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Bangladesh Canada Association of Edmonton (BCAE) is a socio-cultural organization. The
general purpose of this organization is to sustain and promote Bangladeshi
culture and heritage in Edmonton in particular and Alberta and Canada in
general. It also allows the Bangladeshi community living in and around
Edmonton an opportunity to get together and socialize and celebrate
Bangladeshi culture and heritage at least a couple of times a year.
BCAE emerged as a
registered organization by the Province of Alberta in 1979, a year or two
after its actual initiation. There was a Bangladesh Association prior to
that, where a very small number of Bangladeshis participated and carried out
some important and critical activities. With the departure of a good number
of members, the then association became dormant and eventually inactive. Two
members of that association who are with us today are Mr. Siddique
Hossain and Mrs. Shahana Hossain. As far as we know, some of the other members
were Prof. M. A. Mannan (former Vice-Chancellor of
Dhaka University), Dr. N. C. Das and Mr. Nehaluddin. The official date of registration of BCAE is
the basis of our celebration today.
With the arrival of new students and in the
presence of some immigrant (non-student) families in late 1977, it was again
felt the need to form an association for Bangladeshis residing in Edmonton.
The majority of Bangladeshi residents at that time were students. Some of the
interested and enthusiastic members of this idea were A. F. Raisur Rahman, Anwarul Islam, Abdur Rashid Moten, Shamsul Huda, Kamal Rashid, Tapan Chowdhury and a few
others Bangladeshis.
The name of the association formed at that time was
Bangladesh Canada Association of Edmonton (BCAE), which obtained its
registration as a non-profit society from the Province of Alberta on
September 18, 1979. A scanned version of the Certificate of Incorporation is
presented on a separate page. To institutionalize the organization, a set of
objectives and a set of by-laws were developed following the guidelines of
the Societies Act 1970 and submitted for approval and registration to the
Corporate Registry, Province of Alberta. The signatories of that application
are: A. F. Raisur Rahman,
Anwarul Islam, Shamsul Huda, Kamal Rashid and M. Rafique Islam. The witness of these signatures was Suraiya Afroze Islam. A scanned
version of the original signatures is provided below.
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(a)
To project a fair image of Bangladesh
abroad.
(b)
To foster and develop understanding
and friendships among various groups of people in the community.
(c)
To provide for the recreation of the
members and to promote and offer opportunity for friendly and social
activities.
(d)
To hold social and cultural functions
as the members consider proper and fit.
(e)
To perform, promote and carry on any
activities, which are essential for, or incidental to the fulfillment of the
above objectives.
Over the last
quarter century, BCAE had to cross lots of hurdles and overcome lots
of difficulty. But the sincerity and dedication of its members have been
instrumental to overcome such difficulty. Positive and constructive forces
have always been in the forefront of this organization. As a result, despite
some bumpy roads, BCAE has been able to grow and flourish with respect
to its size and its quality and quantity of performances. Today, we salute
and thank each and every member of our association, past and present, for his
or her contribution towards the survival and well-being of the association.
It is an organization that has come to stay. It has now grown from a few
members to over 300. The demographics of its memberships have also changed.
Now, we have members of all ages, of various professions and with a multitude
of ideas. Even though Bangladeshi community is small, it is one of the most
vibrant and qualified society in Edmonton. Most members of this society are
well-educated and highly qualified professionals in various fields.
Since its inception and formalization, BCAE’s by-laws have been modified and amended
couple of times to reflect the changes in cultural needs and abilities. The
objectives, however, remain intact. The members of the community have been
committed to adhere to and uphold those objectives. Today, BCAE
executives plan and execute activities keeping the same objectives in front.
The objectives, what originally guided a group of visionaries, still guide
the entire community to stay on course and to foster and prosper on those
ideas.
BCAE started functioning as a small organization
with limited activities. Overtime, it has grown in terms of its memberships
as well as its activities. At times, it used to hold meetings and gatherings
in private basements, small common rooms and community halls. Now it needs
large community halls, bigger kitchens, large stage for performances etc. The
number of events and celebrations has also increased substantially.
