OTTAWA – Nobel Peace prize laureate Malala Yousafzai 19, has become youngest ever person to receive an honorary Canadian citizenship.
She is also the sixth person to receive the honour, which Malala says she is “humbled” to receive.
During the official ceremonies in Ottawa, she urged Canadian politicians to use all means to help fund education for girls across the world, including refugees.
Earlier, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai as a UN Messenger of Peace to promote girls education.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appreciated Yousafzai for her efforts, calling her “the newest and possibly bravest citizen of Canada.”
The activist was originally scheduled to receive her citizenship in October 2014, but the event was postponed due to the shooting death of a ceremonial guard Nathan Cirillo and an attack on Parliament by gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.
While addressing the parliamentarians, Malala condemned the attack and said, “The man who attacked Parliament Hill called himself a Muslim,” she said. “But he did not share my faith.”
She said he instead shared the same hatred as the man who allegedly killed six people at a mosque in Quebec city of Canada in January, the assaulter who killed six people in London in March, and the Taliban attacker who shot her in 2012 for criticising their ban on girls education in Pakistan.
