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First Punjabi to receive Order of BC passes away
Dr Gill was a prominent member of the Indo-Canadian community and a member of delegations that lobbied the federal government for more equitable immigration policies
Dr Gurdev Singh Gill / bc.gov
Dr Gurdev Singh Gill, the first Punjabi recipient of the Order of BC, passed away recently aged 92. Gill is survived by his wife Jasinder, four children, four grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.
Gill arrived in Vancouver, Canada, as an 18-year-old from Punjab. He made history by being the first Indo-Canadian to hold a medical degree from the University of British Columbia and the first of his kind to work as a doctor in Canada.
He was a prominent member of the Indo-Canadian community and a member of delegations that lobbied the federal government for more equitable immigration policies in the 1950s. The Vancouver Sun named Gill to its list of 150 notable British Columbians, in 2017, to mark the 150th Canada Day. He was honored for leading efforts to foster the Indian-Canadian friendship, through improvement projects carried out in several communities in India with the help of the Indian diaspora in Canada.
The first project was carried out in his ancestral hometown of Kharoudi, Punjab. He raised CAD 150,000 (US $112,803) through his organization, the Indo-Canadian Friendship Society of BC, to transform the village. The work carried out significantly helped improve the public health and living conditions of the villagers.
The projects focused on providing clean, running, and potable water, building underground sewage systems, and wastewater treatment plants. Through these efforts, deaths resulting from gastroenteritis, which was killing 400,000 Indians annually, significantly decreased.
In Canada, Gill was an active member of hospitals including St. Mary’s, the Royal Columbian, and Queen’s Park. Aside from this, he was president of the Khalsa Diwan Society, which is described as the “largest and most significant outside of South Asia.” Under his leadership, the society was able to overcome a financial crisis, and raise funds to build a Sikh temple on Ross Street in Vancouver, which is considered an important resource for the Indo-Canadian community.
Aside from the Order of BC, Gill was also awarded a commemorative medal from the Government of Canada in 1992, on the 125th anniversary of the Confederacy of Canada. He was one of the 125 recipients of the medal, which honored Canadians who made a significant contribution to fellow citizens, to their community, or Canada.
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