Meet Anita Anand, the defence minister overseeing Canada’s military response to Russia

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This article was published 05/03/2022 (1026 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA—The minister overseeing the military aid Canada is sending to Ukraine is Anita Anand, the second woman — and first woman of colour — to hold the position of federal defence minister.

It’s a job she took over from now-international development minister Harjit Sajjan in 2021, when her predecessor was facing criticism for failing to properly address the sexual misconduct crisis roiling the Canadian military.

A few months into the job, she has so far committed to implementing a culture change within the army, promised that future sexual misconduct cases will be handled by civilian officials and delivered the government’s official apology to survivors.

But Anand was already a household name before she became one of the top officials crafting Ottawa’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as Canada’s procurement minister, she quickly emerged as the country’s point person for securing pandemic supplies and inking deals with vaccine makers.

Her performance drew praise for pulling together a diverse portfolio of shots that eventually led to Canada hitting some of its vaccination targets ahead of schedule. But she was also criticized, by opposition politicians, for the languid pace of the country’s early vaccine rollout amid production delays.

Nevertheless, the global public health crisis thrust the role of procurement minister — a cabinet position not normally in the spotlight — to centre stage.

It was a rapid ascension for Anand, who was first elected in Oakville as a rookie MP in 2019.

The daughter of an anesthesiologist and a surgeon who immigrated to Canada in the 1960s, Anand was born and raised in Nova Scotia before moving to Ontario in 1985.

Before entering federal politics, she taught law at several institutions including Yale Law School and the University of Toronto, and specialized in the regulation of financial markets and corporate governance.

“It is wonderful to have an esteemed lawyer and former law professor as our minister of defence in this time,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said of her colleague on Thursday.

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When Canada was ready to lay out its response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau turned to the three women holding the most powerful roles in his cabinet. Just four months earlier, the prime minister had named Mélanie Joly to foreign affairs and Anita Anand to national defence. Before unveiling his new front bench, Trudeau had already decided to keep Chrystia Freeland on as deputy prime minister and finance minister.

The trio — often considered contenders for the Liberal leadership — have flanked Trudeau since the onset of the invasion, taking charge of Canada’s political, economic and military response to the crisis. The Star is looking at how each minister is shaping Canada’s response to an extraordinary geopolitical crisis. (Read about Mélanie Joly here and Chrystia Freeland here.)

Raisa Patel is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @R_SPatel