Sharif Haji was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Edmonton-Decore on May 29, 2023.
He is currently a member of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
Prior to serving with the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Haji was the executive director for the Africa Centre, from 2019 to 2023. He held various positions with the government of Alberta through 2014 to 2019 including manager of Alberta’s provincial affordable housing strategy, and Alberta’s primary health care strategy, and as a policy analyst. He also worked as the programs coordinator for the Edmonton Multicultural Coalition.
Mr. Haji has been very active in the community and has volunteered his time at several Edmonton-based organizations. He is the cofounder and a board member of the Federation of African Canadian Economics, was a board member for the Centre for Race and Culture, Edmonton Multicultural Coalition. Mr.Haji also sat on the community impact council for the United Way - Alberta Capital Region, and the community housing affordability collective in Calgary.
Mr. Haji received the Queen Elizabeth II platinum jubilee medal in 2023.
He was born in Somalia and holds both an undergraduate degree from the University of South Africa, and a master’s degree in public health, with specialization on global health, from the University of Alberta. Mr. Haji is married and has three children.
Mr. Haji is proud to be the first person of East African descent to be elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, and the first black Muslim elected to this position.
He was the 963rd Member to be sworn into the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
A complete listing of the legislative committees each Member has served on can be found under the Roles tab on their individual Member page.