The 2020 CASSA South Asian Heritage Month (SAHM) Reception took place on Wednesday, May 27th from 6-8 P.M. This year’s theme was Environmental Justice.
The reception was a virtual panel discussion featuring the seven South Asian Canadian trailblazers who have been highlighted in the 2020 SAHM Poster:
- Dusha Sritharan
- Gauri Sreenivasan
- Maya Menezes
- Puninda Singh
- Rahul Raj
- Simran Dhunna
- Vishal Vijay
Throughout the Panel, we explored challenges the leaders have faced in the field of Environmental Justice, what successes they have had, and what recommendations they can give members of the South Asian communities who want to have a positive impact on environmental justice.
Official Poster 2020 SAHM JPG
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Maya is a climate and migrant justice organizer based in Tkaronto. She is Senior Manager of Programming and Development at climate justice organization, The Leap where she campaigns for a Green New Deal. Maya is the co-host of The Leap’s podcast, Change Everything which unpacks intersections of climate, racial and economic justice.
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Gauri is the Policy and Campaigns Director at Nature Canada in advocacy work to engage Canadians and decision-makers in the actions needed to address the crisis of species loss and protect nature. Gauri has worked for 25 years+ to build alliances across sectors to advance issues of equity, human rights, corporate accountability and sustainable development
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Dusha has been involved in local efforts for climate justice, improving public transit, and supporting good jobs. Dusha currently works for the City of Toronto – Your Local Government as a Policy Advisor with a focus on environmental issues.
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Vishal is a children’s rights activist, student and Co-Founder and CEO of Every Child Now, a youth-run national nonprofit he founded in 2012 that empowers kids to help other kids and provides them with their basic needs (clean water, food, shelter, education, healthcare)
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Puninda’s unwavering desire to create sustainable, equitable, and resilient communities has always guided her work. As a Sustainability Consultant, she helps organizations manage climate risk and transition towards a green economy. Puninda holds a bachelors of Environment and Business from the University of Waterloo
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Simran is an organizer with Climate Justice Peel – a youth-led group addressing the climate crisis by confronting its root causes (capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy). Simran started her political work through labour organizing in the Fight for $15 and Fairness campaign.
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Rahul is the Founder of 5 & Vine, an agency that helps socially and environmentally minded startups grow. His commitment to bettering the world includes chapters as ecobee’s CMO, where he transformed the org into the #2 smart thermostat brand; the Sustainability lead at Walmart.com where he built a refurbishing infrastructure that diverted millions of electronics from landfill and generated billions in new sales
SHMA 2019 Attendees
SMHA Staff & Speakers
The Official 2018 South Asian Heritage Month Poster is out!! Congratulations to all of our features for being nominated as leaders in Civic Engagement! The poster features Farrah Khan, Jeewan Chanicka, Neethan Shan, Nelofer Pazira, Ritu Bhasin, Shalini Konanur, Dr. Shafi Bhuiyan, and Vivek Shraya.
Each poster is $10 or $5 each if you purchase 10 or more. To purchase your poster, please contact Natalie Narine at nataline@cassa.on.ca or 416-932-1359
South Asian Heritage Month Reception
To celebrate South Asian Heritage Month, CASSA is partnering with Councillor Neethan Shan for a South Asian Heritage Month Reception at Toronto City Hall on Friday, May 11th, 2018. All community members are invited to attend to celebrate CASSA’s 30th Anniversary and our South Asian Canadian trailblazers in Civic Engagement! Please RSVP to Natalie Narine by May 8th: natalie@cassa.on.ca or 416-932-1359
Past Updates – Reception
The celebration of South Asian Heritage Month in the entirety of May was of huge importance to The Council of Agencies Serving South Asians. In commemoration, CASSA successfully hosted two receptions.
The Council of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA) successfully hosted its first ever South Asian Heritage Month Lunch Reception on Friday, April 22nd at Markham Convergence Centre. The main objective was to showcase, celebrate and profile six South Asian Canadians who have made significant contributions to the protecting Human Rights and Promoting Equity in Canada. The recognition will be done through the official poster and a presentation. At the event, CASSA was excited to launch its first ever South Asian Heritage Month Official Trailblazers Poster for 2016. All proceeds from the poster sales will go towards developing CASSA’s initiative – aimed to develop a mobile exhibit showcasing South Asian Histories in Canada. The exhibit will be part of our Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations.
The Lunch Reception was attended by elected representatives, numerous social service providers, academics, policy makers, not-for-profit organization members, and frontline workers who are passionate about celebrating accomplishments made by the South Asian Community. Attendees had the opportunity to network, participate in engaging discussions, as well as partake in honouring the six South Asian Canadian Trailblazers who have made significant contributions to the protecting Human Rights and Promoting Equity in Canada. The six trailblazers are: Sherene Razack – Distinguished Professor, OISE, University of Toronto , Ricky Veerappan – Officer in Charge, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Bureau, York Regional Police, Uzma Shakir – Director of Equity, Diversity & Human Rights, City of Toronto, Baldev Mutta – CEO, Punjabi Community Health Services, Renu Mandhane – Chief Commissioner, Ontario Human Rights Commission and Sheela Basrur – former Medical Officer of Health, City of Toronto.
On Monday, May 30th, the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA) partnered with the
Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter (CCNC Toronto) to successfully host a reception in commemoration of Asian and South Asian Heritage Month: Celebrating Civic Engagement. The main objective of the reception was to discuss topics such as barriers to civic participation, as well as the factors within our communities that promote our successes. In addition we looked at ways in which we can move forward – the initiatives that the City of Toronto and our own communities can take to increase Civic Involvement.
The reception included attendees ranging from students to not for profit workers and City of Toronto staffs. We were also fortunate enough to open the program with greetings from Mayor John Tory who graciously made the attendees feel welcomed and ready to engage in further discussions throughout the night. The reception then proceeded onto a lively panel discussion session where we were joined by the following four panelists: Lele Truong, Parthi Kandavel, Samya Hasan, and Beixi Liu. The panelists along with the moderator Anjum Sultana helped in making the discussions to be extremely thought provoking for our attendees.
One of the topics that incited most applause from the 75 guests in attendance was during discussions of “Policy recommendations to increase civic involvement”. Attendees had the opportunity to listen to wide variety of suggestions that ranged from developing culturally specific programming with targeted communications, to effective funding allocation, and having translators on site for major consultation events and cultural programs.
The lively discussions coupled with an awards ceremony honoring Mr. Iqbal Ali and Mr. Daniel Yau for their leadership in civic engagement, made for a highly successful, positive, and motivating reception.