Indira Naidoo-Harris


Indira Naidoo-Harris is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2014 to 2018 who represented the riding of Halton. She served as a cabinet minister in the government of Kathleen Wynne. She served as the Minister of Education, Minister responsible for Early Years and Child Care, Minister of the Status of Women and Associate Minister of Finance responsible for the Ontario Registered Pension Plan.

Background

Naidoo-Harris was born in Durban, South Africa under Apartheid. She immigrated to Canada as a child, and grew up in Alberta. She graduated from the University of Lethbridge and spent her early broadcasting career with NBC and PBS before moving to Ontario in the 1990s.
Prior to the election, she was a CBC Radio newsreader and a CBC Television journalist. She lives in Milton, Ontario with her husband Randy and their two children.

Politics

Naidoo-Harris ran in the 2011 provincial election as the Liberal candidate in the riding of Halton. She was defeated by Progressive Conservative incumbent Ted Chudleigh by 3,148 votes. She ran again in the 2014 election against Chudleigh this time defeating him by 5,726 votes.
From 2014 to 2016 she was a Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. On June 13, 2016, she was named Associate Minister of Finance Responsible for the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan. On August 24, 2016 she was transferred from the pension role to a new educational ministerial position responsible for early year education and child care. In addition to her role as Minister Responsible for Early Years and Child Care, in January 2017, Minister Naidoo-Harris was also named Minister of the Status of Women. In January 2018, she was named Minister of Education and kept her role as Minister Responsible for Early Years and Child Care.
Naidoo-Harris was nominated to run for re-election as the Liberal candidate for the newly formed riding of Milton but was defeated in the ensuing election.

Cabinet positions

Electoral record

After politics

In August 2019, Naidoo-Harris was appointed as the University of Guelph’s new Associate Vice-President of Diversity and Human Rights.

Personal life

Naidoo-Harris is married and has two children. She moved to Ontario in the 1990s to work for CBC-TV’s The National and Midday News, and since then she has anchored for CBC, CTV, TVO and OMNI Television. Naidoo-Harris has won numerous awards for her work and volunteerism in national and international causes.

Citations