President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness Harjit Sajjan rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Dec. 11, 2023.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Directors of a charitable foundation that struck a deal with Ottawa to sponsor the immigration of Afghan Sikhs to Canada made political donations to then-defence minister Harjit Sajjan’s riding association around the same time that he instructed Canadian special forces soldiers to rescue and airlift the group from Kabul.
Elections Canada records show that directors made thousands of dollars of personal donations to Mr. Sajjan’s Vancouver South Liberal riding association in August, 2021. Canada was in the midst of a general election campaign that had started Aug. 16 and Mr. Sajjan was seeking re-election in the riding.
The records raise more questions about the connection between Mr. Sajjan and the non-profit charity that had pressed him and the government to try to rescue a group of about 225 Afghan Sikhs during final evacuation flights from Kabul as the Taliban cemented its control over Afghanistan.
As The Globe and Mail reported last week, Mr. Sajjan instructed Canadian special forces to rescue the group after the Taliban takeover in August, 2021, in an operation that three military sources say took resources away from getting Canadian citizens and Afghans linked to Canada on final evacuation flights.
Elections Canada records show that Tarjinder Bhullar, a director of the Manmeet Singh Bhullar Charitable Foundation, made a $510 donation to the riding association. Her donation was received Aug. 19, 2021. The contributor address and postal code are the same as that of the address used by the foundation in the federal corporate registry.
Two other donations – each totalling $1,000 – were recorded with the same postal code and contributor address as Ms. Bhullar’s and came from Baljinder Bhullar and Apharnarayan Bhullar. These names match two other directors of the foundation, according to the federal corporate registry. Their donations were received Aug. 22, 2021.
Finally, a donation of $1,650 from Namrita Rattan was received Aug. 27, 2021, according to Elections Canada. This name matches that of a fourth foundation director who was also the wife of Manmeet Bhullar. Mr. Bhullar, a former provincial cabinet minister in Alberta, died in 2015.
Canada’s airlift efforts ended on Aug. 27, the day after the rescue mission failed when the group of Sikhs became nervous and left the rendezvous within a half hour of Canadian troops arriving. The group later managed to get to India.
Mr. Sajjan’s office said he had no comment on the political donations.
“Regarding donations to the party, it would be best to check with the people who made the donation,” press secretary Joanna Kanga said in a statement. “In general, people tend to support political parties through donations and other means because they support the party’s policy or approve of its decisions. "
Ms. Kanga said the minister followed all election rules, adding that “during the evacuation of Kabul, Minister Sajjan acted to implement the policy of the Government of Canada.”
In an e-mailed statement, Tarjinder Bhullar defended the contributions.
“As individuals, we continue to support candidates of various political parties and levels of government. The donations you are referring to coincide with a federal election and are not specific to the events of August 2021,” Ms. Bhullar said.
“Our efforts to support these Afghans have been going on for many years and is done so through an established partnership with the government of Canada. It is a project that has had support from across party lines.”
The Globe and Mail reported last month that military sources who were in Ottawa and on the ground in Kabul painted a picture of the final chaotic, dangerous and desperate hours as evacuation flights were ending and Canada and other Western countries scrambled to get their citizens safely out of Afghanistan before the U.S. withdrawal deadline at the end of August.
The sources said Afghan Sikhs were not considered an operational priority for the Canadian military because they had no link to Canada. Mr. Sajjan’s intervention, the military sources say, affected the rescue of Canadians and other Afghans on Canada’s priority list. The Globe and Mail did not identify the three sources because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
Mr. Sajjan, now the Emergency Preparedness Minister, has denied that anything he said regarding the Afghan Sikhs amounted to an order and said he did not request that they be given priority over Canadians, Afghan interpreters or others who had aided Canada during its long mission in the Central Asian country.
Further, he noted Immigration Refugee and Citizenship Canada had cleared the group of Sikhs to come to Canada. “I provided direction to the Canadian Armed Forces, through the appropriate chain of command, to assist the group of Afghan Sikhs who had been determined eligible for evacuation from Kabul through the process under way at IRCC,” Mr. Sajjan said last week.
However on Friday, General Wayne Eyre, Chief of the Defence Staff, told The Canadian Press that the military was following “legal orders” from Mr. Sajjan when it made an effort to specifically help the group of Afghan Sikhs.
Elections Canada’s online records only go back 10 years to 2014 but there is no record of Tarjinder Bhullar, Apharnarayan Bhullar or Namrita Rattan making donations to any other recipient as far back as July 1, 2014.
Political-donation records show that a Baljinder Bhullar with the same postal code and address as the Sajjan donation made a contribution of $400 in 2019 to Tim Uppal, the Alberta MP who is now deputy leader of the Conservative Party.
The Bloc Québécois reiterated its call Tuesday for the government to investigate Mr. Sajjan’s role in the rescue operation of Afghan Sikhs during the final days of the evacuation from Kabul.
“This investigation must be independent.” Bloc defence critic Christine Normandin said in a statement. “Once again, while the situation was critical in August, 2021, when hours were limited and military resources were too limited to help everyone, such actions, if proven, are simply intolerable.”
The NDP and Conservatives did not respond to a request for comment.
The Office of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner said it is not looking into the matter because political donations are not part of its mandate.
“Political donations permitted under the Canada Elections Act are specifically exempted from the rules related to gifts under the Conflict of Interest Act,” spokesperson Melanie Rushworth said in a statement.
However, Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch, said significant donations to Mr. Sajjan’s riding at the same time the foundation was lobbying him raise even more serious questions about the ethics of his actions.
“The situation already raised serious questions about whether the minister’s actions amount to preferential treatment, which is a violation of the federal ethics law,” Mr. Conacher said.
Because Ethics Commissioner Konrad Von Finckenstein was appointed by the Liberal government, Mr. Conacher said the matter should be referred to a provincial ethics commissioner who does not have ties to any political party.