Shahnaz Rahman, executive director, Surrey Women's Centre

I've actually been an immigrant in Canada for the past 45 years. I actually migrated from Karachi, Pakistan and landed right from Karachi into Kiramat, BC My mother migrated in her late 50s to Canada. As an older immigrant woman, she just refused to accept anything but acceptance in the community and her way that I took on was the mentoring of volunteerism. My mum seeing her day in, day out, heading out to her volunteer work, also seeing the support services that some of these community agencies offered was really heartfelt and had a huge impact in my journey. So the rich cultural fabric of our province of BC means a lot to me because it's validating, it removes the isolation and it gives a sense of an invitation to opportunities that exists for all cultures to thrive together.