Before her career in national politics, Kamala Harris grew up just across the border in the Westmount neighborhood of Montreal. PBS and Frontline have once again produced an incredible in-depth look at the two presidential candidates called The Choice: 2024.
It includes a look at the years that Kamala Harris spent living in Montreal. Harris’ mother, who was a cancer researcher, moved her & her sister to the Westmount neighborhood of Montreal during the years when she was a teenager. Frontline talked with some of Harris’ long-time childhood friends who still live in Montreal, including Wanda Kagan.
Dr. Michael Pollak worked with Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, in the 1980s. At that time, he says Gopalan was working as a cancer researcher with McGill University and the Jewish General Hospital’s Lady Davis Institute, focusing on hormones and how they relate to breast cancer. It was also in her lab where he says he first met Gopalan’s daughter, Kamala.
While she was living in Montreal, as a teenager, Harris spent her time at an English school, Westmount High School, from 1978 until she graduated in 1981. Current Westmount High freshman, Ione Coombs, learned of the school’s storied alum after seeing artwork featuring Harris within the building’s halls. An inspiration for her and others, like Aminata Diallo, who says she believes the school helped shaped who Harris is today.
You can watch a re-broadcast of Frontline’s The Choice 2024: Harris vs. Trump coming up on Monday, November 4th at 9pm on Mountain Lake PBS.