Canada to Grant Honorary Citizenship to Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai

Human rights activist and Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai will visit Ottawa on Wednesday and become the honorary Canadian, local media reported.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to CTV News, Yousafzai is set to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, country's lawmakers and address then the Canadian Parliament.

The ceremony devoted to granting honorary citizenship will take place at the Library of Parliament.

The Canadian lawmakers voted unanimously in October, 2014 to award Yousafzai honorary Canadian citizenship for her bravery in promoting girls' rights. In last 30 year only five people received Canada's honorary citizenship, in particular, Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg who saved thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust and South African anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela. The list also includes Aga Khan, Aung San Suu Kyi and the 14th Dalai Lama.

On Monday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres designated Yousafzai as a UN Messenger of Peace with a special focus on girls’ education.

Malala Yousafzai is 19-year-old Pakistani education activist and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In 2012, she was herself shot in the head by a militant of the Taliban radical movement, outlawed in Russia, for her human rights activities. Yousafzai survived the attack and continues fight for human rights, in particular for female education.