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The success of an
organization depends on how actively and efficiently it fulfils its
objectives. Let’s take this opportunity to review, after the past 25 years of
its registration, how it performed in terms of fulfilling its objectives.
We’ll take each and every objective and analyze it separately.
(a)
To project a fair image of Bangladesh abroad.
BCAE has been
instrumental to project a fair image of Bangladesh to the people of Edmonton in
particular; and to the people of Alberta and Canada in general. Since its
inception, it has been presenting its culture and heritage through the
participation in the Edmonton Heritage Festival. All members of BCAE should
be proud of its participation in the Heritage Festival. Although Bangladesh
is not a rich or a large or a powerful country; it has a rich history and
culture. And the BCAE has been able to successfully present that to the
people of Canada through its participation in the Heritage Festival. BCAE
also participates in several other activities organized by the City of
Edmonton, or by other multi-cultural organizations. Recently, it has
participated in the Heritage Showcase organized in the Triathlon Competition
and Klondike Festival. Next year, it will participate in the Asia-Pacific
Gala organized by the Asia Pacific Accord of Canada. Because of its fair
image, BCAE received invitation form the Provincial ministers, Federal MPs,
City governments, Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, and many others.
(b)
To foster and develop understanding and friendships
among various groups of people in the community.
BCAE has been a forum of
understanding, exchanging views and ideas. It also helps those who are in
desperate need. It organizes social gatherings at least half a dozen times a
year, where people of all ages and professions get opportunities to
socialize, eat, drink, relax and chit-chat. It has also been a forum of
sharing happiness and grief of our members. Through appropriate communication
processes and sometimes informal gatherings our members share their grief and
receive help for healing. BCAE also communicates good news to our community
members, i.e., birth announcements, job promotions, award of scholarships,
degrees, diplomas, certificates and other credentials.
(c)
To provide for the recreation of the members and to
promote and offer opportunity for friendly and social activities.
BCAE has been active in
providing opportunities for recreational facilities to its members and to
offer atmosphere for friendly and social activities. The most important event
of doing such activities is the Annual Picnic. It has become tradition that
BCAE holds an annual picnic, typically in outdoor, where food, beverages and
recreation opportunities for all ages are provided. After having traditional
food and drink, children get an opportunity to have their own set of games
and activities. Similar entertaining activities are also arranged for men and
women. At least for a day, BCAE members get an opportunity to get away from
their busy schedule and have fun with their friends and compatriots. Children
also get their share of opportunity to show their talents in other
celebratory activities. They participate in various capacities in the celebration
of International Mother Language Day (February 21), Mother’s Day, Nazrul-Rabindra Jayanti,
Heritage Festival, Heritage Appreciation Gathering, etc. They also receive
special presents at Eid parties.
(d)
To hold social and cultural functions as the
members consider proper and fit.
BCAE holds more than half
a dozen social functions a year. They routinely hold a couple of cultural
functions a year. In addition, BCAE holds at least two grand cultural
functions: one to celebrate the International Mother Language Day, and
another on the occasion of Bengali New Year and Rabindra-Nazrul
Jayanti. In some years, it is not uncommon to hold
several additional cultural programs.
The quality of cultural
programs held by BCAE today is also worth mentioning. Today, BCAE members
have talents in singing, dancing, acting, playing instruments, recitation,
telling jokes, and so on. We have now reached a point where BCAE is unable to
allow all of its willing members to participate in a two-hour cultural program.
The reputation of our quality program is no more restricted within us. Our
cultural talents are now known in many other communities and we regularly
receive invitation from several other communities to participate. We are
proud of our talented members, and extend our thanks to them.
(e)
To perform, promote and carry on any activities,
which are essential for, or incidental to the fulfillment of the above
objectives.
Over the years, BCAE has
performed appropriately to uphold, promote and carry on its objectives.
