On July 26, 2023, Prime Minister Mr. Justin Trudeau confirmed that Marc Miller is the new immigration minister of Canada. Young Justin Trudeau and Marc Miller were in the same college Jean-de-Brebeuf in Montreal in 1984. Who would have thought that Mark Miller, one of the oldest friends of Prime Minister Trudeau, would become Canada’s Minister of Immigration.  

Let’s go over Marc Miller’s profile, including his childhood details, his educational and political career, and his role as immigration minister.  

An Overview of Mark Miller’s Early life and childhood 

Mark Miller was born in 1973 in Montreal. He is the son of a history professor from Nova Scotia and an anglophone mother from Montreal. 

Miller grew up in Montreal and attended the College Jean-de-Brebeuf for his early schooling. 

Miller, In 1989, worked as a grocery bagger at a supermarket.  

He was then driven to serve his nation and seek adventure and decided to enlist as an infantry soldier in the Canadian military at the age of 16. 

After four years, he left the army as an Infantry commander, saying that while it was an enriching and instructive experience, he wanted to spend his time doing other things. 

Marc Miller’s Higher Education and Beginning of Political Career 

After that, Miller resumed his education in Montreal and acquired a bachelor’s and master’s degree in political science from the Université de Montréal. Then, he moved to McGill University to attain his law degree in both common and civil law.  

After completing his higher studies, Miller worked at Stikeman Elliot, a law firm in Canada. He specialized in commercial law and mergers and acquisitions and went on to practice law in Montreal, Stockholm, and New York. 

In 2013, Miller again returned to Montreal and helped Justin Trudeau’s bid for Liberal party leadership. During this time, he worked as the future Prime Minister’s Fundraising Director. In 2015, Miller represented a riding (i.e., electoral district) in Quebec, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Sœurs, aspiring for his own political office. 

In 2015, he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons.  

The residents of Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Sœurs consider Miller’s tenure in the office mainly favorable.  

Also, as a politician, he is well known for his work and efforts to get federal funding for public transportation, affordable housing, as well as his support for the Child Care Benefit for Montreal’s middle-class families. 

During this time, Miller also served as the chair of the Quebec Liberal Members of Parliament. 

Miller’s Entry in National Politics 

Miller was selected as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities on January 17, 2017. The office mainly manages the growth and maintenance of Canada’s infrastructure. 

In this office, he was again viewed as favorably; however, his term here was brief.  

Miller, on June 1, 2017, delivered a speech totally in the Mohawk language to the Canadian House of Commons and created history in Canadian politics. Mohawk is an indigenous language spoken by Canada’s Mohawk people. Since the confederation of 1867, which is almost 150 years to that day, this was the first time Mohawk was used in the Canadian parliament.  

After three months of his speech, in August 2017, Miller was designated as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations. In the next three years, Miller was seen advocating the rights of Indigenous peoples in Canada as well as the Federal Government’s duty towards them. 

Miller was appointed as the Minister of Indigenous Services in 2019, and then he was designated as the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations the next year. 

Miller’s Role as an Immigration Minister.  

Miller’s history highlights his pattern of conduct and can help us determine what we can expect from him as Canada’s immigration minister. 

Usually, the new immigration ministers, in the initial few months of their tenure, work on understanding Canada’s major immigration issues and developing strong relationships with the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) department. Christiane Fox, the department’s Deputy Minister, will be the main correspondent of Miller at IRCC.  

After the major shuffle of the cabinet, prime minister Trudeau has also officially released the mandate letters to his cabinet ministers.  

As per this, we can expect that the prime minister will provide a new letter to Minister Miller soon concerning the valuable immigration policy issues that Miller has to pay attention to while the Liberal party remains in power. The next election in Canada is scheduled for October 2025.