Iqra Khalid | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of Parliament forMississauga—Erin Mills | |
| Assumed office October 19, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Riding established |
| Parliamentary Secretary to theMinister of National Revenue | |
| Assumed office September 18, 2023 | |
| Minister | Marie-Claude Bibeau |
| Preceded by | Peter Fragiskatos |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1985-11-20)November 20, 1985 (age 39)[1] Bahawalpur,Punjab, Pakistan |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Residence(s) | Mississauga,Ontario |
| Alma mater | York University Cooley Law School |
| Profession | Politician |
Iqra KhalidMP (born November 20, 1985) is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent theriding ofMississauga—Erin Mills in theHouse of Commons of Canada in the2015 federal election.[2]
Khalid was born in Pakistan.[3] In 1993, her family moved toEngland while her father completed hisPhD. In 1998, her family immigrated to Canada, where her parents started a small family business inMississauga. Iqra and her three brothers helped at this store while they attended school.[4] Khalid attendedYork University, where she graduated with a degree incriminology andprofessional writing in 2007. As a student she served as the media ambassador for the York University Student Alumni Program.
Following her graduation she began working at an immigration firm. She then went on to pursue aJuris Doctor degree atCooley Law School.[5] She wrote her final thesis on a comparative analysis of the effects of culture on the governance and regulation of a nation, using business law in the USA, Canada, India and China as case studies. She graduated with honors distinction in 2012. She then returned to Canada and began working as anarticled clerk for the city of Mississauga.[6][7]
Khalid holdsdual-citizenship with Pakistan.[8]
In December 2014, Khalid won her nomination to be theLiberal Party of Canada’s candidate for the riding of Mississauga-Erin Mills. In the 2015 federal election Khalid defeated two-term Conservative MP Bob Dechert to win the riding.[9] Khalid was one of twoPakistani-Canadian women elected to the House of Commons in the 2015 election, along with fellow LiberalSalma Zahid.[10] She was re-elected in 2019 and again in 2021.
Khalid currently serves as Vice-Chair of theStanding Committee on Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics (ETHI),[11] as well as a member of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP).[12] She has previously served as chair on theStanding Committee of Justice and Human Rights and sat on theForeign Affairs and International Development Subcommittee on International Human Rights (SDIR).[13] In addition to these roles, she also served as Chair of the Liberal Women's Caucus[14] and the All-Party Women's Caucus.[15]
In 2018, Khalid sponsored petition E-1566, calling on the Prime Minister to appoint a Minister or special advisor on Seniors Affairs.[16] Later that same year, theGovernment of Canada appointedFilomena Tassi as the Minister for Seniors.[17]
As a member of the Standing Committee of Justice and Human Rights, Khalid has been involved in debates and studies regarding topics such as Access to Justice, the Court Challenges Program, Physician Assisted Dying legislation, Transgender Rights legislation, Bestiality and Animal Fighting, Online Hate in Canada, and Genetic Discrimination.[18]
In 2017, Khalid tabled a successful motion to undertake a study on human trafficking.[19] After hearing from numerous witnesses and travelling across Canada to examine the issue further, the committee presented its report “Moving Forward in the Fight Against Human Trafficking in Canada”, which included recommendations that would help provide victims of trafficking the support they need and bring traffickers to justice.[20]
Khalid served as chair of the committee from 2019 until 2021, as the members studied Elder Abuse, Canada`s Victims Bill of Rights, Coercive and Controlling Conduct in Intimate Relationships, as well as government legislation and other issues.[21]
As a member of the Subcommittee for International Human Rights, Khalid took part in major studies on human rights situations around the word including human rights violations inPeru,Vietnam,Syria,Iraq,Burundi,Mauritania,China,Venezuela, and the issue ofsex trafficking inSouth Asia. She has also travelled toKenya andEthiopia on studies ofinternational development efforts worldwide.
In 2016 Khalid brought forward a successful motion to the Subcommittee for International Human Rights to study thePlight of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar.[22] The report produced by the study was debated in an emergency debate in the House of Commons and as a result Canada became one of the first countries to recognize thegenocide of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar.[23]
In 2017 Khalid sponsored petition E609, asking the Canadian government to assist the residents ofAleppo who were affected by theSyrian crisis.
