Afghan-born woman makes history in Canada

Maryam Monsef, an Afghan-born woman who had migrated to Canada at a young age, has made history by winning a seat in the Canadian parliament yesterday. She is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, and will represent Ontario province’s Peterborough-Kawartha district. In 1996, Monsef (who was 11 at the time), her two sisters, and their widowed mother left Afghanistan to escape the brutality and oppression of the Taliban who had taken over most of Afghanistan. In Canada, she received a Bachelor of Science degree from Trent University, and prior to her win, was involved in charity projects that raised money to help women and girls in Afghanistan. In fact, she co-founded the Red Pashmina Campaign that raised over $150,000 to promote women’s education in Afghanistan.