Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, left, is presented with an honorary Canadian citizenship by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, April 12, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
OTTAWA Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai has arrived on Parliament Hill and has been bestowed honorary Canadian citizenship.
Yousafzai, who famously survived an assassination attempt by Taliban militants in 2012, was greeted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as a parade of dignitaries, MPs, cabinet ministers and diplomats inside the rotunda beneath the Peace Tower.
Moments later, Trudeau presented her with a certificate documenting her as an honorary Canadian, only the sixth person to receive the honour and the youngest ever. He also presented her with the flag from atop the tower.
It is not just honorary citizenship of Canada; it is also being Canadas friend, and I warmly accept it, she told the gathering afterward.
I want to thank Canada for its passion for girls education, for its passion for humanity, for refugees, and for standing up for womens rights, and for peace.
You are a true example to the world of what it means to stand up for humanity, and Im hopeful you will inspire many more countries and many more leaders to follow your footsteps.
The 19-year-old Yousafzai known to all and sundry these days simply as Malala will also address MPs and senators shortly in a joint session of Parliament, becoming in the process the youngest person ever to do so.
Your story is an inspiration to us all the violence you survived at the hands of the Taliban didnt deter you as it would have so many others, Trudeau told the ceremony.
You stood even stronger in the face of oppression; your passion for justice only intensified.
Todays pomp and pageantry comes more than two years after an initial plan to honour Yousafzai was interrupted by a gunman who took the life of a Canadian soldier and stormed Parliament Hill before dying in a hail of gunfire.
Yousafzai surprised a group of students at an Ottawa high school earlier today where she was introduced to cheers by Trudeaus wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau.
The day Yousafzai was originally to be honoured, Oct. 22, 2014, marked a moment replete with irony for Rona Ambrose, a former status of women minister who is currently serving as the Conservative partys interim leader.
This irony didnt escape me: the fact that this kind of Islamic extremism, (which) takes the shape of anti-girl, anti-women rights in every possible way also arrived that day, Ambrose said in an interview.
The groundwork to make the now 19-year-old an honorary citizen began several months after she was shot in the fall of 2012.
The honour was part of a political initiative tied into the Conservatives foreign aid focus on maternal, newborn and child health, said Rachel Curran, Harpers former director of policy.
It was just really a sense that this young woman is doing really important work, its going to be increasingly important, we want to highlight it in Canada and highlight it internationally as well, Curran said in an interview.
How can we bestow one of our greatest honours on her? We landed on that because it was the most significant thing we could do to draw attention to her work.
The other five honorary citizens are the Dalai Lama, the Aga Khan, Nelson Mandela, Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi and Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.
What binds them all together is that they are leaders who have played iconic roles in world history, said Chris Alexander, the former Conservative immigration minister who oversaw the technical process behind getting Yousafzai citizenship.
Malala is both a symbol of the setbacks and the daunting barriers that girls can face, he said.
But also of the ability of strong people to overcome them.
Source: http://www.680news.com/2017/04/12/malala-yousafzai-receives-honorary-canadian-citizenship/
