Sameer Zuberi

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For the Scottish doctor, see Sameer Zuberi (physician).
Sameer Zuberi
MP
Sameer Zuberi (2).jpg
Member of Parliament
for Pierrefonds—Dollard
Assumed office
October 21, 2019
Preceded byFrank Baylis
Personal details
BornAugust 1979
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Political partyLiberal
ResidenceDollard-Des Ormeaux, Quebec

Sameer Zuberi MP (born in August 1979) is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the federal riding of Pierrefonds—Dollard in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2019 Canadian federal election, sitting as a member of Liberal Party.[1]

Early life and education[edit]

Born in Montreal, Zuberi is the eldest of six children raised in Laval, Quebec in a multicultural family, with a mother of Scottish and Italian descent and a father who moved to Canada from Pakistan in the 1970s. He attended the Marianopolis College at CEGEP and subsequently attended and graduated from Concordia University in 2004 where he obtained a BA in Mathematics. In 2010, he enrolled at the Université du Québec à Montréal in Baccalauréat en droit (LL.B.) program leading to his law degree in 2014. That same year, Zuberi became the first recipient of the Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré scholarship, in recognition of his social engagement.[2][3] Named after the Commissioner for Canadian Human Rights Commission, the first Black Canadian judge in the history of Quebec and the first Black dean of a Canadian law school, Hon. Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré, the award is bestowed to law students for their outstanding contribution to the community by using their legal training to promote human rights, social justice and equality rights.[4]

During his time at Concordia, Zuberi was twice elected as a vice-president at the Concordia Student Union and was member of the Concordia Council on Student Life, advocating for students, supporting diversity, and encouraging a strong sense of community.[5][6] Zuberi was also a  board member of City of Montreal's Intercultural Council,[7] served on the board of the West Island Assistance Fund[1] and was one of the founding members of the Quebec Section of the Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association's (CMLA), its Vice-Chair in 2014 and national board member in 2015.[8]

He is married and a father of two young girls.[9]

Political career[edit]

From 1997 to 2002, Zuberi served with The Black Watch, a Canadian Forces reserve unit, and assisted his compatriots during the 1998 Ice Storm.[9] After graduating from Concordia University in 2004, he spent a year working as an English teacher in Kuwait. Upon his return to Canada in 2006, he joined the Ottawa office of the not-profit and non-partisan National Council of Canada Muslims (formerly known as the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAN-CAIR)), Canada's leading Muslim advocacy organization, as the Media Relations and Human Rights Coordinator.[8] After graduating from law school in 2014, Sameer was appointed as diversity and engagement officer at McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine where he also was an elected member of the Senate.[10] While at McGill, he worked to promote diversity and inclusion of Black and Indigenous students as well as students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and those from rural Quebec.[11][12]

In November 2013, Zuberi ran as a city councillor in the Bois-de-Liesse district of the Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough as a candidate for Projet Montréal.[13] He ranked third, with 22.93% of the votes.[14]

After Frank Baylis, Member of Parliament for Pierrefonds-Roxboro, announced that he would not run for a second term, Zuberi joined the nomination contest alongside five other Liberal Party candidates in one of the party's largest nominations with 9,000 registered votes and a turnout of 3,200.[15] Zuberi won the official Liberal Party candidate and defeated the Conservative Party candidate to be elected as a member of the 43rd Canadian Parliament.[16]

During the election campaign, it was alleged that Zuberi's past activities as a student and human rights activist were anti-Semitic. Zuberi denied these allegations on numerous occasions and was backed by the Liberal Party and leaders of the Jewish community in Montreal.[17][18]

After the election, Zuberi was a member of several parliamentary committees, including the Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Committee on Scrutiny of Regulations and the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development,[19] from which he stepped down after having traveled for personal reasons to the United States[20] despite the travel restrictions between the United States and Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which urged Canadians to avoid non-essential travel.[21] As of June 2021, he officially became a member of the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs, whose mandate is the management and operation of the Department of Veterans Affairs and other matters referred to it by the House of Commons.[22]

As an elected MP, Zuberi presented a unanimous consent motion on the recognition of the Romani genocide.[23] He has been Co-Chair of the bipartisan Canadian-Uyghur Parliamentary Friendship Group[24] and one of the leading voices in Canada and within the Canadian Liberal Party regarding human rights abuses against the Uyghur community in China, which led to the adoption of a motion calling China's actions genocide, with no opposition to the motion.[25][26] In partnership with Montreal's West Island Chamber of Commerce, Zuberi's office created a small business outreach program with the aim to help over one thousand local businesses in Pierrefonds-Dollard.[27]

Electoral record[edit]

