By Asia Samachar | Canada |
Baltej Singh Dhillon, the first turbaned Sikh officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), has been appointed chair of WorkSafeBC’s board of directors, exactly four decades after he arrived in the country from Malaysia.
And the appointment came four years after he retired from the RCPM, the Canadian federal and national police force, where he had created a history of sorts.
Baltej, who will serve for a three-year term, effective June 30, 2023, is the first South Asian Canadian to take on this role and has been a member of WorkSafeBC’s board of directors since 2017, according to the board’s statement.
Baltej had a distinguished career as a police officer for more than three decades, working in intelligence, special enforcement, protective services and in investigations for the Air India task force and the Pickton case.
He made history by being the first member of the RCMP, the Canadian federal and national police force, to wear a turban as part of the uniform. He also received Queen Elizabeth II Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals for community service, according to the statement.
In 1983, Baltej moved to Canada at the age of 16, along with mother and sisters, not long after the death of his father due to a heart attack. The move to British Columbia was aided by his brother who had earlier moved to Canada.
After high school, he studied criminology and initially wanted to be a lawyer. But he sought to become a Mountie after volunteering with the RCMP as a translator for Asian immigrants.
He had passed the entrance examination for the law enforcement agency, but he was asked to remove his turban and beard as the RCMP uniform policy did not accommodate turbans and beards.
“This was not the first time I was faced with the decision,” he told Asia Samachar in an interview in Kuala Lumpur in 2018, during one of his visits. The interview was held at the Wadda Gurdwara Sahib Kampung Pandan, one of the places Baltej and his family had stayed in the 1980s.
In that interview, Baltej shared some background as to the context of the time when he was faced with the question.
“Arriving in Canada, one of the traditions in Canada at that time, the Sikh men who came to Canada to start a new life, one of the things the families did as a matter of course, was that they are taken to the barber shop to cut their hair and shave their beards so that they could fit in…There was racism, there was prejudice, there was racism that was prevalent at that time.
“When I was asked that question, I had already made a decision for myself whether I was going to keep my turban or not sometime ago. So, when the question came up again, it wasn’t something I had to think about, it was already rehearsed. My answer then was” ‘No, I’m not prepared to sacrifice y faith my way of life, this gift that has been given to me by my teacher,” he said.
Not wanting to give up his dream of becoming a Mountie or compromise his faith, Baltej sparkeda debate across the country about freedom of religion, equality and religious discrimination. Thanks to his efforts, the federal government removed the ban on turbans and beards in the RCMP’s dress code on March 15, 1990.
In the WorkSafeBC statement, Baltej said he looked forward to taking on the role as chair of WorkSafeBC’s board of directors.
“I am committed to working with our key stakeholders to improve workplace health and safety and help ensure that workers get home safely at the end of the day. I am excited to begin working as chair with my fellow board members and WorkSafeBC staff to continue making progress in improving the workers’ compensation system to meet the needs of workers, employers and others throughout the province,” he said.
The WorkSafeBC board of directors is appointed by the B.C. minister of labour. The board members serve as stewards of WorkSafeBC and the workers’ compensation system. The Workers Compensation Act requires that the board of directors includes representation from professionals from a range of relevant fields, including occupational health and safety, law enforcement and an actuary. Representation must also include workers, employers and the public interest.
Baltej replaces the outgoing chair, Jeff Parr, who served from August 2020 to June 2023.
“I thank Jeff Parr for his service, and look forward to working with Baltej Dhillon to continuously improve our workers’ compensation system,” said BC Minister of Labour Harry Bains. “Baltej was a veteran police officer who brings expertise in law enforcement and six years of experience as a director at WorkSafeBC. He will be committed to WorkSafeBC’s role in investigating serious workplace incidents to prevent similar incidents from happening again.”
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Malaysian-born Baltej retires from Canada’s mounted police (Asia Samachar, 12 Aug 2019)
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