[Photograph of Barj Singh Dhahan addressing the audience at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver]

Photograph of Barj Singh Dhahan addressing the audience at an event hosted at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, British Columbia (B.C.).

Barjinder "Barj" Singh Dhahan was born in rural Panjab, India. In 1967, at the age of 10, Dhahan joined his father, Budh Singh Dhahan in Port Alberni, B.C. The family moved to Vancouver, B.C. in 1973. As a young parent, and while studying at the University of British Columbia and Regent College, Dhahan opened his first gas station at age 22. Eventually he founded the Sandhurst Group of Companies, a business that specializes in commercial real estate development, food service and convenience centres. Along with being Founder and President of Sandhurst Group of Companies, Dhahan is a founding donor and Board Member of the Canada-India Centre for Excellence at Carleton University in Ottawa, and a founder of the Dhahan International Panjabi Literature Prize. He is also a member of the Royal Roads University Board of Governors, the University of British Columbia Nursing Advisory Council, and the RCMP's Cultural Diversity Advisory Committee in British Columbia. As a co-founder and Director of the Canada India Education Society (CIES), Dhahan helped launch one of the first international collaborations in nursing education between Canada and India.