Yasir Naqvi

Yasir Abbas Naqvi (born 25 January 1973) is a Pakistani-Canadian lawyer and Liberal politician.¹ He represented Ottawa Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2007 to 2018, serving as minister of labour (2013–2014), minister of community safety and correctional services (2014–2016) and attorney general of Ontario (2016–2018).¹ He has represented Ottawa Centre in the House of Commons of Canada since 20 September 2021.¹

Naqvi was born in Karachi, Pakistan; after his father was jailed for nine months for leading a pro-democracy demonstration, the family emigrated, living briefly in the United Kingdom before settling in Niagara Falls, Ontario, in 1988.¹ He studied at McMaster University, took a law degree at the University of Ottawa and a master's degree at Carleton University, and volunteered with community organisations in Ottawa before entering politics.¹

Naqvi won the Ontario Liberal nomination for Ottawa Centre in 2007 and was elected to the provincial parliament that year; he was re-elected in 2011 and 2014.¹ Premier Kathleen Wynne appointed him minister of labour in February 2013 and minister of community safety and correctional services after the 2014 election.¹ On 13 June 2016 he became attorney general of Ontario; CBC News recorded that he was the first visible-minority and the first Muslim person to hold that office.¹ He lost his seat in the 2018 provincial election, then served as chief executive of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship.¹ He was elected to the federal Parliament for Ottawa Centre in 2021 with 45.5 percent of the vote, and in 2023 he placed third in the Ontario Liberal Party leadership election, behind Bonnie Crombie and Nathaniel Erskine-Smith.¹

As attorney general, Naqvi introduced the Safe Access to Abortion Services Act, 2017, which created safe-access zones around abortion clinics and health-care facilities in Ontario.¹ A 2018 assessment naming him among the 25 most influential people in the justice system credited him with a Digital Justice Action Plan that brought wireless internet into courtrooms, email and text jury summonses, and an online system for filing civil claims.¹

The judgements in this section belong to their sources, not to the museum. In March 2013 the Toronto Sun reported that a book condoning the physical punishment of wives carried a congratulatory letter from Naqvi, then Ontario's labour minister; Naqvi stated the following day, as the National Post reported, that he had written the note without reading the book and that he condemned its views.¹

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