14 Facts About Wally Oppal

The elder of two sons of Gurdial Kaur Oppal, Oppal was born in Vancouver to Sikh immigrant parents from India.

Wally Oppal attended Lake Cowichan High School where he served as student council president in his senior year, and graduated in 1958.

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

Wally Oppal 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.

At a meeting with then Prime Minister Paul Martin, Wally Oppal was asked to run in a federal election for the Liberal Party of Canada, but declined for family reasons.

Wally Oppal later entered provincial politics instead, when he announced his candidacy for the BC Liberals in the riding of Vancouver-Fraserview in April 2005.

Wally Oppal was elected Member of the Legislative Assembly at the 2005 provincial election, and was appointed the province's Attorney General and Minister responsible for Multiculturalism that June, becoming BC's second Indo-Canadian Attorney-General.

Wally Oppal became Queen's Counsel upon his appointment as Attorney General.

In initial results on election night, Wally Oppal led in Delta South by a margin of just two votes over independent candidate Vicki Huntington.

In 2010, Wally Oppal was appointed to lead the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry into the Robert Pickton murders.

Wally Oppal served as the Chancellor of the Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops from 2011 to 2018, and was named Chancellor Emeritus upon the end of his terms.

Wally Oppal was appointed to the Order of British Columbia on November 30,2017.

Wally Oppal announced in March 2007 that he was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.