Newsmaker of the Year: Maryam Monsef
top newsmaker of 2016 is probably no surprise: MP Maryam Monsef, the federal minister of democratic institutions.
We already knew Monsef’s story when it went national in 2015. It’s the story of a young Afghan refugee who embraced her adopted city, mounted a surprisingly strong mayoral campaign, then seized the local Liberal nomination in a tight race and won federal office, immediately joining Trudeau’s cabinet. She was profiled, highlighted and celebrated by the national media as an example of the can-do attitude many newcomers bring to Canada, and she was held out as a symbol of new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s inclusionary approach to government building.
But 2016 saw a different Maryam Monsef story unfold.
While Monsef kept a fairly low profile in her riding – this is to be expected of cabinet ministers, whose duties are national in scope – she was everywhere, literally, in 2016. As part of her mandate to find a new electoral system to replace first-past-the-post, she mounted a coast-to-coast-to-coast tour of Canadian communities, holding town-hall meetings and hearing from Canadians.
This meant other Canadians got to meet the Maryam Monsef Peterborough has known: Engaged, friendly, civil, conciliatory. Before she entered politics, Monsef was a diehard local community organizer, working and volunteering for a string of non-profits and groups, tasked with making Peterborough a better place for the marginalized (During the campaign, her critics often referred to this period as “unemployment”). She had a handle on social media before most people knew what that meant – and before other politicians had learned how to harness its power. Monsef put her work ethic on display during her tour. This was her national-stage debut in her new role in a new ministry, charged with helping Trudeau keep his promise that 2015 would be the last first-past-thepost vote.
The headlines weren’t kind. Not at first. Monsef stumbled with her first event. The mayor of Iqualuit publicly scolded the minister for holding the event with minimal advance notice – she herself learned of it just half an hour before it began - and for failing to provide translation for non-English-speaking participants.
As the tour continued, there were other concerns. Low turnout. Minimal media attention in some communities. But by the time it got to Peterborough, Monsef was on a roll, and her hometown turnout was respectable. A return engagement in Peterborough County to wrap things up later in the year also drew interested, if not overwhelmingly large, participants. Many indicated they would rather see proportional representation than any other kind of electoral reform.
It all fell apart, however, in the House of Commons on Dec. 1. In a performance derided nationwide – one for which she later apologized – Monsef tore into the work being done by an all-party committee examining the same topic she was exploring on her tour.
That committee recommended a referendum to confirm that such a radical change was what Canadians want.
Monsef dismissed the report and seemed to back off from the idea of electoral reform, claiming Canadians hadn’t offered her a consensus on change and the committee had failed to do its job. She incorrectly told the House the committee had not recommended a specific system as asked, when that hadn’t been the committee’s mandate. She waved a sheet of paper with the mathematical formula for proportional representation on it, arguing that Canadians didn’t want to have to do math to vote.
The reaction, from opposition MPs and from the public, was not kind.
Pundits argued that the Liberals had long ago shifted away from any plan to effect electoral change, and Monsef was being held out as a scapegoat. Trudeau, after all, had made the promise when his party was trailing – once the Liberals blew past the Tories and NDP in 2015, it was clear first-past-thepost was working after all. For the Liberals, at least.
At any rate, Monsef’s performance sparked talk of a cabinet shuffle in 2017, and perhaps a new role – or demotion – for the rookie minister. As with all cabinet shuffles, it’s all rumour for now.
All in all, it wasn’t a great autumn for our MP. In addition to the shaky foundation she built under her party’s electoral reform goals, she made headlines for another, surprising reason – her birthplace. As first reported via a Globe and
Mail investigation, Monsef wasn’t born in Afghanistan as she had always claimed, and as national media so readily reported during the campaign and after she landed in cabinet. Instead, she was born in Iran, something she says she only learned after the Globe launched its probe.
Critics pounced. She was called a liar, an illegal immigrant. Her compelling personal history was called into question. Some media reported that the federal immigration department was looking into her citizenship paperwork, noting that other people with falsified documentation – whether intentional or not – were being deported without a hearing, while she remained on the job, in the country.
Is her citizenship in jeopardy? That’s a question that still hasn’t been answered, not by her, not by her government. Her supporters, the prime minister included, say her birthplace doesn’t matter, with Trudeau calling a political foul against her critics. But the question of her status has yet to be adequately addressed.
So where does she go from here? What does 2017 hold for Maryam Monsef ? If the last few months are any indication, it will be unpredictable – but never dull.