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Jinny Sims & Kamaljit Thind

Kamaljit Singh Thind

Jinny Sims is running as a NDP candidate from the electoral district of Newton North Delta in British Columbia, Canada. Newton�North Delta is a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004. It has the highest percentage of Sikhs in Canada, at 27.6% And the riding is one of the most diverse in B.C., where a large chunk of the voters speak Punjabi, Farsi and other languages besides English. Dhaliwal has held his seat since 2006, but the last two elections have been nail-biters. He beat the NDP candidate by just 700 votes in 2006, while the Conservative candidate came second in 2008 by about 2,400 votes. Jinny Sims (Jogindera) was Born in India when she was nine , her family emigrated to England. A native Punjabi speaker, she had to struggle with English. "There was no ESL instruction in those days. It was total immersion!" Even so, Jinny loved school. As a teen, she was active in community service, competed in fencing, and earned a black belt in judo. After graduation, she headed to the University of Victoria at Manchester, where she completed her B.Ed degree. There she met her husband, Stephen Sims, also a teacher. In those days, cross-cultural relationships were so rare that "we�d bring traffic to a halt when we passed by!" Once she started teaching, Jinny worked with highly academic students and with youth in a juvenile prison. "I loved working with all those kids. I ran the judo and fencing teams, the multicultural club, all kinds of activities," she said. "We were young, and there was lots of energy and excitement." Jinny�s involvement with the union movement began with the National Union of Teachers in Britain, and continued after she emigrated to Canada in 1975. The Sims family settled in Nanaimo, where Jinny taught social studies and English, and worked as a school counsellor. When B.C. teachers began the drive to unionize, Jinny was deeply involved in the first round of local bargaining. She served on committees including the Status of Women and the Program Against Racism, as well as the executive of her local. She was elected president of the Nanaimo District Teachers� Association in 1992, holding that position until 1995. Since 1998, Jinny has served on the provincial Executive Committee as a member-at-large, second vice-president, and first vice-president. Jinny Sims, past President of the British Columbia Teachers Federation Sims currently resides in Vancouver where she still works with the union as the director of professional and social justice issues division. But she did live in the riding for 22 years and says she plans to move to the area full-time soon in order to be closer to her elderly mother. Jinny and Stephen Sims have two children: Keeran, 27, and Michael, 22. As well, they are proud grandparents of Emily, eight, and Jacob and Jessica, five-year-old twins. Kamaljit Singh Thind is a producer, director & host of Mehak Punjab Di TV program on Joy TV Channel 10 every Saturday at 10:30 AM. And also producer, director , host & editor of world's first Punjabi literary Video Magazine www.punjabikalma.com .