MONTREAL/April 20, 1999—
April 20, 1999 ñ Concordia University, through its Campaign for a New Millennium, is pleased to announce the establishment of a $250,000 endowment for undergraduate scholarships made possible through the generosity of the Sikh/Indo-Canadian community and Baljit and Roshi Chadha of the Chadha Family Foundation. Baljit Chadha's connection to the University goes back 20 years to when he was a graduate student at Concordia.
The gift was announced last night in Ottawa at a gala dinner to unveil a postage stamp celebrating a century of Sikh presence in Canada and the three hundredth anniversary of Baisakhi-Khalsa's birthday. At the same time, the Sikh Indo-Canadian community made public its intention to establish 50 more scholarships across Canada.
Professor Balbir S. Sahni, Director of Concordia's Centre for International Academic Cooperation commends the Chadha family and the wider Indo-Canadian community for investing in education. ìThe Sikhs/Indo-Canadian community, having faced difficulties in the earlier years of its "continuous journey" has come to play an important role in the mainstream of Canadian society. Active participation in religious and cultural activities, within and outside the Indo-Canadian community, is well manifested in the multicultural mosaic of Canada. With the establishment of endowments for scholarships, the community has launched a process supporting students through their studies. The objective is to encourage Indo Canadians, visible minorities, and others in their pursuit of higher educationî.
To also encourage studies at French universities, the Foundation has recently begun to provide seed money to individual scholars at UniversitÈ de Montrèal and UniversitÈ du Quèbec ‡ Montrèal.
For more information contact Dr. Balbir Sahni at (514) 848-4989.
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