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Iqra Khalid, Washington Class, 2012 and Ruby Sahota, Fitzgerald class, 2007
IQRA Khalid A child immigrant from Pakistan via England, Khalid is a graduate of York University in Toronto. In 2010, she enrolled at WMU-Cooley and moved away from her family for the first time.
Two WMU-Cooley graduates have each other’s backs in The
Canadian Parliament Two Canadian-born Western Michigan University-Cooley Law School graduates are looking out for each other after being elected to the Canadian Parliament last fall.
Canadian Liberal Party politicians Iqra Khalid (Washington Class, 2012) and Ruby Sahota (Fitzgerald Class, 2007) defeated their respective district incumbents in the country’s House of Commons election last October. While the pair did not attend WMU-Cooley together, they now work together within their newly-elected Parliament positions. “She’s phenomenal,” Khalid said of Sahota. “Ruby is a team player and always willing to help.” “As young women in politics, we have to have each other’s backs. She’s someone I can rely on and use as counsel,” Sahota said of Khalid. “She’s very bright and already very accomplished. She’s dedicated and a sincere person – and that is rare in politics.”
“Quite honestly, it was the best learning experience of my life,” the 30-year-old Pakistani-born Canadian said. “The hands-on experience helped me learn and understand the law and negotiations in a practical way.” Khalid finished her coursework at the Lansing campus within one and a half years and moved back to Ontario for a three-month externship with the city of Mississauga’s legal department. She remained with the city on a contract basis upon graduating from WMUCooley in 2012. She became a full-time employee the following year, working on civil lawsuits involving the city, including real estate and property law claims. After a couple of years practicing municipal civil law, Khalid decided to run for the Liberal Party in the Canadian House of Commons.
“I have a lot of love for the law,” she said. “There’s the enforcement side of the law that’s exciting, but the side of creating laws fascinates me even more.” After winning her district’s Liberal Party’s nomination in December 2014, Khalid resigned from her position in Mississauga to focus on her election campaign. She ran on the platform of increasing cultural equality in Canada and strengthening the middle class – a demographic familiar to Khalid due to her upbringing. “Canada is the land of opportunity,” Khalid said. “We should have equality with regard to what we may look like and what language we speak.”
Iqra Khalid
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Iqra Khalid, second on right, opens her constituent office in February.