The Canadian evolution of Kamala Harris

BY PAUL JUNOR

The announcement by Joe Biden that he had selected Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate on Wednesday, August 12^th, 2020 has created worldwide attention and focus. As the first African, and Indian American to run in this role, much is expected of her. In a tweet from her high school on Tuesday, August 11^th, 2020, “We couldn’t be more proud of WHS graduate @Kamala Harris-future Vice President of the United States! ” Kamala attended Westmount High located in Montreal, Canada from 1976 to 1981.

Ms.Harris was born in 1964 in Oakland, California as a result of the marriage of Indian-born medical researcher, Shymala Gopalan Harris and Jamaican-born economist Donald Harris. After the dissolution of their marriage, Kamala at twelve years of age, moved with her mother who accepted a job at McGill University in Montreal. In many ways, this city, which was founded in 1642, played a significant role in her life as she transitioned from childhood to adolescence. As the second largest French-speaking cosmopolitan city in the world, outside Paris, she was apprehensive about the move and having to learn French.

In her memoir, which was published in 2018, she recalls how, “The thought of moving away from sunny California, in February, in the middle of the school year, to a French-speaking foreign city covered in twelve feet of snow, was distressing to say the least.” She had to take extra classes in French at Notre -Dame des Neiges (as reported in the Los Angeles Times by David M.Shribman).

She immersed herself fully in her French-language school. She quickly developed her leadership skills by starting a dance troupe. One of the students, Paul Olioff recalls, “She was intense and intellectual. Not pretentious or precocious. Her classmates thought she was bound for big things. She carried herself in school much as she did as a senator and presidential candidate.”

Even in high school, she began to establish her political roots. Another classmate, Hugh Kwok recalls, “She was a very sweet, outgoing person, very popular, always positive.” Richard Margolese observes, “She was confident, assertive, very set in her ways.”

In many ways, the political, social and cultural events that were occurring in Montreal during the late 1970s, was a fertile soil for her intellectual growth. She witnessed first-hand the conflicts between the Anglophones (English-speaking) and Francophones (French-speaking) over language rights and separation. She was no doubt aware of the referendum in 1980 that was led by Rene Levesque of the Parti Quebecois.

There is no doubt that her social and political consciousness evolved during her time in Montreal. She became aware of Canada’s universal health system and the importance of diversity, inclusion, tolerance and equity among diverse groups.