Rec­og­niz­ing her stel­lar role in the so­cial and le­gal life of Cana­dian so­ci­ety, Pal­binder Kaur Shergill has been ap­pointed as a judge to the Supreme Court of British Co­lum­bia in New West­min­ster.

In a re­mark­able move, achiev­ing a new height for her own per­son and for the Sikh com­mu­nity in Canada and the Sikh na­tion across the globe, Pun­jab-born and Canada cit­i­zen, a coun­sel of re­pute who has achieved many a pub­lic vic­tory for a va­ri­ety of Sikh, Jew­ish and Chris­t­ian causes, Pal­binder Kaur Shergill has been ap­pointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of British Co­lum­bia in New West­min­ster.

Jody Wil­son-Ray­bould, Min­is­ter of Jus­tice and At­tor­ney Gen­eral of Canada, an­nounced the ap­point­ment of Jus­tice Shergill to the Supreme Court of British Co­lum­bia in New West­min­ster, ef­fec­tive im­me­di­ately.

Last year, we had tur­baned Sikhs in the Cana­dian Par­lia­ment. Now a tur­baned Sikh lady is a mem­ber of the Cana­dian ju­di­ciary. Sikhs in Canada never had it so good. Years and decades of ded­i­cated hard work, com­mit­ment to the cause of the Sikh na­tion, the never-say-die spirit of the Sikh Di­as­pora for more than a cen­tury and con­ge­nial and in­clu­sive so­cial and po­lit­i­cal en­vi­ron­ment of Canada has been en­abling Sikhs to reach the pin­na­cle of their growth and glory.

“It is a proud mo­ment for all Gur­sikhs. For the first time, a tur­baned per­son -male or fe­male would be pre­sid­ing as a judge and this is a proud mo­ment for the Sikh com­mu­nity. I see a very bright fu­ture for the Sikhs in Canada.- Gian Singh Sandhu”

I have had the priv­i­lege to in­ter­act with her dur­ing my Cana­dian tours re­gard­ing many is­sues like the per­mis­sion she ob­tained from court al­low­ing Kir­pan to be worn by Sikhs dur­ing the Win­ter Olympics in Canada in 2010, the way she took up and won the case when Catholics were not al­lowed to teach Ethics in schools in Que­bec and many other so­cial and po­lit­i­cal is­sues con­fronting the Sikhs in Canada.  She was ap­pointed Queen’s Coun­sel in 2012 and is also a re­cip­i­ent of the Queen’s Golden Ju­bilee Medal for Com­mu­nity Ser­vice. Pal­binder Kaur does soul-stir­ring Kir­tan, plays the tabla and har­mo­nium and pro­fi­cient in TaeK­wondo.

In ad­di­tion to her vol­un­teer work in the Sikh com­mu­nity, Jus­tice Shergill also served as a Gov­er­nor for the Trial Lawyers As­so­ci­a­tion of BC and as a Di­rec­tor on the Fraser Health Au­thor­ity Board from 2002 to 2008.  She is also a past Chair of the Na­tional Ad­min­is­tra­tive Law Sec­tion of the Cana­dian Bar As­so­ci­a­tion.

Com­ment­ing on her ap­point­ment, WSO Pres­i­dent Mukhbir Singh said, “The ap­point­ment of Jus­tice Shergill is an­other mile­stone for the Sikh com­mu­nity in Canada.”

WSN was prepar­ing to in­ter­view her for her role and con­tri­bu­tions, but alas that was not to be. Now that she is al­ready a judge, she is be­yond in­ter­views.  Nev­er­the­less, speak­ing to WSN on the phone, her fa­ther and se­nior WSO leader Gian Singh Sandhu said, “It is a proud mo­ment for all Gur­sikhs. For the first time, a tur­baned per­son -male or fe­male would be pre­sid­ing as a judge and this is a proud mo­ment for the Sikh com­mu­nity.” “I see a very bright fu­ture for the Sikhs in Canada.”

Pal­binder Kau­r’s el­e­va­tion as a judge has prompted me to re­call the words en­shrined in the first con­sti­tu­tion of the All In­dia Sikh Stu­dents Fed­er­a­tion, “The Sikhs as­pire the cre­ation of an en­vi­ron­ment in which the true as­pi­ra­tions of the Sikhs find its fullest sat­is­fac­tion.” Canada is cer­tainly pro­vid­ing such an in­clu­sive, open and free at­mos­phere for the Sikhs and every­one else.