Longtime Sparwood resident Rose Sharma was nominated for a 2016 British Columbia Multicultural Award.
The awards were given out during B.C.’s Multicultural Week, the third week in November. Sharma attended this year’s awards ceremony on Nov. 18 at the Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver and though she did not receive an award, she said it was an honour to be one of 146 individuals who were nominated.
British Columbia Multicultural Awards honour and celebrate the province’s cultural diversity. The awards recognize individuals, organizations and businesses whose exceptional work helps bring diverse cultures together.
Sharma was nominated for her years of volunteer service.
As President of the Sparwood District Arts and Heritage Council, Sharma has become a cultural force in the community with her work organizing everything from craft fairs, to the Santa Claus parade.
She is the driving force behind Sparwood's Arts and Culture week and has organized ethnic dancing and ethnic food celebrations for the town and the surrounding area.
She said Sparwood is more multicultural now than when she moved to town in 1974 but said there is more work to do to celebrate and recognize its diversity.
“We have to get out of that shell we are living in,” she said. “Canada is a melting pot of a whole bunch of nationalities, not just one or two. And we all came from somewhere; nobody was born here other than