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The Honourable
Harjit Sajjan
PC OMM MSM CD MP
Harjit Sajjan
Minister of National Defence
Incumbent
Assumed office
November 4, 2015
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Preceded by Jason Kenney
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Vancouver South
Incumbent
Assumed office
October 19, 2015
Preceded by Wai Young
Personal details
Born September 6, 1970(1970-09-06) (age 54)[1]
Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India
Political party Liberal
Spouse(s) Kuljit Kaur, MD
Children 2
Military service
Allegiance Flag of Canada Canada
Service/branch Canadian Army Flag Canadian Army
Years of service 1989–2015[2]
Rank Lieutenant Colonel

Harjit Singh Sajjan PC OMM MSM CD MP (born September 6, 1970) is a Canadian Liberal politician, the current Minister of National Defence and a Member of Parliament representing the riding of Vancouver South. Sajjan was first elected during the 2015 federal election, defeating Conservative incumbent MP Wai Young, and was sworn into Justin Trudeau's cabinet as defence minister on November 4, 2015. Before politics, Sajjan was a detective investigating gangs for the Vancouver Police Department and a regimental commander in the Canadian Armed Forces decorated for his service in Afghanistan. Sajjan was also the first Sikh-Canadian to command a Canadian army reserve regiment.

Early and personal life[]

Harjit Singh Sajjan was born to Sikh parents in Bombeli, a village in the Hoshiarpur district of Punjab, India. His family immigrated to Canada when he was five years old. He grew up in Vancouver. Harjit's father Sardar Kundan Singh Sajjan is a member of the World Sikh Organization (WSO), a Sikh advocacy group. He is married to Kuljit Kaur Sajjan, a family doctor, with whom he has a son and a daughter.[3]

Sajjan was baptized as a Sikh when he was a teenager, seeing it as a way to get away from a bad crowd.[4]

Police service[]

Sajjan served as an officer of the Vancouver Police Department for 11 years.[5] He ended his career with the VPD as a detective with the department's gang crimes unit[5] and organized-crime investigator.[4]

Military career[]

Sajjan joined the Canadian army reserve in 1989 as a trooper and was commissioned in 1991. He eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He was deployed overseas four times in the course of his career: once to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and three times to Afghanistan.[5] In 2011, he became the first Sikh to command a Canadian Army reserve regiment when he was named commander of the The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own).[5][6]

He was bestowed with the Meritorious Service Medal in 2012[7] for diluting the Taliban’s influence in Kandahar Province.[5] He has also been awarded the Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal.[5] He also received the Order of Military Merit award. He was recognized as "the best single Canadian intelligence asset" in the Kandahar theatre by Brigadier-General David Fraser.[5][8] He also served as an Aide-de-Camp to the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.[9] His intelligence gathering skills were sought after. The Commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan’s southern provinces requested that Sajjan join the U.S. Command Team for a third deployment 2010, where he served as Special Assistant to then Major-General James L. Terry.[10] He consulted for US policy analyst Barnett Rubin.[11]

His religiously required facial hair prevents the use of regular military gas masks.[4] Sajjan invented his own gas mask that worked with his beard, and patented it in 1996.[12]

Political career[]

Sajjan was elected for the riding of Vancouver South during the 2015 federal election, defeating Conservative incumbent MP Wai Young.[13][14][15] Sajjan was appointed Minister of National Defence in the federal Cabinet, headed by Justin Trudeau, on November 4, 2015.[16]

Honours and decorations[]

Sajjan received the following honours and decorations during and after his military career.

Order of Military Merit (Canada) ribbon (OMM) MSM Ribbon-military SWASM Ribbon General Campaign Star Ribbon
CPSM Ribbon NATO Medal Yugoslavia ribbon bar with decoration Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal ribbon QEII Diamond Jubilee Medal ribbon
CD-ribbon and bar Army Commendation Medal ribbon

Ribbon Description Notes
Order of Military Merit (Canada) ribbon (OMM) Order of Military Merit (OMM)
  • Officer October 17, 2012
  • Invested June 20, 2014
  • [17]
MSM Ribbon-military Meritorious Service Medal (MSM)
  • Awarded August 22, 2012
  • Military Division
SWASM Ribbon South-West Asia Service Medal
General Campaign Star Ribbon General Campaign Star
  • South West Asia Ribbon
Mentioned in dispatches
  • Awarded June 4, 2008
NATO Medal Yugoslavia ribbon bar with decoration NATO Service Medal
  • Former Yugoslavia
CPSM Ribbon Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal
Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal ribbon Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
  • 2002
  • Canadian Version of this Medal
  • [18]
QEII Diamond Jubilee Medal ribbon Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
  • 2012
  • Canadian Version of this Medal
  • [19]
CD-ribbon and bar Canadian Forces Decoration (CD)
  • 1 Clasp
Army Commendation Medal ribbon Commendation Medal
Chief of Defence Staff Commendation
Deputy Minister Award

Electoral record[]

