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Anita Anand
Anita Indira Anand (born 1967) is a Canadian politician, lawyer and former academic who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2025. A member of the Liberal Party, Anand was elected to the House of Commons in 2019 and currently serves as the Member of Parliament for Oakville East.
Anand was first elected as the MP for Oakville in the October 2019 election and was subsequently appointed to Cabinet in November. In the 29th Canadian Ministry, chaired by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Anand first served as the minister of public services and procurement, where she was responsible for the federal government's procurement of vaccines and personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, she became the minister of national defence and played a key role in Canadian efforts to provide military aid to Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Anand was the president of the Treasury Board from 2023 to 2024 and the minister of transport and internal trade from 2024 to 2025. In 2021, Anand was named Canada's "most valuable politician" by The Hill Times, and in 2022, Maclean's described her as the Trudeau government's "all-round fixer".
In the 30th Canadian Ministry, chaired by Prime Minister Mark Carney, Anand was appointed as the minister of innovation, science and industry. She held the role for two months prior to her appointment as the minister of foreign affairs following the 2025 federal election.
Anand is the first Hindu woman to be elected to Parliament and the first Hindu member of Cabinet in Canada. She is also only the second woman, after former Prime Minister Kim Campbell, to serve as minister of national defence.
Anita Indira Anand was born in Kentville, Nova Scotia, in 1967. Her parents were both Indian physicians; her mother Saroj D. Ram was an anesthesiologist, and her father S.V. (Andy) Anand was a general surgeon. Her father was from Tamil Nadu and her mother was from Punjab.[failed verification] Anita has two sisters; her elder sister, Gita Anand, is an employment lawyer in Toronto, and her younger sister Sonia Anand is a physician and researcher at McMaster University.
Her parents were followers of Mahatma Gandhi and her father met him when her grandfather, V. A. Sundaram, was working with the Indian independence movement.[citation needed]
In the early 1960s, Anand's mother and father were living in Nigeria when her father travelled to Nova Scotia to investigate the possibility of immigrating to Canada or the United States. Upon landing in Halifax, he rented a car, drove to the Annapolis Valley and "found the right place for his family". They settled in Kentville, a town of approximately 5,000 people, where Anand was born in 1967.
Anand relocated to Ontario in 1985 to enroll at Queen's University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in political studies. After winning the gold medal in Political Studies in 1989, she went to Wadham College, Oxford, where she received a Bachelor of Arts (honours) in jurisprudence. After completing her studies at Oxford, she returned to Nova Scotia to obtain her Canadian Bachelor of Laws Dalhousie University before articling in Toronto. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 1994. Anand also received a Master of Laws from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1996.
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Anita Anand
Anita Indira Anand (born 1967) is a Canadian politician, lawyer and former academic who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2025. A member of the Liberal Party, Anand was elected to the House of Commons in 2019 and currently serves as the Member of Parliament for Oakville East.
Anand was first elected as the MP for Oakville in the October 2019 election and was subsequently appointed to Cabinet in November. In the 29th Canadian Ministry, chaired by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Anand first served as the minister of public services and procurement, where she was responsible for the federal government's procurement of vaccines and personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, she became the minister of national defence and played a key role in Canadian efforts to provide military aid to Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Anand was the president of the Treasury Board from 2023 to 2024 and the minister of transport and internal trade from 2024 to 2025. In 2021, Anand was named Canada's "most valuable politician" by The Hill Times, and in 2022, Maclean's described her as the Trudeau government's "all-round fixer".
In the 30th Canadian Ministry, chaired by Prime Minister Mark Carney, Anand was appointed as the minister of innovation, science and industry. She held the role for two months prior to her appointment as the minister of foreign affairs following the 2025 federal election.
Anand is the first Hindu woman to be elected to Parliament and the first Hindu member of Cabinet in Canada. She is also only the second woman, after former Prime Minister Kim Campbell, to serve as minister of national defence.
Anita Indira Anand was born in Kentville, Nova Scotia, in 1967. Her parents were both Indian physicians; her mother Saroj D. Ram was an anesthesiologist, and her father S.V. (Andy) Anand was a general surgeon. Her father was from Tamil Nadu and her mother was from Punjab.[failed verification] Anita has two sisters; her elder sister, Gita Anand, is an employment lawyer in Toronto, and her younger sister Sonia Anand is a physician and researcher at McMaster University.
Her parents were followers of Mahatma Gandhi and her father met him when her grandfather, V. A. Sundaram, was working with the Indian independence movement.[citation needed]
In the early 1960s, Anand's mother and father were living in Nigeria when her father travelled to Nova Scotia to investigate the possibility of immigrating to Canada or the United States. Upon landing in Halifax, he rented a car, drove to the Annapolis Valley and "found the right place for his family". They settled in Kentville, a town of approximately 5,000 people, where Anand was born in 1967.
Anand relocated to Ontario in 1985 to enroll at Queen's University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in political studies. After winning the gold medal in Political Studies in 1989, she went to Wadham College, Oxford, where she received a Bachelor of Arts (honours) in jurisprudence. After completing her studies at Oxford, she returned to Nova Scotia to obtain her Canadian Bachelor of Laws Dalhousie University before articling in Toronto. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 1994. Anand also received a Master of Laws from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1996.
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