Trent Alumna Blazes a New Trail in Canadian Politics
Maryam Monsef ‘03 appointed Minister of Democratic Institutions
“I leave Trent with a very strong ‘why’, and armed with the knowledge that when I put my mind to it, I can matter.”
These were Maryam Monsef’s ’03 parting words at her Trent University convocation. This statement couldn’t be truer following her appointment by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the Democratic Institutions Minister.
Ms. Monsef, a Biology and Psychology graduate, was recently elected as the first female and the youngest MP in the Peterborough-Kawartha riding and continues to make history as the first Canadian MP born in Afghanistan and the youngest minister in cabinet.
Self-described as opinionated, thirsty for new knowledge and intolerant of injustice, Ms. Monsef spent her time at Trent involved in many political student groups, including the Ontario Public Research Interest Group (OPIRG), the Trent Muslim Students’ Association, the World University Service of Canada’s Afghanistan Challenge, and “everything else in between in order to better understand myself and the world around me.”
In a recent interview with Trent Arthur, Ms. Monsef expressed her strong tie to Trent and the Peterborough community: “It was really here at Trent that I realized I have the means and the liberties here in Canada and in Peterborough to make a difference. I was learning from some of the best professors in the country. They mentored me. They guided me. They pushed me when I didn’t believe in myself. They believed in me.”
Ms. Monsef was one of four Trent University alumni elected as MP’s in the recent election. To learn more about other Trent Alum leaders, visit: http://bit.ly/1MIpBIU