Indo-Canadians win in British Columbia elections

Two Indo-Canadians from different parties were among the winners in the provincial elections in British Columbia, Canada, media reported Wednesday.

While Amrik Virk of the Liberals, who swept back to power in the province, was declared elected from Surrey-Tynehead over the New Democratic Party's (NDP) Avtar Bains, incumbent Raj Chouhan of the NDP held on to his seat in Burnaby-Edmonds in a close fight against Jeff Kuah of the Liberals, the Vancouver Desi reported.

Virk is an inspector with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and had taken leave without pay to serve Surrey, a city with a large south Asian population, in a different way.

After having arrived in Williams Lake, British Columbia, from India at the age of five, he joined the RCMP in 1987 and was posted in Surrey in 2001.

Living in Surrey with his wife and three daughters, Virk has also served in the board of directors of the Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation.

He is currently is the chairman of the human resources committee and the vice-chairperson of the board of governors of Kwantlen University.

Virk's opponent Bains is a small business owner who has lived in Surrey-Tynehead for 40 years.

Chouhan, who won the Burnaby-Edmonds seat for the NDP, was first elected in 2005 and then re-elected in 2009.

He was most recently the NDP's critic for immigration, multiculturalism and human rights after having served as the party critic for labour and mental health.

He is also the founding president of the Canadian Farmworkers' Union and served as the director of bargaining for the Hospital Employees Union for 18 years.

A founding member of the British Columbia Organisation to Fight Racism, he was also vice-president of the British Columbia Human Rights Defenders and has taught courses on human rights.

Chouhan and his wife, who live in Burnabby-Edmonds in that westernmost province of Canada, have two grown children and two granddaughters.