Dave S. Hayer MLA from May 2001 to May 2013, who is proud to call Surrey his home since 1972, was awarded The Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal Oct 11, 2022 for his Outstanding Service to Community.
Dave Sukhdip Singh Hayer was born in 1958 in India. He is proud to call Surrey his home since 1972. He has raised his family in this city. He went to Queen Elizabeth Secondary, SFU, UBC, Douglas College and BCIT.
Dave was first elected to the BC Legislature as MLA for the riding of Surrey-Tynehead which includes Guildford, Fraser Heights, Fleetwood, Port Kells and Tynehead areas, in the 2001 provincial general election and was re-elected in 2005 and 2009.
He also served as the Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism and Immigration from 2005 -2011, where he worked closely with the Minister of Science and Universities and the Minister of Regional Economic and Skills Development, which was responsible for the Provincial Nominee Program.
Before entering politics, Hayer was a Surrey businessperson, Assistant Publisher of the Indo-Canadian Times, Kwantlen University College Governor, real estate agent, and worked in the restaurant, newspaper, construction, transportation and forestry industries. In addition, he has worked as a labourer in a steel factory and during his teenage years worked on farms, in greenhouses, in a grocery store and even delivered both the Sun and Province newspapers.
In 2007, Dave received a prestigious award from the Government of India. The Pravasi Bharatia Samman Award is annually given to people of Indian heritage, no longer living in India, who have achieved excellence in their chosen fields of endeavor.
At the presentation ceremony, Dave was described as a “great friend of India” for having been a strong voice in the Indo-Canadian community against terrorism and violence. He was the only Canadian among 15 people to receive the Pravasi Bharatia Samman Award that year and to date Dave was the second Canadian to be presented with this honour.
On February 10th 2013 he was again presented with a Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Canadian Coalition Against Terror (C-CAT) for his contribution to the advancement of sound public policy on terrorism issues in Canada.