2019 Canadian federal election: Pierrefonds—Dollard
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Sameer Zuberi 31,305 56.43 -2.23 $48,975.17
Conservative Mariam Ishak 9,797 17.66 -2.33 $34,368.98
New Democratic Bruno Ibrahim El-Khoury 5,687 10.25 -6.13 $6,127.99
Bloc Québécois Edline Henri 4,469 8.06 +4.57 none listed
Green Lisa Mintz 2,866 5.17 +3.69 $1,239.20
People's Lee Weishar 711 1.28 – $4,040.64
Independent Martin Plante 394 0.71 – $7,089.24
Independent Shahid Khan 242 0.44 – $1,502.46
Total valid votes/Expense limit 55,471 100.0  
Total rejected ballots 682
Turnout 56,153 67.4
Eligible voters 83,369
Liberal hold Swing +0.05
Source: Elections Canada[28][29]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Election 2019: Eight candidates vying to become the new Pierrefonds-Dollard MP". montrealgazette. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  2. ^ "Sameer Zuberi, premier lauréat de la bourse Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré | UQAM". Actualités UQAM (in French). Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  3. ^ "L'engagement social récompensé". Journal Métro (in French). 2014-04-29. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  4. ^ "Nouvelle bourse Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré | UQAM". Actualités UQAM (in French). Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  5. ^ Concordia Undergraduate Calendar 2003-2004. https://www.concordia.ca/content/dam/concordia/offices/archives/docs/undergraduate-calendars/2003-04-undergraduate-calendar.pdf Retrieved on 2021-03-17
  6. ^ "Portrait de Sameer Zuberi - Centre de développement professionnel". cdp-fspd.uqam.ca. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  7. ^ Montréal, Ville de Montréal-Conseil interculturel de. "Un Conseil interculturel de Montréal renouvelé : un nouveau président et huit nouveaux membres". www.newswire.ca (in French). Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  8. ^ a b CMLA (2017-03-27). "Introducing the CMLA Board Nominees". Cmla Final. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  9. ^ a b "Sameer Zuberi". sameerzuberi.libparl.ca. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  10. ^ McGill University Senate Committee Annual Report (September 19, 2017). Retrieved March 8, 2021, from  https://www.mcgill.ca/senate/files/senate/11._d17-08_jbsce_annual_report.pdf Retrieved on 2021-03-17
  11. ^ "Student-led McGill camp promotes diversity in health care professions : Health e-News". Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  12. ^ "McGill camp for high schoolers promotes diversity in health field". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  13. ^ "L'étudiant Sameer Zuberi se présente aux élections municipales | UQAM". Actualités UQAM (in French). Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  14. ^ Rapport officiel du recensement des votes (December 9, 2013) https://election-montreal.qc.ca/userfiles/file/fr/Actualites-documentation/election_resultatsfinauxsom_2013.pdf Retrieved on 2021-03-17
  15. ^ "Ballot recount for Liberal candidate in Pierrefonds–Dollard riding". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  16. ^ "Official Voting Results". www.elections.ca. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  17. ^ Statement in Facebook profile. (September 14, 2019) https://www.facebook.com/login/?next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F2392338534166867%2Fposts%2Fstatement-from-sameer-zuberi-on-conservative-party-attacksthe-allegations-agains%2F2539194649481254%2F Retrieved on 2021-03-17
  18. ^ Liberal MP affirms friendship with Jewish community. (November 12, 2020) Canadian Jewish Record | Canadian Jewish Record. https://canadianjewishrecord.ca/2020/11/12/liberal-mp-affirms-friendship-with-jewish-community-condemns-terrorism/ Retrieved on 2021-03-17
  19. ^ "Roles - Sameer Zuberi - Current and Past - Members of Parliament - House of Commons of Canada". www.ourcommons.ca. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  20. ^ "Two Liberal MPs resign from government roles after traveling abroad amid coronavirus". Global News. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  21. ^ "U.S., Canada Agree to Block Leisure Travel Between the Countries". Bloomberg.com. 2020-03-18. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  22. ^ "Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs". Retrieved 2021-06-18.
  23. ^ "Canadian Government Adopts Unanimous Consent Motion in Recognition of Genocide of Roma and Sinti During the Holocaust". Canadian Romani Alliance. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  24. ^ "Friendship Groups - Interparliamentary Activities - Diplomacy - Parliament of Canada". www.parl.ca. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  25. ^ "MPs vote to label China's persecution of Uighurs a genocide | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  26. ^ "Liberal MPs call for boycott of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics | Watch News Videos Online". Global News. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  27. ^ Government of Canada, P. S. and P. C. (October 28, 2020). Information archivée dans le Web. http://publications.gc.ca/site/archivee-archived.html?url=http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2020/parl/X3-432-21-eng.pdf Retrieved on 2021-03-17
  28. ^ "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  29. ^ "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
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