Anil Naidoo, the NDP's provincial candidate for Ottawa Centre, has announced on his website that he's been endorsed by noted anti-apartheid humanitarian Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Naidoo and his family escaped South African apartheid to come to Canada.
Writing from his home in South Africa, Archbishop Tutu said, “Anil Naidoo has been an advocate for the human right to water, the rights of nature and progressive environmental causes. I share these values and support Mr. Naidoo so that he can continue this important work as an elected representative.”
Archbishop Tutu, who turns 80 this week, has worked with Anil Naidoo on international issues. Naidoo, who was born in South Africa and whose family escaped apartheid to come to Canada, is a well-known organizer behind many international environmental causes, including the UN vote to recognize water as a human right.
Anil Naidoo has taken time off from his day job as a human rights expert with the Council of Canadians, Canada's largest citizens' organization, to run for the NDP in Ottawa Centre.
The "unprecedented" endorsement by a Nobel laureate, as the press release calls it, comes on the same day the Ottawa Citizen chose incumbent Liberal MPP Yasir Naqvi "by a hair" over Naidoo as their choice to represent Ottawa Centre.
Comments