Harjit Sajjan

Lieutenant-Colonel The Honourable
Harjit Sajjan
PC OMM MSM CD MP
Sajjan at NATO in 2017
42nd Minister of National Defence
Assumed office
November 4, 2015
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Preceded by Jason Kenney
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Vancouver South
Assumed office
October 19, 2015
Preceded by Wai Young
Personal details
Born (1970-09-06) September 6, 1970
Bombeli, Hoshiarpur district, Punjab, India
Political party Liberal
Spouse(s) Dr. Kuljit Kaur, MD
Children Arjun Sajjan and Jeevut Sajjan
Military service
Allegiance Canada
Service/branch Canadian Army
Years of service 1989–2015[1]
Rank Lieutenant-Colonel
Battles/wars War in Afghanistan

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. He is Canada's first Sikh Minister of Defence.[2] Sajjan was first elected during the 2015 federal election, defeating Conservative incumbent MP Wai Young, and was sworn as defence minister into the Cabinet, headed by Justin Trudeau, on November 4, 2015. Before politics, Sajjan was a detective investigating gangs for the Vancouver Police Department and a Lieutenant Colonel 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 on September 6, 1970[3] in Bombeli, a village in the Hoshiarpur district of Punjab, India.[4] Sajjan's father, Kundan Sajjan, was a Head constable with the Punjab Police in India,[5] and is currently a member of the World Sikh Organization (WSO), a Sikh advocacy group.[6] Harjit Singh, along with his mother and older sister, emigrated to Canada in 1976, when he was five years old, to join their father who had left for British Columbia two years earlier to work at a sawmill.[4][7] While the family was getting established in their new life in Canada, his mother worked on berry farms in BC Lower Mainland during the summer where Harjit Singh and his sister would frequently join her.[7] Harjit Singh grew up in a neighbourhood in South Vancouver.[7]

Harjit Singh married Kuljit Kaur, a family physician, in 1996, and they have a son and a daughter. Their son's name is Arjun Sajjan and their daughter's name is Jeevut Sajjan.[7][8]

Sajjan was baptized as a Sikh when he was a teenager, seeing it as a way to get away from a bad crowd, such as his classmate Bindy Johal.[4][9]

Military and police career

Sajjan joined The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own) 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.[6] Sajjan was wounded during his service in Bosnia.[4] Sajjan began his 11-year career as an officer of the Vancouver Police Department after returning from his Bosnian deployment.[6][7] He ended his career with the Vancouver Police Department as a detective with the department's gang crimes unit specializing in drug trafficking[6] and organized-crime investigator.[7][9]

Sajjan's first deployment to Afghanistan was shortly before the start of Operation Medusa in 2006, during which he took leave from his work in the Vancouver Police Department's gang squad.[7] He deployed with the 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group in Kandahar and worked as a liaison officer with the Afghan police.[4] His fluency in Punjabi, his first language, allowed him to be understood by Urdu-speaking Afghans without translators, especially by village leaders who were invaluable to his intelligence gathering.[4][7] Sajjan found that corruption in the Afghan government was driving recruitment to the Taliban.[4] After reporting these findings to Brigadier General David Fraser, Sajjan was tasked with helping the general plan aspects of Operation Medusa.[4]

During Operation Medusa, which lasted from September 2 to 17, four Canadian soldiers under Sajjan's command were killed in the fighting.[4] Fraser evaluated Sajjan's leadership during the operation as "nothing short of brilliant".[4] When Sajjan returned to Vancouver, Fraser sent a letter to the police department which called Sajjan "the best single Canadian intelligence asset in theatre", stated that his work saved "a multitude of coalition lives", and noted that the Canadian Forces should "seek his advice on how to change our entire tactical intelligence training and architecture".[7][10][11] Sajjan was mentioned in dispatches for the usefulness of his tactical counterinsurgency knowledge in the planning and implementation of an unnamed operation in September 2006 to secure important terrain.[12]

Upon his return, Sajjan left his position with the Vancouver Police, but stayed as a reservist and started his own consulting business that taught intelligence gathering techniques to Canadian and American military personnel.[4] He also consulted for US policy analyst and Afghanistan expert Barnett Rubin, which began as a correspondence over Sajjan's views on how to tackle the Afghan opium trade and evolved into a collaboration as advisers to American military and diplomatic leaders in Afghanistan.[7][13]

Sajjan returned to Afghanistan for another tour of duty in 2009, taking another tour of leave from the Vancouver Police Department to do so.[7] Having already taken two leaves of absence, Sajjan had to leave the Vancouver Police Department for his third tour of duty in 2010, during which he was assigned as a Special Assistant to then Major-General James L. Terry, the commander of American forces in Afghanistan.[7][10]

In 2011, he became the first Sikh to command a Canadian Army reserve regiment when he was named commander of The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own).[14]

