Beyond allyship: MP Shuv Majumdar stands with Jews in Western civilization fight

By Mark Cooper, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

(AJNews) – When the topic of “allyship” comes up, Shuv Majumdar bristles.

The term feels too detached for the Conservative Member of Parliament’s deep-rooted connection to the Jewish community.

“I don’t consider myself an ally,” he says, before explaining that his work isn’t about standing next to the community but being part of it.

For Majumdar, representing Calgary Heritage is less a political duty and more a gift  – where the boundaries of “us” and “them” disappear in a shared fight for the values of civilization.

“The great gift about representing the Calgary Jewish Community and supporting Jewish communities across Alberta and Canada is I never feel “othered”,” said Majumdar. “I feel completely part of it. It’s a great, great gift.

“I don’t see this as an ally stepping in to stand with the Jewish world. I see this as an opportunity to stand with the Jewish world as the Jewish world fights for civilization itself.”

Since becoming a Conservative MP in a 2023 by-election, the 46-year-old has become one of Parliament’s leading voices in support of the Jewish community’s fight against hate and extremism on Canadian streets and campuses.

He immediately became a pillar of strength and comfort for Alberta’s Jewish community, standing in solidarity at Calgary’s Beth Tzedec synagogue during a gathering held just after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel.

“I don’t arrive here as Jewish, I don’t arrive here as an ally. I arrive here as a Zionist,” he said that evening, something he calls the “test of truth.”

At the upcoming May 24 Friends of JNF Edmonton Gala, Majumdar will join his mentor, former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, to discuss the opportunities and risks facing the Jewish community during a time of deep global complexities.

For Jay Cairns, executive director of the Alberta chapter of Friends of JNF Canada, it is vital to showcase the Calgary MP’s selfless Jewish advocacy to an Edmonton audience.

“He’s not doing this for political gain; he truly feels it’s the right thing to do,” Cairns said, noting Majumdar has followed Harper’s lead as a next-generation torchbearer standing firmly with Israel and the Jewish community.

“Shuv is bringing the issues that are really concerning to the Jewish community across Canada to the floor. He’s bringing the conversations and the awareness and he’s doing it in a meaningful way, not just platitudes strung together to make us feel good.”

As the only child of Bengali Hindu immigrants from India, Majumdar’s rapid ascent as one of Parliament’s sharpest minds in foreign affairs and national security feels like a natural progression. The Conservative Party has increasingly positioned him as a moral compass within Canadian politics – a role he is well-equipped to handle. His self-described “nerdish” obsession with Middle Eastern political history is backed by grit: he has worked on the ground to implement democratic reforms in conflict zones, later serving as a foreign affairs advisor to Minister John Baird and Harper. His roots in the movement run deep. Having watched the conservative movement evolve since his youth, he still cites Reform Party founder Preston Manning as a foundational influence.

“From him I really learned about foundational first principles of conservative life,” he said. “I learned about the balance of populism and conservatism… I learned (from his) incredible integrity and decency in public life.

“He showed me how important it is not just to have the conviction that you carry in your core, but the core moral values that come with it.”

After earning the inaugural Reform Party internship in Ottawa in 1998, alongside a class that included the likes of current Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre and former leader Andrew Scheer, he would work in the Opposition Leader’s office where he became a Manning loyalist.

After Manning’s retirement, Majumdar would become the very first employee of the Manning Centre, founded by Manning to foster the growth of the conservative movement in Canada.

Recognized for his work fighting human trafficking in Southeast Asia, he was recruited in 2006 to lead on-the-ground initiatives in Iraq and Afghanistan by the International Republican Institute to support democratic development.

Seeing the devastation of radical ideology firsthand sharpened his purpose. He returned with a newfound mission: to protect the values of Western civilization from what he describes as an escalating assault.

“Our Western civilization, the concept of who we are, has been radically under attack for decades,” he said. “We’ve been the frog in the water. It’s just been boiling.”

Majumdar would leave the Middle East in 2011 to take a job working in the Harper government. It was there he would direct foreign affairs policy in then Minister Baird’s office and later as an aid to Harper, he would learn how to govern for the first time.

“I got so lucky because I was working with John Baird, who’s a gregarious, fearless guy. I had full license to challenge the prime minister’s office and the bureaucrats, to get the job done. And I think it resulted in an incredible record of the Harper Legacy, of which I played a small part.”

He was part of a government that took a strong stance against the Iranian regime, helping to close Canada’s embassy in Tehran and expelling all Iranian diplomats from Ottawa in 2012.

“We did massive work in the United Nations to hold the Iranian human rights abuses to account at every turn… We looked at regional terrorism, international terrorism, and part of that was listing the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) as a terror organization and Iran as a state sponsor of terror.”

Today, Majumdar stands as a vocal critic of the federal government’s perceived inaction regarding reports that anywhere between 200 and 1,000 members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are currently residing in Canada.

“I will through all means necessary every day try to purge this country of this threat to our safety.”

A witness to growing antisemitism on Canadian streets and acts of violence against Jewish businesses and institutions, he fears something worse will come unless action is taken.

“We’re at the beginning of the end of a 47-year-old tyranny that has been the principle source of instability and terrorism across the Middle East and the biggest source of terrorism in the world. They are desperate. They are a wounded animal and they’re lashing out around the world. They know they have an existential fight.

“Ever since October 7th, I wake up and go to sleep every day worrying about a Bondi Beach type attack in Canada,” he said, referring to the savage attack on Jews celebrating Hanukkah last year at the iconic beach in Sydney, Australia.

Despite everything, Majumdar remains unshakable in his conviction: Jewish life will do more than just survive – it will flourish.

“The Jewish world in the diaspora is protecting itself. It’s strong and it is successful. It’s fighting. It’s not taking this quietly,” he said, noting more and more people are reconnecting with Jewish life.

“Jewish identity is one of a culture of life, not one of death. And it’s about human connection and all those beautiful things that I think the world needs more of.

“Like we need to be more inspired by Jewish life. rather than marginalize it. And in the diaspora, I’m actually encouraged with how tough the Jewish world is, how tough the kids are.”

It’s a message he will take with him to the Friends of JNF event as he gets a chance to once again sit down with his mentor and thank him for his contributions to Canada.

“That’s a very special thing I get to do for a man on whose shoulders I stand,” said Majumdar.

“He’s a man who has fierce moral clarity, who intelligently organized Canada to be more at peace with itself and confident in the world that it had been in maybe a generation.”

The May 24 Edmonton Negev Gala Leadership and Legacy begins with a VIP reception at 5:30, with the main program beginning at 7:30. Tickets can be purchased at friendsofjnfca.org/edmnegev2026/register.asp.  The location will be shared after registration.