Partners

The production of the film Beyond the Gardens’ Wall was funded by the Community Historical Recognition Program of the Canadian Department of Citizenship and Immigration in 2009-2010.

Throughout the project, the Butchart Gardens has provided access to the Gardens’ archives, the use of archival photos, contacts with former gardeners, and access to the Gardens for photography.

In 1998 the Royal Canadian Geographical Society provided a research grant to cover the research costs of the production of an historical map of Tod Inlet. A British Columbia Heritage Trust grant to the Citizens Association to Save the Environment (CASE) of Victoria covered the cost of additional archival research and the interviewing of local elders.

In 2006, the Sikh Film Foundation of Toronto (through OMNI TV) provided a start-up grant of $5,100 for a film on the Sikhs of Tod Inlet.

The Khalsa Diwan Society of Victoria, supported the preliminary filming of oral history interviews with descendants of the workers of Tod Inlet by providing access to the Gurdwara and the Seniors’ House in May 2006.

As well as funding some basic research on the impact of the community and cement plant on the environment of Tod Inlet, the B.C. Parks Provincial Branch also permitted filming within Gowlland-Tod provincial park.

OMNI Television provided a grant of $50,000 for the production of a TV film on the Sikh community, the first in the series of three proposed films. In November 2007 an early version of the film Searching for the Sikhs of Tod Inlet was screened in Toronto, Ontario, at the Spinning Wheel Film Festival. The final English and Punjabi versions were broadcast on OMNI TV in September 2010.

Community Support

The Sikh community in Victoria supported the preliminary filming of oral history interviews with descendants of the workers of Tod Inlet in May 2006.

Architect and former Mayor of Victoria, BC, Alan Lowe, provided assistance through interviews about his grandfather, Lowe Sai, and how his early experience as an immigrant worker at Tod Inlet, have impacted his family.

We would especially like to acknowledge the following for their participation in the interviews for the film:

• Mukkund Lal Pallan
• Tarsem Pallan
• Paul Singh Johal
• Rick (Davinder) Singh Johal
• Rajan Rai
• Alan Lowe
• Pat van Adrichem
• Mony Jawl
• Jeto Sengara
• Dr. Manmohan Wirk