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Anita Anand becomes Canada's first Hindu woman minister

Ottawa: In a first, a Hindu woman lawmaker has been inducted into Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Cabinet of 37 ministers.

Anita Anand, a former law professor at the University of Toronto, joins three Sikh MPs Navdepp Bains, Bardish Chagger and Harjit Sajjan in the Cabinet.

Anand has been handed over the Public Services and Procurement portfolio which oversees public spending including the purchase of military hardware, according to the Toronto Star.

Anand is a legal academic, lawyer, researcher, and mother of four children. She was born and raised in rural Nova Scotia before moving to Ontario in 1985, according to her profile on the PM of Canada website.

In the last two decades, she held the J R Kimber Chair in Investor Protection and Corporate Governance at the University of Toronto, served as associate dead and was a member of the Governing Board of Massey College and the Director of Policy and Research at the Capital Markets Research Institute, Rotman School of Management. She has also taught law at Yale Law School, Queen's University, and Western University.

Anand holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Studies from Queen's University, a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Jurisprudence from the University of Oxford, a Bachelor of Laws from Dalhousie University, and a Master of Laws from the University of Toronto.

While Navdeep Bains, an MP from Mississauga, retained his Innovation, Science and Industry portfolio. He was previously the Parliamentary Secretary to former prime minister Paul Martin. Before entering politics, Bains taught at Ryerson University and had worked in accounting at the Ford Motor Company in Canada.

Harjit Sajjan also retained his National Defence portfolio. He was first elected as MP for Vancouver South in 2015. He had previously worked as a detective in Vancouver Police department and served as Lieutenant Colonel with the British Columbia Regiment.

Hope they don't fall victim to propaganda, says India as it seeks access to 2 arrested by Pak. Last year, Trudeau's visit to India was overshadowed by the prescence of Bains and Sajjan, who accompanied him on the visit.

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