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Ujjal Dosanjh: B.C.'s Indian-Born Premier |
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Although Ujjal Dosanjh has been a prominent politician in British Columbia for almost 10 years, he was relatively unknown outside British Columbia before he won the leadership of the provincial New Democratic Party. Because Glen Clark had resigned and the NDP was still the government, Dosanjh as leader automatically became the newest premier of the province. Although this latest stage of his career thrust him very quickly into the national limelight, Dosanjh had been on a journey that many say would have inevitably led him to a position of prominence. While reading the biography of Dosanjh, answer in point form the following questions: What life experiences helped shape Ujjal Dosanjh’s career, bringing him eventually to the office of premier? What, in your opinion, was the impact of the hardships he underwent in terms of his political career? Ujjal Dosanjh was born 52 years ago in a small village in the Northern Indian state of Punjab. When he was 17 years old he left India for England, not knowing a word of English. When he was 21 he moved to Canada. In Vancouver he worked at a physically very demanding job in a sawmill and attended Simon Fraser University in the evenings. After breaking his spine in a work-related accident, he started going to university full-time and graduated with a law degree from the University of British Columbia. He was called to the bar in 1977. After graduating, he started a labour advocacy group that advised and helped organize Indo-Canadian farm workers in the lower mainland. At that time, Punjabi migrant farm workers were not covered by provincial health or employment standards and did not qualify for workers compensation. He also worked on behalf of poorly paid domestic workers and janitorial staff. Dosanjh joined the NDP soon after he arrived in Canada. He was excited by the fact that the NDP embraced visible minorities and had two black members, Emery Barnes and Rosemary Brown, in the B.C. legislature. He was also inspired by the leftist politics of his grandfather in India, a Sikh preacher who was interested in the teachings of Karl Marx and Mao Zedong. He ran for office unsuccessfully for the NDP in 1979 and again in 1983. In 1991, he finally won a seat in a South Vancouver riding. In each campaign, he noticed fewer and fewer remarks about his ethnic background, until finally they stopped altogether. As Dosanjh has pointed out, “This is a tribute to the entire B.C. community that they have embraced diversity with the passion they have. It would have been unthinkable 30 years ago.” In 1995, he was appointed Attorney General of British Columbia. Within days of his appointment, he had to deal with an armed stand-off between the police and a native group at a central B.C. ranch on the shores of Gustafsen Lake. The stand-off lasted a month until the native group surrendered. Thirteen members of the group were subsequently convicted. As Attorney General, Dosanjh proved to be tough on crime, a position some found surprising for a social democrat and a human-rights activist. Although Dosanjh was tough on crime, this is not how he would like to be remembered. As the Attorney General he also enforced child maintenance payments, improved police accountability, and acted as an advocate for gay rights and anti-hate legislation. While he was attorney general, two women, one openly gay man, and a native chief were all appointed as provincial judges. It is these achievements of which Dosanjh is especially proud. Dosanjh’s strong anti-violence stance is consistent with his life experiences. In the mid-1980s, Sikh extremists in India were fighting for independence for the Punjab. In India, thousands of Sikhs lost their lives. The violence spread to Canada when a bomb, allegedly planted by a Sikh extremist in Canada, exploded on an Air India flight off the coast of Ireland. All 329 people on board were killed. Dosanjh, a moderate “secular” Sikh who cuts his hair, is clean-shaven and has not adopted other symbols of the Sikh religion, became an outspoken critic of the violent tactics used by extremist factions and raised the ire of many of the more militant in the community. In 1985, in the parking lot of his law office he was physically attacked by an assailant with a lead pipe. He required 80 stitches to the head and suffered a broken hand. Charges were laid, but no one was convicted of the attack, which just strengthened Dosanjh’s resolve to continue to speak out. “It was the very thing I was fighting against in the first place. It was proof that I was right in what I was doing. The animosity of some toward Dosanjh has continued. On December 26, 1999, his constituency office was fire-bombed. Luckily no one was hurt in the early morning attack. Although sources have said that Sikh militant factions consider him an enemy and that they did not want to see him win the leadership, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack and no charges have been laid. Follow-up Discussion Introduction |
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Using both the print and non-print material from various issues of News in Review, teachers and students can create comprehensive, thematic modules that are excellent for research purposes, independent assignments, and small group study. We recommend the stories indicated below for the universal issues they represent and for the archival and historic material they contain. “Vander
Zalm: A Question of Accountability,” May 1991 |
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Does Your Resource Collection Include These CBC Videos? Skin Deep: The
Science of Race |
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