The long road towards honorary Canadian citizenship for Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai finally comes to an end today in Ottawa.
The Pakistani education activist who miraculously survived a Taliban assassination attempt will address Parliament as she becomes the sixth person to be awarded the distinction of being an honorary Canadian.
The event marks the end of nearly four years of effort, first by the previous Conservative government and then by the current Liberal one, to recognize Yousafzai's achievements in promoting the rights of girls and women to go to school.
The idea to commemorate her work in that way began as a discussion among senior political advisers to former prime minister Stephen Harper early in 2013 and eventually became a promise in that fall's throne speech.
Yousafzai was to receive the honour from Harper at a Toronto-area high school on Oct. 22, 2014..
However, that morning, a gunman stormed Parliament Hill after taking the life of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial, resulting in a security lockdown that forced an indefinite postponement.