Ujjal Dosanjh - Personal Life

Personal Life

Ujjal Dosanjh was born in Dosanjh Kalan, Punjab, India, in 1947. After moving to Jalandher, he lived with his grandfather who had established a primary school. Dosanjh gained an early interest in politics from listening to debates between his father, a follower of Jawaharlal Nehru and the populist Indian National Congress, and his grandfather, a former Indian freedom fighter and socialist. Dosanjh wanted to pursue an education in political science, but his father wanted him to be a doctor. So in 1964, at the age of 17, Dosanjh left India for the United Kingdom where he could pursue his own interests. In London he learned English and worked as an assistant editor for a Punjabi-language newspaper. He emigrated to Canada three and a half years later, arriving in British Columbia on May 12, 1968, to live with his aunt. majoring in political science. He went on to earn a law degree from the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law in 1976 and was called to the bar the following year. During this time he taught English as a second language courses at Vancouver Community College and worked as an assistant editor of a local Punjabi newspaper. He established his own law practice in 1979, specializing in family and personal injury law. His involvement with community organizations included founding the Farm Workers’ Legal Information Service (later Canadian Farm Workers' Union), serving on the board of directors for BC Civil Liberties Association and the Vancouver Multicultural Society, and the Labour Advocacy Research Association, as well as volunteer work with MOSAIC Immigrant Services Centre, and the South Vancouver Neighbourhood House.

A prominent moderate Sikh in Vancouver, Dosanjh spoke out against violence by Sikh extremists who advocated Khalistan independence from India. As a result of these views, in February 1985 he was attacked in the parking lot of his law office by an assailant wielding an iron bar. Dosanjh, 37 at the time, suffered a broken hand and received 80 stitches in his head.

He was targeted again, on December 26, 1999, while he was a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, when his constituency office was broken into and a Molotov cocktail left burning on a table.

Dosanjh and his wife Raminder have three sons. In April 2000, his middle son, Aseem, was charged with assaulting an Ontario police officer during a bar brawl, but was found not guilty. Dosanjh has travelled back to India several times, on official state business and for personal reason, since emigrating. In January 2003, he was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (Expatriate Indian Honour) from Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New Delhi. The award recognizes individual excellence in various fields for persons of Indian origin across the world.