Creating history, Canada's Calgary and Edmonton have elected Sikhs as mayors

Toronto, October 20

While former Federal Minister Amarjeet Sohi, 57, has been elected as the mayor of Edmonton, Jyoti Gondek will become Calgary’s first female mayor.

Jyoti was born in Britain to Punjabi parents, who came to Britain from Punjab. Her father Jasdev Singh Grewal was trained as a lawyer in India and then in the UK. Her family moved to Canada when she was four.

Punjab-born Sohi was earlier Minister of Natural Resources and Minister of Infrastructure and Communities in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Cabinet.

"I am honoured and humbled that you have chosen me to serve as Edmonton's first South Asian mayor. I would like to take a moment to thank those who made this historic win possible," Sohi said after his victory.

Before entering politics, Sohi was a bus driver with Edmonton Transit.

He was elected to the Edmonton city council in 2007. In 2015, he entered federal politics, got elected as a Liberal MP from Edmonton Mill Woods and became the federal minister for infrastructure in the Trudeau cabinet.

Interestingly, Sohi was arrested in Bihar in India in 1988 while doing theatre-related volunteer work there. Punjab terrorism was at its peak, and he was arrested after being accused of being a terrorist. IANS