List of Asian-Canadian first ministers

Three men have served, or are serving, as the first minister of a Canadian government. Of these, all three were premiers of a province. Asian-Canadians have been eligible to become premier since they first gained the right to vote, beginning in 1947. Asian-Canadians have been appointed to cabinet positions, starting with Hedy Fry and Herb Dhaliwal federally in 1997. An Asian-Canadian served as Premier prior to this, beginning with Joe Ghiz in 1986, in Prince Edward Island. Today, two Canadian jurisdictions have had at least one Asian-Canadian Premier: British Columbia and Prince Edward Island. The longest-serving Asian-Canadian premier is Joe Ghiz, who served as Premier between 1986 and 1993.

One of the three Asian-Canadian premiers earned their position through a party leadership race within their political party while it was in government. The other two won the title by defeating an incumbent premier in a general election. No two Asian-Canadian premiers served concurrently, with each serving at different times between 1986 and currently.

One Asian-Canadian is serving as a leader of major political party with seats in legislatures, Rana Bokhari, who is the leader of the Liberals in Manitoba. Bokhari's Liberals hold three seats in the legislature, and are the third party, although Bokhari does not hold a seat herself..

The most prominent Asian-Canadian First Minister is Ujjal Dosanjh, who served as the federal Minister of Health, one of three Asian-Canadian Cabinet ministers in the Martin Ministry.

Asian Canadian First Ministers

Premiers

Three Asian-Canadian men have served as Premiers of a Canadian province. Two, Joe and Robert Ghiz, are of Lebanese descent, while one, Ujjal Dosanjh, is of East Indian descent.

	Image	Premier	Province	Took office	Left office	Duration	Mandates	Party
		Ghiz, JoeJoe Ghiz (1945–1996)[1]	Prince Edward Island	000000001986-05-02-00002 May 1986	000000001993-01-25-000025 January 1993	6 years, 268 days	1986 Election 1989 Election	Liberal
		Dosanjh, UjjalUjjal Dosanjh (b. 1947)[2]	British Columbia	000000002000-02-24-000024 February 2000	000000002001-06-05-00005 June 2001	1 year, 101 days	2000 Designation	NDP
		Ghiz, RobertRobert Ghiz (b. 1974)[3]	Prince Edward Island	000000002007-06-12-000012 June 2007	000000002015-02-23-000023 February 2015	7008299397600000000♠9 years, 178 days	2007 Election 2011 Election	Liberal

In Opposition

The following Asian-Canadians have been or are leaders of major political parties in federal or provincial legislatures which have had seats in their respective houses. This list does not include the Premiers listed in the above chart. Of the three men and two women who served as leaders of major parties, three, Pannu, Sherman and Bokhari, are of East Indian descent, while Lorraine Michael is of Lebanese ancestry and Amir Khadir is of Iranian descent.

	Image	Leader	Province	Took office	Left office	Duration	Party
		Pannu, RajRaj Pannu (b. 1934)	Alberta	000000002000-02-08-00008 February 2000	000000002004-07-13-000013 July 2004	4 years, 155 days	NDP
		Khadir, AmirAmir Khadir (b. 1961)	Quebec	000000002006-02-04-00004 February 2006	000000002012-11-04-00004 November 2012	6 years, 273 days	Quebec Solidaire
		Michael, LorraineLorraine Michael (b. 1943)	Newfoundland and Labrador	000000002006-05-28-000028 May 2006	000000002015-03-07-00007 March 2015	7008332251200000000♠10 years, 193 days	NDP
		Sherman, RajRaj Sherman (b. 1966)	Alberta	000000002011-09-10-000010 September 2011	000000002015-01-26-000026 January 2015	7008196948800000000♠6 years, 88 days	Liberal
		Bokhari, RanaRana Bokhari (b. 1977)	Manitoba	000000002013-10-26-000026 October 2013	000000002016-09-24-000024 September 2016	7007983016000000000♠3 years, 42 days	Liberal
		Marcelino, FlorFlor Marcelino (b. 1977)	Manitoba	000000002016-04-30-000030 April 2016	Incumbent	7007190944000000000♠221 days	NDP

See also

• List of current Canadian first ministers
• List of female first ministers in Canada
• List of Visible Minority Canadian Cabinet Ministers
• List of visible minority politicians in Canada

References