OTTAWA : India-born Harjit Sajjan, a former police officer and veteran of three military deployments to Afghanistan, was named Canada's new minister of defence on Wednesday, bringing first-hand expertise to one of the country's top cabinet positions.
Elected to Parliament for the first time in last month's election, Mr Sajjan is illustrative of the younger, more diverse cabinet newly sworn-in Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had aimed to create.
Mr Sajjan will oversee an anticipated change in Canada's military involvement in the battle against militants in Syria and Iraq. PM Trudeau has already said he wants to end Canada's air strikes in the region in favour of providing humanitarian help.
Outgoing Conservative defence minister Jason Kenney had taken a hardline stance on security, saying Canada needed to be fighting against Islamic State militants to prevent them from becoming a threat to Canada.
The issue has been at the forefront since a gunman killed a soldier and stormed Canada's Parliament last October.
Mr Sajjan is a Lieutenant-Colonel in Canada's armed forces and was deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He was Canada's first Sikh commanding officer and received a number of recognitions for his service, including the Order of Military Merit.
He was also a police officer in Vancouver for 11 years, which included working as a detective in the gang crime unit. He won the riding of Vancouver South where he grew up, defeating a Conservative incumbent.
He is married with two young children.
Elected to Parliament for the first time in last month's election, Mr Sajjan is illustrative of the younger, more diverse cabinet newly sworn-in Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had aimed to create.
Mr Sajjan will oversee an anticipated change in Canada's military involvement in the battle against militants in Syria and Iraq. PM Trudeau has already said he wants to end Canada's air strikes in the region in favour of providing humanitarian help.
The issue has been at the forefront since a gunman killed a soldier and stormed Canada's Parliament last October.
Advertisement
He was also a police officer in Vancouver for 11 years, which included working as a detective in the gang crime unit. He won the riding of Vancouver South where he grew up, defeating a Conservative incumbent.
Advertisement
© Thomson Reuters 2015
COMMENTS
Advertisement
Sikh Republican Faces Backlash After Leading Prayers At Party Convention Study Abroad: Top 10 Computer Science Universities In Canada Soldier Injured In Paris Knife Attack, Suspect Arrested: Cops World's Largest Isolated Tribe Makes Rare Appearance In New Footage Madhya Pradesh's CBI Move: Agency Needs Written Consent To Probe Cases Why BJP Lost Lok Sabha Polls In Uttar Pradesh - 6 Reasons In Party Report OpenAI Unveils Cheaper Small AI Model GPT-4o Mini Man Insulted By Employer's Son Takes Revenge, Robs Him Off Rs 3.5 Crore Norton Motorcycles To Be Launched In India; Six Motorcycles Announced For Global Markets Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.