A boyhood friend of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, MP Marc Miller is Canada’s newest minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
A Cabinet shuffle Wednesday saw 30 new appointments and former immigration minister Sean Fraser become the new minister of housing, infrastructure and communities.
The 50-year-old Miller picks up the immigration portfolio after having served as the minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations since October, 2021, a little less than two years ago.
Prior to that, he had been minister of Indigenous Services for a little less than two years, since November 2019, after serving as the parliamentary secretary to the minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations since late August, 2018.
Miller was first elected to represent the Greater Montreal riding of Ville-Marie-Le Sud-Ouest-Île-des-Sœurs during the Liberal Party of Canada’s electoral victory in 2015.
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In that federal election, Miller handily defeated his closest rival, the New Democratic Party’s Allison Turner, with a margin of two to one at the ballot box.
A lawyer with the firm of Stikeman Elliott and an infantry commander in the Canadian Army Primary Reserve prior to entering politics, Miller made a symbolic overture of reconciliation to Canada’s indigenous peoples on June 1, 2017 by delivering the first speech to ever be made in the Mohawk language in the House Commons. He later explained he had learnt the language lessons in a spirit of reconciliation.
He is also fluent in French and has served as the parliamentary secretary to the minister of infrastructure and communities, the same ministry the former immigration minister is now heading up.
New Immigration Minister Delivered First-Ever Speech To The House Of Commons In Mohawk Language
Miller’s on-going, close relationship with the prime minister is likely to be a big asset for him in his role as the country’s new immigration minister. In addition to being a boyfriend friend of Trudeau when the two attended the then-all-boy Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf private school in the 1980s, Miller also helped organize Trudeau’s first run for office in the Papineau riding in 2007.
The new immigration minister was also an advisor and fundraising director of Trudeau’s successful bid for the Liberal leadership in 2013.
The son of an anglophone Montrealer and a Nova Scotian, Miller earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Université de Montréal.
Married Elin Sandberg, an ex-Swedish diplomat, Miller and his wife have three children, two boys, Marius and Lukas, and a girl, Eva.
