John McCallum, former cabinet minister, dead at 75
A statement from McCallum's family said he died peacefully surrounded by his loved ones.
"To us, John was simply a loving and kind family man with a witty sense of humour," the statement reads.
McCallum was elected the Liberal MP for Markham-Unionville in 2000. Throughout his political career, he served as a cabinet minister in several portfolios, including national defence, veterans affairs, revenue, and immigration, refugees and citizenship.
As former prime minister Justin Trudeau's first immigration minister, McCallum helped resettle 50,000 Syrian refugees in Canada.
He also served as ambassador to China from 2017-19, becoming Canada's first political appointment to Beijing. He went on to lose his post over comments he made during the diplomatic crisis surrounding Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou's fight to avoid extradition to the U.S. from Canada.
Prior to entering politics, McCallum served as chief economist for the Royal Bank of Canada and dean of arts at McGill University in Montreal.
The family has asked for privacy.
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