Burnaby-Edmonds MLA Raj Chouhan is the first person of Indian heritage to be elected as a speaker in a Candian legislature.
On Monday, while speaking at the new session of B.C. Legislature said, “Never thought that one day I would be in this position when I emigrated to Canada in 1973. I want to salute the pioneers who paved the way for a better future for all of us.”
Premier John Horgan remarks Chouhan is also the first Sikh and the first person who speaks Punjabi to hold the position after a remarkable journey from first working on farms after emigrating to Canada.
Chouhan is the five-time MLA of the New Democratic Party (NDP) which has maintained power in last month's election, as well by winning 57 seats in the 87-member House.
“From your arrival in Canada in 1973, and your beginnings as a farmworker fired for speaking up for the rights of your colleagues, later forming the Canada Farmworkers’ Union to represent the most vulnerable in our population at that time,” he said.
He further added that coming from the fields and acquiring that chair and ‘overseeing the Commons for all British Columbians is truly extraordinary.”
Chouhan is also a founding member of the BC Organization to Fight Racism. He has served the bargaining for the Hospital Employees’ Union for 18 years and has also worked as a member of the Labour Relations Board of B.C., and the Arbitration Bureau of B.C.
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Chouhan’s first session of the legislature as speaker will be shorter than usual which will last just two weeks. He will chiefly deal with priority matters mainly around the pandemic, including a one-time payment to families. This would be the first session since the provincial election in October.
Approximate 10 per cent of British Columbia's population is obtained by Indo-Canadian people.