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Canadian Experience has been commonly used by employers when interviewing job applicants, especially immigrants. The practice, considered discriminatory, also devalues foreign experience, or assumes that applicants cannot get in a Canadian workplace without it. In this memoir, Mansoor Ladha describes his encounter with Canadian Experience, succinctly capturing the pains, frustrations, problems of settlement and acceptance in his adopted home.
Canadian Experience is a story of a descendant of immigrants, brown in colour, living in a black society in Tanzania, who later became a brown person living in a white society in Canada. The book sheds light on the experiences felt by immigrants, the challenges of cross-cultural differences, the hurt of discrimination, and other hardships of displacement.
Mansoor Ladha’s memoir is more than the story of a life well-lived; it is a history of the tens of thousands of East African Asians – most viciously in Uganda under Isi Amin, but also in Kenya and Tanzania – who were forced to uproot themselves because of racist policies. A journalist, he and his family arrived in Canada in 1972 and made a good life for themselves. Ladha made his mark as a publisher in small-town Alberta, a white society that wasn’t always welcoming to a brown outsider.
Ladha’s chronicle is a positive addition to our narrative. He intends to make sure the Asian African saga isn’t lost. Today’s migrants are also looking for safety and stability. Those who want to preserve so-called “Canadian values” should be reminded that the dispossessed and desperate make appreciative, productive citizens. They should also look back to see values” should be reminded that the dispossessed and desperate make appreciative, productive citizens. They should also look back to see themselves reflected in the faces of those knocking at our door.
The Aga Khan ascended on the throne of Shia Ismaili Muslims at the tender age of 20 while still a student at Harvard. During his reign of over 67 years, he has transformed over 20 million of his followers into an enviable community of high achievers in professions, politics, business, law and journalism.
Renowned worldwide as a transnational humanitarian, the Aga khan has established schools, universities and hospitals in some of the remotest parts of the world. Portraying a moderate face of Islam, he has built bridges between East and West and has been a champion of pluralism, diversity and promoting Islamic values aimed at reducing extremism and radicalism.
In this latest biography of the Aga Khan, award-winning author Mansoor Ladha describes the Aga Khan’s contributions, particularly his close connections with Canada where he has established five world-renowned institutions, such as the Global Centre for Pluralism (Ottawa); Aga Khan Museum (Toronto). Aga Khan Garden (Edmonton); Ismaili Centre Toronto and Delegation of Ismaili Imamat (Ottawa), making it the headquarters of the Ismaili community, which have enriched the country through their community activities, entrepreneurial spirit, and devotion to the country.
The book appears to focus not only on the Aga Khan’s spiritual leadership but also on his extensive humanitarian efforts. His contributions to education, healthcare, and cross-cultural understanding suggest that the biography will offer an inspiring narrative of how one leader has worked to make a tangible difference in the world, particularly in underprivileged and remote areas.
This biography of the Aga Khan by Mansoor Ladha appears to be a thoroughly researched and insightful work that offers readers a deep dive into the life of a leader who has profoundly influenced both his community and the world at large. With its focus on his humanitarian efforts, commitment to education, and promotion of pluralism, the book promises to be a compelling read for anyone interested in leadership, global issues, and the positive role of faith in modern society.
Memoirs of a Muhindi: Fleeing East Africa for the West by Mansoor Ladha is a gripping memoir that explores a historical event that caused a lot of suffering to millions of people in Uganda in East Africa, and that hastened the exodus of many ethnic groups from the region. It was in 1972 that Idi Amin, a mindless African dictator, expelled people of Indian origin from Uganda. But the reverberations of this racial action were also felt in neighbouring countries like Kenya and Tanzania. It is within these racially challenging and life-threatening circumstances that Mansoor Ladha, living in Nairobi at the time, decided to flee from Kenya, seeking refuge in Canada.
