Thank you very much for the question.
First of all, if they were asked about the current proposal that's there, you would have a very strong objection. All of the communities that are outlined would be presenting.
I'm just going to give you the historical context of the community. The Punjabi Sikh community in Sunset in 1902 started to flourish. The Khalsa Diwan Society, the oldest Sikh society in North America, was created in 1902. Because of the community, people came in and flocked there, and you now have Punjabi Market. As you know, on Main Street it actually says Punjabi Market on all the signs and is recognized by the city and many others. In terms of the Khalsa Diwan Society and where the Ross Street gurdwara is, the road is also known as Khalsa Diwan Road.
When the original proposal was put forward, we felt they knew the historical significance of this community. People felt, “Why would you object to this?” So it did—I'm being very polite—come as a shock.
By the way, I just want to make it very clear that when I'm talking about support, this is regardless of what party you support. Everybody knows this. Probably the best example of visually representing what I just talked about is the Vaisakhi parade, which happened just last weekend. It starts at the Ross Street gurdwara. Close to 100,000 people show up. The route itself goes through Punjabi Market and through the neighbourhoods and back to Khalsa Diwan Road. You couldn't get a better example than this.
So I think it was just literally an oversight on this, with a ripple effect created when the Marpole portion was put into Richmond. I'm hoping that this will be taken into consideration, putting the community back together, because representation for the community is extremely important.