Rachel Bendayan

Rachel Bendayan (born May 10, 1980^{[citation needed]}) is a Canadian politician who served as the minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship from March to May 2025. A member of the Liberal Party, Bendayan was elected to the House of Commons following a by-election on February 25, 2019, serving as the member of Parliament (MP) for Outremont.

The Honourable Rachel Bendayan PC MP
Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister
Incumbent
Assumed office June 5, 2025 Serving with Kody Blois
Prime Minister	Mark Carney
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
In office March 14, 2025 – May 13, 2025
Prime Minister	Mark Carney
Preceded by	Marc Miller
Succeeded by	Lena Diab
Minister of Official Languages
In office December 20, 2024 – March 14, 2025
Prime Minister	Justin Trudeau
Preceded by	Ginette Petitpas Taylor
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Associate Minister of Public Safety
In office December 20, 2024 – March 14, 2025
Prime Minister	Justin Trudeau
Minister	David McGuinty
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Member of Parliament for Outremont
Incumbent
Assumed office February 25, 2019
Preceded by	Tom Mulcair
Personal details
Born	(1980-05-10) May 10, 1980 (age 45)[citation needed] Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Political party	Liberal
Residence	Outremont, Quebec[1]
Alma mater	McGill University
Profession	Lawyer

Bendayan worked as a lawyer before entering politics. She ran in Outremont during the 2015 federal election, where she placed second to Thomas Mulcair, the leader of the Official Opposition and New Democratic Party (NDP). Following Mulcair's resignation as MP, a by-election was held in February 2019, where Bendayan flipped the seat for the Liberal Party.^[2] She was subsequently re-elected in the October general election, and in 2021.

Early life

Bendayan was born and raised in a Moroccan-Jewish family.^[3] She studied law at McGill University and obtained her degree in 2007, specializing in commercial litigation and international arbitration.^[4] After graduating, Bendayan was employed by the Norton Rose Fulbright law firm^[5] and also teaches at the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal.

Political career

A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, she was a candidate for the first time in Outremont in the 2015 federal election, against Thomas Mulcair, the leader of the official opposition. She finished second with 33.4% of the vote. After the elections, she then became chief of staff to Bardish Chagger, Minister of Small Business and Tourism.^[5]

Following Thomas Mulcair's departure from political life in June 2018, Bendayan announced her intention to once again be a candidate for the Liberal Party in the next election. She was nominated as a candidate against the teacher and activist Kim Manning in December 2018, after a vote by members of the constituency.^[2] The elections were finally called to take place on February 25. She was elected after winning with 40.4% of votes, 2,161 votes more than her nearest opponent, the NDP's Julia Sánchez with 26.1%.^[6]

Bendayan was re-elected in the 2019 federal election, obtaining 46.2% of the votes and beating her closest opponent by 10,829 votes.^[7] She was then appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade, Mary Ng, by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Bendayan was elected for a third time in the 2021 federal election with 45.4% of the votes.

On December 20, 2024, she became the minister of Official Languages and associate minister of public safety.^[8] On March 14, 2025, she was sworn in as Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship under the new Liberal government led by Mark Carney.^[9] Bendayan was reelected in the 2025 federal election on April 28, 2025 and dropped from the 30th Canadian Ministry on May 13, 2025.^[10]

Antisemitic attacks

Along with other Jewish Liberal Party candidates, Bendayan was a victim of anti-Semitic attacks during the campaign for the 2021 Canadian federal election.^[11][12]

Electoral record

v t e 2025 Canadian federal election: Outremont
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Rachel Bendayan	26,024	55.20	+10.84
	Conservative	Ronan Reich	5,911	12.54	+5.23
	Bloc Québécois	Rémi Lebeuf	5,644	11.97	−3.47
	New Democratic	Ève Péclet	5,024	10.66	−16.64
	Green	Jonathan Pedneault	4,539	9.63	+6.51
Total valid votes/expense limit			47,142	98.73
Total rejected ballots			606	1.27
Turnout			47,748	62.84
Eligible voters			75,985
	Liberal notional hold		Swing		+2.81
Source: Elections Canada[13][14]
Note: number of eligible voters does not include voting day registrations.

v t e 2021 Canadian federal election: Outremont
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Rachel Bendayan	16,714	45.39	-0.80	$74,361.58
	New Democratic	Ève Péclet	9,579	26.02	+5.95	$25,871.29
	Bloc Québécois	Célia Grimard	5,535	15.03	+1.18	$10,443.22
	Conservative	Jasmine Louras	2,882	7.83	+1.30	none listed
	Green	Grace Tarabey	1,198	3.25	-8.58	$1,719.40
	People's	Yehuda Pinto	819	2.22	+1.33	1,871.20
	Independent	Angela-Angie Joshi	93	0.25	N/A	$3,516.54
Total valid votes/expense limit			36,820	98.8	–	$104,612.20
Total rejected ballots			456	1.2
Turnout			37,276	57.2	-5.0
Eligible voters			65,143
	Liberal hold		Swing		-3.38
Source: Elections Canada[15]

v t e 2019 Canadian federal election: Outremont
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Rachel Bendayan	19,148	46.19	+5.76	$47,498.81
	New Democratic	Andrea Clarke	8,319	20.07	-7.45	none listed
	Bloc Québécois	Célia Grimard	5,741	13.85	+2.63	$9,862.60
	Green	Daniel Green	5,018	12.1	-0.83	none listed
	Conservative	Jasmine Louras	2,707	6.53	+0.39	$4,912.03
	People's	Sabin Levesque	369	0.89	-0.65	none listed
	Rhinoceros	Mark John Hiemstra	155	0.37		none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit			41,457	100.0	$102,446.50
Total rejected ballots			455
Turnout			41,912	62.2
Eligible voters			67,842
	Liberal hold		Swing		+6.61
Source: Elections Canada[16][17]

Canadian federal by-election, February 25, 2019: Outremont Resignation of Tom Mulcair
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rachel Bendayan	6,086	40.4	6.9
	New Democratic	Julia Sánchez	3,925	26.1	18
	Green	Daniel Green	1,889	12.5	8.9
	Bloc Québécois	Michel Duchesne	1,683	11.2	2.8
	Conservative	Jasmine Louras	1,098	7.3	2.2
	People's	James Seale	322	2.1	New
	Independent	William Barrett	52	0.3	New
Total valid votes			15,053	100.0
Total rejected ballots			135	–
Turnout			15,188	21.6
Eligible voters			70,414
	Liberal gain from New Democratic		Swing		25
Source: Elections Canada[18]

2015 Canadian federal election: Outremont
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Tom Mulcair	19,242	44.11	−11.57	$101,332.88
	Liberal	Rachel Bendayan	14,597	33.46	+11.84	$101,506.39
	Conservative	Rodolphe Husny	4,159	9.53	+1.55	$7,828.89
	Bloc Québécois	Roger Galland Barou	3,668	8.41	−3.20	$6,959.30
	Green	Amara Diallo	1,575	3.61	+1.37	–
	Libertarian	Francis Pouliot	216	0.50	–	–
	Communist	Adrien Welsh	162	0.37	–	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			43,619	100.00	–	$204,392.07
Total rejected ballots			426	0.97	–	–
Turnout			44,045	62.42	–	–
Eligible voters			70,559	–	–	–
	New Democratic hold		Swing
Source: Elections Canada[19][20]