Former Regent Park Resident Ahmed Hussen and Toronto Centre MP, Marci Ien to sit in Cabinet

Former Regent Park resident Ahmed Hussen becomes Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion

Former Regent Park resident Ahmed Hussen becomes Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, after previously serving as Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, where he struck child-care agreements with seven provinces and one territory, and rolled out a $1 billion “rapid housing” strategy to combat homelessness during COVID-19 that converted hotels and motels into housing units.

“Honoured to continue serving Canadians in Cabinet as Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion,” said Minister Hussen on his Facebook page. “With a dedicated Ministry for Housing, we will continue to make it easier for Canadians to find an affordable place to call home & ending chronic homelessness. Let's keep working!”

After arriving as a Somali refugee, Hussen lived with his brother in a subsidized apartment in Regent Park, the neighbourhood that gave him a zeal for the task Justin Trudeau has assigned to him: make housing more affordable, and make more affordable housing available.

“When I lived in Regent Park, it was the oldest and largest social housing neighbourhood in Canada, built in 1948. It was falling apart. There was no service, very little services, very little maintenance. But despite the fact that it was the oldest neighbourhood and very rundown, having that roof over my head allowed me to go to undergraduate studies, to even dream of going to university,” he said in an interview.

“I could never have been able to afford paying for a market rental unit and going to university at the same time as a new refugee to Canada, so I know the importance of that. Was it an adequate home? Was it a home that met all my needs? No, but it was a roof over my head and I can tell you it made a difference in my life.” Minister Hussen said.

In his third ministerial role, he is setting out to make a difference in Canada’s housing crisis.

Toronto Centre MP, Marci Ien is Canada's new minister of Women, Gender Equality and Youth and the first black woman to sit in cabinet in nearly 20 years

Former broadcaster and Toronto MP Marci Ien, representing Regent Park, Moss Park and St. James Town, will be responsible for the federal Department of Women and Gender Equality Canada under the Trudeau cabinet.

Marci Ien, who was born in St Jamestown and raised in Toronto, takes over the relatively new department, at a crucial time and in the face of enormous uncertainty and extraordinary challenges to tackle the entrenched disparities that undermine the health and well-being of marginalized women and communities and also to implement the Calls for Justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls under the direction of Indigenous women, and a comprehensive and appropriately-resourced National Action Plan to prevent and combat all forms of violence against women.

The purpose of the department is to advance equality with respect to sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression through the inclusion of people of all genders, including women, in Canada’s economic, social, and political life" as well as the intersection of these with other identities such as ethnicity, age, socio-economic level, disability, and others.

One of the most important things that the Department of Women and Gender Equality does is provide funding for organizations that empower women's rights in Canada. The department provides funding through the Women’s Program whose three priority areas lie in ending violence against women and girls, improving women's and girls' economic security and prosperity, and encouraging women and girls in leadership and decision-making roles.

Written by
Fred Alvarado

Journalist
FOCUS Media Arts Centre