From left, rear, Members of Canadian Parliament Nandeep Bains and Gurbax S. Malhi, center, Prime Minster Paul Martin, and lawmaker Ruby Dhalla, and front row, Canadian Federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Jan. 18. (Photo: AFP)

Indo-Canadian bilateral ties were in focus during a visit here by Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin on Jan. 17-18.

Among the outcomes of the wide-ranging talks between Martin and his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, was the decision by both the countries to contribute expertise to the creation of a tsunami warning system for Indian Ocean nations and to increase cooperation in the several other vital areas such as that of health care.

The visiting delegation comprised a large number of prominent Indo-Canadians including Canadian Federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, and Members of Parliament Gurbax S. Malhi, Ruby Dhalla, and Nandeep Bains.

India-born Dosanjh, who began his career as a human rights activist in British Columbia, went on to become the premier of the province, and currently holds the crucial health portfolio in the Federal cabinet.

He is convinced that cooperation in the area of public health care could prove to be a big boost for the health of Indo-Canadian relations. “India has a good public health infrastructure, but it is not as extensive as it ought to be. We will be happy to share our experience and expertise in the area of health care,” Dosanjh, told Indo-Asian News Service here in an interview.

Canada, with its highly evolved public health care system, can help India in a big way. Dosanjh, met Indian Health Minister A Ramdoss and conveyed his country’s “willingness” to share its knowledge base with India in the field of health care. “We also talked about sharing international experience in spreading awareness on AIDS/HIV,” he said.

“Health care was the major issue in last year’s elections. The central thrust of my government is to deliver quality public health care to Canadians,” says the man who was handpicked by Prime Minister Martin for the all-important job of health minister after the Liberal Party formed the government in Canada last year. The minister is upbeat about the state of Indo-Canadian relations, which after a brief below-the-weather phase post-Pokhran, is once again on an upswing. “Relations between India and Canada did suffer a setback around 1998 after India exploded nuclear device in Pokhran. It started warming up when I came to India in 2000 as Premier of British Columbia,” says Dosanjh, who was elected to the Canadian Parliament from Vancouver South.

“Now, Indo-Canadian relations are back to normal. Trade between the two countries is, however, vastly underdeveloped,” adds Dosanjh, one of the most influential leader of South Asian origin in North America.

For Dosanjh, it’s been indeed a long journey from the time when he was just another teenager in a small village in Punjab who had neither money nor education, but just big dreams.

All the power and the glory haven’t, however, turned his head. He remains an activist at heart. “I believe that more and more activists should join the government. Just inside the tent doesn’t mean that one can’t be an activist,” Dosanjh said in a voice that bristles with the same passion for what are called common man’s issues when he started his legal career as a human rights activist in British Columbia.