MEMBERS of the Fiji Canada Business Association (FCBA) presented a check for $12,025.25 to a seniors care facility in Surrey on Tuesday.
The money was raised through a fundraising event during the Fiji Independence Day celebration on October 14 at a Surrey banquet hall. The association has now contributed $82,000 of its target of $100,000 from Fiji Canadians towards a new $85M care facility built by the Progressive Intercultural Community Services (PICS) in Cloverdale.
“We are very close to collecting the targeted amount for this new facility. We will have one of the many hallways inside the new facility named as a “Fijian Village” as a landmark,” said Kavin Chand, President of FCBA.

He added: “There’s an urgent need for facility expansion as our Fijian population in the Metro Vancouver and Surrey are aging rapidly.”
At present, more than 55 percent of the 200 full-time residents at the PICS care facility are of Fijian ethnicity. Many of them who made Canada their home in 70s and 80s, are now in dire need for long-term care with an aging Fijian population.
Last year, FCBA raised more than $25,000 for the PICS care facility through a fundraiser gala night.
FCBA was formed in 2017, and its members are mainly of Fijian ethnicity associated with businesses and corporations in Vancouver and Surrey.

– BY IRSHAD KHAN