Monsef was born at the Imam Reza Hospital[b] in Mashhad, Iran,[2] to Hazara Afghan parents who had fled during the Soviet–Afghan War, and lived with her family there in childhood, together with periods in Herat, Afghanistan, in 1987–1988 and 1993–1996.

[3] Because Iran and Afghanistan (before 2000)[4] followed the principle of jus sanguinis in their respective nationality laws, Monsef was born an Afghan citizen.

[3] Her uncle had, years earlier, vanished along with several roommates while attending the University of Kabul, in circumstances suggested to have been connected to anti-communist political activity.

[8][c] In 1996, during their second return to Herat, her mother opted to move the family to Canada, and the resulting journey involved travelling through Iran, Pakistan, and Jordan.

[30] This attracted immediate controversy, as the government possessed a majority of the committee seats and thus could theoretically recommend alterations to the electoral system without the support of any other party.

[34] In late 2016, the Government contracted Vox Pop Labs to create an online survey for Canadians on electoral reform at a website called mydemocracy.ca.

[35] The survey was condemned as unscientific and misleading by journalists for allowing unlimited entries from one person and failing to ask direct questions about electoral systems.

[44][45] In an interview at that time, former MP Dean Del Mastro said that political workers in the 2014 municipal and 2015 federal campaigns knew she was not born in Afghanistan, but chose not to make an issue of it.

[47] In October 2016, her office revealed that she had travelled to Iran with pilgrimage visas in an Afghan passport in 2010, 2013 and 2014 in order to visit the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad.

[52] It was unclear what prompted Monsef to make the comment; however, her office later released a statement claiming "Due to a technical error a private conversation was broadcasted.

We call on you to immediately stop the violence, the genocide, the femicide, the destruction of infrastructure, including heritage buildingsOn August 25, 2021, during a press conference regarding the Taliban overthrow of the democratically elected government of Afghanistan, Monsef sparked controversy after she referred to Taliban militants as her "brothers" while calling on them to allow safe passage for refugees and stop engaging in genocide and femicide.

[55][58] In response to widespread criticism, Monsef stated that Muslims around the world refer to non-family members as brothers and sisters,[54] and that she "believe[s] deeply that the Taliban are a terrorist organization.

"[55] Many Farsi speakers and Afghans debunked Monsef's premise on the cultural context of calling the Taliban "brothers", and some have even attributed her defeat in 2021 Canadian election to that comment.