Regardless of their religion and ethnicity, everyone is welcome at a new temple in downtown Timmins.
The former Gibby’s Tavern on Cedar Street is now home to Timmins Gurdwara, the city’s first Sikh temple. An unofficial opening was held on Dec. 31.
“It’s a beautiful building. They’ve done wonderful renovations," said Cindy Campbell, executive director for Downtown BIA Timmins. "They’ve contributed to the economy with the work they had to do with the building, to make it ready inhabitable for their purposes."
Kanwaljit Bains who is from Punjab, India, and living in Brampton, owns some investment properties in the city. She originally bought the building with her husband Bahadur Singh Bains for a kitchen showroom, as they manufacture kitchens.
But the Bains decided there’s a great need for a Sikh temple in the community and donated the property to Sikh Sangat of Timmins, a non-profit organization, and turned the building into a temple.
For about 2,500 international students from India, who are far from home and don’t have a family in the city, “this is their family,” Bains said.
Instead of travelling south to attend a temple, members of the Sikh community have a place in Timmins to get together and worship.
“I feel very blessed. I feel very relaxed I have been able to help these children to reach a point where they’re connected,” she said.
Volunteers help run the temple that opens its doors at 5 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m. During the day, anyone can come in, meditate, pray and eat free vegetarian food.
“Nobody will stop you, nobody will question you as to why you’re here,” Bains said.
The temple has a main hall and a free community kitchen. There are also books that people can borrow to learn more about the Sikh culture and religion. The food for the kitchen is also donated by the community, Bains added.
Inside the Gurdwara, people are asked to remove their shoes and cover their head.
On New Year’s Eve, people celebrated by praying, meditating and eating homemade food. The leftover food was donated to Living Space, Bains said.
“It was awesome, it was heavenly,” she said.
Campbell said it’s important for people observing a religion to have an opportunity to be a part of that community and have a place where they can worship and pray together.
With newcomers in the community, it can be “daunting to be away from home, it can be scary away from home,” she said.
“But to have an opportunity to go and meet with people from the same culture, the same faith, the same language has to be heartwarming and has to make people feel welcome,” she said.
Navdeep Singh, who came to Timmins three years ago, volunteers at the temple every day. When he first saw the temple on New Year’s Eve, he was very excited and he looks forward to more occasions and celebrations he can celebrate with others, he said.
“It means a lot to us. When I came in 2018, because of the culture shock, I was missing all these parts to celebrate, the rituals and rites,” Singh said.
An official grand opening of the temple will be held in the coming weeks.
