Ujjal Dosanjh's photostream

Ujjal Dosanjh, who hails from Dosanjh Kalan, near Phagwara, India, first emigrated to England at the age of 17 and, four years later, moved to Canada in 1968 where he joined the labour force as a mill worker, while taking evening classes at a local community college.

Later, he attended Simon Fraser University, and graduated with honours in political science. He went on to attend the University of British Columbia Law School and graduated in 1976. Prior to completing university, he also taught English as a Second Language to new Canadians at the Vancouver Community College. In 1979, he established his own law practice in Vancouver.

A long time human rights and social justice activist, he has been involved in community work with many organizations such as the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, MOSAIC, South Vancouver Neighbourhood House, and the Vancouver Multicultural Society. In 1977, while he was Chair of the Labour Advocacy Research Association, he helped create the Farm Workers' Legal Information Service for janitorial, domestic and farm workers. This eventually facilitated the formation of the Canadian Farm Workers' Union.

His concern for social justice also led him to contest a seat in the British Columbia Provincial Legislature, as a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP). During his ten years in the Provincial Legislature, he held cabinet portfolios as Minister of Government Services with additional responsibility for Multiculturalism, Human Rights and Sports; and Attorney General of British Columbia.

On February 24, 2000, Ujjal was sworn in as the 33rd Premier of the Province of British Columbia. During his tenure as Attorney General and Premier Mr. Dosanjh was responsible for many initiatives on reform of the justice system, equality, environment and social justice.

After serving as Premier until May 2001, Ujjal returned to practicing law. He made the leap to federal politics in June 2004 when he was elected Member of Parliament for Vancouver South.

From July 2004 to February 2006, Ujjal served as federal Minister of Health. During his tenure, Ujjal’s achievements included the $41.3 billion-dollar 10-year Plan to Strengthen Health Care agreed upon by first ministers, and resulting establishment of evidence-based benchmarks for wait times in December 2005; he launched discussions to ensure fair compensation for Hepatitis C victims infected prior to 1986 and after 1990, leading to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding which committed the federal government to compensate those victims; he modernized Health Canada by creating a more open and transparent approval process, particularly with regard to prescription drugs. This led to the first-ever public forum on drug approvals in Canada, which allowed members of the public to present their views on selective COX-2 inhibitors to Health Canada’s expert advisory panel.

Another first for Canada through Ujjal’s work as Health Minister was the first-ever international meeting of health ministers on Global Pandemic Influenza Readiness, which he hosted in Ottawa in October 2005. The conference involved delegates from 30 countries and 9 international organizations, including China’s then Executive Minister of Health Gao Qiang and the late Jong-Wook Lee, Director-General of the World Health Organization. The Ottawa meeting was an important step towards securing long-term, sustained political and institutional engagement to address global pandemic influenza preparedness.

Ujjal was re-elected in January 2006 and then again in October 2008. He has served as the Official Opposition Critic for National Defence, Foreign Affairs, and Public Safety.

He and his wife Raminder have three sons Pavel, Aseem, and Umber, as well as three grandchildren, Solaina, Alexei and Suhani.