Alberta Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani, a prominent member of Edmonton’s Ismaili community, speaks recently at the legislature to mark Lunar New Year. Photo by Alberta Legislative Assembly Office, Flickr
Ismaili Muslims represented a tiny blip on Canada’s demographic radar in 1971, so much so that Naheed Nenshi’s mother had to go the extra mile to join others of her faith in prayer.
Toronto didn’t have a jamatkhana back then, so Noorjah Nenshi would start her Fridays by ripping the sheets off her household’s beds, handwashing them and bundling them still damp into a backpack.
She’d ride the subway to someone’s basement, and she’d lay those clean sheets across the ground to “lend a bit of dignity” to a makeshift prayer space, her son recounted in the Alberta legislature last Wednesday.
The next year, thousands more Ismailis would arrive in Canada after a murderous tyrant named Idi Amin kicked all Asians out of Uganda.
The faith would continue establishing itself as a powerful force of community service and goodwill.
“Beyond parks and community spaces, we’ve contributed to all aspects of life in this great place,” said Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi, who noted that Salma Lakhani, Alberta’s lieutenant-governor, was rendered stateless in the Amin expulsion before settling in Edmonton in 1977.
Also Ismaili, Lakhani was sworn into her position in 2020, becoming the first Muslim and first person of South Asian heritage to hold a viceregal office in Canada.
Today the community numbers perhaps 125,000 in locales spread across Canada — including Calgary, where the Nenshis moved and Naheed would eventually become North America’s first Muslim mayor of a major city.
Nenshi’s comments came as the Aga Khan V, Prince Rahim al-Hussaini, wrapped up his first official visit to Canada in his new role.
Prince Rahim of Switzerland became the 50th hereditary imam after the death of his father on Feb. 4, 2025. Shah Karim al-Husseini, known as Aga Khan IV, was 88.
While in Canada, the latest Aga Khan ceremonially broke ground on Quebec’s first Ismaili jamatkhana and cut the ribbon for Generations Toronto, a multi-generational housing and care centre based on the existing Generations Calgary.
The Edmonton region is home to the Aga Khan Garden, a 4.8-hectare addition to the University of Alberta Botanic Garden. The late Aga Khan IV officially inaugurated it in person in 2018.
Said Nenshi: “I am proud to be an Ismaili Muslim, and I’m deeply grateful for the leadership of the late Aga Khan and for Prince Rahim. I look forward, inshallah (God willing in Arabic), to welcoming him soon on his first official visit to Alberta.”
