New Canadian joins the navy, fulfilling his father's dream

CTV National News: Sailor's journey Adrian Ghobrial shares the story of a first-time sailor who enlisted to fulfill his father’s dying wish.

CTV National News is on board HMCS Ottawa, with correspondent Adrian Ghobrial embedded with Canadian Navy personnel and documenting their work in the South China Sea – a region where China is increasingly flexing its maritime muscle. This is his fifth story in a series of dispatches from the ship.

Onboard a warship with 250 personnel, if you take the time to listen, you’ll discover a sea of inspiring stories.

Amit Khanna’s deeply personal journey led him to join the navy as a 40-year-old father. The path he travelled to HMCS Ottawa is a story of heartache, passion and service.

With a sense of pride, Khanna tells CTV National News that “[as a] member of the Royal Canadian Navy, you are serving your country.”

Inside the Halifax-class frigate, you’ll find Khanna’s infectious smile in the kitchen. He began cooking as an 18-year-old in his family’s restaurant in Delhi, India. His father was his mentor there, passing down decades of culinary secrets.

Khanna’s craft took him around the world, eventually as a Red Seal chef. For a time, he returned to India as an adult to donate part of his liver to his ailing father — the man he loved dearly, and who taught him everything he knew about cooking.

With his eyes tearing up slightly, Khanna shared that his father “loved the military, and he wanted me to join.”

His father passed away in 2018.

Three years later, now living in Halifax, Khanna, his wife Renuka and their daughter Amaira, who’s now 12, all received their Canadian citizenship. It was around that time that Khanna made a choice.

“I wanted to honour my father’s dream,” says Khanna, and he did just that. One year ago, he was sworn into the Royal Canadian Navy as a sailor 1st class.

He’s now on his first deployment onboard HMCS Ottawa, taking part in Operation Horizon; an effort to promote peace and rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific.

He’s also doing what he loves: cooking.

With a reflective smile on his face, the 41-year-old first-time sailor shares that “when you serve food to the people and see them smile, that makes my day.”

Asked what it means for him to be able to honour his father, Khanna quickly replies: “A lot, it really means a lot ... If you believe that something is going to happen, it will happen.”

For Amit Khanna, he’s now fulfilling a dream, in honour of his father and his country.