Festival friction
Indian immigrant says Charlottetown not embracing cultural festivals
Kish Katariya loves living in P.E.I., but he says there is not enough support for his culture’s events in the province’s capital.
Katariya, who immigrated to the province from India in 2016, says Indo-Canadian groups in P.E.I. have been forced to plan their largest festivals, Navratri and Diwali, in Stratford and Cornwall, because Charlottetown has not shown an interest in sponsoring them.
“There are no cultural things here. If I were to bring my parents here, they would be bored. They’re very religious and they like cultural events like these festivals,” said Katariya.
“If they could do more of that sort of thing in P.E.I. you would see a much higher retention.”
Katariya organized the province’s first Navratri festival last year in Stratford, which offered its town hall for the event and attracted about 275 attendees with only a couple weeks of planning.
However, Katariya said when he approached city officials, there appeared to be little interest in hosting or sponsoring the event in Charlottetown.
“I really had a hard time getting support,” said Katariya.
It’s a claim the city denies.
A spokesperson for the City of Charlottetown said there was miscommunication and that while Katariya requested the city provide a building free of charge there was never a request for sponsorship. In fact, she says Katariya was told there was no cityowned building that could legally accommodate 500 people due to fire regulations and suggested he contact the Eastlink Centre.
The spokesperson said they never heard from Katariya after that.
Katariya said he felt asking for the city to accommodate the free event was essentially requesting a sponsorship. He said he was offered Stratford Town Hall shortly after being directed to the Eastlink Centre.
Katariya said he believes preference is often given to the “business class” of immigrants who arrived through the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).
The city also disputed that, listing a number of events it hosts aimed at connecting with newcomers and immigrants. Those events are not specific to entrepreneurs or tied to the PNP program, said the spokesperson.
“We are also a strong supporter of DiverseCity and work closely with P.E.I. Newcomers Association. Over the years, there have been many diverse cultural events that the city has supported.”
Katariya said he wonders why the province’s capital would not host festivals for those cultural
occasions, pointing to other Canadian provinces and cities that hold large celebrations.
“Why should I stay in P.E.I. if
the city doesn’t care about our culture, they don’t want to support an event like this,” said Katariya, who believes there may be
up to 2,500 Indians living in P.E.I. “Why would we stay here if we cannot get support for our biggest festival?”
Despite these complaints, Katariya says planning is to make this year’s event in Stratford bigger and better than the last one, and he hopes he can host it in Charlottetown in the future.
“We’re looking forward to it. Last year we had 278 people and this year it’s probably going to be more,” he said. “It has a lot of potential.”