Blacklock's Reporter

Baltej Dhillon, a retired Surrey, B.C. policeman who as a 23-year old immigrant broke the RCMP barrier against observant Sikhs, has been named to the Senate. Dhillon in an earlier interview said he had no hard feelings against Canadians upset by his 1991 enlistment as the first bearded, turbaned Sikh to join the Mounties: “After I had graduated and met with my detachment commander he said to me, ‘I don’t agree with you what you did, but you’re a member of this detachment and I will back you 100 percent.’”