Harjit Sajjan

Harjit Singh Sajjan PC OMM MSM CD (/ˈhɑːrdʒiːt ˈsɪŋ ˈsædʒən/, HAR-jeet SING SAJ-ən; born September 6, 1970) is a Canadian politician. A member of the Liberal Party, Sajjan was elected to the House of Commons following the 2015 election, serving as the member of Parliament (MP) for Vancouver South. He did not seek re-election in 2025. Sajjan served as the minister of national defence from 2015 to 2021, minister of international development from 2021 to 2023, and minister of emergency preparedness and the president of the Privy Council from 2023 to 2025. Before his entry into politics, Sajjan worked as a detective in the Vancouver Police Department and was a lieutenant-colonel in the Canadian Army. He is Canada's first Sikh minister of national defence,[3] and was also the first Sikh Canadian to command a Canadian Army reserve regiment. In 2017, Sajjan apologized for exaggerating his role in Operation Medusa, a 2006 military operation in Afghanistan in which he was involved. In 2021, he was censured by vote in the House of Commons for his claims about Operation Medusa, as well as his handling of the issue of sexual assault within the Canadian Armed Forces. In 2024, Sajjan came under criticism for prioritizing the evacuation of Sikhs with no links to Canada during the 2021 fall of Kabul, as well as for requesting troops to appear as backdrop to a pop concert by a Punjabi singer.