He was bestowed with the Meritorious Service Medal in 2012[15] for diluting the Taliban's influence in Kandahar Province.[6] He has also been awarded the Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal.[6] He also received the Order of Military Merit award. He also served as an Aide-de-Camp to the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.[16]

His Sikh beliefs require him to keep his facial hair which prevents the use of regular military gas masks, so Sajjan invented his own gas mask that worked with his beard, and patented it in 1996.[9][17]

Political career

Sajjan speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum in 2016
U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis with Sajjan in 2017

Sajjan was elected for the riding of Vancouver South during the 2015 federal election, defeating Conservative incumbent MP Wai Young.[18][19][20] Sajjan was appointed Minister of National Defence in the federal Cabinet, headed by Justin Trudeau, on November 4, 2015.[21]

His alleged links with the Khalistan movement have caused diplomatic friction with Punjab's chief minister, Amarinder Singh.[22] Harjit Sajjan also has faced allegations from the New Democrats that he is "playing down his connections to the detainee controversy during the [Afghanistan] combat mission [Medusa], where Canadians handed over prisoners to torture by Afghan authorities."[23]

Controversy over role in Operation Medusa

In an April 2017 public speech in New Delhi, Sajjan called himself "the architect" of Operation Medusa, a September 2006 Canadian offensive to remove Taliban fighters from around Kandahar.[12] In July 2015, Sajjan had made the same claim during an episode of the B.C. program Conversations That Matter, stating that General Jonathan Vance, the Chief of the Defence Staff at the time the story broke in 2017, saw him as "the architect" in the 2006 offensive.[24][25] At the time of Operation Medusa, Sajjan was a Major in the reserves and a liaison officer to Task Force Kandahar, where large combat operations such as Medusa were usually worked upon by generals and colonels.[26]

One of the anonymous officers cited in the National Post, which first broke the story, called Sajjan's statement "a bald-faced lie," while others praised him on a personal level and for his expert intelligence work, but found his claim "really, quite outrageous" because the planning for Operation Medusa was collaborative.[12][26] Canadian historian Jack Granatstein said that Sajjan was a skilled intelligence officer who would have presented important intelligence in the leadup to the operation, but that he "certainly wouldn't have been the chief planner." Granatstein said that while the mistake was not one that was worth resigning over, but it would still hurt his relationship with the military.[12] In an interview on AM640, Christopher Vernon, a British officer who served as Chief of Staff for NATO forces in Southern Afghanistan at Kandahar during Medusa, said that Sajjan's role in the planning was "more than integral" and "a critical part." Vernon noted that Sajjan had worked closely with the Australian lieutenant colonel who was the lead planner as a member of his planning and design team and that without his intelligence work, the operation would not have happened.[27]

Sajjan issued apologies in which he apologized to members of the Canadian Forces, the United States Armed Forces, and the Afghan Armed Forces in the operation, and noted that the successes of Operation Medusa were due to the contributions of all members of the Canadian Forces who were involved. Sajjan also acknowledged that describing himself as "the architect" was a mistake, and highlighted the role of Brigadier General David Fraser in leading the team that planned the operation.[12][24][28][29]

Sajjan was supported by Justin Trudeau amidst calls from the opposition called for him to resign.[30][31] A failed vote of no confidence in Sajjan was put forth by the Conservative Party of Canada in the House of Commons.[32][33]

Honours and decorations

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




RibbonDescriptionNotes
Order of Military Merit (OMM)
  • Officer October 17, 2012
  • Invested June 20, 2014
  • [34]
Meritorious Service Medal (MSM)
  • Awarded August 22, 2012
  • Military Division
South-West Asia Service Medal
  • With Clasp "AFGHANISTAN"
General Campaign Star
  • South West Asia Ribbon
  • 2 Rotation Bars
Mentioned in dispatches
  • Awarded June 4, 2008
NATO Service Medal
  • Former Yugoslavia
Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal
Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
Canadian Forces Decoration (CD)
  • 1 Clasp
Commendation Medal
Chief of Defence Staff Commendation
Deputy Minister Award

Electoral record

Canadian federal election, 2015: Vancouver South
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
LiberalHarjit Sajjan21,77348.81+15.05$161,402.16
ConservativeWai Young15,11533.88-8.54$118,748.27
New DemocraticAmandeep Nijjar6,23013.97-7.10$63,954.79
GreenElain Ng1,1492.58+0.37$5,232.68
Marxist–LeninistCharles Boylan1780.40––
Progressive CanadianRaj Gupta1660.37––
Total valid votes/Expense limit 44,611100.00 $203,440.39
Total rejected ballots 2590.58–
Turnout 44,87064.04–
Eligible voters 70,062
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing +11.80
Source: Elections Canada[37][38]

