Who Is Ahmed Hussen? Justin Trudeau Appoints Former Somali Refugee To Take Over Canada's Immigration And Citizenship Ministry

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday appointed a former Somali refugee to lead the country’s immigration, refugees, and citizenship ministry. Ahmed Hussen was sworn in after a cabinet reshuffle on Jan. 10.

Hussen, a lawyer who has practiced criminal, defense, immigration and refugee law, has been a community activist and is a member of parliament for York-South Weston district in Ontario. He fled his hometown, the Somali capital of Mogadishu , and came to Canada in 1993 at the age of 16.

“I am extremely proud of our country’s history as a place of asylum, a place that opens its doors and hearts to new immigrants and refugees, and I’m especially proud today to be the minister in charge of that file,” Hussen reportedly said outside the House of Commons on Tuesday.

“The story of Canada is the story of immigration, and I’m especially proud and humbled that the prime minister would task me with this important role.”

Canada’s first Somali-born MP has served on the Justice and Human Rights Committee as well as the Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association since he came to Ottawa. Hussen has also served on the board of the Global Enrichment Foundation – and organization that helps women in East Africa go to college in the region – and Toronto-based Journalists for Human Rights.

Hussen will succeed veteran Liberal MP John McCallum -- who is going to be the country’s ambassador to China – as the minister for immigration. McCallum’s leadership saw Canada take in almost 40,000 Syrian refugees and he told reporters Tuesday that he felt the department is in “good hands” with Hussen, Toronto Star reported.

Canada accepted 300,000 immigrants in 2016, and has set the same quota for this year.