SURREY, CANADA: One of Surrey’s most multiracial schools has been recognized for its push for racial harmony.

Princess Margaret secondary school – which caters to 34 different cultures – was honored recently with a plaque from the Indo-Canadian Business Council for demonstrating bold initiatives and leadership in promoting racial harmony in Surrey.”

“We have been working hard but it was a complete surprise to me,”” Said Princess Margaret principal Jim Deacon.

The honor was the first to be doled out by the 300-memberIndo- Canadian Business Council, which celebrated its first luncheon with Mayor Bob Bose and city councilors recently.

One of the objectives of the council is to be involved in the community and alleviate misunderstandings in connection with race, religion and ethnic origin.

“Every year we want to recognize in the Community who is doing their best to eliminate racism,” said spokesman Sukhi Sandhu.

“Princess Margaret has a very large Indo-Canadian population and Mr. Deacon and the staffs try to have both sides get along. They are very serious about the problem and are setting role models for the ‘way the rest of the schools should be,”

Princess Margaret has started several initiatives this year to reduce intolerance and gain under- Standing for people of different cultures. Some of the programs include conflict resolution, peer mediation, multicultural camps, Student response groups, Punjabi heritage language program and “curriculum infusion,” which sees information from different cultures included in every subject’s curriculum.

Deacon said his staff also meets regularly with Hindu, Muslim, Sikhs, Catholics and Salvation Army representatives to find ways to clear the air and relieve ethnic tensions. “There’s no. question we have concerns about intolerance in our building, But any school would with the same amount of people.”

He said adding PM HAS 1,100 students in a school built for 800.

The Indo-Canadian Business Council also gave $300 to send two Princess Margaret students to Ottawa for a Forum for Young Canadians, a program designed to teach them about the federal government.

Article extracted from this publication >> April 15, 1994