BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) — Vice President Kamala Harris is known for being a U.S. senator, prosecutor, and now presidential candidate. But that came well after Harris spent her formative years in Canada.
Dr. Michael Pollak, with the Jewish General Hospital, says he worked with Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, in the 1980s.
“If she had not done what she did, then it would be very important for someone to do it now and they do not have to do it now because she did it,” said Dr. Pollak.
At that time, he says Gopalan was working as a researcher with McGill University and the Jewish General Hospital’s Lady Davis Institute, focusing on hormones and how they relate to breast cancer.
“She was in a room, she would not be quietly sitting in the corner. If there was a scientific discussion, she would ask pointed questions. She would listen carefully. She was serious,” said Dr. Pollak.
He also says Gopalan was a pioneer for other reasons, like being a woman researcher in a male-dominated field and having an informal lab environment that he says is now normal.
It was also in her lab where he says he first met one of Gopalan’s daughters.
“I had to ask her some technical question because she did give me some advice from time to time. I said, wait a minute, I thought you introduced me to everybody in your lab. Who is that person? And she said, oh that is not a student. That’s Kamala. That’s my daughter,” said Dr. Pollak.
While she was in Montreal, Harris spent her time at an English school, Westmount High School, from 1978 until she graduated in 1981.
Westmount freshman Ione Coombs learned of the school’s storied alum after seeing a piece depicting Harris within the building’s halls. An inspiration for her and others, like Aminata Diallo, who says she believes the school shaped who Harris is today.
“High school is something that is very important to someone because they are still young. So, they take away from there. So I know that maybe the teachers had a big influence on her and it helped her to fulfill her dreams,” said Diallo.
As for teachers, it’s a chance to tell their students to dream of what is possible.
“I appreciate the attention Kamala Harris has brought to Westmount because again we are a public school, and that for me is the bragging moment, right? It is that a public school produced this, this person,” said Head of Culture and Citizenship Quebec at Westmount High School Sabrina Jafralie.