Remembering Harmandeep Kaur

Amarjit S. Lalli says the unity shown by the Kelowna community in the past week has been overwhelming and heart warming.

It comes in the wake of Harmandeep Kaur’s death, a 24-year-old woman who died after being assaulted while working a shift as a security guard at UBCO.

“It just shows you how much humanity is out there. It’s touched everybody’s hearts,” he said. “The family is really moved by all the support they’re receiving from the community.”

On Monday, the Okanagan Sikh Temple and Cultural Society held a drop-in prayer service, inviting the public to come pay their respects. The service featured traditional Sikh scriptures and hymns.

Harmandeep’s family, including her parents, were in attendance, still mourning the loss of their daughter. The family visited UBCO earlier in the afternoon for the first time. Her funeral took place in Squamish on Saturday.

Lalli, the Sikh Temple and Cultural Society President, said it’s important for everyone to deal with the tragedy and grief in their own way.

“It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are,” Lalli said. “The mental health of everyone is so important that it’s a way of venting or letting out those feelings and emotions that are entrapped in your body and minds.”

Lalli said the community is still shocked over the killing. He said more needs to be done to protect students like Harmandeep going forward.

“It’s going to have to start with the universities and then it’s going to have go with the employers and figuring out ways to make sure the students coming from abroad are not being taken advantage of,” he said. “There’s such a shortage of labour that sometimes shortcuts are taken, and we have got to make sure there’s checks and balances in place to make sure everybody is protected, and the proper rules are followed.”

There will be a Punjabi-speaking grief counsellor available on Thursday via Zoom. Anyone who wishes to attend can visit the temple’s Facebook page.