Sikh officer takes command of Canadian unit

Chandigarh, September 13

After joining Canadian army as a trooper in 1989, Harjit Singh Sajjan, now a Lieutenant-Colonel, has became the first Indo-Canadian to take command of a Canadian regiment.
He took over as Commanding Officer of the British Columbia Regiment yesterday at a glittering ceremony held at Beatty Street Armoury in Vancouver. He took over from Lieut-Col Bruce Kadanoff, who had been the Commanding Officer for three years.
The British Columbia Regiment has been the oldest Regiment of the Canadian army. Colonel Sajjan's appointment has come at a time when the Sikh community of Canada in general and British Columbia in particular is busy in the centenary celebrations of the oldest Sikh Gurdwara of North America at Abbotsford. It is symbolic and appropriate that for the first time a Canadian Sikh has been given the command of a Canadian army regiment. Two years after joining the army, Colonel Harjit Singh Sajjan was commissioned in the British Columbia Regiment in 1991. Four years later, he was promoted as Captain and later as a Major.