Majid Jowhari MP

Majid Jowhari MP (Persian: مجید جوهری‎) is a Canadian Liberal politician who represents the riding of Richmond Hill in the House of Commons of Canada. He was elected in the 2015 federal election^[1][2] and is the first federal nominee and candidate of Iranian heritage. Jowhari is one of the first two Iranian-Canadian Members of Parliament, with the other being Ali Ehsassi.^[3]

Education and designations

Jowhari attended Ryerson University, earning a Bachelor of Technology in industrial engineering, and York University‘s Schulich School of Business, where he earned an MBA. Jowhari was a licensed professional engineer from 1995 to 1999 and founded his own boutique consulting firm.^[4]

Federal politics

2015 Federal Election

Jowhari was elected as the Liberal Party’s candidate in Richmond Hill on September 7, 2014 and elected as the Member of Parliament for Richmond Hill in the October 19, 2015 election.^[1]

Former professional engineer

Majid Jowhari was a licensed Professional Engineer from 1995 to 1999, but did not renew his licence when he changed fields. When describing his past credentials as a Professional Engineer in the 2015 federal election, Jowhari was informed he was not allowed to use the restricted title “Engineer”. Jowhari apologized and donated $5,000 to support the Ontario Professional Engineers Foundation for Education which provides annual scholarships for engineering students who are on the path to licensing.^[5]

Member of Parliament

Jowhari is the Founder and Chair of the Parliamentary Mental Health Caucus and holds roles on Parliamentary Committees, Parliamentary Associations, and Interparliamentary Groups. On January 29, 2016, Jowhari was appointed to the Industry, Science and Technology Parliamentary Committee and the Government Operations and Estimates Parliamentary Committee. Jowhari is a member of the Canada-China Legislative Association, the Canada-Japan Inter-Parliamentary Group, and the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association.^[6]

Mental health advocacy in Parliament

In 2018, the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH) named Majid Jowhari as a Parliamentary Mental Health Champion.^[7] Jowhari received this award due to the fact that he drafted and introduced legislation to change the criminal code to incorporate Mental Health into the pre-sentencing report. In 2016, Jowhari founded and chaired the Liberal Mental Health Caucus, which he later expanded in 2018 by creating the Parliamentary Mental Health Caucus. As the founder and Chair of Parliamentary Mental Health Caucus, Jowhari worked with Parliamentarians across all parties and Senators to create a collaborative team that will bring mental health to the forefront of discussion on the hill.^[8][9]

Advocacy for diplomacy

Consistent with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau‘s 2015 federal election promise to establish diplomatic relations with Iran,^[10] Jowhari accepted the request to sponsor a Parliamentary E-Petition “E-553 (Iran)” initiated by Bijan Ahmadi which specifically asks the Government of Canada to re-establish diplomatic relations and consular services with Iran, including reopening embassies in both countries. The petition provided historical background information and cited how the 2012 closure impacts Iranian-Canadians nationwide. This petition successfully garnered over 15,781 verified signatures. Conservative Member of Parliament Peter Kent sponsored petition “E-563”, which directly opposed Jowhari’s but only garnered 607 verified signatures.^[11]

An Iranian delegation composed of Members of Parliament and their Secretary of a Development Committee was in Canada to formally meet with officials at the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal. The delegation requested a meeting with Jowhari which took place in his constituency office in Richmond Hill. Jowhari stated over email that the premise of this meeting was an opportunity to listen and discuss as well as express his concerns related to human rights in Iran. “This was an opportunity to listen — as I do with many diverse groups — and to express cautious optimism about the future, including commercial links and facilitating people-to-people ties,” Jowhari said in an email.^[12]