In December 2016, MP Khalid introduced aprivate members motion asking the government to develop a strategy to tackle systemic racism and religious discrimination.[24] The motion was developed in response to a petition condemningIslamophobia in Canada, which was sponsored by MPFrank Baylis.[25] The motion passed with 2/3 majority approval and a study was commissioned by theStanding Committee on Canadian Heritage.[26][27] The committee released a report in 2018,[28] and as a result $23 million was marked to invest in anti-racism and anti-discrimination initiatives.[29] In 2023, Khalid testified before the Senate of Canada`s Standing Committee on Human Rights regarding her experiences with Islamophobia and its impacts on Canadians.[30]
For her work on human rights, Khalid was named as one ofChatelaine's Women of the Year in 2017.[31]
From 2020-2021, Khalid undertook a study of the plight of theUyghur community with members of the International Human Rights subcommittee. Following testimony from witnesses, the committee concluded that the actions were constructive of genocide.[32]
| 2025 Canadian federal election:Mississauga—Erin Mills | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ** Preliminary results — Not yet official ** | ||||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Iqra Khalid | 33,388 | 55.66 | +4.47 | ||||
| Conservative | Milad Mikael | 23,980 | 39.98 | +6.47 | ||||
| New Democratic | Ehab Mustapha | 1,312 | 2.19 | –8.11 | ||||
| People's | Michael Bayer | 742 | 1.24 | –2.12 | ||||
| Green | Sulaiman Khan | 383 | 0.64 | –0.99 | ||||
| Independent | Michael Matulewicz | 178 | 0.30 | N/A | ||||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | ||||||||
| Total rejected ballots | ||||||||
| Turnout | 59,983 | 66.75 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 89,865 | |||||||
| Liberalnotional hold | Swing | –1.00 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[33][34] | ||||||||
| 2021 Canadian federal election:Mississauga—Erin Mills | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Iqra Khalid | 24,119 | 50.7 | -2.8 | $110,562.84 | |||
| Conservative | James Nguyen | 15,948 | 33.5 | +0.8 | $90,367.11 | |||
| New Democratic | Kaukab Usman | 5,027 | 10.6 | +1.6 | $2,730.59 | |||
| People's | Michael Bayer | 1,660 | 3.5 | +2.4 | $6,780.03 | |||
| Green | Ewan DeSilva | 786 | 1.7 | -2.0 | $0.00 | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 50,672 | 99.3 | – | $116,068.06 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 379 | 0.7 | ||||||
| Turnout | 51,051 | 58.6 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 87,176 | |||||||
| Liberalhold | Swing | -1.8 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[35] | ||||||||
| 2019 Canadian federal election:Mississauga—Erin Mills | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Iqra Khalid | 31,181 | 53.52 | +3.80 | $101,599.80 | |||
| Conservative | Hani Tawfilis | 19,050 | 32.70 | -6.54 | $89,830.66 | |||
| New Democratic | Salman Tariq | 5,236 | 8.99 | -0.42 | none listed | |||
| Green | Remo Boscarino-Gaetano | 2,147 | 3.69 | +2.05 | $0.00 | |||
| People's | Hazar Alsabagh | 648 | 1.11 | – | $2,780.16 | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 58,262 | 99.82 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 637 | 1.08 | +0.64 | |||||
| Turnout | 58,899 | 66.39 | -0.54 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 88,722 | |||||||
| Liberalhold | Swing | +5.17 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[36][37] | ||||||||
| 2015 Canadian federal election:Mississauga—Erin Mills | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Iqra Khalid | 27,520 | 49.7 | +15.31 | – | |||
| Conservative | Bob Dechert | 21,716 | 39.2 | -7.38 | – | |||
| New Democratic | Michelle Bilek | 5,206 | 9.4 | -6.75 | – | |||
| Green | Andrew Roblin | 905 | 1.6 | -1.14 | – | |||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 55,347 | 100.0 | $216,923.79 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 245 | – | – | |||||
| Turnout | 55,592 | 67.5 | – | |||||
| Eligible voters | 82,348 | |||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[38][39] | ||||||||