TORONTO: Two Sikhs, Rajwant’s maternal grandfather a civilian at the Metro Police Rajwant Singh Bajwa and Harbinder Singh Gill, were among 91 Metro Toronto Police constables graduated this year. They received their diplomas from Ontario Lieut. Goy. Henry N.R. Jackman and Police Chief David Boothby at a formal ceremony recently held at the Moss Park Armories, downtown Toronto.
Their family members and friends were present to applaud them and later join a reception. “I am very proud of my son,” said Rajwant Bajwa’s father, Gurmail Singh Bajwa, now working at the Immigration Detention Center near Toronto’s international airport. He said that was a police officer in Fiji. The family immigrated to Canada in 1986 from the Hoshiarpur district of Punjab.
Rajwant S. Bajwa, a high school graduate from Toronto, worked as a court officer for some time, became supervisor there and opted to join the Metro Police. He has progressed very fast, said Mohan Singh, who works as headquarters. Bajwa becomes another turbaned Sikh police officer in Metro Toronto. The graduation ceremony was the first since 1993. There have been no fresh appointments to the Metro police force during the last three years due to budget cuts. Jackman, therefore, called the occasion “significant.” “It’s rebirth, reawakening of the Metro Police force,’ he said.
“The 91 new constables comprised 21 females and 70 males. They are cosmopolitan, as the new graduates speak a variety of languages including Hindi, Punjabi, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese and Maltese.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 24, 1996
