada
– Jagrup Brar, MLA Surrey-Fleetwood & the First Full-time staff member of PICS Society
– MLA Mike Starchuk, Garry Begg, Jinny Sims, Rachna Singh, Randeep Sarai
– Natalie McCarthy; Vice President, Regional Care Integration
– Satbir Singh Cheema, President and CEO of PICS
– Dr. Gulzar Cheema, family physician, community leader, and PICS Society member
– Ranbir Manj, Chair of the PICS Board with current and few past board members
– Jack Gill, son of Mr. Charanpal Gill, Founder and Founding CEO of PICS Society
– Anita Huberman, International Trade, Government Relations, Public Relations
– Indra Bhan, Interim CEO & Chief Operating Officer – Surrey Board of Trade
Staff members, volunteers, PICS Founding members, Lifetime and Regular members, donors, stakeholders, local temples, community members and leaders, the consultants who have worked on the project.

The ceremony began with a traditional Indigenous welcome by David Kenworthy from the Katzie First Nation, setting a respectful and inclusive tone for the event. This was followed by the speeches from dignitaries and a prayer ceremony led by Giani Jagdish Singh Ji, Head Granthi of Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara, invoking blessings and unity for the project. This was followed by the ground-breaking ceremony which marked the beginning of construction for the much-awaited facility. The event was hosted and lead by the Ministry of Health.