Article content continued

Photo by Jean Levac / Ottawa Citizen

Monsef and her family ended up as refugees in Pakistan and Jordan before they finally arrived in Canada in 1996. Maryam Monsef was only 11 years old.

The family first touched Canadian soil in Montreal, where their flight had landed. They took a cab all the way to Peterborough, Ont., where Monsef’s uncle lived.

Nearly two decades later, the 30-year-old Monsef was thinking of her late father, and the sacrifices of her mother, on election night when she was chosen to be the Liberal MP for Peterborough-Kawartha.

She is the first Afghan-born member of Parliament.

“I do think of (my father) often and I did think of him on election night, and I really hope that I make him proud,” said Monsef.

Her victory on Oct. 19 was a testament to her mother’s courage too, and the struggles she endured trying to secure a better, more stable life for the entire family, Monsef said.

“I think all immigrants, all refugees leave their homeland for a better future for their kids and their grandkids. In this country, Canada, dreams like that do come true. It was a very special moment,” she said.

Monsef’s first memory of Canada – other than Ace of Base’s All That She Wants playing on the radio in the long cab ride to Peterborough – is that she could go outside by herself, something forbidden in her homeland.

She learned how to ride a bicycle almost immediately, something that also had not even been an option for her, either in Afghanistan or the stops along the way.