Ujjal Dosanjh

Ujjal Dev Dosanjh, (ਉੱਜਲ ਦੇਵ ਦੁਸਾਂਝ; born September 9, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer and politician.

Ujjal Dosanjh was born in Dosanjh Kalan, a village in Jalandhar, Punjab, India in 1947 after the fall of British Colonial India.

After moving to another village, he lived with his grandfather, Moola Singh Bains, who had established a primary school.

Dosanjh gained an early interest in politics from listening to debates between his father, a follower of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indian National Congress, and his grandfather, a former British Raj freedom fighter and socialist.

Dosanjh wanted to pursue an education in political science, but his father wanted him to be a doctor.

In 1964, at the age of 17, Dosanjh left India for the United Kingdom where he could pursue his own interests.

In London he learned English and worked as an assistant editor for a Punjabi-language newspaper.

He emigrated to Canada three and a half years later, arriving in British Columbia on May 12, 1968, to live with his aunt.

He completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.

He went on to earn a law degree from the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law in 1976, and was called to the bar the following year.

During this time he taught English as a second language courses at Vancouver Community College and worked as an assistant editor of a local Punjabi newspaper.

He established his own law practice in 1979, specializing in family and personal injury law.

His involvement with community organizations included founding the Farm Workers’ Legal Information Service (later Canadian Farm Workers' Union), serving on the board of directors for BC Civil Liberties Association and the Vancouver Multicultural Society, and the Labour Advocacy Research Association, as well as volunteer work with MOSAIC Immigrant Services Centre, and the South Vancouver Neighbourhood House.

A prominent moderate Sikh in Vancouver, Dosanjh spoke out against violence by Sikh extremists who advocated Khalistani independence from India.

Dosanjh ran as the British Columbia New Democratic Party candidate in the Vancouver South riding in the 1979 and 1983 provincial elections.

He lost both times to the BC Social Credit Party candidates.

As a result of these views, in February 1985 he was attacked in the parking lot of his law office by an assailant wielding an iron bar.

Dosanjh, 37 at the time, suffered a broken hand and received 80 stitches in his head.

He was elected in the Vancouver-Kensington riding in 1991 as a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP) and re-elected there in 1996.

He served as the Attorney General of British Columbia from August 1995 to February 2000.

When the leader of his party resigned in 1999, Dosanjh put himself forward as a candidate and won the leadership vote.

With the win he became Canada's first Indo-Canadian provincial leader.

He was targeted again, on 26 December 1999, while he was a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, when his constituency office was broken into and a Molotov cocktail left burning on a table.

Dosanjh and his wife Raminder have three sons.

He served as the 33rd premier of British Columbia from 2000 to 2001 and as a Liberal Party of Canada member of Parliament from 2004 to 2011.

In April 2000, his middle son, Aseem, was charged with assaulting an Ontario police officer during a bar brawl, but was found not guilty.

Dosanjh has travelled back to India several times, on official state business and for personal reasons, since emigrating.

He served as the 33rd Premier of British Columbia until June 2001 when he lost the province's general election.

In January 2003, he was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (Expatriate Indian Honour) from Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New Delhi.

The award recognises individual excellence in various fields for persons of Indian origin across the world.

He was minister of health from 2004 until 2006, when the party lost government.

He then served in the Official Opposition from January 2006 until 2011.

Dosanjh was one of four visible minorities to serve in Paul Martin's Ministry.

Prior to being involved in federal politics, he spent ten years in provincial politics.

In 2014, author Doug Welbanks published a biography, Unbreakable: The Ujjal Dosanjh Story.

He was the last NDP premier of the province until John Horgan was elevated to the position in 2017.

Born in a village in the Jalandhar district of Punjab, India, Dosanjh emigrated to the United Kingdom at the age of 17 before moving to Canada almost four years later.

He worked numerous manual labour jobs and attended university, studying political science.

He earned his law degree at the University of British Columbia and opened his own law firm.

He has been a vocal opponent of violence and extremism.