Chanchlani India Policy Centre, University of Waterloo, is officially launched

Toronto, June 8, 2011:

The Chanchlani India Policy Centre, a joint initiative of Canada India Foundation, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and The University of Waterloo, was formally launched on June 8, 2011 at a special ceremony and reception hosted at the Boulevard Club in Toronto, Canada, with a special address from the High Commissioner of India to Canada, His Excellency Shashishekhar Gavai.

The concept for The Chanchlani India Policy Centre (“Centre”) had its genesis when Mr. Vasu Chanchlani, Indo-Canadian philanthropist and Charter Member of Canada India Foundation, a non-profit public policy organization, expressed his intent to contribute to an endowment whose objective would be to acquire the necessary intellectual rigour for public policy development in the Canada-India corridor. “While there have been several academic and other initiatives to understand and enhance various aspects of Canada-India relations, a public policy research and development focused initiative had been an unfulfilled requirement”, Mr. Chanchlani said.

Canada India Foundation and Mr. Chanchlani quickly identified University of Waterloo as the most suitable partner for this initiative and, in September 2010, signed an agreement to establish the Chanchlani India Policy Centre in the Faculty of Arts at University of Waterloo, in one of the last acts of His Excellency David Johnston as President of University of Waterloo, before he took over as Canada’s current Governor General. As part of the agreement, Mr. Chanchlani committed to a contribution of $1 million and Canada India Foundation committed an additional $ 1 million, towards a target endowment of $10 million for the Centre.

Keeping the endowment target in mind, Ken Coates, Dean, Faculty of Arts atWaterloo found another reputable partner for the Center in Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, a non-profit think tank created by an Act of parliament to strengthenCanada’s relations with Asia, which committed to match the contributions by Vasu Chanchlani and Canada India Foundation. “India, as one of the major economic powers of the 21^st century, has to be one of the cornerstones of Canada’s Asia policy and we are very happy to be part of an initiative that will enable Canada to develop and implement a comprehensive policy vis-a-vis India” said Yuen Pau Woo, President and CEO, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.

The invited audience for the event, hosted by the three partnering organizations, also included India’s Consul General in Toronto, Mrs. Preeti Saran and leaders such as Mr. Sabi Marwah, Vice Chairman and COO of Scotiabank, former High Commissioners of Canada to India, Mr. Peter Sutherland and Ms. Lucie Edwards, Area Director of South Asia, Government of Ontario, Mr. Akhil Tyagi and many others. Addressing the audience, High Commissioner Gavai complimented the three organizations for coming together to further the public policy discourse inCanada. In a special surprise announcement, Mr. Chanchlani informed the audience that he has committed another $ 1 million towards setting up a similar center in India for Canada-India public policy and was actively working with a prestigious Indian institution towards that commitment.

The official launch of the Centre was preceded by a working session the same day, titled “Mapping Canada-India Research Agenda“, to establish priority areas for the Centre to address. The nearly 40 experts on India, including former Canadian High Commissioners to India, a former Indian ambassador, representatives from Universities of Waterloo, York, Carleton, Ottawa, Wilfrid Laurier and Toronto, entrepreneurs from relevant industry sectors such as mining and environment,  and corporate as well community leaders,  who shared their valuable perspective in 3 parallel sessions. The session also set the tone for the broad consultative mode of operation of the Chanchlani India Policy Centre, something both noticed and appreciated by the participants. “We hope that the subsequent and ongoing policy work done at the Centre will provide valuable input to both Canadian and Indian Governments to bind the two nations together, not only on trade matters, but also on a variety of areas of mutual interest” said Aditya Jha, National Convener of Canada India Foundation.

The Centre will fund India Chairs at Waterloo, Visiting Chairs for India scholars, Research Fellows, public lectures and conferences. “The Centre lays the groundwork for a new era for Canada-India initiative with active participation of the civil society through Canada India Foundation and Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada,” said newly appointed Director of the Centre, Dr. Ryan Toohey, “Waterloois truly honoured to be part of the comprehensive effort to improve Canada’s connections to India.”