Madan Kumar Giri
Madan Kumar Giri was born in Sipsu, Bhutan. His family belong to the Nepalese-speaking Lhotshampa ethnic group. Beginning in the 1980s, the Bhutanese government enacted measures against the Lhotshampa and eventually ordered many Lhotshampa out of the country. Madan and his family were forced to leave in 1990 and fled to a refugee camp in Nepal, where they remained for almost 16 years. Through the assistance of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR), Madan received a scholarship to finish high school in India, where he later returned to complete both a bachelor’s and master’s degree. Madan and his family were able to come to Canada through a UNHCR resettlement pilot project, arriving in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 2006. Madan found work as a security guard and an interpreter and he often acts as a spokesperson for the local Bhutanese community in Charlottetown.