The Indian Consulate in Vancouver hosted their annual Media Reception for Indo-Canadian media at the swanky Yacht Club in Vancouver’s West End. It was DesibuzzCanada’s first time attending and to be honest we could only recognize half of the room as legitimate working media while the other half we had never seen or heard of before but we’re sure they must have had a purpose for being there. 

By PD Raj – Senior Reporter DESIBUZZCanada

VANCOUVER - The Indian Consulate in Vancouver hosted their annual Media Reception for Indo-Canadian media at the swanky Yacht Club in Vancouver’s West End. 

It was DesibuzzCanada’s first time attending and to be honest we could only recognize half of the room as legitimate working media while the other half we had never seen or heard of before but we’re sure they must have had a purpose for being there. 

It’s good for the Consulate to reach out to the Indo-Canadian media which are opinion-makers and distributors of news-media in the community. 

Consul General Maneesh, who will be departing his position soon after his 3-year stint, thanked all the media for attending while highlighting the multi-billion investment by India directly or through subsidiaries into Canada’s resource rich oil, minerals and agriculture in Canada. He also stressed the ongoing business and cultural ties between the two countries despite the recent challenges brought by politics and the assassination of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar which has momentarily soured relations between the two nations. 

CG Maneesh acknowledged that the Indo-Canadian media has the right to report independently and fairly given the rights under the freedom of expression but said that India is growing and developing nation with huge investment opportunities and there are many a good story that local media needs to highlight. 

There’s no doubt that India needs to build bridges following the Nijjar killing, especially with the Sikh-Canadian community, but Consulate staff are in a precarious position as their job is to promote business and cultural ties between the two countries and circumstances beyond their control makes it harder for them to do their job. 

But this kind of an event goes a long way to get the relations back on track while circumstances beyond their control work themselves out geo-politically. Let’s hope for the best in getting relations between India and Canada back on track!