Nineteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai continues to show a wisdom far beyond many others of her age. Soon after being declared an honorary Canadian citizen, the Nobel laureate gave a speech to the country’s parliament that was equal parts hilarious and heartwarming.
In the 20-minute speech, Malala spoke of the universal right to education, and of the importance of not stereotyping religions and freedom. She began by narrating the story of a missed previous visit to the North American country because of a terrorist attack. “The man who attacked Parliament Hill called himself a Muslim – but he did not share my faith,” she said. “He did not share the faith of one-and-a-half-billion Muslims, living in peace around the world.”
“We have heard so much about Prime Minister Trudeau,” Malala said. “But one thing has surprised me. People are always talking about how young he is. He does yoga. He has tattoos and a lot more,” she continued to laughter from the audience before adding, “People were so excited about me meeting Trudeau that I don’t think anyone cared about the honorary citizenship.”
Her reference to Trudeau’s youth came with a message: “I would like to tell something to the children of Canada, that you don’t have to be as old as the very young prime minister of Canada to be a leader.”
“While I will always be a proud Pashtun and a proud citizen of Pakistan, I’m grateful to be an honorary member of your nation of heroes,” Yousafzai said and added with a laugh, “Though I still require a visa, but that’s another discussion.”
“There are more than 130 million girls that do not have access to education,” she said. “I am here to speak on their behalf and to say if you are living in this modern world where we see improvements in technology, we should not be seeing children out of school.”
So who’s the bigger draw – Malala or Justin Trudeau?
Here’s the full speech.
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