THE Iranian community on the North Shore is abuzz this week with news that a North Vancouverraised human rights activist and beauty queen has married Canada's defence minister Peter MacKay.
News of the private ceremony between Nazanin Afshin-Jam, 32, and MacKay, 46, hit Twitter early this week, followed by a statement posted by MacKay on his website.
MacKay said the pair married in Mexico, surrounded by family and friends.
"She is the most important person in my life," he told his constituents.
Prior to getting married this week, MacKay was considered one of Parliament Hill's most eligible bachelors and had been linked to several high-profile girlfriends.
Those who know Afshin-Jam say they're thrilled with the news of the marriage.
Afshin-Jam already has an international reputation of her own, after she parlayed her beauty queen titles as Miss World Canada and runner-up for Miss World in 2003 into publicity for human rights causes, particularly in her native Iran.
She received international attention for her successful efforts to save a 17-year-old Iranian woman from execution, after she stabbed a would-be rapist to death.
Afshin-Jam also co-founded Stop Child Executions, aimed at ending capital punishment of children in Iran.
According to some reports, she has also spoken out on issues that put her at odds with MacKay's Conservative government - such as her belief Canada was wrong not to ask that Omar Khadr, a Canadian-born child solider, be sent home from Guantanamo Bay.
She also speaks several languages, is a licensed pilot, has volunteered with the Red Cross and has degrees in political science and international relations.
Nassreen Filsoof, president of the Iranian Canadian Foundation, said Afshin-Jam's drive and passion for her causes isn't uncommon among Iranian women who are often very involved in their communities.
"A lot of Iranian women are like that," she said. "They try to engage themselves in so many different ways."
Filsoof said she first met Afshin-Jam when she helped raise money for victims of the earthquake in Bam, Iran in 2003. "She was absolutely amazing," said Filsoof.
Afshin-Jam was born in Iran, but her family came to Canada after her father was imprisoned and tortured. "That is why she became an activist," said Filsoof.
Afshin-Jam gave a keynote speech in 2011 at the West Vancouver-based charity HEAL Canada, which advocates for women's health and education in war torn areas of Africa including Congo and Rwanda.
"If we do not focus on women's rights and women's health, we cannot solve many of the humanitarian issues that face our country, our world," she told the Vancouver Sun at the time.
Since moving to Ottawa a few years ago, Afshin-Jam has been linked with a few suitors but had been seen in recent months with MacKay at a number of high-profile functions.
Filsoof said people in the North Shore's Iranian community were thrilled to hear the couple had made it official this week.
