The Sikh community in Sudbury will soon have a space to call home. Sudbury is the third city in the northeast to open a Sikh gurdwara, after Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie.
As of next month the former St. Paul’s United Church on Regent Street will be home to the Sikh community in Sudbury.
Seven years ago, Karanbir Badhesha moved from India to Sudbury where he studied at Cambrian College.
He was one of the individuals involved in making all of this come together. He said as happy as everyone is, there are mixed feelings.
"We are excited, we are happy, you can talk to a lot of Sikh people here and you will see there is a wave of happiness but there’s mixed emotions because it is happening now but after a long long wait for us," said Badhesha. "Most of the families or students were doing their worship and executing their faith in the basements of the small houses."
Badhesha said over the past seven years he has seen the Sikh community grow from 200 people to over 2,000 people.
He added having a gurdwara in the city is needed.
"This is huge for us. This place will act as a place where everyone can get emotional support as well as they can worship their God and basically celebrate all the small events in their life. From the birth of a child to the death of a person, there’s a lot of events where you need a religious space," said Badhesha.
Harsimran Sighn also moved from India to Sudbury for school four years ago.
He says having this space to gather means the world to him.
"For the last four years there was no community home to get together. So, this is God's home where we can all get together and we can just have our functions in here. We can breathe here. Everybody can come here," said Signh.
Badhesha said a grand opening will take place in May and everyone is welcome.
