1. en-ashram-N/G
2. 10-05-2025
4. Tweet

The Rideau Community Hub was abuzz on April 27 as the Bangladesh-Canada Association of Ottawa Valley (BACAOV) celebrated Bangla New Year 1432. Over a thousand attendees packed the venue, where local Bangladeshi vendors sold food, clothing, jewelry, and more. Performers from Ottawa and Bangladesh took the stage, adding to the vibrant atmosphere.

Despite the logistical challenges, the real feat was the event's organization. With no external funding, BACAOV relied solely on support from Bangladeshi businesses and individual donations, raising over $16,000 to meet the budget. Thanks to their generosity, the event offered free admission and performances.

This community-driven celebration highlighted the importance of an organization like BACAOV, which represents Bangladeshi Canadians in Ottawa. For perhaps the first time, so many community members came together to renew their culture and identity, proving that together, they can achieve remarkable things.

The success also raises questions about BACAOV's capacity to sustain such efforts without further strengthening its structure and finances. While the event showcases its potential to represent the Bangladeshi community and engage with the broader Ottawa community, a lasting presence requires more than sporadic events. To build community trust, BACAOV should implement permanent programming that not only engages but also benefits the community year-round, going beyond occasional cultural events.

Some observers have similar thoughts on BACAOV's Facebook page. Although long, the comments below are worth sharing.

The BACAOV Mela was undoubtedly a huge success. Celebrate the achievement! But before moving forward, assess the key factors that drove it and see if you can build on them. Looking ahead, will elections alone be enough to evolve BACAOV into a stronger, more stable organization? The record shows otherwise. How many elections have been held since its founding? Were they fair? If so, why haven't they enabled BACAOV to become a more functional organization? Let’s face it – elections aside, it’s always struggled with leadership. And what kind of vision have the elected reps brought to the table over the past 50 years? Unfortunately, despite its pride of being around for half a century, it hasn’t made any tangible impact on the community. Its activities have always been limited to organizing picnics and some cultural events. It has a constitution, but its vision is limited to celebrating four Bangaldeshi holidays (then why don’t you remove the word “Canada” from the name?) The cultural events are important for bringing the community members together, but are insufficient to foster a sense of belonging to the organization.

What you need is not just an election or a constitution, but a foundational visioning exercise to transform it from a picnic-organization to a purpose-driven, community-oriented one. Focus on building stable leadership that can reach and serve the wider community. Instead of just hosting occasional cultural events, develop a plan to actively engage the community in assessing its needs and concerns. There are lots of people in the community – seniors, women, students – who need help and BACAOV can be truly community’s organization by developing and providing services to them. It’s a shame that despite being around for half a century, it lacks a funding base and hasn’t pursued opportunities to secure government or foundation funding. If you’re serious about transforming it into a community-oriented organization, you should start by delivering services that aren't costly, or that can be provided in partnership with other community organizations. This should gradually enable it to build its organizational and financial resources and make it a true Bangladeshi-Canadian organization. In brief, to rebuild the organization, move beyond elections and picnics and focus on consolidating leadership, building a good governance structure, engaging the community through service development, and exploring opportunities for securing funding and building partnerships.

These reflections provide the BACAOV leadership with food for thought. They should consider whether to continue as is, without making lasting impacts, or build on their recent success and reorganize to truly become an organization of and for the community.

Having said that, we would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the BACAOV team for organizing the Mela and giving us hope that together, we can achieve anything. Thank you all for your outstanding efforts, and we look forward to seeing more in the future! 

Thank you,
ashrambd.com 
Ottawa
May 10, 2025

1. en-ashram-N/G
2. 10-05-2025
4. Tweet