Amarjeet Sohi's political journey fuelled by experiences as immigrant in Edmonton
CBC
Struggles with racism and bullying in his first few years in Canada helped a young immigrant from India learn how to fight against systemic injustices from hard-won positions in politics.
It was 40 years ago this month that 17-year-old Amarjeet Sohi stepped off a plane at Edmonton International Airport with his mother and father.
Sponsored by Sohi's older brother and sister-in-law, the Sikh farming family from the small village of Banbhaura in Punjab was embarking on a new life in a new country.
"It was a good day," Sohi recalled of his family's arrival in Edmonton.
Sohi, who had little English before coming to this country, spent his late teens and most of his 20s dealing with racism, bullying and systemic issues that have plagued immigrants for generations.
Along the way, he learned how to fight back.
Last month, Sohi, 57, became Edmonton's first South Asian mayor. He garnered 45 per cent of all votes cast in the Oct. 18 municipal election, compared to 25 per cent for his closest challenger, former council colleague Mike Nickel.
Presiding over his inaugural council meeting eight days later, the new mayor put forward a notice of motion for administration to develop a comprehensive anti-racism strategy for the city.
During the campaign, he had promised to make the fight against racism a focus of his leadership.
"I'll be out there in the trenches for you," Sohi said during one mayoral forum. "Standing shoulder to shoulder. And fighting together to end this evil."
Sohi's rise to the mayor's chair in Canada's fifth-largest city is the latest in a succession of political achievements for the former bus driver.
After first running unsuccessfully for Edmonton city council in 2004, he tried again in 2007 and was elected to represent a southeast ward he knew well.
Sohi was re-elected to council in 2010 and again in 2013 before taking a leave in 2015 to seek election as a Liberal Member of Parliament for the new riding of Edmonton Mill Woods.
After his win, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Sohi minister of infrastructure and communities.
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