As a reminder of our notice posted on October 26th our Eid Milan Dinner scheduled for Oct 29 and then tentatively scheduled for Nov 25 has been cancelled due to renovation delays. Please visit this site to stay uptodate on the status of our renovations and on upcoming events.

Due to renovation delays at ‘Pakistan House’ we will unfortunately have to postpone our Eid Milan Dinner, originally scheduled for this Sunday October 29th until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and sincerely hope you can join us on the new date. If you have obtained a ticket please hold on to it as it will be honoured on the newly scheduled date.

Pakistan-Canada Association’s Annual General Body Meeting was scheduled for October 8th, 2006 at 11:00 am in Surrey, 12059 88th Avenue, the site of ‘Pakistan House.’ First call was made at 11:00 am with no quorum and second call was made at 11:30 am with no quorum. According to our constitution the meeting has been postponed to the same time and place one week later, Sunday Oct 15th. Members in attendance were:

Raza Mirani, Salim Karim, Sabir Pannun, Aftab Alam, Farrukh Alam, Jamil Chaudhry, Sanaullah Chaudhry, Ihsan Malik, Liaqat Bajwa, Habib Bajwa, Iftikhar Ahmed (Asian Star), Mohd. Siddique Chaudhry, Azhar Syed, Mohd. Afzal Malik, Tarik Kiani, Pervez Akhtar, Saleem Gehlen, Malik Irfan, Noor Mohammed, Ghulam Mohammed, Mohd. Pirzada

Thank you to these members for attending.

Pakistan’s 59th Anniversary was celebrated in grand style on August 13th, 2006 by Pakistan-Canada Association. Over 600 people attended a free event, organized by PCA with the help of numerous sponsors, highlighted by the beautiful sounds of local group Aavaz (aavazband@gmail.com).

This upstart band of local musicians stole the hearts and voices of the audience as they pumped out Pakistani hit after Pakistani hit. President Raza Mirani delivered an empowering speech urging all Pakistanis to come together and continue the dream and vision of our Great Leader, Quiad-e-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, by supporting Pakistan-Canada Association in establishing a Pakistan Community Center. Mr. Aftab Alam shared his thoughts on Independence Day and encouraged everyone in attendance to take part in the political process. Honourable Sukh Dhaliwal brought greetings from the Federal Government and Mr. Aziz Khaki shared his views on the state of the Muslim world at this time. The stars of the show were the members of the musical group Aavaz. Coming back to a raucous crowd they continued their set of Pakistani songs and motivated the usually subdued crowd to clap, cheer and sing along with the group. Master of Ceremonies Tarik Kiani kept the show moving along and paused only briefly to allow for speeches, Maghrib Namaaz and acknowledgement of sponsors. Chairman Munir Riasat put together an event to be remembered and the capacity crowd left late in the evening after Shahid Ali Khan, nephew of the late great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, wrapped up the event with three beautiful Qawwalis. Special thanks to all the sponsors of this event and to all members of the Pakistan-Canada Association for making this event a grand success.

PCA was proud to host over 600 people at its Annual Canada Day Family BBQ. The atmosphere was fun filled as families arrived ready to partake in the multitude of items arranged by PCA. Face-painting, balloon animals, water adventure, playground and sporting events were arranged for children and volleyball / tug-o-war competitions were run for the adults in the community. BBQ chicken and burgers were provided by PCA and VAP Auto Parts and prizes for ladies musical chairs were kindly donated by North Star Immigration Services. The event went well into the 6 o’clock hour as families continued to stream in and settle into the enjoyment. Thank you to everyone who attended, it is your support of our association that makes each event a success. Thank you to everyone who brought items for our potluck table and canned food drive. A special thanks goes out to everyone who volunteered their time to help put on such a fabulous event and a spectacular start to the summer.

Event Recap:

The inaugural event of PCAs newly formed Youth Committee turned out to be highly successful. 85 people joined us on a damp Vancouver evening to take part in our first ever Youth Boat Cruise. Dinner was buffet style and the atmosphere was casual as no formal events had been planned for this event. People were free to roam the 3 levels of the boat and take part in some friendly games of Poker (no money involved). The karaoke machine was fired up during our last hour and a few brave souls belted out some English and Punjabi hits. The view from the boat was spectacular as the rain stopped just as our boat was setting sail… a rainbow punctuated the beauty of the city. A good first step for our Youth Committee and hopefully a sign of things to come.

Event Recap:

A packed house at Grand Taj Banquet Hall came to celebrate Pakistan’s 58th Independence Day with Pakistan-Canada Association and our special guest Junooni Salman Ahmad. People had to be turned away at the door as the demand exceeded our expectations. Salman took the stage at 8:00 pm and enthralled the crowd with his combination of story telling and performance. A 40 minute presentation by Salman briefly broken up by Maghrib Namaaz was the highlight of the night. Salman spent the remainder of the show signing autographs and taking pictures with excited fans.

Our other highlight of the evening was the acknowledgement of the accomplishments of our younger members of the community. Congratulations goes out to Ms Siddiqui, Mr. Ali Syed and Ms. Sana Gehlen for being awarded our 2005 PCA Scholarships. The awards were handed out by Salman and a picture was taken with each award recipient. Congratulations to our Speech Contest and Knowledge Exam participants and winners. The combination of rock star and youth really made this an event to remember. Thank you to everyone for coming out and making the event a huge success.

The Vancouver Multicultural Society and the Pakistan-Canada Association celebrated the First Annual Diversity Festival at the Plaza of Nations on July 30th, 2005. The theme of the festival was “Multicultural Vancouver and the World”, reflecting a portrait of our city, our people, our province and our country. The festival reminded everyone about the contributions various groups give to the city’s multiculturalism. The event was a great success and special thanks goes out to PCA Youth Committee member Noreen Chaudhry for all her hard work in organizing a Pakistani Dance and Pakistani Fashion Show.