Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla

Born and brought up in Manitoba, Ruby Dhalla made history in 2004 when she became the first South Asian woman to be elected to the Canadian Parliament. She was re-elected in 2006 and 2008.

Dhalla, who is one of the only two Sikh women to have ever served in the Canadian House of Commons, was very enthusiastic about more women joining politics.


“Punjabi is one of the most commonly used languages in Canada. This is now the fourth most popular language in the Canadian parliament after English, French and Italian with the election of seven Punjabi-speaking MPs to the newly-elected House of Commons in Canada,” she said.
According to Statistics Canada, there are over 2,75,000 people in Canada who identify Punjabi as their mother tongue.