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July 2002
T. Sher Singh is a litigation lawyer based in Guelph, Ontario.
Getting into law was the end result of a long and difficult process. He had earned a BA in English and was on the verge of completing his MA in English literature in India. But political unrest caused him and his extended family to pack up to the stability of Canada in 1971 just before his final exams. In Ontario, Singh found that despite his undergraduate degree and graduate training, he could only claim Grade 12 status. Jobs were hard to come by in those first years in Canada. He worked at odd jobs such as a newspaper carrier, security guard, laborer, and later, trouble shooter at a Toronto brokerage house. After a lot of soul-searching, feeling that his skills and potential were being wasted, he decided to pursue law, something his father had suggested many years before.
While maintaining a high average, he started the law school yearbook, was elected Legal Society president and served as business manager for The Western Law Review. One Christmas he organized the holiday celebration that coincidentally was the convergence of Christmas, Chanukah, and Gurparab, a Sikh high holiday.
He burst into national prominence in 1990 when he launched a court challenge against then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney for appointing former Nova Scotia premier John Buchanan to the Senate (Buchanan was under investigation by the RCMP for corruption at the time). He also challenged what he referred to as Mulroney’s "stacking" of the Senate by appointing eight new senators for the express purpose of pushing through controversial legislation to establish the Goods and Services Tax.Now, operating his own successful law practice in Guelph, Dr. T. Sher Singh is becoming a journalist. Even though he first started writing as a boy in India, it’s only been in the past ten years that he’s become serious. Interestingly, the first newspaper that asked him to write weekly column was the Italian-Canadian paper Corriere Canadese, which was starting an English section at the time. He is a regular columnist on current issues of The Toronto Star and The Guelph Mercury. He writes a weekly travel column for The Kitchener-Waterloo Record. He hosts a weekly talk show on Sikh issues, and he frequently appears as a commentator on radio and television on the CBC and other media outlets. Proud of his Sikh heritage, Dr. Singh is passionately Canadian. He says that coming to Canada was in many ways, like coming home. Born in Patna, in eastern India, he received his early education at a boarding school run by Irish Catholics. He says that gave him an extraordinary perspective on his own religion while opening his eyes to the west. In1997 he was one of the founding members and Chair of the Centennial Foundation. The Centennial Foundation seeks to showcase the achievements of Sikh-Canadians-a dynamic community of 300,000 individuals.
In October 2001 he traveled to Rome where he helped unveil a bronze sculpture, a gift from Canadian Sikhs to the Vatican to commemorate the commencement of the Third Millennium of Christian Faith. He also served as a delegate to the Inter-religious Assembly, part of the Great Jubilee celebrations in Vatican City, and met Pope John Paul II.
In early part of year 2002 Governor General of Canada conferred the appointment of Member of the Order of Canada on T. Sher Singh. The Order of Canada recognizes people who have made a difference to the country. From local citizens to national and international personalities, all Canadians are eligible for the Order of Canada, the country's highest honor for lifetime achievement. The citation noted that T. Sher Singh, of Guelph, Ontario, "has demonstrated through his vast record of public service how a vibrant multicultural landscape serves to enrich our nation.
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