Canadian federal election, 2015: Vancouver South
Party Candidate Votes % ∆% Expenditures
Liberal Harjit Sajjan 21,773 48.81 +15.05
Conservative Wai Young 15,115 33.88 -8.55
New Democratic Amandeep Nijjar 6,230 13.97 -7.10
Green Elain Ng 1,149 2.58 +0.38
Marxist–Leninist Charles Boylan 178 0.40
Progressive Canadian Raj Gupta 166 0.37
Total valid votes/Expense limit 44,611 100.0     $202,339.96
Total rejected ballots 259
Turnout 44,870 64.04
Eligible voters 70,062
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing +11.8%
Source: Elections Canada[20][21]

References[]

  1. "Military camaraderie cuts across political lines for two B.C. candidates". April 18, 2015. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Military+camaraderie+cuts+across+political+lines+candidates/10982041/story.html. 
  2. Pugliese, David (10 November 2015). "Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan released from military — so he doesn’t have to take orders from generals". National Post. Postmedia Network Inc.. http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/defence-minister-harjit-sajjan-released-from-military-so-he-doesnt-have-to-take-orders-from-generals. Retrieved 11 November 2015. 
  3. "Harjit Sajjan: Meet Canada's new 'badass' defence minister". cbc.ca. November 5, 2015. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/harjit-sajjan-badass-canada-defence-minister-1.3304931. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Canada’s New Defense Minister Made His Own Gas Mask to Work With His Sikh Beard". Foreign Policy. http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/11/05/canadas-new-defense-minister-made-his-own-gas-mask-to-work-with-his-sikh-beard/. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Baluja, Tamara (5 November 2015). "Harjit Sajjan: Meet Canada's new 'badass' defence minister". CBC News. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/harjit-sajjan-badass-canada-defence-minister-1.3304931. Retrieved 5 November 2015. 
  6. Garima Goswami, Taking Command - Lieutenant-Colonel Harjit Singh Sajjan, Darpan Magazine, April 20, 2013.
  7. "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". gg.ca. https://www.gg.ca/honour.aspx?id=903&t=16&ln=Sajjan. 
  8. "Who are we? Part 12: In defence of the rights of others (with video)". http://www.vancouversun.com/life/series+part+twelve+defence+rights+others+with+video/7209454/story.html?__lsa=8441-c112. Retrieved 2015-11-05. 
  9. Meet Harjit Sajjan, Liberal.ca.
  10. "You have no idea how badass Trudeau's Defence Minister really is". National Observer. http://www.nationalobserver.com/2015/11/04/opinion/you-have-no-idea-how-badass-trudeaus-defence-minister-really. 
  11. Rubin, Burnett; Sherman, Jake (2008). Counter-Narcotics to Stabilize Afghanistan: The False Promise of Crop Eradication. New York University. pp. 57–58. http://cic.es.its.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/counternarcoticsfinal.pdf. Retrieved 6 November 2015. 
  12. CA patent 2189378, "Protective hood" 
  13. Jon Azpiri (October 19, 2015). "Liberal Harjit Sajjan defeats Tory incumbent Wai Young in Vancouver South". Global News. http://globalnews.ca/news/2284476/liberal-harjit-sajjan-defeats-tory-incumbent-wai-young-in-vancouver-south/. Retrieved October 19, 2015. 
  14. "Canada election 2015: List of elected B.C. candidates". CBC News. October 19, 2015. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/canada-election-2015-list-of-elected-b-c-candidates-1.3279444. Retrieved October 20, 2015. 
  15. "19 Indian-Canadians elected to Canadian parliament". The Economic Times. October 20, 2015. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/nris-in-news/19-indian-canadians-elected-to-canadian-parliament/articleshow/49464520.cms. Retrieved October 20, 2015. 
  16. "Full list of Justin Trudeau's cabinet". http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/full-list-of-justin-trudeau-s-cabinet-1.3300699. 
  17. "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". gg.ca. http://www.gg.ca/honour.aspx?id=4379&t=11&ln=Sajjan. Retrieved 20 November 2015. 
  18. "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". gg.ca. http://www.gg.ca/honour.aspx?id=38518&t=6&ln=Sajjan. Retrieved 20 November 2015. 
  19. "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". gg.ca. http://www.gg.ca/honour.aspx?id=205838&t=13&ln=Sajjan. Retrieved 20 November 2015. 
  20. "Voter Information Service". elections.ca. http://www.elections.ca/Scripts/vis/candidates?L=e&ED=59040&EV=41&EV_TYPE=1&PC=&PROV=BC&PROVID=59&MAPID=&QID=8&PAGEID=17&TPAGEID=&PD=&STAT_CODE_ID=-1. Retrieved November 4, 2015. 
  21. "Elections Canada Online - Final Candidates Election Expenses Limits". elections.ca. http://www.elections.ca/content2.aspx?section=can&dir=cand/canlim&document=index&lang=e. Retrieved November 4, 2015. 

External links[]

Cabinet Post (1)
Predecessor Office Successor
Jason Kenney Minister of National Defence
2015–present
Incumbent
All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Harjit Sajjan and the edit history here.
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