Dr. Joseph Khoury is Associate Professor of English at St. Francis Xavier University (StFX) in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He studied Political Philosophy and Comparative Literature and specializes in Shakespeare. Joseph is currently Editor of a book series on the Renaissance, and is Chair of the Festival Antigonish Summer Theatre, considered one of the top five professional summer theatres in Canada.

In 2015, Joseph served as Juror for the Governor-General’s Literary Prize (English Non-Fiction). Joseph received the Outstanding Teaching Award at StFX in 2016. Before taking his post at StFX, Joseph taught high school in Ottawa (English, history, and civics).

Joseph fell into politics at an early age. Three months shy of his twelfth birthday, Joseph and his family became landed immigrants in September 1976, after having been internally displaced refugees on the run for two years following the occupation of their home in Beirut during Lebanon’s 1975 civil war.

Joseph and his family landed in Mirabel, Québec with just a few dollars and able to speak Arabic only. They have always expressed their gratitude to Pierre Trudeau’s welcoming of Lebanese people displaced by the civil war. Joseph co-founded the StFX for SAFE (Syria Antigonish Families Embrace) which raised over $100 000 to help sponsor several Syrian Refugee families, now settled in Antigonish.

Joseph’s first volunteer activity for the Liberal Party was in Ottawa Centre 35 years ago. An active political volunteer over the years, he picked up where he left off when he moved to Antigonish to take up his position at StFX. Joseph became President of the Antigonish Liberal Association in 2011, where they initiated town halls, community breakfasts and BBQs, and strengthened their ground game in order to win back the provincial riding in 2013.

Joseph became Regional Director for Central Nova in 2014 and worked with the Central Nova team to win back the federal riding in 2015. He has worked on over a dozen provincial and federal election campaigns as a senior member of the campaign teams.

Joseph is married to Janet Becigneul, a former journalist and public relations and communications specialist—they were set up by a Liberal MP when Janet worked on the Hill. They have two children: Juliana is currently at university and served as a Parliamentary Page in 2015, and James made his debut as an official Young Liberal at the 2018 Provincial AGM.

In his new role, Joseph is looking forward to working collaboratively with Liberals across the Province.