Arif Virani

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Honourable

| name = Arif Virani

| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|size=100%}}

| image = Arif Virani, the Canadian Minister of Public Safety attends the U.S.-Canada Cross Border Crime Forum at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., on 11 July 2024 (cropped).jpg

| alt =

| caption = Virani in 2024

| office = Minister of Justice
Attorney General of Canada

| primeminister = Justin Trudeau

| term_start = July 26, 2023

| term_end = March 14, 2025

| predecessor = David Lametti

| successor = Gary Anandasangaree

| office2 = Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

| minister2 = Jody Wilson-Raybould
David Lametti

| term_start2 = August 31, 2018

| term_end2 = July 26, 2023

| predecessor2 = Marco Mendicino

| successor2 =

| office3 = Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage (Multiculturalism)

| minister3 = Mélanie Joly

| term_start3 = January 28, 2017

| term_end3 = August 30, 2018

| predecessor3 = Vacant

| successor3 = Gary Anandasangaree

| riding9 =

| parliament9 = Canadian

| term_end9 =

| predecessor9 =

| successor9 = Karim Bardeesy

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1971|11|23}}

| birth_place = Kampala, Uganda

| death_date =

| death_place =

| term_end5 = March 23, 2025

| nationality = Canadian

| profession = Lawyer

| alma_mater = McGill University (BA)
University of Toronto Faculty of Law (LLB)

| party = Liberal

| residence = Toronto, Ontario, Canada

| footnotes =

| spouse = Suchita Jain

| office4 = Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

| predecessor4 = Costas Menegakis

| predecessor5 = Peggy Nash

| successor4 = Serge Cormier

| riding5 = Parkdale—High Park

| term_start4 = December 2, 2015

| term_start5 = October 19, 2015

| term_end4 = January 27, 2017

| minister4 = John McCallum

}}

Arif Virani {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC}} (born November 23, 1971) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the minister of justice and attorney general of Canada from 2023 to 2025. A member of the Liberal Party, Virani represented Parkdale—High Park in the House of Commons from 2015 to 2025. Prior to his appointment as Minister of Justice and Attorney General, he held a number of parliamentary secretary portfolios, including to the minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship from 2015 to 2017, and to the minister of Canadian heritage (multiculturalism) from 2017 to 2018, to the minister of justice and attorney general from 2018 to 2021, and to the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development from 2021 to 2023. On February 10, 2025, Virani announced he would not be running for re-election during the 2025 Canadian federal election.{{cite news |last1=Woods |first1=Michael |title=2 more Trudeau cabinet ministers won't seek re-election |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/justice-minister-virani-not-running-1.7455220 |access-date=February 12, 2025 |work=CBC News |date=February 10, 2025}}

Background

Virani's roots are in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India although he was born in Kampala.{{Cite news|title=How an Indian-origin MP in Canada is helping Syrian refugees|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/world/how-an-indian-origin-mp-in-canada-is-helping-syrian-refugees/story-NdzIxffKKv08ESyxnxXWnN.html|newspaper=Hindustan Times|last=Bhattacharyya|first=Anirudh|date=February 8, 2016|access-date=September 28, 2016}} Virani is a multilingual Ismaili Muslim who came to Canada as a refugee from Uganda after the expulsion of Indians from that country.{{Cite news|last=Hasham|first=Alyshah|date=October 19, 2015|title=Arif Virani wins in Parkdale-High Park|newspaper=Toronto Star|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/federal-election/federal-ridings-toronto-gta/2015/10/19/arif-virani-wins-in-parkdale-high-park.html|access-date=September 28, 2016}} Upon arriving in Canada in 1972, his family was taken in by the YMCA in Montreal.{{cite web |last1=Harper |first1=Tim |title=For one Liberal MP the refugee backlash cuts close to home |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/11/20/for-one-liberal-mp-the-refugee-backlash-cuts-close-to-home-tim-harper.html |website=www.thestar.com |publisher=Toronto Star |access-date=23 August 2018}} His family then became more permanently established in Toronto. Virani spent his childhood growing up in the Flemingdon Park and Willowdale neighbourhoods.

