By Joanne Dorr
The Haldimand Press
CALEDONIA—One year ago, Brian Haggith, President of the Caledonia Legion, and Saleem Chughtai, Manager of the Caledonia Islamic Centre, had never met.
At that time Haggith was under pressure to come up with a plan to raise much needed funds to support their club. Legion Treasurer Neil Bell explains the difficulties they faced when reopening after COVID: “We were closed for massive amounts of time and when we did open up, we were in a position of not being able to get staff. The one source of income, which was from the bar, was drastically affected.”
Haggith explains that their second floor banquet centre was a possible income stream, but it was woefully underused.
Meanwhile Chughtai was working with Reverend Cheryl Baker at the Caledonia Anglican Church to find a space for Caledonia’s Muslim population to use for worship. But this space with the church presented scheduling challenges for both parties.
Chughtai says, “We talked to the church and there was some space on the first floor. But then we saw we had so many programs booked for the same day in the same month.”
Being sympathetic with the needs of the Anglican Church, Chughtai needed to find a new location.
In true small-town fashion, members of the church who are also members of the Caledonia Legion thought of that underused second floor banquet centre. Meeting for the first time, Chughtai and Haggith toured the banquet space and established a rental agreement.
Riaz Haider, a member of the Caledonia Islamic Centre, moved to Caledonia from Milton two years ago. He says, “When you come to a small community the first thing is, where do we go pray? Here the community and town is just amazing. When you find a place like this where we can come, park, and go upstairs and feel secure, we could not have asked for anything better.”
This agreement took the pressure off Haggith and Bell to fundraise and the location was big enough to support Caledonia’s Muslim community well into the future. With the solution in place, the relationship between Haggith and Chughtai began to grow beyond that of landlord and tenant. Both men soon found common ground in community involvement.
Haggith, having been a long-term member of the Legion, has worked with many non-profits over the years. Donating to the foodbank, Senior Support Centre, and beyond, Haggith has made deep connections with community-focused organizations.
These connections were ones that the Caledonia Islamic Centre members were eager to make in their new hometown, a place they were not yet familiar with. Haider explains how being close with the Legion is “a great opportunity for us to network and engage with the rest of the community as well. We are now looking at what we can do from a charitable perspective.”
With this shared charitable mindset, the Caledonia Legion building has rebranded itself as a powerful centre for future community connections and cultural growth. Now Haider and Bell are sharing ideas on charitable collaborations and Chughtai is joining Haggith in prayer at the cenotaph on Remembrance Day.
Brought together through the power of small-town connections, this partnership between old Caledonia traditions and new Caledonia citizens stands as an example of good people doing good things for each other and their community.
