Canada’s Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan had sought 100 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) soldiers as a backdrop for Indian-Punjabi singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh’s concert in Vancouver, Canadian media outlets reported. The request, which was eventually denied, was for the soldiers to attend Dosanjh’s performance at BC Place, a stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, on April 27, for which tickets were completely sold out.
The concert was part of Dosanjh’s Dil-Luminati TourThe stadium show opened with a crowd of 54,000 people at BC Place, making it the largest Punjabi music festival outside India. Diljit’s tour began on 28 April and ended on 13 July at Rogers Centre in Toronto.
Indo-Canadian minister Sajjan received a letter from Dosanjh’s manager Sonali Singh on April 15, requesting Canadian troops to attend Dosanjh’s performance at BC Place on April 27. Sajjan forwarded the letter, along with his support, to Defence Minister Bill Blair.
Request rejected by Canadian Armed Forces
Canadian Armed Forces commanders rejected the request due to “tight timelines and personnel availability,” CBC News reports.
Sajjan’s press secretary Joanna Kanga said the minister saw the concert as an opportunity for the CAF to connect with a diverse community of young Canadians, similar to their outreach and recruitment programs at professional sporting events.
The Globe and Mail quoted Kanga as saying, “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 tickets for a concert at Vancouver’s biggest stadium.”
“Minister Sajjan agreed that this concert would be a great opportunity for the Canadian Armed Forces to engage with and increase exposure to a diverse community of young Canadians, similar to what happens during CAF outreach and recruitment events at professional sporting events,” he said.
The Department of National Defence stressed that participation in such events should not impact domestic or international operations and that operational readiness must be maintained at all times.
“Additionally, it is important that participation in such events does not impact domestic and international operations, and that our operational readiness must be maintained at all times,” Lt. Commander Linda Coleman told The Globe and Mail.
Harjeet Sajjan attended Diljit Dosanjh’s concert
According to CBC News, Harjit Sajjan attended the concert with his family, buying the tickets himself and paying for all the expenses.
The event was a significant cultural milestone, with Dosanjh being a vocal critic of India’s ruling government and having “lent his support in 2020 to farmers in Punjab and Haryana who staged massive protests after the Modi government introduced reforms to open up the highly regulated agriculture sector to private players”, reported The Globe and Mail.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also recognised Dosanjh’s popularity among the Indo-Canadian community and met him ahead of his July 15 concert in Toronto and posted photos on social media.
Justin Trudeau made a surprise appearance at a concert of Diljit DosanjhTrudeau praised Dosanjh’s achievements when he performed with the Indian-Punjabi singer-actor at Toronto’s Rogers Centre. However, after the concert, Trudeau posted about the meeting on Instagram, sparking controversy when he referred to Dosanjh as a “Punjab boy”.