Hundreds remember Sindi Hawkins

More than 300 friends and family packed the Kelowna Community Theatre on Wednesday to remember former Kelowna MLA Sindi Hawkins.

Manohar Singh Ahluwalia, Sindi’s father, traveled from Calgary to honour the BC residents who loved his daughter and to remember Sindi, who he says fought tooth and nail against her cancer.

“She was my valiant girl,” Manohar Singh Ahluwalia said. “She is the beloved of all my family members. She was very affectionate. She was down to earth and she will never be forgotten.”

Many people took turns remembering the MLA, who passed away in September after a six-year battle with leukemia.

“A very energetic person,” former Kelowna-Lake Country MLA John Weisbeck said. “You always knew when Sindi was around of course. She was very light-hearted and full of energy.”

Premier Gordon Campbell was also in attendance.

Campbell says he hopes Sindi’s courageous battle with cancer will lend strength to others.

“There will be thousands of people who will walk through those doors,” Campbell said. “That will face the journey just as difficult, who will require the same amount of courage, tenacity and strength of spirit as the journey that Sindi went on.”

The Southern Interior Cancer Centre in Kelowna has been renamed after the late MLA.

Sindi was 52 years old.