Last Saturday our family and our friends got together to celebrate the 65th birthday of my very dear friend and brother-in-law, Harinder Mahil. Harinder came to Canada in 1970. He became very active in the IWA, International Woodworkers of America. Shortly after he joined the union he became the editor of the newspaper called Chipper. He was very active. When I came to Canada in 1973, he was the one who guided me, to teach me how to work in the Canadian labour movement, and he introduced me to many other friends.

I’m very proud to be living in Burnaby-Edmonds. Apart from its physical beauty, this community is very diverse. We speak more than 100 different languages and dialects in Burnaby-Edmonds. People in Burnaby-Edmonds, along with the businesses and the community organizations, do their best, working day in and day out, to keep it more vibrant and prosperous.I want to talk about two of the organizations in Burnaby-Edmonds today.