Dr Gurdev Singh Gill: First Punjabi to receive Order of BC

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Chandigarh, December 22

Dr Gurdev Singh Gill, the first Indo-Canadian to start practising medicine in Canada in 1957, passed away earlier this week, leaving behind an unparalleled legacy of a Good Samaritan who contributed abundantly to the realm of healthcare, particularly in rural Punjab.

Embarking on his philanthropic journey, in 1995, Dr Gill led a movement along with the Indo-Canadian Friendship Society for taking care of people in villages of Hoshiarpur, Ropar, Nawan Shahr, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Gurdaspur and Ludhiana. He was also associated with a clinic in Uttarakhand. Dr Gill was associated with the working of at least 27 clinics.

Appreciating Dr Gill’s works, former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam came to Gill’s village Kharoudi (Hoshiarpur district) in 2003 for the inauguration of development projects. Besides healthcare, Dr Gill’s group also contributed to different projects on concrete roads, parks, libraries, streetlights running on solar cells, septic tanks, drinking water and providing local schools with computers and technology.

Dr Gill (92) passed away on December 17 at his home in Chandigarh, where he had come this winter.

Born in 1931, Dr Gill left for Canada in 1949. He worked in a mill, finished grade XII and then went on to graduate from the University of British Columbia (UBC). He became the first Punjabi to receive the Order of BC (1990) in recognition of ‘decades of iconic leadership across his community in Canada’.

Dr Gill spoke against the human right violations faced by immigrants.