Ottawa

Today in the tabloids

Is the Defence Minister preparing to leave politics? Who knows. More important, who is that pretty lady he escorted to the ball last night?

But what really piqued interest Wednesday evening was MacKay’s date, former Miss Canada Nazanin Afshin-Jam.

A self-described singer-songwriter and actress, the Iranian-born Afshin-Jam was the runner-up at the Miss World beauty competition in 2003. She released a debut pop-world beat album called Someday in 2007 … Afshin-Jam and her family fled Tehran for Canada in 1980, in the midst of the Iranian revolution, after her father was tortured. The president and co-founder of the human rights group Stop Child Executions, Afshin-Jam describes herself as a human rights activist and has travelled to Ethiopia to bring awareness to issues affecting young women …

A former Royal Canadian Air Cadet, she got her pilot’s licence when she was 17, speaks four languages, has a degree from the University of British Columbia and has worked for the Red Cross.

The Star provides the requisite photo gallery.

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