1. N O R T H A M E R I C A N E D I T I O N
The Indian EXPRESS 19
MARCH 08, 2013
Staff Reporter
Mississauga
M
ore than 300 hundred peo-
ple gathered in Mississauga
to celebrate the women of
Peel at United Way of Peel Region’s
SouthAsianAdvisoryCouncilAPNA
Peel Gala Empowering our Women.
The event was held at the Sagan
Banquet and Convention Centre.
South Asian corporate leaders,
public figures, visual artists, danc-
ers and one very funny comedian
from Brampton – all empowered
women themselves – were featured
at the event. No matter what their
background or their calling, they are
women who inspire others and pro-
vide hope.
Within Peel, there are 22,597
women and girls between the ages
of 15 and 65 who have been physi-
cally assaulted in the last five years by
their partner. That represents 7 per
cent of the region’s population. The
trauma of domestic abuse for wom-
en is demonstrated through over-
whelming numbers of women and
children trying to obtain services for
shelter, support and safety planning.
“The reality is there are women
in our community who are victims
of violence and abuse,” says Shelley
White, United Way president and
CEO. “United Way invests in vital
social programs led by our agency
partners, research, public policy ad-
vocacy, and collective efforts to tack-
le underlying social issues. One of
our priorities is to enable safety from
abuse and violence. Collectively we
need to raise our voices to stop the
violence.”
“The South Asian Advisory
Council has made a commitment to
create awareness about this issue in
Peel’s South Asian community and
to help United Way create change for
those that need support,” says Esa
Para Esananda, chair of the Council.
“This evening is about empowering
the women in our lives and the wom-
en of our community.”
The event’s Honorary Chair
is Raj Girn, founder, president and
CEO of Anokhi Media. Girn has
come to represent an icon of an em-
powered South Asian woman in the
Greater Toronto Area.
“I, as you all know, am a woman.
I am considered to be an empow-
ered woman by default of being the
president and CEO of ANOKHI
MEDIA,” says Girn. “What very few
people know is that my journey to em-
powerment has been long and chal-
lenging because initiatives like these
by the United Way organization did
not exist to educate and assist me to
empowermyselfwhenIneededit.My
storyisindicativeofmanywomenfrom
within the South Asian community
and beyond. I choose to believe that
life is what you make it. What YOU
make it, not what life makes of you.”
Jake Dheer, station manager at
Rogers TV, and broadcast journalist
Indira Naidoo-Harris were the eve-
ning’s masters of ceremony.
WomenEmpowermentCelebratedbyUnitedWay
Anokhi CEO Raj Girn Emcee Indira Naidoo HarrisAnubha Mehta
Audience at the Peel Gala
Entertainment at the Peel Gala
Emcee Jake Dheer with organizers at the Peel Gala Photo credit: Priyanka Stellinga
Ravinder Malhi, Asma Ahmed and Mini Khurana at the Peel Gala
CANADA Newsline