Marc Miller, a childhood friend of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has been appointed as Canada’s newest Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). The cabinet shuffle on Wednesday saw 30 new appointments, with former immigration minister Sean Fraser becoming the new minister of housing, infrastructure, and communities.
Miller, aged 50, previously served as the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations since October 2021, after having been the Minister of Indigenous Services for nearly two years since November 2019. Before entering politics, he worked as a lawyer at the firm Stikeman Elliott and served as an infantry commander in the Canadian Army Primary Reserve.
Miller, a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, was elected to represent the Greater Montreal riding of Ville-Marie-Le Sud-Ouest-รle-des-Sลurs in the 2015 federal election. In that election, he won with a substantial margin over his closest rival, Allison Turner of the New Democratic Party.
As a symbolic gesture of reconciliation with Canada’s indigenous peoples, Miller delivered the first-ever speech in the Mohawk language in the House of Commons on June 1, 2017. He had learned the language lessons with a spirit of reconciliation in mind. Besides his proficiency in the Mohawk language, he is also fluent in French.
Miller’s close relationship with Prime Minister Trudeau is expected to be an advantage in his role as the new immigration minister. Besides being a childhood friend, he played key roles in Trudeau’s political journey, including helping organize Trudeau’s first run for office in the Papineau riding in 2007 and being an advisor and fundraising director during Trudeau’s successful bid for the Liberal leadership in 2013.
Miller’s educational background includes bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Universitรฉ de Montrรฉal. He is married to Elin Sandberg, a former Swedish diplomat, and the couple has three children together.