Human Rights A Day

Ujjal Dosanjh is Canada’s first Indo Canadian to be named premier. Ujjal Dosanjh was born in India in 1947, then moved to England before settling in Canada in 1968. In British Columbia, he earned a BA from Simon Fraser University and a law degree from the University of British Columbia before setting up his own law practice in Vancouver. He got involved with human rights work through the Civil Liberties Association, multicultural support organizations and the Farm Workers' Union. Although a moderate in the Indo Canadian community, Dosanjh learned about political extremism and brutality the hard way when he was attacked and severely beaten one day by members of his community who did not share his views. He entered British Columbia politics in 1991 as an NDP MLA, and eventually worked his way through a number of cabinet portfolios, including the honoured role of attorney general between 1995 and 2000. When his premier, Glen Clark, was involved in a scandal involving favouritism toward a neighbour, Dosanjh was