Is Historic Paldi About to Rise From the Ashes?

The old made way for the new in October 2005 when Paldi, once home to one of the largest Sikh communities in Canada, went up in flames.

The remains of the 88-year-old community which housed as many as 1500 workers and residents in its heyday, were razed in preparation for a proposed 120 mixed-housing units and a re-born commercial centre.

Over three weekends regional fire departments “practice burned” a dozen old homes in the once thriving township between Duncan and Lake Cowichan. Only the second Sikh temple, built in 1959, and town founder Mayo Singh’s home (the latter only temporarily) were left standing.

That was 17 years ago. Now the building of new homes is finally underway. Existing residents and those who’ll make the reborn Paldi their home have a rich multi-cultural heritage in the onetime sawmill town originally known as Mayo Siding.

(Speaking personally, Mayo Singh is one of my few real heroes of Cowichan Valley history and it will be a joy to tell his story and that of the community he founded in the Chronicles.)
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