Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan has defended an official request he made to use Canadian Armed Forces soldiers as a backdrop for a concert by a Punjabi pop star.
“Minister Sajjan agreed the concert would be a good opportunity for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to engage with and expand connect to a diverse community of young Canadians, along the lines of the CAF outreach and recruiting events at professional sporting events,” Sajjan’s press secretary Joanna Kanga told CBC News in an email.
In April, Sajjan received a letter asking if Canadian military members would participate in a show by pop star Diljit Dosanjh in Vancouver to be held later that month. Sajjan endorsed the event because Dosanjh is the “biggest Punjabi artist in the world” and the artist’s tour was to be a “moment of pride for Canadians of Punjabi descent,” Kanga said.
“As the MP for Vancouver South, and minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada, Minister Sajjan will continue to support historical achievements with great economic and cultural benefits for Vancouver,” Kanga said.
The Epoch Times contacted Sajjan for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
In an email to The Epoch Times, the Department of National Defence said while it received the letter from Sajjan on April 16, which was then forwarded to Defence Minister Bill Blair, it was determined that the request would “not be feasible due to the tight timeline and personnel availability.”
“Additionally, it is crucial that participation in such events does not impact domestic or international operations, and our operational readiness must be sustained at all times,” Senior Communications Advisor Andrée-Anne Poulin said.
Poulin added that though the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) strives to engage with Canadians “consistently and compellingly,” those opportunities are subject to factors such as schedules, budgets, conflict of interest guidelines, and operational needs. She said public relations activities are a “key enabler for operational success” and work to foster positive relations between CAF members and the Canadian public.
This is the second time Sajjan has been the focus of media attention in recent months.
In June, The Globe and Mail reported that when Sajjan was defence minister in 2021, he requested that the CAF launch a rescue mission for around 200 Afghan Sikhs during the fall of Kabul to the Taliban. Anonymous military sources told The Globe that limited resources that could have been used to extract Canadians or allies were diverted to assist individuals who had no connection to Canada.
Sajjan has refused to say where he made the request, but his office said at the time of the evacuation, his staff were receiving many requests for assistance. Former Defence chief Gen. Wayne Eyre also told The Canadian Press in a recent interview that the CAF was following “legal orders” when it tried rescuing the group of Afghan Sikhs, as they were on a list of groups for which the government had approved assistance.
