Raymond Cho arrived in Vancouver B.C. in March 1967 as a landed immigrant from Seoul, Korea. Prior to coming to Canada, he received his B.A. degree in English from the University of Foreign Studies and worked for the Cultural Division of the American Embassy in South Korea. As a newcomer to Canada, he worked three jobs simultaneously: as a miner, waiter and a janitor, in order to pay for university. He subsequently went on to get his first Master’s degree of Social Work from the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Toronto. He later went on to receive a Master’s degree of Education and a Doctorate degree in counselling psychology, from the University of Toronto.
After pursuing a career as a social worker with the Catholic Children’s Aid Society, Raymond made his first foray into politics in 1991, when he was first elected as a Metro Councilor. He was eventually re-elected a total of 8 times to the amalgamated City of Toronto since 1997.
In Sept 2016, Raymond won a provincial by-election in the riding of Scarborough-Rouge River and became the first Korean born member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. He was re-elected in 2018 and 2022. Raymond served as Ontario’s Minister of Seniors and Accessibility. Raymond feels incredibly humbled to represent a riding of wide variety of diverse ethnic background and has continued at both the Municipal and Provincial level to serve and stand up for the residents of his Scarborough with dedication, compassion and humility.