For half a century, South Asian women's group has fought violence and discrimination

For more than 50 years, B.C.’s India Mahila Association has taken on some of the toughest challenges facing women in the South Asian community.

They have tackled domestic violence, racism and inequality in the workplace.

Now with a generous $400,000 donation, they are planning for a future with more awards and scholarships for organizations and post-secondary students.

Raminder Dosanjh was one of the founders of the non-profit group back in 1973, and is still involved today.

She said recent donations from Ontario philanthropists Ruth Harper and her husband Sudhir Handa, friends of Dosanjh’s family, was a wonderful surprise.

“I was elated. I was dumbfounded. We hadn’t even asked them for a donation,” said Dosanjh. The donation has been added to the $100,000 that the association’s volunteers have raised little by little over 50 years.

That has allowed the India Mahila Association to establish an endowment through the Vancouver Foundation to give scholarships in perpetuity to students at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Langara College and Vancouver Community College. They are also looking at expanding the program across the province.

Harper and Handa will be honoured at an association gala this Friday at Vancouver’s Fraserview Hall.

“I feel very passionately about education,” Handa told Postmedia. “Higher education brought me here from India, and my wife is passionate about women’s rights issues.”

Harper added that Dosanjh’s passion for the group was a key reason for their donation.

“She’s always talking about it, and of course we ask questions too,” Harper said. “If anyone in any part of Canada is educated, we all benefit.”

Dosanjh said some of the early years were challenging as the new organization was the first to raise awareness about domestic violence and other social problems.

“When we started, nobody talked about women’s issues,” she said. “There were murders in the community, there were suicides in the community. You would only hear whispers, and that would be the end of it.”

They pushed in local media for public discussion and for culturally sensitive social services, establishing partnerships with groups like Vancouver Rape Relief.

“When we started talking about issues, we started getting calls from women saying, ‘We need help,'” Dosanjh said.

India Mahila Association members were devastated when volunteer treasurer Nashter Dhahan, 25, was strangled and dumped in the rear parking lot of 600 West 6th Ave. in Vancouver in February 1980. She had been on her way to work as a taxi driver. Her murder remains unsolved.

“She was a very devoted volunteer and became a close personal friend as well,” Dosanjh said. “We were shocked.”

The association has also been at the forefront of the fight against racism, as well as stereotypical portrayals of the South Asian community.

Even when they raised issues of domestic violence, they made it clear that “these are isolated cases, but we need to deal with them.”

Dosanjh said the expanded endowment “is a legacy that we are leaving behind, which will continue even if the organization folds tomorrow.”