Wallace Taroo "Wally" Oppal, (born 1940) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicit ...

, former

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and provincial

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

. Between 2005 and 2009, he served as

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

and Minister responsible for Multiculturalism, as well as Member of the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria. Members are elected from provincial ...

for the riding of

Vancouver-Fraserview Vancouver-Fraserview is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. Geography Following the redistricting in 2015 based on the previous census, Vancouver-Fraserview sits in the southeastern por ...

as part of the BC Liberals.

Early life and career

The elder of two sons, Oppal was born in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

to immigrant parents from India. The whole family moved to the Lake Cowichan area after his father co-founded a sawmill with a partner there. After his father died when he was 10 years old, his mother worked as a housekeeper. He attended Lake Cowichan High School where he served as student council president in his senior year, and graduated in 1958. After briefly working as a radio announcer, he began attending the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thr ...

(UBC), supplementing his income by working at sawmills during the summer. He graduated with a B.A. from UBC in 1963, followed by a law degree from the UBC Faculty of Law in 1966. He was called to the bar in 1967 and began working at Thompson McConnell, eventually starting a private practice in South Vancouver with friend John Campbell. At the recommendation of then-Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court of British Columbia Supreme may refer to: Entertainment * Supreme (character), a comic book superhero * ''Supreme'' (film), a 2016 Telugu film * Supreme (producer), hip-hop record producer * "Supreme" (song), a 2000 song by Robbie Williams * The Supremes, Motow ...

Allan McEachern, Oppal was appointed to the County Court of Vancouver in 1981, and to the BC Supreme Court in 1985. In 2003, he was appointed to the

British Columbia Court of Appeal The British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) is the highest appellate court in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It was established in 1910 following the 1907 Court of Appeal Act. The BCCA hears appeals from the Supreme Court of Britis ...

where he served until he resigned to seek election to the provincial legislature. He was appointed to lead a commission of inquiry into policing in British Columbia in June 1992, and published a report in 1994, leading to policing reforms in the province.

Member of the legislature

At a meeting with then

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Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son ...

, Oppal was asked to run in a federal election for the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia' ...

, but declined for family reasons. He later entered provincial politics instead, when he announced his candidacy for the BC Liberals in the riding of

in April 2005. He was elected Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) at the 2005 provincial election, and was appointed the province's

and Minister responsible for

Multiculturalism The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...

that June, becoming BC's second

Indo-Canadian Indian Canadians are Canadians who have ancestry from India. The terms ''Indo-Canadian'' or ''East Indian'' are sometimes used to avoid confusion with the Indigenous Peoples of Canada. Categorically, Indian Canadians comprise a subgroup of S ...

Attorney-General (the first being

Ujjal Dosanjh Ujjal Dev Dosanjh ( pa, ਉੱਜਲ ਦੇਵ ਦੁਸਾਂਝ) (), (born September 9, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the 33rd premier of British Columbia from 2000 to 2001 and as a Liberal Party of Canada member of ...

). He became

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upon his appointment as Attorney General. For the 2009 provincial election, Oppal switched to the riding of

Delta South Delta South is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. Member of Legislative Assembly The current MLA for this riding is Ian Paton. The previous member was Vicki Huntington, the only Indep ...

where he lives. In initial results on election night, Oppal led in Delta South by a margin of just two votes over independent candidate

Vicki Huntington Victoria "Vicki" Huntington is a Canadian politician who served in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2009 until 2017 as an independent for Delta South. Education and early career Huntington is a native of Vancouver, British C ...

. On May 26, 2009, a recount revealed that Huntington had defeated Oppal by only 32 votes. A judicial recount on June 2 confirmed Huntington's victory.

After politics

In 2010, Oppal was appointed to lead the

Missing Women Commission of Inquiry The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry was a commission in British Columbia ordered by the Lieutenant Governor in Council on September 27, 2010, to evaluate the response of law enforcement to reports of missing and murdered women. The commission ...

into the Robert Pickton murders. The commission released its final report to the public in December 2012, including 63 recommendations. Oppal served as the Chancellor of the

Thompson Rivers University Thompson Rivers University (commonly referred to as TRU) is a Public university, public teaching and research university offering Undergraduate education, undergraduate and Postgraduate education, graduate Academic degree, degrees and Vocational ...

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

from 2011 to 2018, and was named Chancellor Emeritus upon the end of his terms. In 2019 he was appointed to chair a committee to oversee the creation of a new municipal police force in the city of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

, which would replace the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

. Oppal was appointed to the Order of British Columbia on November 30, 2017. He is senior counsel at Boughton Law.

Personal life

Oppal is married with two children. He announced in March 2007 that he was undergoing treatment for

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that su ...

."B.C. attorney general to be treated for prostate cancer"
cbc.ca, March 1, 2007. By the end of the month, Oppal was declared cancer free by his doctor.

References

External links