His own father had arrived in Canada as an illegal immigrant on the night of November 14, 1930.
With a forged Indian passport his father had walked off the ramp of a Shanghai steamer, slipping quietly past a solitary immigration officer onto the oily planks of Ogden Point in Victoria BC.
He was only 23. He had left his young wife and baby daughter in a small Indian village with his promise to return in two years after saving enough money.
But that wasn’t to be.
Because of his illegal status, his father became exiled in Canada, evading immigration officials for over nine years.
Authorities finally caught him in 1939, but withheld deportation because he, and others like him, had decided to mount a challenge.
Immigration warned him that if he lost his case, he would never be allowed to return to Canada.
For the next eight years, Aujla’s father and others wrote letters to the Federal government pushing for changes to immigration laws.
Changes came with the passing of the Canadian Citizenship Act in 1947, which meant that the British subjects who made up the country’s population became Canadian citizens, including David’s father who had been living in Canada without status.
As a new Canadian citizen, his father returned to India in 1947, reunited with his wife and daughter who he had not seen since 1930 and he brought both to Canada. David was born in Canada. He has a sister who is 17 years older.
David attended universities in BC and Ontario with degrees in Biochemistry, Philosophy and Law.
He graduated from the Western law school in 1974 and has practised law for over forty years. His sole focus of practice is Canadian immigration law and he advises clients worldwide.
He is a member of the Canadian Bar Association (Immigration Sub-section) and the Law Society of British Columbia.
He has made presentations, from time to time, to the Canadian Bar Association’s Immigration conferences as well as to civic associations and boards and real estate companies throughout Victoria, Vancouver, Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.
He is a member of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce and the Better Business Bureau
David is married to Sheila, and has two sons who live in New York City.