This is a memoir that bears witness to history and that succinctly captures the pains and frustrations of many people who lived in East Africa under the leadership of Idi Amin. Writing in a very accessible and captivating style, the author captures the political setting with forensic clarity, bearing witness to what happens when a nation decides to draw a line between peoples of different ethnic origins, religions, and regions. This book also illustrates the trauma, the fears, and hopes of those who witnessed the ruthless regime of Idi Amin and the accompanying turbulence. This is an inspiring story, a journey of one man’s passage from despair to hope, and a succinct rebuke of dictatorship. It’s a story about a nightmare, and the only difference is that it is real. Readers will enjoy the historical and political references in this memoir, the engaging social commentaries, and the protagonist’s determination to find freedom. Memoirs of a Muhindi: Fleeing East Africa for the West by Mansoor Ladha will transport readers to an Africa they’d never want to be part of, a story of survival and hope
In August 1972, Idi Amin demanded that all Asians exit Uganda in 90 days. In the neighbouring countries of Tanzania and Kenya, Asians – or Muhindi as they were known – found themselves on edge. In his second book, Calgary-based author Mansoor Ladha recounts this experience, and addresses a question that is on the minds of many immigrants in North America these days: “Will we ever be fully accepted here?”
Written as a series of reminiscences, Ladha, third generation in his family to live outside his grandfather’s native India, begins his story with his birth on the East African island of Zanzibar. He details growing up in the sheltered and privileged Shia Ismaili Muslim community, where he has little interaction with Africans except for family servants. Ethnic Indians, or Asians, who travelled to East Africa to become traders, are considered by Africans to be “people without a country, without a home” and, worse, “bloodsuckers.”
Ladha recounts his early interactions with Africans in 1961, while attending a Dar Es Salaam high school, at a time when Tanzanian independence loomed. At university, Ladha becomes a student politician, even meeting a man he worships: Julius Nyerere, the country’s first president. Expelled for his activism, Ladha finds a job as a journalist only to discover that the policy of Africanization works against him. Angry, he moves to Kenya, but with tensions rising throughout East Africa, he realizes it is time to leave the continent for good.
Canada is the destination of choice for himself, his wife, and child, but life here is not easy. His lack of “Canadian experience” shuts doors, as does his ethnic background. When he finally gets a job with the Edmonton Journal, he is asked if he will go by the name “Mike.” Eventually, he finds success as a small-town publisher of two Alberta weeklies.
Ladha can be a scattered writer, dizzying the reader with tangential asides. Memoirs of a Muhindi is constructed as a series of anecdotes; it lacks in-depth analysis. But Ladha asks important questions and ends the book with a “diasporic lament,” noting that he is still interrogated about his nationality, despite living in Canada for decades. Our best multicultural intentions notwithstanding, skin colour still trumps belonging.
This is a collection of essays and editorial columns describing several topical, contemporary, and somewhat controversial issues of the day. The essays, for example, discuss such issues as not all Muslims are terrorists, an open letter to President Trump, Consider boycotting Modi’s India, Aga Khan: End of an era, Myths about Muslims, Mandela’s biggest legacy, Action needed to curb anti-Muslim hatred and many topics of interest.
In A Portrait in Pluralism: Aga Khan’s Shia Ismaili Muslims, Mansoor Ladha highlights the Ismaili community
practising pluralism and featuring the late Aga Khan IV as the fiercest champion of pluralism. He also explains the basic traditions and practices of one of Canada’s newest immigrants, the Shia Ismaili Muslims and how they have progressed under the guidance of their spiritual leader, the late Aga Khan IV, a direct descendent of Prophet Mohamed, who passed away in February 2025.
The late Aga Khan was always a great admirer of Canada and its pluralistic society and it is because of that that he partnered with the Canadian government to build the Global Centre for Pluralism in Ottawa.
While the Islamic militancy continues to flourish under Al Qaeda’s banner in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and elsewhere, the Aga Khan IV portrayed another face of Islam through his humanitarian work in international development. The Shia Ismaili Muslims, through their late Imam, have through volunteerism, pluralism and humanitarianism, been eradicating poverty in developing countries, by building schools, universities and hospitals.
“I have got a lot of reflections after reading A Portrait in Pluralism. I feel I was greatly educated by my reading. Muslims were an alien world, not just to me, but also to many people whom I shared your story with. It was inwardly comforting to discover that a religion I once felt was extremist, was not necessarily so.
“The humanism displayed by the Ismailis is astounding and would put most of the pious Christians I know to shame. The way the Ismailis meld theology and sociology is inspiring. Most comforting of all, was how it dawned on me how similar the goals of the Ismailis and my branch of Christianity are…helping fellow man, creating a better world, involvement with community life, etc.”
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