Mintu Sandhu ( Left ) and Diljeet Brar
Two Punjabi NRIs elected MLAs in Manitoba province of Canada
Winnipeg, September 11, 2019 : In a first , two Punjab origin Canadians have been elected members ( MLAs) of provincial assembly of Manitoba in Canada.
Dijeet Brar won in Burrows and Mintu Sandhu ( Sukhjinderpal ) have been elected from The Maples. Both belong to the NDP, which is the official opposition party in the province.
Dr Gulzar Sandhu was the first Punjabi NRI who had been elected MLA in this province. Mohinder Singh Sran was the second Punjabi to enter in the Monitoba assembly .
This the first time that the number of Punjabi MLAs in Manitoba rose to two.
Born in Bhuchangari village of Mukatsar district ,Diljeet Brar who grew up in India, graduated with a master's degree in education and taught at the Punjab Agricultural He also worked as a broadcast journalist before immigrating to Canada .
He currently works as executive director of Bulla Arts International, which is focused on cultural development for kids. He and others helped raise funds for the creation of a master's of human rights program at the U of M.
Mintu Sandhu, immigrated to Canada with his parents as a teen lived in The Maples for 30 years.
He rose through the ranks as a gas station employee to become manager of operations.
Sandhu has owned his own business for nearly two decades and currently works as a general manager at Unicity Taxi.