Yonah Martin

In mid December last year, Yonah Martin received a phone call from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, asking her if she would be interested in becoming a Conservative senator for British Columbia. The 44-year-old ethnic Korean is well qualified to represent her fellow Canadians in the Senate, he told her, as she is a woman -- like 52 percent of the population -- and because she had worked as a teacher for 21 years and is a citizen of Vancouver.

With that, Martin became the first Korean immigrant in the Senate in the 40-year history of Korean immigration to Canada. Unlike members of the House of Commons, senators are appointed by the federal government without elections. "I'd say I felt honored rather than happy," Martin, in Seoul to attend the 2009 Future Leaders Conference hosted by the Overseas Koreans Foundation, recalled Tuesday. It is her first visit to Korea in over 20 years.

Born in Seoul, Martin moved to Canada with her family at the age of seven in 1972. An English major, she began to take an interest in politics because of her now 14-year-old daughter. "I married a Canadian in 1990 and had my daughter in 1995. From the age of four onwards, my daughter kept asking me why the color of my eyes and hers were different. Through her, I came to think about myself, my identity as a Korean-Canadian, and that of my children," she said.

Martin could not find an adequate culture camp for her children, so she decided to set up her own. In 2003, she established a non-profit organization for Korean Canadians called "Corean Canadian Coactive Society" (C3), teaching Korean culture in the local community. "The chance to enter the politics came naturally. I didn't decline the offer when the opportunity came. Since I'm an immigrant myself, I thought I had to do this," she said. "I'm going to do my best to help first- and second-generation Korean-Canadians to build networks, broaden their experience, and maintain close ties with Korea."