Toronto: Indo-Canadian Harjit Sajjan has become the latest Canadian Cabinet minister to announce he will not contest the 2024 Federal election.
Sajjan made the announcement on Wednesday. In a statement, he said, “After almost a decade in politics and with a sense of confidence in the future, I am announcing that I will not be seeking re-election.”
Sajjan thanked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “for his leadership and unwavering commitment to Canada” and said he was “grateful for the confidence he placed in me by entrusting me with these Cabinet positions”.
First elected to the House of Commons in 2015 from Vancouver South, Sajjan was appointed Minister of National Defence before being shifted to International Development in 2021, and finally taking charge of the Emergency Preparedness department.
He was the sole holdover from the quartet of Sikh MPs who were appointed Cabinet ministers by Trudeau in 2015. Navdeep Bains left politics in 2021, Amarjeet Sohi lost his seat in the 2019 election and later became mayor of Edmonton, and Bardish Chagger was dropped from the Cabinet in 2021.
“Sadly, over the last few years, our political landscape has become increasingly toxic and polarised, with more aggressive rhetoric and even physical threats. This environment not only takes a significant toll on politicians, but also on our ability to raise our children in a healthy and safe way,” Sajjan noted.
As a former Army and police officer, Sajjan’s entry into politics and the Cabinet were celebrated. But he was also embroiled in multiple controversies.
Sajjan was censured by the House of Commons in a vote in June 2021 in a move linked to a sexual misconduct crisis that enveloped the Canadian Armed Forces under his watch. He was shifted to International Development following the Federal election later that year and was succeeded in National Defence by another Indo-Canadian, Anita Anand, who has also announced she will not contest the polls this year.
Last year, the news outlet Globe and Mail reported that following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021, as the then Minister of National Defence, he “instructed” special forces undertaking evacuation of Canadians and others, to make the rescue of 225 Sikhs a “priority”.
Sajjan’s office had stated he had not ordered the forces to shift their priority but to also take into account vulnerable groups like the Sikhs. He also accused the outlet of racism, as he said, “”I can only surmise that if I did not wear a turban, no one would question whether my actions were appropriate.”
In July last year, he became the subject of a fresh controversy after a media report that he requested that 100 soldiers serve as “backdrop” to a performance in April in Vancouver by Indian entertainer Diljit Dosanjh. That request was turned down by the Canadian Armed Forces and that denial relayed to Sajjan’s office by the Department of Defence.
Sajjan visited India as defence minister in April 2017 but that trip was overshadowed by then Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh allegation he was a “Khalistani” as well as a successful motion moved by a Liberal member of the Ontario legislature describing the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and massacre as a “genocide”.
Responding to a question from Hindustan Times during the course of a conference call with Canada-based media following the visit, Sajjan said, “I was disappointed with the Chief Minister of Punjab’s comments”. He had added, “It does not bother me in the least.”
He also visited India as International Development Minister during a G20 vertical in New Delhi in 2023.
Sajjan is one of five Indo-Canadians in the Cabinet. The others are Anand, Minister of Justice and Attorney General Arif Virani, Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities Kamal Khera and Minister of Democratic Institutions Ruby Sahota.
