A man who pushed for justice after the high-profile murder of Pitt Meadows woman Jassi Sidhu has died.
Former School District 42 administrator James Longridge was 74 when he passed away on Nov. 29 at Ridge Meadows Hospital in Maple Ridge. His obituary describes him as a much-loved educator, and he became embroiled in the Sidhu case because it involved a former student from his days as a principal at Pitt Meadows secondary.
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Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, who graduated in 1993, was murdered in June 2000 in an alleged honour killing. She had secretly married rickshaw driver Sukwinder Singh Sidhu, known as Mithu, against her family’s wishes. The couple was attacked while in India, with Sidhu being stabbed to death, and her husband surviving the attack.
Jassi’s mother, Malkit Kaur Sidhu and uncle Surgit Singh Badesha, who lived in Maple Ridge, were extradited to India in 2019 to face trial for ordering the killing. In November, her husband appeared in a Punjab courtroom to give testimony in the case, more than 20 years after his wife’s murder.
Longridge became involved, pushing for justice, with letter writing, court attendance and TV appearances. He followed the case for more than 20 years.
His passing was noted by many members of the South Asian community, including Raminder Dosanjh, who said he was respected for his work on the case.
“He urged politicians to take a stand, and do something about it,” Dosanjh said. She is a founding member of the India Mahila Association, which works to eradicate violence against women, and her husband is former B.C. premier Ujjal Dosanjh.
She said the IMA speaks up against voilence and other issues.
“To us, he was a champion of human rights, and women’s rights. He cared what happened, and went out of his way to ask for justice for Jassi. He didn’t have to. He chose to speak out. He chose to demand justice for her.
“We will miss his voice.”
She offered condolences to his family.
Longridge also started a local scholarship in memory of Sidhu.
“As an educator and Canadian who believes always in justice, I am going to establish a Justice Scholarship, in Jassi’s name, in perpetuity,” he wrote in an advertisement in The News in 2020. The scholarship is given each year to a graduating student from School District 42 in her name, and is administered by the Maple Ridge Education Foundation.
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“It would just be nice for people to know who Jassi Sidhu was, and recognize that something really bad happened to a student who was like so many others in the school,” he said.
Longridge was the principal of Westview secondary when he retired after a long career as an educator.
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