Hyderabad: New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Jagmeet Singh, a person of Indian origin, is headed back to Ottawa, after being re-elected in Burnaby South in the 2021 Canadian federal elections, Global News projects.
“You can count on New Democrats to keep fighting for you — as we fought for you in the pandemic, when times were hard and people were struggling, when people were worried about their future, we were there for you,” Jagmeet was quoted as telling his supporters Monday night. “We are going to keep fighting to make sure the super-wealthy pay their fair share, that the billionaires pay their fair share, so the burden doesn’t fall on you and your families.”
Jagmeet is a lawyer, a human rights activist and the Leader of the NDP, a social democratic federal political party in Canada. He is the first Indo-Canadian to lead a major federal party in Canada.
Jagmeet Singh grew up in Scarborough, St. John’s, and Windsor, and served as an Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) from 2011 until 2017. On October 1, 2017, he became Leader of NDP. Jagmeet has sat as the member of Parliament (MP) for Burnaby South, a federal electoral district in British Columbia, since 2019.
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His family shares a story similar to that of many Indians who migrated to Canadians
Jagmeet’s parents came to Canada to build a better life. His family worked hard to make ends meet so that Jagmeet and his younger siblings could follow their dreams and believe that anything is possible. His father is a psychiatrist while his mother is a banker
During university, Jagmeet’s father became ill and his parents were unable to work. Jagmeet became the sole income earner for his family, working retail jobs, and doing his best to support his siblings until their father was back on his feet.
At university, he was an outspoken activist who fought against raising tuition fees. He studied law so he could support community organisations fighting poverty, keeping tuition affordable, and advocating for equal access to justice for marginalized communities. He holds a B.Sc in biology and an LL.B.
Before jumping into politics, Jagmeet practised as a criminal defence lawyer, initially with the law firm, ‘Pinkofskys,’ and then at his own ‘Singh Law,’ which he established with his brother. As a lawyer, Jagmeet provided free of cost legal counsel to people and organisations in need.
It was at his brother’s insistence that he made it to the politics. He was initially hesitant to join politics but says it has turned out to be amazing.
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Jagmeet used his platform as an MPP and Deputy Leader of Ontario’s NDP to fight for a fairer society. He took on the discriminatory practice of arbitrary police checks known as carding. He spoke up repeatedly on the need for good jobs and an end to precarious work. And he fought for the protection and expansion of public ownership over our utilities and public infrastructure.
Jagmeet launched his campaign to be leader of NDP May 15, 2017. On October 1st, 2017, Jagmeet became leader of NDP after a first ballot victory.
Jagmeet and Gurkiran married in February of 2018. Gurkiran, an entrepreneur and humanitarian, tied the knot with Jagmeet early in 2018, just a few months after helping to elect him as the Leader of NDP.
Jagmeet also faced controversy because of views on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Indian authorities had denied him a visa in December 2013. The then counsel general of India in Toronto, told Canadian daily Globe and Mail in an email that “anyone indulging in, directly or indirectly, attacking India's sovereignty and territorial integrity is not welcome in India”. Jagmeet raised this denial while speaking on the floor of the assembly during a debate on the motion to declare anti-Sikh riots in India in 1984 “genocide”. He was critical of India and the Narendra Modi government and said, "This is a country that continues to use visa denial as a form of silencing its critics."
