Ali Ehsassi MP

“Ali Ehsassi MP (Persian: علی احساسی‎‎; born April 24, 1970) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to represent the riding of Willowdale in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 federal election.^[1] He is one of the first two Canadians of Iranian descent to ever be elected to Canada’s federal Parliament, with the other being Majid Jowhari.

Ali Ehsassi’s maternal great-grandfather was Iranian statesman Abdolhossein Teymourtash, who was reportedly the first Minister of Court during the Pahlavi Dynasty and was overthrown from his position during the Iranian Revolution. Ehsassi’s father was also reported to be an Iranian Diplomat and at the age of three his family relocated to New York City due to the revolution. At the age of 15 Ehsassi moved to Canada North York with his family who he described to have faced a lot of hardship after the revolution. ^[2]

Ali Ehsassi is a member of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. Ehsassi published an official statement explaining why he proudly voted in favour of the motion to launch an investigation into the allegations made on February 7th by the “Globe and Mail” regarding the Jody Wilson-Raybould case, as he stated being confident in his government’s commitment to transparency and rule of law.^[4]

Ehsassi is also a member of several Parliamentary Associations and Interparliamentary groups such as the Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association, Canada-China Legislative Association Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group, Canada-United Kingdom Inter-Parliamentary Association, Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group, Canadian Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association and the Canadian Section of ParlAmericas. ^[5]

In 2015, Ehsassi supported Justin Trudeau’s positive stance on the Iranian Nuclear Deal^[6] and stated that Iran should be held to account for its abysmal human rights record and refrain from supporting international terrorism.^[7]“…