Vishal G Arora, a Canadian with roots in Punjab, has been honoured with the Long Term Service Award for his contribution towards the community on May 15. Brompton Mayor Susan Fennel conferred the award on Arora at the annual Citizen Awards Ceremony. Arora has promoted arts and culture in Brampton as the Community Outreach and Business Advisor for the Academy of Creative Arts. He was a inspiring force behind programs as Speak Out in his province, an event that was designed for the youth and by the youth and educated them about the political process and motivated them to get involved and engage with it.

The British government has approved applications for 15 new faith schools, including two Sikh schools. UK education secretary Michael Gove cleared the applications as part of 102 new 'free schools' which are to be opened from 2014 and beyond. Free schools are state-funded schools, independent of the local authority's control. As per rules, faith schools under the category are able to select a maximum of 50% of pupils on the basis of religion.