Sikh temple honoured with street name in northeast Calgary
Dashmesh Culture Centre is being recognized for years of humanitarian and community work
A Sikh cultural centre in northeast Calgary is being recognized for years of humanitarian and community work.
A section of Martindale Boulevard will have a secondary, honorary name added to it after Calgary city council approved a motion put forward by Mayor Naheed Nenshi this week.
In honour of the Dashmesh Culture Centre, the stretch between Martindale Gate and Falconridge Boulevard N.E. will be named Gurdwara Sahib Boulevard.
"The community will be so happy," centre president Ranbir Singh Parmer told the Calgary Eyeopener on Friday morning.
Gurdwara "means guru's door, like where we enter in and go for prayer," he said.
Sahib is a word that represents god or a higher power, sometimes used as a sign of respect.
"It means a lot to get recognized and this temple, Dashmesh Cultural Centre, we've been serving the community for almost 40 years," Parmer said. "This temple was built in 1989 when there was like no Martindale, really, no houses and stuff."
The cultural centre is dedicated to prayer but also community outreach and charitable works. They've run fundraisers for 9/11, Haiti and Fort McMurray relief efforts, the Alberta Children's Hospital and the Calgary Food Bank.
The centre is often open to the public from 3 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day.
"We do provide a free kitchen to anyone in spite of race, religion," Parmer said. "We do have people come who are homeless and we never say no to them. They're always welcome."
The cultural centre pitched the idea last year in a meeting with the mayor, he said, and members were pleased to see the mayor's motion, co-sponsored by Coun. Goerge Chahal, on council's agenda on Thursday.
The city will change sites along that stretch to show both names.
Council also passed a policy on how to consider requests to add a second name to streets for historical or cultural values.
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With files from Susan Holzman and the Calgary Eyeopener.