Delta MP Carla Qualtrough was the featured speaker at a special reception at the Ahmadiyya community's Baitur Rahman Mosque last Friday.
Attended by over 100 people, including local and provincial politicians, Delta police, representatives from several charitable agencies, as well as several recent Syrian refugees, the event at the River Road mosque was held to congratulate Qualtrough on her recent election as MP and appointment as minister of sport and persons with disabilities. "We live in a diverse and prosperous community in a diverse and prosperous time, and together we can make the most of them," Qualtrough told the crowd.
She echoed many of the subject areas she spoke of earlier in the week at a Delta Chamber of Commerce luncheon, going over her priorities for Delta and her new Liberal government.
Noting there are many federal issues facing Delta, Qualtrough said it will be advantageous for the municipality to have one single voice that can represent North Delta and South Delta, as the two had previously been split among other federal ridings.
The event was also a celebration of diversity.
"This is what I want Canada to look like, right here in this room," she said.
Qualtrough added she's proud to be Canadian, where diversity is celebrated, and this can be seen in Delta, whose residents are thoughtful and caring.
Several other guest speakers were congratulatory of Qualtrough and highly complimentary of the qualifications and experience she brings to her job, including
Delta North MLA Scott Hamilton, Surrey/Whalley MLA Bruce Ralston, Coun. Jeannie Kanakos and school board chair Laura Dixon.
Dixon noted her district recently welcomed six refugee children into Delta schools.
Also attending last Friday's event were representatives from the Fraser Valley Regional Library, Burns Bog Conservation Society, RCMP, the relief organization Humanity First and others.
Opened three years ago, the Baitur Rahman Mosque covers 33,000 square feet, including a gymnasium where the reception was held.
With an occupancy capacity of 1,100, the mosque is similar, but smaller in scale, to a 48,000-square-foot facility the Ahmadiyya opened in Calgary in 2008, Canada's largest mosque complex.
The Ahmadiyya Movement has branches in more than 178 countries with a membership in the tens of millions.
Saying they encourage interfaith dialogue, the Ahmadiyya also note they're the leading Islamic organization to categorically reject terrorism in any form.
An open house will be held at the mosque on March 6 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
