Ujjal Dosanjh, born September 9, 1947 in the village of Dosanh Kalan, Jallandhar India, is a former Canadian Federal and Provincial politician. Spending his early years in India, he attended a small primary school established by his maternal grandfather, Moola Singh Bahowal. Both Bahowal and Dosanjah's father were heavily involved in Indian politics. The former prominently fought for India’s freedom from British rule; while the latter championed for positive change in the volatile post-war era. At the age of 17, Dosanjh immigrated to England to learn English. There he found work as an assistant editor for a Punjabi language newspaper but was unable to gain acceptance to a British university given their prerequisite requirements. Due to this setback, he decided to move on to Canada where his aunt had been living since 1954. Arriving in Vancouver in 1968, he was hired first as a cleaner for Burke Lumber before moving on to work the physically demanding green chain of their sawmill. At night he also attended classes at Vancouver Community College. The following year Dosanjh badly injured his back in an unfortunate incident at the sawmill. A spinal fusion was required to repair the damage leaving him unable to work labour intensive jobs. After a period of recovery, he dedicated himself to his studies; he enrolled as a full-time student at Langara College in 1971, then transferred to Simon Fraser University in 1972, and graduated with a BA in political science in August of 1973. The following month he began his law education at the University of British Columbia (UBC). As a student, he was highly involved in civil rights and local community issues. Causes he would continue to campaign for throughout his life. Dosanjh successfully completed his degree in 1976 at UBC, going on to establish a private practice in 1979, Dosanjh & Pirani, specializing in family and personal injury law. Through this period, he volunteered at local colleges and schools to teach English to new immigrants; and worked with the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association to co-found both the Labour Advocacy and Research Association and the Farm Workers Legal Information Service. These institutions would serve as the foundations for the creation of the Canadian Farm Workers’ Union.

Dosanjh has been a prominent and vocal advocate against violence and extremism. He has for many years spoken out against those who use these means to attempt to establish a Sikh homeland in India called Khalistan. This position has caused friction within the BC Punjabi community resulting in numerous serious threats by mail and in person. The most significant event happened on February 8, 1985 when he was violently assaulted outside of the Dosanjh & Pirani law office in south Vancouver. A masked man wielding an iron bar spiked with a metal bolt inflected serious injuries resulting in significant head wounds and a severely broken right hand.

The 1979 provincial election was Dosanjh’s introduction to British Columbia’s political landscape. Running as the New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate in the riding of Vancouver South, his campaign was ultimately unsuccessful. A second attempt in 1981 again failed. However, ten years later in the 1991 B.C. general election he was victorious in the newly formed riding of Vancouver-Kensington. His success coincided with the NDP, under leader Mike Harcourt, achieving the premiership. 1995 proved to be a breakthrough year for Dosanjh’s political career. First, he was elevated from a backbencher to the cabinet of the premier as Minister of Government Services and Minister Responsible for Sports, Multiculturalism, Human Rights, and Immigration. Then in August he was appointed Attorney General of BC. Under his tenure from 1995 to 2000, Dosanjh advocated for greater equality for gays and lesbians, combated violence against women, argued for restorative justice, and oversaw the armed confrontation between the aboriginal Secwepemc Nation and the RCMP in an incident known as the Gustafsen Lake Standoff. In the 1996 provincial election, re-election was won in Vancouver-Kensington and the NDP remained in control of the province’s politics.

Dosanjh continued to face opposition and receive threats from those advocating for the use of violence to pursue the Khalistan movement. This was again obvious when, as a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia and the Attorney General in 1999, his constituency office was broken into and a burning Molotov cocktail was left on a table as a threat.

Also in 1999, sitting BC premier Glen Clark was ensnarled by accusations involving undue influence in the review of a neighbour’s casino licence application. Dosanjh, as Attorney General, was required to cooperate and assist the investigation, therefore privy to specialized knowledge. Clark was forced to resign and new NDP leadership elections were set for early 2000. A successful campaign was launched for the vacant position. Subsequently on Febuary 24, 2000, Ujjal Dosanjh was appointed Premier of B.C., the first Indo-Canadian to do so.

Premier until June 2001, he focused on balancing the provincial budget and advocating for social justice. However, the deeply unpopular position of the provincial NDP party, due to a series of political missteps, led to a sweeping rout in the general election of 2001. The BC Liberal party was resoundingly victorious leading to a return to private life practicing law with his two sons, Aseem and Pavel, at his new firm Dosanjh Woolley.

2004 saw a return to politics with a new political affiliation, the Liberal Party of Canada; and in a new capacity, the federal electoral district of Vancouver South. A winning campaign coincided with a Liberal federal victory, thus leading to his appointment as Minister of Health by Prime Minister Paul Martin. Dosanjh strongly supported Canada’s publicly funded health care, working to prevent the provinces from privatizing the system. He occupied the position from 2004 to 2006. The Liberal party was defeated in the 2006 federal election, however Dosanjh once again won his riding. He joined his party as the Official Opposition, serving as the critic for National Defence and served on the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. Re-elected in the 2008 federal election he continued to be the Liberal’s critic for National Defence. A campaign for a fourth consecutive term was launch in 2011 but resulted in defeat and retirement from politics. Dosanjh returned to private life and continues to actively advocate against violence and extremism.