Sikh Heritage Gallery Set To Launch At The Royal Ontario Museum
The community has raised $16.6 million for the permanent Global Sikh Art & Culture Gallery with the government providing an additional investment of $6 million
Akanksha Dhingra
November 28, 2024 | 4.5 min. read | Original Reporting
The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is set to open Canada’s second permanent gallery dedicated to Sikh heritage in 2027, thanks to an impressive $16.6 million raised by the Sikh community and supporters. The Global Sikh Art & Culture Gallery will be part of a broader expansion of ROM’s South Asian galleries, marking a historic step for the museum and the community.
The project, funded by over 30 donors, led by the Sikh Foundation of Canada, will also receive an additional $6 million from the federal government, as outlined in the 2024 budget proposal, bringing the total investment to $22.6 million. The Gallery will be the centrepiece of ROM’s OpenROM initiative, a sweeping renovation plan to make the museum more accessible and inclusive.
“The Sikh community's dynamic contributions have been integral to Canada's mosaic for over a century. As a global cultural landmark, ROM is the ideal place to showcase this rich heritage, offering an immersive journey into the heart of the culture,” Suresh Bhalla, the leadership donor and community collaborator, said in a statement.
The Sikh community in Canada, which numbers over 770,000 according to the 2021 census, has long contributed to the country’s diverse cultural landscape. Yet, until now, Sikh history and heritage have had little dedicated space in Canada’s major cultural institutions, with many private collections growing in Sikh hands looking for permanent space over the past decade.
Sat Gosal, a director and executive member of the Sikh Foundation, shares that this project is an example of how multiculturalism in Canada should work, and that “for Canada to be the beacon of hope for [multiculturalism], each one of us has an obligation to know ourselves, to know our traditions, to know what’s the best of our cultural values…and to educate our neighbours about those values.”
Dr. Harjeet Singh Grewal, a Sikh studies professor at the University of Calgary, believes this announcement is timely in light of all the global attention on Sikh Canadians due to recent findings of Indian disinformation, transnational repression and foreign interference targeting the community.
“In a moment when Anti-Sikh sentiments are rising in Canada and the world, the announcement about ROM's launching of the Global Sikh Art & Culture Gallery is a significant and refreshing development,” he says, adding that “it promises to recognize Sikh contributions to Canada since the 1890s and as an integral part of significant global cultural, economic, and technical advancements.”
The Gallery will occupy 2,300 square feet and include artifacts, contemporary art, historical objects, and interactive exhibits that reflect Sikh history and culture. It will also feature an endowed curatorial position specifically focused on Sikh heritage, ensuring the collection continues growing and evolving.
Gosal argues this solves a long-time concern for the Sikh community and history buffs.
“For many of us, our learning of Sikh history and identity has been fanciful. By that, I mean we wish we had more books, documentaries and multimedia productions when we were younger.”
This initiative is part of ROM’s effort to represent diverse cultures. The museum opened a South Asian gallery in 2000 and expanded it in 2008. The Sikh Gallery will build upon that foundation while introducing new public programming, including lectures, performances, and gallery tours, to engage a wider audience.
The museum’s director, Josh Basseches, emphasized that this investment will provide an “exciting opportunity to establish a preeminent Sikh collection that will become an integral part of our South Asian initiative and a space for all to learn about and engage with this vibrant culture.”
Raj Bhandall, the owner of the Wanjara Nomad Collections, an extensive private collection of Sikh artifacts located in British Columbia, says that the Royal Ontario Museum’s initiative to establish a Global Sikh Art & Culture Gallery is a commendable step, however, “it is also important to remember that Sikhi is not a footnote to the racist term ‘South Asian’ but a unique global identity with its own significance.”
Many Sikhs have raised concerns with how the label “South Asian” has been used to erase the Sikh and Punjabi identity as a form of lateral discrimination, including the recent controversy over the proposed naming of the “South Asian Museum” in British Columbia.
Bhandall also shares that while government funding for the ROM project is welcomed, “it should not be seen as an act of charity but as an acknowledgment of [Sikh Canadian] contributions, our struggles, and our distinct place within Canada’s rich mosaic.”
Gosal's childhood fascination with museums inspired him, and he hopes that, with projects like this gallery, young Sikhs will see themselves in the great museums of the world, such as the ROM.
“I marvelled at the treasures of great cultures, such as those of Persia, Greece, Rome, and Egypt. The impressive objects that I saw, such as the face of Tutankhamen and the Elgin marbles, aroused in me a sense that these cultures must have made important contributions to the history of humanity,” he shares, continuing, “and somewhere in the back of my young mind, I wondered if my own tradition was much less important or not important at all. I certainly didn’t see any traces of it in any public gallery.”
Bhandall agrees with that sentiment, adding that the “Gallery must extend beyond mere celebration. It must confront and honour critical moments in Sikh history—the genocide against Sikhs, the ongoing struggle for sovereignty, and the broader arc of our independent identity.”
For MP Iqwinder Gaheer, who worked with the community leads on the Sikh Gallery initiative, this has all been a “long time coming.”
“The improbable journey of this community in this country started over a century ago,” he shares, adding that while those original Sikh Canadian pioneers may not have known that the community would come this far, this fast, this announcement is their “victory.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article mistakenly claimed that the permanent Sikh Gallery at ROM would be the first of its kind in Canada. A permanent Sikh Art Gallery was inaugurated at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2022.
Akanksha Dhingra is a journalism graduate from Toronto Metropolitan University. Akanksha holds great passion for everything concerning storytelling and digital marketing. You can find her on Twitter at @Akankshadhingr5
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