Ujjal Dosanjh joins company of Clinton, Tutu

TORONTO - Top Indo-Canadian leader and former federal health minister Ujjal Dosanjh has joined the august company of former US presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu and other leaders by his induction into the Golden Key International Society.

Atlanta-based Golden Key International Honour Society is the world’s largest collegiate honour body which recognizes outstanding students and achievers in all walks of life.

With 375 chapters in universities and colleges in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Malaysia and the Bahamas, the Golden Key recognizes only top-performing students in fields of study and later in all walks of life.

Dosanjh has been honoured for his accomplishments in public, including his election as the first non-white premier (of a province) in Canada when he won the top post in British Columbia province in February 2000. Later, he went on to become the country’s health minister in 2004.

“It feels great to be honoured with this membership. The Golden Key chapter at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver thought that I deserved this honour. Sp they asked me and I accepted the honour last week,” said Dosanjh who is currently an MP from Vancouver.

“My induction was marked by the award of a scroll and a pin. It is great to join the company of so many famous people,” he said.

In honouring the Indo-Canadian leader, the Golden Key said, “We find your work not only admirable but inspiring as well.”

Apart from Dosanjh, another Indo-Canadian Nisha Khare was also inducted into the Golden Key.

Though the Golden Key has thousands of members, its most famous inductees include former US presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, Nobel laureates Desmond Tutu and Elie Wiesel, entertainer Bill Cosby, best-selling author Stephen King, singer Dolly Parton, Australian governor general Quentin Bryce and first Canadian female astronaut Roberta Bondar.

(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at gurmukh.s@ians.in)