Despite several hurdles and difficult times, BCAE has always been focused on
its objectives. We feel proud and fortunate being members of this great
organization. It is our anticipation that each and every current and past member
feels the same way. Again, we particularly salute those visionary founders of
this association.
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BCAE performs several
other activities to maintain and uphold the spirit and heritage of the community,
which are not easily classifiable under the objectives stated earlier. It has
some unique and special achievements in such cases, and the discussion of
successes and achievements of BCAE will be incomplete without those. The
following is a brief account of such accomplishments of BCAE.
(a)
Liaison with the Bangladesh High
Commission – BCAE maintains a
continuous communication with the Bangladesh High Commission in Ottawa. It
communicates its executives, sends copies of its publications (Edmonton
Bichitra) to the high commission library and seeks advice for Bangladeshis
living in Edmonton. BCAE has been including High Commissioner’s messages in
almost all of its publications.
(b)
Charitable donations to Bangladesh – BCAE and
its members periodically make donations to different charitable organizations
in Bangladesh. Many times BCAE raised funds for the victims of floods
and other natural disasters in Bangladesh. It also contributed its own funds
to such causes. In some years, BCAE obtained matching grants from the
provincial government and doubled the amount of charitable donations. Several
individual members of BCAE make donations to charitable activities in
Bangladesh on a regular basis.
(c)
Running Bangla School – BCAE runs a Sunday school, Edmonton
Bangla School, to provide a unique opportunity to the community children for
learning Bengali language and becoming familiar with Bangladeshi culture and
heritage. The school originally started in 1984, ran a few years and then
became dormant. After several years, with the increase of community members
and their children, the school reincarnated. Currently, Edmonton Bangla
School has almost two dozens students, who regularly participate in various
cultural activities conducted by BCAE.
(d)
Maintaining Attractive Website – BCAE maintains an attractive and dynamic
website (http://www.bcae.ca) to project its
image and to introduce its activities to the world. The website now contains
valuable information on BCAE. It is expected that more information
will be added to this website soon to update and to make it even more
attractive. It may be mentioned here that BCAE’s
website is not only self sustaining but also a good source of generating
revenue for BCAE activities. Every year, BCAE receives at least a few
hundred dollars from advertisements posted on its website.
(e)
Publishing Edmonton Bichitra – The publication of Edmonton Bichitra, a
four-monthly magazine of BCAE, has become routine. Overtime, the magazine has also improved
substantially in terms of its quality and quantity. From a single or a few
photocopied pages it has now become a full-blown professionally printed
magazine. It serves as a means of communication within BCAE memberships as
well as with the rest of the world. It also allows us to express our
community members in various matters.
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For the past quarter
century, BCAE’s achievement has been remarkable.
That does not, however, mean that it should not do anything more. We believe,
BCAE’s previous performances warrant that it should
continue to prosper and move forward with clear objective and vision. The
community is growing and growing fast. We have already grown enough that we
can not celebrate our community events other than Pleasantview Community
Hall. All other halls have become insufficient or small for us. Within few
years, BCAE will have hard time to accommodate its members in Pleasantview.
It is time to think about a community hall of its own. We know that Rome was
not built in a day nor will our hall. But as the Chinese saying goes, “a
journey of thousand miles begins with the first step.” If we begin now, we will hopefully be able
to leave something for our children. While celebrating BCAE’s
Silver Anniversary, we sincerely propose and appeal to all BCAE members to
create a fund so that it can have its own Home in future. Let’s work to
ensure that it will celebrate its Golden Anniversary in its own hall.
For an organization like
this, funding is always a constraint. We should explore avenues to obtain
matching funds form federal and provincial governments to foster
multiculturalism and run programs to help new immigrants.
BCAE did an excellent job
of jointly leading Bangla Utsab with Eddmonton Bengali Association. Not only the event
provided two days of excellent cultural event, it brought us closer to other Bangalis in Edmonton and its surrounding cities. We
should continue the tradition of holding Bangla Utsab
every other year.
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