Canadian-Sikh minister sought 100 soldiers to perform with Diljit Dosanjh

Canadian Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan had requested for 100 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) soldiers.

As backdrops for a concert by Indian-Punjabi singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh in Vancouver, media outlets in Canada reported. The request, which was ultimately denied, was for soldiers to participate in Dosanjh’s sold-out performance at BC Place, a stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, on April 27.

The concert was part of Dosanjh’s Dil-Luminati tour, which kicked off with a sold-out stadium show at BC Place to a crowd of 54,000 people, making it the largest Punjabi music concert outside of India. Diljit’s tour started on April 28 and ended on July 13 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Sajjan, an Indo-Canadian minister, received a letter on April 15 from Dosanjh’s manager, Sonali Singh, requesting Canadian soldiers to participate in Dosanjh’s sold-out performance at BC Place on April 27. Sajjan forwarded the letter to Defence Minister Bill Blair with his endorsement.

REQUEST REJECTED BY CANADIAN ARMED FORCES

The request was then rejected by Canadian Armed Forces commanders due to the “tight timeline and personnel availability”, reported CBC News.

Sajjan’s press secretary, Joanna Kanga, explained that the minister saw the concert as an opportunity for the CAF to engage with a diverse community of young Canadians, similar to their outreach and recruiting events at professional sporting events.

“Diljit Dosanjh is the biggest Punjabi artist in the world and was on the verge of making history as the first Punjabi artist to sell out a concert at one of the largest stadiums in Vancouver,” Kanga was quoted as saying by The Globe and Mail.

“Minister Sajjan agreed the concert would be a good opportunity for the Canadian Armed Forces to engage with and expand connections to a diverse community of young Canadians, along the lines of the CAF outreach and recruiting events at professional sporting events,” she added.

The Department of National Defence emphasised that participation in such events must not impact domestic or international operations and that operational readiness must be sustained at all times.

“Additionally, it is crucial that participation in such events does not impact domestic and international operations, and our operational readiness must be sustained at all times” Lieutenant-Commander Linda Coleman, reported The Globe and Mail.

HARJIT SAJJAN ATTENDED DILJIT DOSANJH CONCERT
Harjit Sajjan attended the concert with his family, purchasing his own tickets and covering all expenses personally, according to CBC News.

The event was a significant cultural achievement, with Dosanjh being a vocal critic of India’s ruling government and having “his support in 2020 to Punjab and Haryana farmers who held mass protests after the Modi government brought in reforms to open the highly regulated farming sector to private players”, reported The Globe and Mail.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also recognised Dosanjh’s appeal among the Indo-Canadian community, meeting him before his July 15 concert in Toronto and posting pictures on social media.

Justin Trudeau made a surprise visit to an event of Diljit Dosanjh, an Indian-Punjabi singer-actor, at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, where he praised Dosanjh for his achievements. However, after the concert, Trudeau’s post on X about the encounter sparked controversy when he referred to Dosanjh as “a guy from Punjab”.