'We wanted to give back to Brampton'

Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness would not exist without the support of generous donors such as Sajjad Ebrahim.

Sajjad Ebrahim helped bring the project to fruition with the largest donation ever received from a family–$2.5 million. Peel Memorial’s Urgent Care Centre is named for him and his family in recognition of this incredible contribution. With a matching donation from Orlando Corporation, the gift meant $5 million to support community health care in Brampton.

“My company was in Brampton for a very long time,” Sajjad says. “And after we sold the company, we decided that since a lot of the employees that worked there live in Brampton, and Brampton has been very good to us, we wanted to give back to Canada and to Brampton in particular.”

"And after we sold the company, we decided that since a lot of the employees that worked there live in Brampton, and Brampton has been very good to us, we wanted to give back to Canada and to Brampton in particular."

As a business leader and former member of the Peel Memorial Board of Directors, Sajjad was in a good position to see the benefits of the new Peel Memorial.

“This was more of an integrated health management system, where there was a lot of emphasis on prevention,” he says. “And prevention is definitely a far more economic way of handling health care—to keep people healthy rather than to cure them.”

Sajjad looks forward to the transformation of Peel Memorial into Brampton’s second hospital. “The need has obviously increased dramatically in terms of the people that need access to health care, and with the population growth that is happening in the GTA, obviously that is going to continue to grow,” he notes.

Sajjad also previously contributed to health care in the community through his work with Muslim Friends of Osler, a group that pledged $1 million to Osler Foundation. Sajjad’s company at the time, Par-Pak Ltd., together with its employees, raised $150,000 for the campaign.

The Ebrahim family has continued to support Osler throughout the years, most recently giving to boost the hospitals’ COVID-19 response. To help meet urgent equipment needs, in 2020 Osler Foundation launched the Health Care Heroes campaign, with a commitment to raising $5 million. Sajjad and his family matched all donations up to $100,000.

“I’m thankful for all the work that Osler physicians and staff do, especially in the time of the pandemic,” Sajjad says. “They have really stepped up and looked after the community. I wish them well.”

(Source: William Osler Health System Foundation)