Indian-origin Anita Anand becomes Canada’s new Defence Minister.

Indo-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his new cabinet on Tuesday wherein Anita Anand became Canada’s second female Minister of National Defence.
Governor-general Mary May Simon made the ministers swore in during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
After being praised by Trudeau for her accomplishment in procuring Covid-19 vaccinations for the country, Anand was promoted to the critical defence portfolio. She was the first Hindu to become a cabinet minister when she was appointed minister of Public Services and procurement in 2019.

Since Kim Campbell in the 1990s, she is the first woman to serve as Defence Minister.
Anand, a Tamilian-Punjabi, was appointed Minister of International development and Minister responsible for Pacific economic development Canada, replacing incumbent Harjit Sajjan, who appears to have been demoted. Sajjan’s departure from the Department of Defence that he had held since 2015 was widely expected, given the systemic sexual misconduct crisis that erupted in the Canadian Armed Forces while he was in charge.
In the meantime, outgoing Foreign Minister Marc Garneau has been replaced in the cabinet by Melanie J.
Anand holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Studies from Queen’s University, a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Jurisprudence from the University of Oxford, a Bachelor of Laws from Dalhousie University, and a Master of Laws from the University of Toronto. She was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1994.