OTTAWA: Sean Fraser has joined a group of entrepreneurs, activists, researchers, artists, political leaders, and other leaders under the age of 40 who are committed to making a positive contribution to the world.
The 37-year-old MP from Central Nova was recently inducted into the World Economic Forum as one of this year’s Young Global Leaders.
“The World Economic Forum is an organization that was started a number of years ago to bring together leaders to come up with solutions to some of the great social, economic and environmental challenges that countries across the world are facing,” Fraser told The Reporter. “My view is conversations between leaders and people who have real world experience dealing with big-scale challenges are important if we’re going to solve problems.”
Fraser said nations across the world, or individuals who live in different parts of the world need to work together to deal with the problems everyone faces.
A press release from the forum stated Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship was selected for his work in leading Canada’s refugee resettlement efforts in Afghanistan and Ukraine, as well as Canada’s ambitious economic immigration strategy.
“You don’t think about what awards you may win when you’re working in public service, you’re thinking about how you can help people and solve problems, and every once in a while, there will be some kind of an honour such as this that the work you do is really important,” Fraser said. “It reminds me how lucky I am to be put in a position to make a contribution on issues that really matter. When you’re surrounded by people who want to see you succeed, not for your own sake, but for the sake of your community and for the sake of your country makes it awfully nice.”
Fraser’s prior work in helping develop Canada’s economic response to COVID-19 and advancing federal measures to transition to a clean economy during his tenure as the parliamentary secretary to the Ministers of Finance and Environment, respectively, were also noted by the World Economic Forum.
“Having the opportunity to help advance Canada’s response to a series of unprecedented global crises, from climate change, to the COVID-19 pandemic, to the war in Ukraine, has been an immense privilege that I could not have imagined when I was growing up in a small community in rural Nova Scotia,” Fraser said. “The policies we developed to respond to these challenges have helped families in our communities and saved lives around the world. I am proud of this work, and am grateful to have been selected as part of this year’s Young Global Leaders cohort in recognition of these efforts.”
The Young Global Leaders program provides educational and networking opportunities that are designed to allow its participants to increase the impact of their work in making the world economy more sustainable and inclusive.
“Far more important than the recognition of being included as one of this year’s Young Global Leaders is the opportunity it’s going to present; this is not just an award where your name goes on a plaque,” Fraser said. “Going forward over the next few years being included in this forum, will provide me with the opportunity with like-minded people across the world, while working on similar issues to enhance the work I’m doing.”
To be plugged into a network of people working to develop similar solutions, can afford opportunities to accelerate each other’s work to have a bigger positive impact, the forum noted.
“For me it’s certainly a nice thing to receive this acknowledgement, but what I’m far more excited about is to use this platform to increase the impact my work will have,” Fraser said. “By delivering a higher quality of life to the people who live in our community and hope you make a contribution to solve some of the biggest problems facing the world.”