Sikh Chaplain

About Sikhs on campus at UBC

As a Chaplaincy, our goal is to help students achieve their utmost as mature, self-confident, and proud Sikhs.

At The University of British Columbia (UBC), we do this by supporting Sikh students and their families with a home away from home.

With the generous backing of local Sikhs, we help with tasks as simple as answering questions for first-time students, to introducing you to a network of local families, to sponsoring various faith-centric activities.

All students are invited to join our extended family as we celebrate our Sikh faith, community, culture, and commonly-held values; whether you are orthodox, non-orthodox, practicing, or non-practicing doesn’t matter. We are all one.

Join us in Seva, the practice of selfless community service as we feed the homeless in Vancouver alongside an award-winning and long-standing local Sikh charity. Or, come along with us to celebrate the colours, flavours, and proud history of Baisakhi with 400,000 local Sikhs at the world’s largest Nagar Kirtan outside India.

Vision

In the true Sikh spirit of inclusiveness, everyone is welcome and nobody is ever turned away from Sangat (fellowship).

Through community service (Seva) and a faith-based celebration of Chardi-Kala (eternal optimism and joy) our vision is to foster a spirit of peace (Sukhmani) and joy (Anand).

Always, we share the principles and teachings of Sikhism with anyone who wishes to learn. Of course, in accordance with Sikh ideals, we never proselytize or push religious conversion.

Values

The word Sikh means ‘one who learns’ (a disciple or student). Sikhs are on a spiritual journey to learn about, master, and espouse a set of universal values:

  • Equality (Ekta; no discrimination of gender and religion)
  • Charity (Seva; community service)
  • Protection and Empathy (Daya; understand and help the vulnerable)
  • Truth (Sat; see the world as it is, and speak to it truthfully)
  • Contentment; (Santokh; free the mind from fear and worry by accepting reality for what it is)
  • Humility (Nimrata; know that you are not superior or above others)
  • Love (Pyar; love all of God’s creation unconditionally and see goodness in all)

Philosophy

Sikhs believe that all creation is attributed to a single, universal, shapeless, timeless, and genderless Creator referred to as ‘WaheGuru’:

Wa (or Va): Wonder in the divine light

Guru: Spiritual darkness (Gu) is illuminated (Ru)

Sikhs view humanity as one, with no single religion claiming superiority or domain over another; various religious beliefs are separate pathways leading all believers to the same Creator. This central tenant of the one-and-only Creator is referred to as ‘Ik-Onkar’:

Ik: One and only one

Oang: Creator

Kar: Creation

Who we are

The Chaplaincy at Sikhs On Campus in UBC is a collective of community volunteers and:

  • A safe home where Sikh students and families know they can reach out to for help and guidance
  • A community of like-minded friends who want to help grow and support Sikhs
  • An organization which does its best to support anyone and everyone, regardless of where they may be on their Sikh journey
  • A place where being part of the Sikh community is fun
  • A home away from home

Chaplain profile

Mr. Inderjeet Singh

Mr. Inderjeet Singh (Indy), a proud father of two, and he has devoted more than 25 years to building and driving education, community support, and faith-centric programs for Sikh youth in North America and Asia. His passion is to connect the divide between today’s youth interests and traditionally-inspired spiritual practices.  

Indy blends modern-western with conventional-eastern pedagogic methods to create a holistic, relevant, and engaging experience for students. This approach has driven Sikh youth camps he’s coordinated and run in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, United States, and Canada since the early 1990’s.

For the past five years, Singh has been developing and conducting his latest programs for 200 youth in New Westminster, BC (Sukh Sagar Gurdwara). Indy coaches and mentors youth volunteers, educating and empowering them to run camps, classes, and events focused on religious philosophy, citizenship, culture, and social and communications skills.

Singh also serves as a coordinator for Guru Nanak’s Free Kitchen, an award-winning program to feed the homeless in Vancouver’s Eastside, serving nearly 50,000 meals per year to the needy.        

Indy holds a Master of Education degree and Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Bowling Green University (BGSU - Ohio, USA), where he advised student groups on good governance and ethics while supervising 16 graduate House Directors as Area Coordinator for Greek Affairs in the Office of Residence Life.  

For over 15 years, Singh has worked as a Senior Instructor, Corporate Trainer and Coach, and Marketing Manager in Canada and Malaysia.

Singh is a practicing Sikh and community advocate, fluent in written and spoken English, Punjabi, Hindi, and Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia.

To connect with the Sikh community on campus and join us in celebrating events, please visit http://sikhsoncampus.com/

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