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Harjit Singh Sajjan: Minister of National Defence

November 21,2015

  • Hatjit Sajjan, 45, was born in India and moved to Canada with his family when he was five-years-old.
  • Mr Sajjan, a decorated Lt Colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces who was elected as a lawmaker for Vancouver South, is a combat veteran and has served in Bosnia and had three deployments to Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  • At the time, Sajjan was a reservist with the Canadian Armed Forces and was employed by the Vancouver police as a detective constable for 11 years. The letter from Brig.-Gen. David Fraser to then-Vancouver police chief Jamie Graham thanked him for allowing Sajjan to deploy on the mission.
  • Harjit Sajjan has served Canada and his community as both a soldier and a police officer. Harjit proudly tackled gang violence and drug crimes in Vancouver. He is also a Human Security specialist, lecturing to a wide audience in both Canada and the US.

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November 21,2015/ BY, Balwant Sanghera, a retired School Psychologist and  Community Activist

Election of twenty Punjabis to the House of Commons in Ottawa is a great news for Punjabis around the globe. Elevation of four of them to very prominent cabinet positions is a great honour not only to these four individuals but also a great tribute to a multicultural Canada of 2015.  Harjit Singh Sajjan, Navdeep Singh Bains, Amarjit Singh Sohi and Bardish Kaur Chaggar deserve our hearty congratulations and good wishes.

India Cultural Centre of Canada’s chairman Asa Singh Johal presented Harjit with a plaque and Saropa

Locally, appointment of Harjit Singh Sajjan as Miniser of National Defence has been hailed in Canada and the world as very deserving . Sajjan’s stellar record as a police officer with Vancouver Police Department and as a military officer has earned him kudos from every quarter. Thus, it was only fitting to welcome and recognize this very talented and decorated officer to India Cultural Centre of Canada’s Gurdwara Nanak Niwas in Richmond on November 15. Harjit was accompanied by his loving wife Dr. Kuljit Kaur Sahjjan, their two children-Jeevat and Arjun, Harjit’s father Kundan Singh Sajjan and a number of well -wishers. At the Gurdwara, Harjit was greeted by the management committee led by chairman Asa Singh Johal and president Sohan Singh Basi.

Members of the Executive-Vice President Balbir Singh Jawanda, General Secretary Mohan Singh Sandhu and Assistant Secretary Balwant Singh Sanghera –welcomed Harjit and shared highlights from his distinguished career. They congratulated him and wished him well on his new assignment. India Cultural Centre of Canada’s chairman Asa Singh Johal presented Harjit with a plaque and Saropa. In his brief remarks Harjit thanked the Gurdwara management and congregation for the honour bestowed upon him and assured the audience that he will do his utmot to serve Canada to the best of his ability. He also thanked the community for its on-going support and encouragement.

There is no doubt that our new Minister of national Defence is facing a lot of challenges. These include the withdrawal of six Canadian jets and our military personnel from the war zone in Iraq and Syria. The anti ISIL coalition is not thrilled about this prospect. However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made this as one of the major election platform. Furthermore, dealing with some of the internal problems in the armed forces as well as settling 25,000 Syrian refugees by December 31 are other major challenges facing the government in general and Minister Sajjan in particular. The good thing is that Harjit Singh Sajjan has the fortitude, skills and dedication to address these issues head on.

A look at his bio indicates that Harjit is a very creative individual. His invention of a face mask for the beard while serving in Afghanistan is still very popular with the Afghanistani forces. Prior to that, while serving as a police officer in Vancouver, he won accolades for dealing with the challenge of gangs and youth violence plaguing the city at that time. His superiors gave glowing reports about Harjit’s skills, determination and dedication. Thus ,there is little doubt that the man charged with the defence of the nation will make us all proud.

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Sikh war veteran Harjit Sajjan is Canada's new defence minister Financial

Nov 06, 2015

Harjit Sajjan, 42, MP from Vancouver South, was appointed defence minister. He was with the Vancouver Police Department for 11 years and served as a detective for the gang crime unit. He has been the first Sikh to command a Canadian regiment, called the Duke of Connaught’s Own which is a reserve regiment based in British Columbia province. Sajjan has served in Afghanistan and Bosnia and been twice a special adviser on Afghanistan. He was given the Meritorious Service Medal in March 2013. Harjit was five when his father moved to Canada from Punjab. His wife Kuljit Kaur is a family doctor.

 

Justin Trudeau was sworn in as Canada's 23rd Prime Minister before a packed crowd, almost 50 years after his father took on the job.

Mr Sajjan, who is part of Mr Trudeau's 30-member Cabinet that was sworn in during a ceremony at Rideau Hall, has received numerous military honours, including the Meritorious Service Medal in 2013, for reducing the Taliban's influence in the Kandahar Province.

You might think Harjit Sajjan takes a pretty mean combat gear photo, but Canada's new minister of national defence is some kind of next-level Spy vs. Spy war hero.
harjit sajjan

The letter from Brig.-Gen. David Fraser to then-Vancouver police chief Jamie Graham thanked him for allowing Sajjan to deploy on the mission.

harjit sajjan letter

Sajjan’s intelligence-gathering and analytic skills soon attracted the attention of senior U.S. military and strategic advisors. His opinion letter concerning the Taliban, local warlords and the Afghan opium trade was appended in full in a major 2008 report on U.S. anti-narcotic strategies by Barnet Rubin, senior advisor to the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In both 2006 and 2009 Sajjan came under enemy fire, saw open combat, and coped with dead and wounded soldiers.

Following Sajjan's second deployment in 2009, U.S. Maj.-Gen. James Terry, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan’s southern provinces, requested that he join the U.S. Command Team for a third tour in 2010, where he served as special assistant to Terry.


Harjit Sajjan, an Indo-Canadian Sikh, was named Canada's new Defence Minister as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's 30-member cabinet was sworn in at a ceremony in Ottawa on Wednesday.

As the new Defence Minister, Mr Sajjan will work with Mr Trudeau on reshaping Canada's combat mission fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria. His approach, based on his knowledge of local culture and tribal dynamics, helped senior management to engage with influential Afghan tribal leaders,

 

 

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