Attorney General Dosanjh makes history,
becomes first Asian premier in Canada
Mark Shenoy
An immigrant who says he decided "politics was a noble calling" because of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and John F Kennedy became the first ever Asian premier of British Columbia on Sunday.
Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh, 52, who migrated to Canada in 1968 fought off a serious challenge by his charismatic opponent and charges that his supporters had signed up hundreds who did not know they were becoming members of the New Democratic Party.
Dosanjh got 769 votes to Agriculture Minister Corky Evans's 549 on Sunday morning at the end of a three-day long NDP convention. Evans received a boost in the morning when Education Minister Gordon Wilson, the third candidate, withdrew and backed him.
The leadership convention became a necessity after the resignation of former premier Glen Clark. Clark stepped down about four months ago after becoming enmeshed in a casino-licensing scandal.
Evans, 51, was backed by Moe Sihota, a Cabinet minister, who is beholden to conservative Sikhs. But like Dosanjh he too is a clean-shaven Sikh. It is in British Columbia much more than any other region in North America that the fight between moderates and fundamentalists is most acute.
Little more than a year ago, Tara Singh Hayer, a friend of Dosanjh and publisher of the Punjabi-language Indo-Canadian Times, was shot dead in the garage of his home. He had been an outspoken critic of violent Sikh fundamentalism both in Canada and India.
Dosanjh has been openly critical of the secessionist activities of fellow Sikhs, and was attacked with a crowbar in 1985, allegedly by a militant Sikh. A few weeks ago, when a firebomb was thrown into his office, people wondered if it had anything to do with sectarian politics.
The incident happened soon after police protection for Dosanjh had been withdrawn. It is not clear why the protection was withdrawn. But it was reinstated soon after the incident. Nobody has been arrested and the authorities say they have no suspects.
Dosanjh, who received more than 75 stitches, continued to plead for non-violent politics and his popularity with moderate Sikhs grew.
There are about 100,000 Indian Canadians in British Columbia, most of them Sikhs. Apart from Sihota and Dosanjh, the Cabinet had another Indo-Canadian: Hari Lali.
The Federal Fisheries Minister Herb (Harbance) Dhaliwal, a self-made millionaire and one of the richest politicians in Canada, is also from British Columbia.
Dosanjh was born in Dosanjh Kalan in Punjab where he lived till he was 17. He migrated to British Columbia after having spent several years in England working for a Punjabi publication.
In Vancouver, he went to night school while working at lumberyards and as a janitor during the day. His involvement in community activities began when he started teaching English to immigrants. Then he got into union politics and fought for the rights of immigrants.
He has degrees from Simon Fraser University and the law school of the University of British Columbia.
Opposition Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell said Dosanjh's election "was a proud moment for (Dosanjh) and a proud moment for Indo-Canadians across the country. I congratulate him."
Evans had said he wanted to take the NDP back to its left-wing roots. The party had become centrist in recent years, he had complained. Dosanjh is considered a centrist.
But soon after his election, Dosanjh promised to "provide a new direction to the new government. My government will revitalize progressive politics in BC."
Dosanjh will be leading his party into a provincial election next year. Recent polls indicate that the Liberals are leading by a big margin, but the polls also reveal that with Dosanjh's leadership, the NDP has a fighting chance.
"We can actually come close to winning the next election," Dosanjh said.
But Dosanjh's opponents in the NDP have been arguing that the membership scandal would hurt his standing in the party. About 11,000 new members were signed by his supporters, mostly in the Indian Canadian community.
Education Minister Gordon Wilson, whose wife Judy Tyebji was born in Calcutta, also allowed his supporters to sign up mass membership in the Indian community.
But an internal audit found that over 1,000 members signed by Dosanjh's supporters were bogus. Dosanjh's camp asserted that the problem was exaggerated -- with some saying that racism played a role in publicising the issue -- adding that many new members did not understand auditors' questions.
There were not enough Punjabi translators, Dosanjh's camp said. At one point during the often-nasty campaign, there were suggestions by Dosanjh's opponents that all newcomers should be expelled from the party. Dosanjh's supporters shot back saying they would make it a racial issue.
Wilson persisted in asserting that the problem was far widespread. But NDP leaders determined that the new members had not acquired a significant role to hurt the campaign of Dosanjh's opponents. His supporters also said he had won handsomely in election districts with hardly any Indo-Canadians.
"People like him because he has taken a tough stand against violence and he wants to help the young people lead a good life," said Balwant Sanghera, NDP activist for over two decades.
His supporters say Dosanjh, who takes a clear stand on any issue, has the cool-headed approach to bring together fractious elements.
"His style is steady, not too flashy," Sanghera told reporters. "He is a very stable, steady person, a careful person."
Dosanjh is known for his support for liberal causes and the protection of abortion rights. Liberal Sikhs say he has helped many Sikh women in convincing their parents against arranged marriages.
Dosanjh has acknowledged that his social activism became stronger after he met his future wife at a college. Raminder Dosanjh is an assistant director of English as a second language programme at a Vancouver college and a feminist activist. The couple has three children.
Dosanjh wasn't too keen on contesting the NDP leadership, his friends say, because of his commitment to the family. He would have backed out of the race if Raminder had not urged him to join it.
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