Sgt. Harman Dhaliwal says he’s proud to be part of a growing museum exhibit that highlights the relationship between the Sikh faith and military service in Canada.
The Sikh Calgarian is an infanteer with the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (3 PPCLI) and is currently stationed in Edmonton.
He’s served Canada for 14 years, nine of which were in the reserves. He’s served in Poland, providing humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees there, and in Latvia, as part of a NATO-allied Enhanced Forward Presence battle group.
WATCH | Past and present roles of Sikh soldiers in Canada’s Armed Forces
Calgary-born Sgt. Harman Dhaliwal is part of an exhibit showcasing Sikh soldiers at The Military Museums. It’s been up as a permanent fixture since April, highlighting Canadian Armed Forces members and the relationship between the Sikh faith and military service.
Dhaliwal says it’s a great honour to have his story featured in an exhibit at the Military Museums in his hometown.
“It means a lot. I always encourage people from the faith to definitely join. There’s just countless opportunities, countless different ways that you can serve,” he said.
“To give that message that the Canadian Armed Forces is not generally the scope and practice of what you think it is.
“A lot of times people think that, you know, you join the army, you get the gun in your hand and you go do the business. But there are so many different aspects.”
Dhaliwal says the museum exhibit is especially important because history can very quickly be forgotten.
Given the exorbitant loss of life that happened during various wars that the Canadian Forces fought in, Dhaliwal says it’s difficult to track the contributions of individuals.
“I think this is like a very beautiful way of remembering, especially coming up to Remembrance Day,” he said.
“These were people who necessarily weren’t Canadian first. They came from somewhere else. They came here to create a life and live the dream. And ultimately, they decided to do that, they were going to have to make the sacrifice for the generations to come.”
‘The warrior in the garden, not the gardener in the war’
Dhaliwal says he joined the Canadian Armed Forces more than a decade ago after making a promise to his grandfather who was on his deathbed. Dhaliwal’s grandfather served in the Indian forces and he asked his grandson to serve in the Canadian Forces.
“He highly encouraged that I joined the military, just given the experiences and the opportunities that the military can provide. And so I took that promise very seriously and I joined as soon as I could,” he said.
Dhaliwal says military service is closely intertwined with Sikh principles and ethos and joining the Armed Forces gave him the opportunity to serve his country and to be closer to his faith.
He says one of the martial traditions of the Sikh faith is selflessness and standing up for righteousness and truthfulness, fighting oppression with the appropriate amount of force.
“It comes from a term known as Sant Sipahi, which is essentially the saint soldier,” Dhaliwal said. “To have that morality, the ability of a saint, in that the kindness, the generosity is there, but also to be prepared at all times. To be the warrior in the garden, not the gardener in the war.”
As Canada changes, the museum changes
David Peabody, the director of the Military Museums, told CBC News that stories of Armed Forces members like Dhaliwal aren’t highlighted enough.
“Canadian society has changed over the past hundred years and more, and our museum has been really focused on World War I and World War II … but what we’ve seen is there are a lot of stories and those larger narratives that haven’t really been captured that well,” Peabody said.
He added the aim of the Military Museums is to represent the society that it serves, and as Canada changes, the museum changes with it.
As time goes by, Peabody says more stories like Dhaliwal’s come to light that highlight the service of those who fought for Canada.
“I think that’s an important touch-point for people to see that our history has been very diverse from the beginning, and Canada’s military history is also very diverse,” he said.
While the exhibit highlighting Sikh Canadian Forces veterans has been at the museum for years, it’s only over the past year or so that officials have moved to make it a permanent display.
So far the Military Museums has exhibits on Sikh Canadians, Black Canadians, Asian Canadians, Muslim Canadians, Carribean Canadians and Jewish Canadians, among others.
Peabody says it’s a start, and the aim is to eventually permanently diversify the museum to reflect Canada’s history of military service and preserve it for future generations.
“We’re showcasing the stories that we’re able to find and pull together because our museum is really dependent on members of the public coming forward with the stories of their relatives, or their own stories,” he said.