John Nuraney (October 31, 1937 – November 21, 2016) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

politician who was the first Muslim elected as a Member of the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

. He represented the riding of

Burnaby-Willingdon Burnaby-Willingdon was a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of Bri ...

from 2001 to 2009 for the

British Columbia Liberal Party BC United (BCU), known from 1903 until 2023 as the British Columbia Liberal Party or BC Liberals, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party has been described as conservative, neoliberal, and occupying a centre-right ...

. Nuraney first contested the riding of

in 1996, challenging former Speaker Joan Sawicki. He lost by 823 votes. Upon Sawicki's retirement in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, Nuraney captured the riding by over 5000 votes in

. In the 2009 election, Nuraney stood for re-election in the new district of Burnaby-Deer Lake, but was defeated by New Democrat Kathy Corrigan.

Personal life

Nuraney was born in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, and worked in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and

Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

as an insurance professional. He immigrated to Canada from Zaire in 1974 after his assets and business were nationalized by the Zairian government in 1973. His business investments in Canada included five A&W Restaurant franchises. After his retirement due to the 2009 election loss, he moved from Burnaby to

Surrey, British Columbia Surrey is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of the Fraser River on the Canada–United States border. It is a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver regional district and metropolitan area. Mainly a suburban city, Surr ...

. Nuraney served as vice-president for the federal Liberal party's electoral district association for Cloverdale-Langley City. Nuraney spoke six languages: English, French, Swahili,

Lingala Lingala (or Ngala, Lingala: ) is a Bantu languages, Bantu language spoken in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the northern half of the Republic of the Congo, in their capitals, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, and to a lesser de ...

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

and Gujarati. He and his wife Gulshan had three children, Nick, Asim and Naseem. One of whom was a federal minister's assistant then a communications executive at Fraser Health. Nuraney died at the age of 79 on November 21, 2016.

Electoral history

, -

References

External links

John Nuraney
Biography at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia {{DEFAULTSORT:Nuraney, John 1937 births 2016 deaths BC United MLAs Canadian Ismailis Kenyan emigrants to Canada People from Burnaby 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia Canadian people of Indian descent