Well known South Asian personality and Founder of Progressive Intercultural Commuity Services Society, Charanpal Gill commonly known as Charan Gill passed away Tuesday morning. He lost his battle to cancer. He took his last breath at Langley Memorial Hospital surrounded by family. Charanpal Singh Gill was born on June 17, 1936 in Hong Kong.
He was known for his philanthropy within the Indo Canadian Community. In 1987 he founded PICS that still standing today and provides essential services to the community. He worked in the areas of anti racism, human rights, and rights of farmers for many years.
His family returned to India in 1938 when he was two years of age. Unfortunately, his father passed away in 1939 and his mother, Mrs. Harnam Kaur Gill, raised Charan and his five siblings by herself. In his twenties Charan returned to Hong Kong and started working at a bank.
After living in Hong Kong for six years, and on the advice of his sister, he moved to Canada in 1967. Upon arriving in Canada, Charan worked in a sawmill in Williams Lake, but broke his wrist in an accident. He served as a social worker for northern small communities based out of Prince Rupert. In 1969 he was able to sponsor his wife and children to join him in Canada.
In 1973 he moved his family to Surrey’s Fraser Valley where he resided and worked. Gill was a Surrey resident and had been in Canada for 53 years. He was known for his philanthropy within the Indo Canadian Community.
Under Charan’s leadership and the team he assembled, PICS became the first social services agency of its kind in British Columbia serving the South Asian and new immigrant community. The organization has been at the forefront of social justice causes. Its mission and vision are to promote harmony and intercultural understanding in order to build a just society.
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It has developed many programs for visible minorities, supporting youth-at-risk, combating elder abuse, providing transition support for immigrant women and children facing violence. PICS has become a premier community organisation with over 120 staff with a multi-million dollar budget. The organization operates a Seniors Housing Complex (2002), a Seniors Assisted Living Complex and Adult Day Center (2007), and the Harmony House (2012) which provides housing for women who are victims of domestic abuse. Just before his retirement from PICS in June 2017, Charan secured 2.5 acres of land in Cloverdale and launched a second project for a modern facility for long-term care for seniors, the Diversity Village. In addition to PICS Charan also has served on other organizations in agriculture, labor, and housing including Director CASA (Canadian Agricultural Safety Association) 2010 – Present; Director. FARSHA (Farm and Ranch Safety and Health Association), 1994 – Present; and Director, BC Non-Profit Housing Association, 2008 – Nov 2012.
For his lifetime of leadership and achievement in community service Charan is recipient of numerous awards and honors including: The Order of British Columbia, 1999; Honorary Doctor of Laws, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, 2013; Top 25 Immigrants in Canada Award, 2010; Recognized in the House of Commons, in 2011; Distinguished Service Award, BC Association for Social Workers, 2011; Operation Remembrance Award by the RCMP, 2006; United Way VanDusen Community Service Award, 2002; Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, 2002; and named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. He was also the recipient of the Darpan Award in the year 2010 in the category of Community Crusader.
Charan leaves behind him a legacy of activism in the service of working people. He has inspired many people to engage in the struggle for a better world, without religious, ethnic or gender oppression, a world where all can live in communal harmony. His example and inspiration will guide us for a long time.
Charan is survived by his three children and their spouses Jack Gill and Amrit, Paul Gill and Sarbjit, Rani Gill and Peter; his grandchildren Sean, Brandon, Alicia, Jovin, Arjun; great grandchild Robin, and his extended family in BC as well as in the UK, Hong Kong and India.
Gifts in memory of Charan are welcomed at: KEATCA - to support scholarship grants for education in healthcare, community services, social work: https://keatca.org/fundraising.php PICS, in support of Guru Nanak Diversity Village: https://pics.bc.ca/support-pics/pics-diversity-village/
A family funeral (limited due to COVID) will be at Riverside Funeral Home in Delta.
A Celebration of Life for Charan Gill will be held at a later date to be communicated.
The Darpan Magazine Team offer their condolences to his family. May his soul rest in peace.
Photo courtesy of Facebook.
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