References

  1. ↑ 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. Postmedia News. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  2. ↑ Pugliese, David (April 12, 2018). "Harjit Sajjan orders crackdown as Canadian Forces Facebook page features racist, vulgar comments". Ottawa Citizen.
  3. ↑ "Military camaraderie cuts across political lines for two B.C. candidates". Vancouver Sun. April 18, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Bramham, Daphne (18 September 2012). "Who are we? Part 12: In defence of the rights of others (with video)". www.vancouversun.com. Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  5. ↑ http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/diaspora/hoshiarpur-village-rejoices-as-sajjan-wins/148627.html
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Baluja, Tamara (5 November 2015). "Harjit Sajjan: Meet Canada's new 'badass' defence minister". CBC News. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Geddes, John (2016-03-08). "Behind the sunglasses: Harjit Sajjan's rise to cabinet". Macleans.ca. Macleans. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  8. ↑ "Harjit Sajjan: Meet Canada's new 'badass' defence minister". cbc.ca. November 5, 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 "Canada's New Defense Minister Made His Own Gas Mask to Work With His Sikh Beard". Foreign Policy.
  10. 1 2 "You have no idea how badass Trudeau's Defence Minister really is". National Observer.
  11. ↑ Garossino, Sandy (April 29, 2017). "Here's what Harjit Sajjan really did with OPERATION MEDUSA". National Observer. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Campion-Smith, Bruce (April 28, 2017). "Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan pays price for rash battlefield boast". Toronto Star. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  13. ↑ Rubin, Barnett; Sherman, Jake (2008). Counter-Narcotics to Stabilize Afghanistan: The False Promise of Crop Eradication (PDF). New York University. pp. 57–58. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  14. ↑ Garima Goswami, Taking Command - Lieutenant-Colonel Harjit Singh Sajjan, Darpan Magazine, April 20, 2013.
  15. ↑ "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". gg.ca.
  16. ↑ Meet Harjit Sajjan, Liberal.ca.
  17. ↑ CA patent 2189378, "Protective hood"
  18. ↑ Jon Azpiri (October 19, 2015). "Liberal Harjit Sajjan defeats Tory incumbent Wai Young in Vancouver South". Global News. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  19. ↑ "Canada election 2015: List of elected B.C. candidates". CBC News. October 19, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  20. ↑ "19 Indian-Canadians elected to Canadian parliament". The Economic Times. October 20, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  21. ↑ "Full list of Justin Trudeau's cabinet". CBC News.
  22. ↑ https://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2017/05/religion-and-international-diplomacy
  23. ↑ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/opposition-denounce-defence-minister-sajjan-make-case-for-non-confidence/article34924034/
  24. 1 2 Campion-Smith, Bruce (April 29, 2017). "Harjit Sajjan apologizes for claim about Afghan offensive". Toronto Star. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  25. ↑ "Canada Minister of Defense Lt Col Harjit Sajjan: Fighting Terrorism". YouTube. Conversations That Matter, with Stuart McNish, presented by the Simon Fraser University Centre for Dialogue. July 2, 2015. Statement at 14:08. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  26. 1 2 Fisher, Matthew (April 27, 2017). "Sajjan retracts claim he was 'architect' of Canada's biggest combat operation in Afghanistan". National Post. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  27. ↑ Dwivedi, Supriya (May 10, 2017). "Operation Medusa wouldn't have happened without Minister Sajjan". Global News. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  28. ↑ Sajjan, Harjit (April 29, 2017). "I made a mistake in describing my role. I wish to retract that description and apologize for it. I am truly sorry: www.facebook.com/harjit.sajjan.7/posts/675523262650123 …". Twitter. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  29. ↑ Sajjan, Harjit (April 29, 2017). "The response to my remarks about Operation Medusa has been a good reminder of something important for me as a leader - always set a standard that honours those you serve". Facebook. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  30. ↑ "Opposition accuses defence minister of 'stolen valour' in demanding resignation for Afghan battle claim". CBC News. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
  31. ↑ "Trudeau backs Sajjan after exaggerated combat claim from Afghanistan mission | Toronto Star". thestar.com. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
  32. ↑ "Liberals vote down Conservatives' non-confidence motion against Sajjan". The Globe and Mail. 2017-05-09. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
  33. ↑ "Tories target Trudeau over inflated claims by defence minister - NEWS 1130". NEWS 1130. 2017-05-03. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
  34. ↑ "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". gg.ca. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  35. ↑ "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". gg.ca. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  36. ↑ "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". gg.ca. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  37. ↑ Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Vancouver South, 30 September 2015
  38. ↑ Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates
29th Ministry – Cabinet of Justin Trudeau
Cabinet post (1)
Predecessor Office Successor
Jason Kenney Minister of National Defence
2015–present		 Incumbent
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