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Alberta To Hold State Funeral For Sardar Manmeet Singh Bhullar

JAMES WOOD

 

 

 





A state memorial service for MLA Manmeet Singh Bhullar, who was killed by a driver on Highway 2 earlier this week, will take place Sunday (November 29, 2015) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The funeral, which will include both a viewing and a service, will be open to the public, according to a notice from the provincial government of Alberta.

The viewing will take place at the Jubilee Auditorium from 9 am to 11 am on Sunday, November 29. The service begins at noon.

MLAs paid their respects to Manmeet in the province’s Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

“We have all lost a dear friend to a tragic accident, and we can only pay him the tribute he so richly deserves in his absence,” said Premier Rachel Notley.

The last Alberta state memorial service was held in 2012 for former Premier Peter Lougheed.

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OBITUARY

On Monday, November 23, 2015, Manmeet Singh Bhullar, the love of Namrita Kaur's life, made his final journey on a road he traveled countless times over the past eight years.

Like many other trips, this one also led him to help someone.

Welcomed into the world on March 1, 1980, he immediately gave blissful joy to his parents, Baljinder Singh and Sukhvir Kaur Bhullar, his grandparents, Jagir Singh and Mohinder Kaur and Late Ram Singh and Late Gurdev Kaur Shergill.

He easily eclipsed his older sister Tarjinder's prominence in the family. A few years later, he said hello to his younger brother Appy, who would become his lifelong right hand man.

His aunts and uncles showered him with love. His cousins Amardeep (Sukhi), Tammy (Sanjay), Parabhdeep, Sonny (Nisha), Shannon (Inder), Sam, Dilpreet (Balcharan), Jasleen, Sundeep, Sharon, Simran, Karen, Harmol, Rabina, Jagmeet, Hamreet, Anmol, Arvinder, Aman (Stacey), and Raman, gave him endless love and laughter.

His friends, who if named here would leave little room for any other stories in today's paper, were synonymous with family.

Growing up he played hockey on the streets and driveways of Whitehorn and dabbled in tae kwon do, where he mastered skills less and dramatic poses more. He had entrepreneurial spirit, with a lawnmower and cousins in tow.

A proud northeast boy, he never forgot about his time at Chief Justice Milvain Elementary and Annie Gale Junior High. The only time you didn't prominently see him with his turban, was when he put on a helmet to play High School football at Lester B. Pearson High School.

He didn't fancy himself as an academic, yet somehow he went on to get his Bachelors in Sociology, beginning it at the Mount Royal University and completing it from the University of Athabasca. Later while MLA, he obtained his Law Degree from the University of Windsor. He was the first to encourage others to pursue further education.

It was a chance meeting at an evening Punjabi class 13 years ago, where he attended as a guest speaker, that Namrita Kaur Rattan entered his life. The rest, as they say, is history. In some ways their relationship defied logic. In every way it showed you that real love means having an unabiding faith in one another, matched with patience and humour.

On January 7, 2012, they became husband and wife. Her parents, Dalbir Singh and Kiran Kaur Rattan, sister Sushana (Jason), and brother Harsimer, welcomed him as a son and brother long before the wedding. Manmeet welcomed another sister into his life when Appy married Amrit Kaur in 2013.

The relationship that guided him most was the one he shared with God. Sikhi gave him the convictions of seva (selfless work), equality for all, and the responsibility of sharing the sorrow of others as if they are your own.

Manmeet served his community and championed causes long before he entered politics and would have done so long after he left it. He was and always would have been a public servant.

He was the light in our lives.

A State Memorial Service, open to the public, will be held for Manmeet at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium (1415 - 14 Avenue NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada) on Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 12:00 pm Visitation will be from 9:00 am - 11:00 am.

In lieu of flowers we kindly request you make a donation in his memory to the Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre at www.sheldonkennedycac.ca. Messages of condolences can be forwarded to the family at alberta.ca/memorial/manmeet-bhullar-memorial.cfm


[Courtesy: The Calgary Herald. Edited for sikhchic.com]
November 27, 2015
 

Conversation about this article

1: Sandeep Singh Brar (Canada), November 27, 2015, 3:16 PM.

Manmeet certainly earned a State Funeral. As a historian, it's incredible to observe how the hard work of generations of Sikhs over the last 100 years contributing to Canada as a nation has gotten us as a people. From being turned away from Canada at gunpoint (the Komagata Maru tragedy) to Manmeet's State Funeral this week. Manmeet was so respected in Alberta that on the day of his death flags at the legislature were at half-mast and the legislature did not sit that day in Parliament. This is how far Sikhs have come in a little over a century in Canada. Thank you, Manmeet, for your contributions to Canada and Alberta. You carried our entire community forward on your broad shoulders. You will not be forgotten.

2: Teja Singh (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), November 28, 2015, 7:40 AM.

Manmeet Singh is not only a hero to the Sikh community but to all Canadians as he demonstrated the values that make Canada the country that it is. Manmeet owned the causes of his constituents and the Cabinet Ministries he served. He dedicated his life to selfless service and left this world doing what he loved - serving those in need. Yes, we are proud that Manmeet represented Sikhi in all its glory but he was not just that. He was a Canadian and that is why he is mourned by not only Sikhs but all. I never had the chance to meet this great man but I became a fan of his when I first saw him on Global TV News in 2013. I was awe-struck by his presence in front of the camera by his sheer confidence and passion for the causes he represented. Manmeet, you have given us all a challenge to reflect upon our lives and ask ourselves if we are worthy to call ourselves Sikhs. You proved to the world that actions in daily life, in addition to following the discipline of the faith, are the hallmarks of being a Sikh. Thank you for reminding us what it means to be a true sevadaar of our Guru. You have left an immense void and I hope we are worthy of even attempting to follow in your footsteps. May Waheguru bless your wife, family, friends, colleagues, constituents and fellow Canadians and may God bring them peace and strength to deal with their tremendous loss.

3: Tony Singh (Canada), November 28, 2015, 10:02 AM.

Manmeet was a great human being and an archetype Sikh, physically and spiritually. He is a great loss. His latest and very passionate cause was to obtain asylum for the Sikhs in Afghanistan. He was in the process of getting them out to India, Canada and other places. Has anyone picked up that cause? It would be a travesty if the Afghani Sikhs are left to die or forced by the Taliban to convert to Islam.

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