A philanthropist who has helped run campaigns for Langley hospital and university foundations has been named the H.D. Stafford Good Citizen of the Year.
Balraj Mann has been a property developer and is the founder and chair of the BM Group of Companies, which includes firms working in construction management, restoration, waterproofing, and real estate-related businesses.
He’s also been active as a director on the boards of the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation and the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Foundation. He and his family have also given some significant donations to the hospital foundation, and Mann has helped organize events like the annual Giving Hearts Gala for the hospital.
The award is given annually by the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce at its year-end dinner meeting, and like most honorees, Mann was surprised, noting he’d only found out he was nominated the day before the award.
“I can only do so much by myself,” Mann said, noting that the award had to be shared with his wife Jasbir and their family.
Thanking the nominators and the award committee for what he called a “remarkable honour,” Mann recalled coming to Canada in 1980 as a 15-year-old and working as a farm labourer in Langley and Abbotsford in his teens.
“Fast forward after schooling, and we had the opportunity to work professionally and buy businesses and open businesses in Langley.”
They decided to live here, and to get involved in the community through the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation.
Meeting Manjit Gill, who was named Citizen of the Year in 2021, helped motivate him to do more, Mann said.
He said he hoped to do the same thing for others that Gill did for him, and inspire others to get involved as well, he said.
A number of past recipients of the award were on hand to help celebrate Mann being named the 43rd recipient of the H.D. Stafford award, including Gill, Kathy Derksen, Kim Snow, and Gordon Zacher.
Chamber CEO Cory Redekop noted that the award is given out to recognize outstanding positive contribution to Langley.
It’s named after the late Harold Stafford, a former superintendent of schools and a tireless volunteer, who was also the namesake for H.D. Stafford Middle School.
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