Toddler can name ministers in cabinet
Maryam Monsef, minister of democractic institutions, is 2-year-old’s favourite
She may still be in diapers, but Sophia Popalyar can do something many Canadians probably can’t: the 2-year-old can name several of Canada’s new cabinet ministers.
Who is Canada’s new prime minister, her father, Fawad Popalyar, asks in a video posted on YouTube.
“Justin Trudeau,” the youngster responds without missing a beat.
“The honourable . . . ?” her father prompts.
“The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau,” Sophia replies, before turning her attention back on the Frozen-themed blanket she’s sitting on.
Popalyar told the Star that he and his wife both work for government ministries. He is at Citizenship and Immigration Canada and she is at Health Canada. Canadian politics is a regular topic of conversation in their home.
He said he recently noticed that his daughter, Sophia, who turned 2 last August, was remembering the names of many politicians.
“Whenever she sees Prime Minister Trudeau on TV, she will mention his name. So I started talking to her about it and she picked up things really quickly,” he told the Star in a phone interview from Moncton, N.B., Monday morning. “She was
“(We’re) just trying to make her aware of the privilege she has and get her to learn about the system here.” FAWAD POPALYAR
able to recognize some of the politicians on TV, because we would talk about it around the dinner table.”
Popalyar began practising with her and he said it took Sophia about a week to learn the names and positions of 15 Canadian cabinet ministers.
“Every day, we’ve been sort of rehearsing it,” he said. Who is Canada’s new immigration minister? John McCallum, she says in the video. For- eign affairs? Stéphane Dion. She then rattles off the names of the ministers of health, finance, justice, defence, public safety and transportation. But who is her favourite minister? Maryam Monsef, Canada’s new minister of democratic institutions, Sophia replies. Popalyar said the MP holds special importance for the family because, just as Monsef did, he and his wife also immigrated to Canada from Afghanistan. He came to Canada in 2001 while his wife moved here as a child.
“Maryam Monsef being the first MP that was born in Afghanistan . . . that’s something inspirational to all of us, so we’ve talked a lot about her,” he said. Monsef commented on the video on Twitter. “I’m really impressed, too,” she wrote.
The video has garnered more than 7,100 views on YouTube so far.
“It’s been overwhelming,” Popalyar said about the response.
He’s planning to teach Sophia a few tidbits of Canadian trivia over the next few weeks for a second video.
“We are very well aware of how lucky we are to be living in Canada, considering where we came from,” Popalyar said about teaching his daughter about Canadian politics.
“(We’re) just trying to make her aware of the privilege she has and get her to learn about the system here, the government and democracy and all the benefits that that has.
“The idea is to start early.”