Inspiring stories Baltej S. Dhillon Stands for the People He Serves

Baltej Dhillon is a retired career police officer, a community leader, and a lifelong advocate for diversity and inclusion.
Emigrating from Malaysia in 1983, Mr. Dhillon made history in 1991 as the first Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer to wear a turban, advocating for the right to practice his faith while serving Canada. Mr. Dhillon went on to have a successful 30‑year career with the RCMP as an accomplished major crime investigator, police interrogator, polygraph examiner, intelligence officer, and emergency planner. He played a key role in several high-profile investigations, including the Air India Flight 182 tragedy and the Robert Pickton case. Mr. Dhillon also held various leadership roles, including overseeing the British Columbia RCMP Divisional Emergency Operations Centre and the federal Serious and Organized Crime’s Intelligence section, also in British Columbia, as well as establishing and managing intelligence operations at the Provincial Intelligence Centre of British Columbia (now the Real-Time Operations Centre of British Columbia), the first of its kind in Canada.