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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Canadian politician and academic}}<br />
{{BLP sources|date=December 2016}}<br />
{{Infobox CanadianSenator<br />
| name = Ratna Omidvar<br />
| image = Senator Ratna Omidvar.png<br />
| honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]<br />
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|size=100%|CM|OOnt}}<br />
| office = [[Senate of Canada|Canadian Senator]]<br>from [[Ontario]]<br />
| term_start = March 18, 2016<br />
| term_end =<br />
| nominator = [[Justin Trudeau]]<br />
| appointer = [[David Johnston]]<br />
| party = [[Independent Senators Group]]<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|11|5}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Amritsar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], [[India]]<br />
| occupation = Executive director, professor<br />
| alma_mater = [[University of Delhi]]<br />
| spouse = <br />
|}}<br />
'''Ratna Omidvar''' {{post-nominals|CM|OOnt}} (born November 5, 1949) is a [[Canadians|Canadian]] politician and academic, who was named to the [[Senate of Canada]] to represent [[Ontario]] on March 18, 2016.<ref name=":0">[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/trudeau-set-to-appoint-seven-new-senators/article29285218/ "Trudeau to appoint seven new senators"]. ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', March 18, 2016.</ref><br />
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== Early life and academic career ==<br />
Originally from [[Amritsar]], [[India]],<ref name="SenateCanadaBio">{{CanParlbio|ID=18639|nolist= yes}}. Retrieved 2020-10-04.</ref> she was educated at the [[University of Delhi]].<ref name=fighter>{{cite news|url= https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/careers-leadership/gdx-executive-director-a-fighter-for-immigration-inclusion-and-diversity/article24013798/ |last= Blackwell|first= Richard|title= A fighter for immigration, inclusion and diversity|work= [[The Globe and Mail]]|date= 2015-04-17|access-date= 2020-10-02}}</ref> Later moving to Canada, she became executive director of the Maytree Foundation, a charitable organization to combat [[poverty]] in Canada, before departing in 2014 to found the Global Diversity Exchange at the Ted Rogers School of Management, [[Ryerson University]]<ref name=fighter /> where she was a distinguished visiting professor. She considers herself a refugee from Iran.<br />
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Omidvar is the current co-chair of the Global Future Council on Migration hosted by the [[World Economic Forum]]. She is also a director at the [[Environics|Environics Institute]], and [[Samara (charitable organisation)|Samara Canada]]. She is the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council’s chair emerita and was formerly the chair of Lifeline Syria.<br />
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Omidvar is co-author of ''Flight and Freedom: Stories of Escape to Canada'' (2015), an Open Book Toronto best book of 2015 and one of the Toronto Star's top five good reads from [[The Word on the Street (literary festival)|Word on the Street]]. She is also a contributor to ''The Harper Factor'' (2016) and co-editor of ''Five Good Ideas: Practical Strategies for Non-Profit Success'' (2011).<br />
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== Senate Career ==<br />
Omidvar was named to the [[Senate of Canada]] by Prime Minister [[Justin Trudeau]] to represent Ontario on March 18, 2016, joining the [[Independent Senators Group]].<ref name=":0" /><br />
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In 2016, Omidvar's exchange with psychologist [[Jordan Peterson]] during a Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs hearing on Bill C-16 received significant attention, where Peterson defended his position against the bill's provisions requiring the use of pronouns for persons based on their identified gender if different from their biological sex.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/mEfgf2GRk3Q Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20170518183937/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEfgf2GRk3Q&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEfgf2GRk3Q| title = Senator Makes a fool of herself. Bill C-16 | website=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref><br />
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In October 2018, Omidvar introduced a motion to strip [[Aung San Suu Kyi]] of her [[honorary Canadian citizenship]] over her government's actions in the [[Rohingya conflict]]. Passed unanimously, the measure stripped Suu Kyi of the honour, since the House of Commons had passed a similar measure earlier in the month.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-senate-votes-unanimously-to-strip-aung-san-suu-kyis-honorary-canadian/|title=Senate votes unanimously to strip Aung San Suu Kyi's honorary Canadian citizenship|last=Curry|first=Bill|date=October 2, 2018|work=[[The Globe and Mail]]|access-date=October 2, 2018}}</ref><br />
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Omidvar notably interacted with Laird Hunter on October 22, 2018, in a Senate Committee dealing with charities and non-profits.<br />
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== Honours ==<br />
Omidvar was appointed to the [[Order of Ontario]] in 2005 and became a [[Member of the Order of Canada]] in 2011,<ref name=cbc>[http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ratna-omidvar-independent-senator-1.3498050 "Ratna Omidvar, Toronto expert on diversity, to sit as independent senator"]. [[CBC News]], March 18, 2016.</ref> with both honours recognizing her advocacy work on behalf of immigrants and devotion to reducing inequality in Canada. She also received an honorary doctorate in laws [[York University]] in 2012. In 2014, Omidvar received the Cross of the [[Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]] in recognition of her contribution to the advancement of German-Canadian relations.<br />
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Omidvar has also been recognized by Canada's national newspaper, ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', by being named as its Nation Builder of the Decade for Citizenship in 2010. In 2016, [[CivicAction]] awarded her with their Lifetime Achievement Award for Civic Leadership in the [[Greater Toronto Area]].<br />
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In 2018, Omidvar was one of the recipients of the 2018 [[Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards]] presented by [[Canadian immigrant magazine|Canadian Immigrant Magazine]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Canada's Top 25 Immigrants 2018|url=https://canadianimmigrant.ca/canadas-top-25-immigrants/canadas-top-25-immigrants-2018|access-date=2021-06-18|website=Canadian Immigrant|language=en-US}}</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
*{{CanParlbio|ID=18639}}<br />
*[http://www.ratnaomidvar.ca Ratna Omidvar Homepage]<br />
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{{Senate of Canada}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Omidvar, Ratna}}<br />
[[Category:1949 births]]<br />
[[Category:Canadian senators from Ontario]]<br />
[[Category:Women members of the Senate of Canada]]<br />
[[Category:Independent Canadian senators]]<br />
[[Category:Indian emigrants to Canada]]<br />
[[Category:Living people]]<br />
[[Category:Members of the Order of Canada]]<br />
[[Category:Members of the Order of Ontario]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]<br />
[[Category:Politicians from Amritsar]]<br />
[[Category:Ryerson University faculty]]<br />
[[Category:University of Delhi alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Independent Senators Group]]<br />
[[Category:Women in Ontario politics]]<br />
[[Category:21st-century Canadian politicians]]<br />
[[Category:21st-century Canadian women politicians]]<br />
[[Category:Canadian politicians of Indian descent]]</div>->Rlink2