A victim of racial persecution in Uganda, Alberta's new Lieutenant-Governor found safety in Canada

National Post, 04 September 2020

Salma Lakhani and her husband were among the 60,000 'Asians' despoiled of their property and expelled by Idi Amin over 90 days in 1972.

For those of us whose parents immigrated to Canada, leaving behind worrisome prospects elsewhere to raise productive citizens here and contribute to the common good, these past months have been a bit unsettling. In listening to the voices of those who view the history of Canada as a racist criminal enterprise, we wonder: Did our parents make a mistake in sacrificing so much to come here? Canadian history is not without shadows, but were so many like our parents, from so many different places, wrong to see the light of justice and opportunity here?

A bright light shone last week in Edmonton at the installation of Salma Lakhani, selected by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to be the 19th lieutenant-governor of Alberta. Mrs. Lakhani, now Her Honour, along with her husband, Dr. Zaheer Lakhani, arrived in Edmonton in July 1977, stateless persons given protection and passage by the British Crown. That she is now Her Majesty’s vice-regal representative reveals something profound about that Crown as a humane presence in global affairs, if such a thing can be admitted in the current fevered environment.

The Lakhanis are from Kampala, Uganda’s capital. They were part of the vibrant “Asian” community, as people from the subcontinent were referred to. In August 1972, Idi Amin expelled all such “Asians” — some 60,000 people — from the country, stripping them of their status and despoiling them of their property. In the long and lamentable history of racism, the expulsion of the Uganda Asians — given 90 days to leave the country — is one of the more egregious chapters.

Still, as Dr. Lakhani himself acknowledges, it could have been worse. The Asians were expelled and made good lives for themselves in Britain, Canada and elsewhere. Many of the Africans who were left behind under Amin’s rule did not even survive. When a maniacal despotic racist is massacring hundreds of thousands, it is safer to be abroad.

Continue reading at the National Post:
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/raymond-j-de-souza-a-victim-of-racial-persecution-in-uganda-albertas-new-lieutenant-governor-found-safety-in-canada