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L to R: º£½ÇÉçÇø President Rod Fraser, Jiti Bhatia, Gurcharan Bhatia, º£½ÇÉçÇø Chancellor Lois Hole and Desmond Tutu at the International Conference to Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in 1998.

In his home in southwest Edmonton, across the street from , Gurcharan Singh Bhatia serves tea and talks about his life.

At 93, it would take many pots of tea to do the story justice – from his early years in India where he experienced turmoil and personal tragedy during the violent partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, to the elder statesman of today who continues to follow his lifelong passion of championing human rights and the values of civil society. 

Bhatia’s living room is adorned with photos from many important moments in his life – including his , the country’s highest honour, in 1997. 

But while he is clearly proud of the recognition he’s received over the years, it is evident that he doesn’t rest on his laurels. Sitting at his kitchen table, he is most invigorated when he’s talking about the need to keep promoting human rights, and in particular the importance of educating future generations of Canadians on the pillars of civil society.

“If we want to make a necklace with 200 beads, they can only be united by two things: a hole in every bead and a thread holding them together,” he says, referencing the number of nationalities in Canada. “The hole is for education and the thread is Canadian values, which every student should learn about.”

This is one of the reasons he established a new award in the U of A Faculty of Arts last year. The Judge Gurcharan Singh Bhatia, C.M. Outstanding Leadership Silver Medal in Arts is given to a convocating student who demonstrates leadership skills and potential, particularly in activities related to equity, diversity and inclusion.

Bhatia has also supported young people through his contributions to the diverse student population at NorQuest College, which began awarding the Judge Bhatia Citizenship Prize in 2004.

‘My country is Canada’

As a young man, Bhatia – who trained as a chartered accountant in India before earning a business degree in Scotland – got his first glimpse of Canadian multiculturalism at a museum in London. After joining a diverse group of visitors on a tour, he was astounded to discover they were all from Canada.

“I made up my mind: my country is Canada,” he says.

The Bhatia family settled in Winnipeg in 1964 (where they were the first Sikh family in the city) and eventually relocated to Edmonton in 1980.

As Bhatia continued his successful career in real estate, he started dedicating time to volunteer activities that advanced multiculturalism and human rights.

These included publishing a newspaper for the South Asian Community (Alberta Link, which later became Canadian Link) and co-founding organizations such as the , the and the .

Bhatia also served as a member of the Canadian Human Rights Commission for six years and as a citizenship judge for seven years, enthusiastically spreading his message about the responsibilities of citizenship to approximately 40,000 new Canadians.

Amongst the many accomplishments and milestones of these years, Bhatia takes particular pride in co-chairing a highly-successful international conference to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights in 1998.

The three-day event hosted at the Shaw Conference Centre featured a keynote address by acclaimed anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu (thanks to Bhatia’s single-handed efforts through a trip to South Africa to invite him) and led to the establishment of the university’s annual Visiting Lectureship in Human Rights.

Bhatia also takes great pride in a more recent accomplishment: co-founding in 2012 to recognize the achievements of women and help promote gender equality.

An enduring commitment

"Basically my whole life, whatever I'm doing, three things always come up: diversity, inclusiveness and equality."

— Judge Gurcharan Singh Bhatia

Bhatia follows the news closely, and now more than ever he knows the work to advocate for human rights is not done.

A longtime admirer of the U of A, where both his children were educated, Bhatia says he’s grateful that human rights is still flourishing through the work of professors like political scientist , who holds a Canada Research Chair in the Politics of Citizenship and Human Rights.

Bhatia remains active with a nonprofit that works to advance a culture of respect for human rights as well as gender equality. And while he’s had to slow down in recent years, his commitment to the values that have guided his life remains as strong as ever.

“Basically my whole life, whatever I am doing, three things always come up: diversity, inclusiveness and equality.”