Malala Yousafzai becomes youngest person to receive honorary Canadian citizenship
19-year-old Malala Yousafzai became an honorary Canadian citizen on April 12, the sixth and youngest person to have received the honour. She was given the Canadian flag, and a copy of her book 'I Am Malala' was added to the parliamentary library. She had been invited in 2014 to receive citizenship, but the ceremony was postponed after an attack on parliament that day.
Malala Yousafzai made her first public speech in 2008 entitled "How Dare the Taliban Take Away My Basic Right to an Education." In 2009, her blog "Diary of a Pakistani Schoolgirl" made headlines for depicting life under Taliban. Desmond Tutu nominated Malala for the International Children's Peace Prize in 2011. The same year she won Pakistan's National Youth Peace Prize.
In 2012, Malala was shot on her way back from school, and two other girls were injured. The Tehrik-i-Taliban militants said that they attacked the girl for her pro-peace, anti-Taliban and 'secular' agenda. Her treatment began first in Pakistan but was then moved to Birmingham, England. The attack jolted the world into outrage, while support for her poured from all over the globe.
Malala founded the Malala Fund, which invests in local educational initiatives for girls in Pakistan, Nigeria and Kenya, and in Jordan, focussing on Syrian refugees. She spoke before the UN in July 2013 while continuing to advocate around the world for a girl's right to education. In October 2013, she co-wrote "I am Malala" which went on to become a best-seller.
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 was awarded to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education. The two recipients were termed as the "champions of peace". Malala declared that the prize money would go to the Malala fund for the education of girls.
Malala is the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Prize and the only Pakistani winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
On 30 April 2015, an anti-terrorism court in Swat sentenced 10 Pakistani Taliban militants to 25 years in jail for their role in the 2012 attack on Malala Yousafzai. These men had been arrested in September 2014. All the militants were a part of the Tehreek-i-Taliban terrorist outfit in Pakistan. However, the chief suspect, Ataullah Khan was not convicted along with those 10 people.
