The Memory of Paldi Lives on Through Archive Digitalization
The South Asian Canadian Legacy Project helps piece together the story of Paldi through the digitalization of archives
Kamloops BC – March 12, 2024
The South Asian Canadian Legacy Project is digitalizing archives to remember the community of Paldi on Vancouver Island and tell their story. These archives help piece together the stories of the immigrants who came from South Asian countries like India as well as East Asian countries such as China and Japan. Digitalizing these archives helps convey what day to day life was like in Paldi and shows us where we’ve been. The community of Paldi was a community where immigrants from South Asia and neighboring countries would go to work for Mayo Singh and his family at their mill called Mayo Siding as it was nearly impossible for immigrants to find work anywhere else at the time. The mill was very successful and helped establish the intercultural community at Paldi. The South Asian Canadian Legacy Project is helping tell the stories of Paldi through archive digitalization so the memory of Paldi can continue to live on through future generations.
Dr. Satwinder Kaur Bains, the director of the South Asian Studies Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley aims to fill large gaps in history through photos, videos, and other visual documentation from the community of Paldi. “We don’t have a complete history of a town. We have snippets,” says Dr. Bains, “and while people are trying to stich it together, you know, the evidence is missing.” The archives help tell the story of what day to day life was like in Paldi and as more and more archives become digitalized, the story starts to come together.
Joan Mayo, who married the oldest son of Mayo Singh in 1951, captured moments of day to day live in Paldi through photographs and videos. “It just shows how close we all were, and still are,” Mayo said when asked about the archives and her relationship with the community of Paldi. “We’re all still very close. It’s like family. It’s like one big family.” The story of the community of Paldi exists because of contributions from Joan Mayo and others who collected documents and took photos. The digitization of these archives collected from Joan Mayo makes sure the story of Paldi doesn’t become erased and that the media will never be lost.
The South Asian Canadian Legacy Project, located at the University of the Fraser Valley, tells the stories of South Asian Canadians in Canada through gathering and digitalizing archives. Dr. Satwinder Kaur Bains and our team use the archives collected to piece together the history of South Asians in Canada so we can understand what those who came before us went through. The South Asian Canadian Legacy Project continues to collect archives so we can continue to understand our history to acknowledge and remember those who came before us.
For more information, contact Chad Petrie, Public Relations Person for The South Asian Canadian Legacy Project located at the University of the Fraser Valley, (chadpetrie1921@gmail.com)