=Education=

Virani graduated as a joint honours Bachelor of Arts in political science and history from McGill University in 1994.{{cite web |last1=RACANELLI |first1=HELEN |title=Why Arif Virani ran for Parliament |url=http://lawandstyle.ca/law/best-practices-why-arif-virani-ran-for-parliament/ |website=Precedent - The New Rules of Law and Style |publisher=Precedent Magazine |access-date=23 August 2018}} He then graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.{{Cite web|url=https://www.utoronto.ca/news/jackman-law-building-officially-opens|title=Jackman Law Building officially opens|last=Boisseau|first=Peter|date=October 3, 2016|website=www.utoronto.ca|access-date=January 16, 2017}} Virani remained connected to the University of Toronto Faculty of Law following his graduation by remaining involved with its alumni committee.{{Cite web|url=https://www.utoronto.ca/news/jackman-law-building-officially-opens|title=Jackman Law Building officially opens|last=Boisseau|first=Peter|date=October 3, 2016|website=www.utoronto.ca|access-date=August 23, 2018}}

Legal career

Virani began his legal career by articling for Fasken Martineau DuMoulin in 1999. Following this, he worked in London, United Kingdom for a year with the support of the Harold G. Fox scholarship. This scholarship for recent graduates of the Bar Admission Course allows for a pupilage with leading barristers at the Inns of Court in London.{{cite web |title=About |url=http://www.thefoxfund.com/ |website=The Harold G. Fox Education Fund |access-date=23 August 2018}}{{cite web |title=About the Harold G. Fox Education Fund |url=http://www.thefoxfund.com/about.htm |website=The Harold G. Fox Education Fund |access-date=23 August 2018 |archive-date=30 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180830140745/http://www.thefoxfund.com/about.htm |url-status=dead }}

In 2003, he went on to work as a lawyer for the constitutional law branch of the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General.{{cite web|title=Profile - Virani, Arif|url=https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/People/Profile?personId=18528|access-date=21 August 2018|website=PARLINFO|publisher=Parliament of Canada}} During his time with the Ontario constitutional law branch, he appeared in one case at the Supreme Court of Canada.[https://decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/2277/index.do Provincial Court Judges' Association of New Brunswick v New Brunswick (Minister of Justice)], [2005] 2 SCR 286, 2005 SCC 44.

He does not currently practise law, as he serves in his role as a Member of Parliament.{{cite web |title=Arif Virani |url=https://lso.ca/public-resources/finding-a-lawyer-or-paralegal/directory-search/member?MemberNumber=44463H |url-status=live |website=Lawyer and Paralegal Directory |publisher=The Law Society of Ontario |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125013450/https://lso.ca/public-resources/finding-a-lawyer-or-paralegal/directory-search/member?MemberNumber=44463H |archive-date=January 25, 2024 |access-date=January 24, 2024 }} He remains an L1 class licensed lawyer according to the Law Society of Ontario. This means he is "entitled to practise law in Ontario as a barrister and solicitor".{{cite web |title=By-Law 4 |url=https://lso.ca/about-lso/legislation-rules/by-laws/by-law-4 |url-status=live |publisher=The Law Society of Ontario |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240109200044/https://lso.ca/about-lso/legislation-rules/by-laws/by-law-4 |archive-date=January 9, 2024 |access-date=January 24, 2024}}

Personal life

Virani lives in Roncesvalles Village in Toronto with his wife Suchita Jain, originally from London, Ontario, and their two sons.{{Cite web|title=Why Arif Virani ran for Parliament|first=Helen|last=Racanelli|url=http://lawandstyle.ca/law/best-practices-why-arif-virani-ran-for-parliament|newspaper=Precedent Magazine|date=March 8, 2016|access-date=September 30, 2016}}

Electoral record

{{Canadian election result/top|CA|2015|Parkdale—High Park|percent=yes|change=yes|expenditures=yes}}

{{CANelec|CA|Marxist-Leninist|Lorne Gershuny|100|0.17%|+/-0.00|–}}

{{Canadian election result/total|Total valid votes/expense limit|58,567|100.0 | |$210,593.15}}

{{Canadian election result/total|Total rejected ballots|269|–|–|–}}

{{CANelec/source|Source: Elections Canada[http://www.elections.ca/Scripts/vis/candidates?L=e&ED=35081&EV=41&EV_TYPE=1&PC=&PROV=ON&PROVID=35&MAPID=&QID=8&PAGEID=17&TPAGEID=&PD=&STAT_CODE_ID=-1 Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Parkdale—High Park, 30 September 2015][http://www.elections.ca/content2.aspx?section=can&dir=cand/canlim&document=index&lang=e Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150815061116/http://www.elections.ca/content2.aspx?section=can&dir=cand%2Fcanlim&document=index&lang=e |date=2015-08-15 }}}}