Community Response Networks

APNI (South Asian) Community Response Network

Surrey is the province’s second-largest city by population after Vancouver, and the third-largest by area after the cities of Abbotsford and Prince George.  Its population is diverse and multicultural. According to the 2016 Canada Census, 57.8% of Surrey residents identify as non-European, 38.7% European, and 2.6% Indigenous. Of its racialized communities, over 168,000 people identify as South Asian, nearly 33% of the city’s total population. (43% of Surrey’s population self-identify as immigrants and newcomers.) The most commonly spoken languages at home are English (66%), Punjabi (17%), other (9%), followed by Mandarin (4%).

The APNI Community Response Network supports Surrey’s South Asian seniors (APNI is Punjabi and Hindi for “one of our own”). Newly established in July 2021 in partnership with the Vedic Hindu Cultural Society of BC and the City of Surrey, the CRN was doing the work of a CRN long before officially becoming one.

Communities Served:

  • South Asian communities

Network Coordinator:
Surendra Handa
Phone: (604) 507-9945

Regional Mentor:
Jas Cheema

Host Agency:
Lakshmi Narayan Temple

Local Community Contact List:
Local Community Contact List – APNI

This contact information will put you in touch with people who are able to give you more information about services in your area. They are typically available during business hours Monday to Friday. Should this be an emergency situation, please consider calling your local RCMP detachment or the Police authority for your area.

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