Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, March 29, 2008
FARID DAMJI
Sector: Community
Origin: Uganda
Years in Canada: 34
Farid Damji is the media liaison for Metro Vancouver’s roughly 12,000 Ismaili Muslims, a generally well-educated and well-off community that follows the Aga Khan, an urbane European billionaire, philanthropist and spiritual teacher. As a volunteer representative of the Ismaili Council of B.C., Damji, who is affable and ever-polite, stickhandles media inquiries into the relatively private community.
SHEHNI DOSSA
Sector: Law
Origin: Kenya
Years in Canada: 34
Shehni Dossa was appointed a provincial court judge in 2000, when the B.C. New Democratic Party was in office. Active in the Ismaili Muslim community, she is a former convener of the annual Agha Khan partnership walk for international development. Obtaining her law degree at the University of B.C., she went on to work as a lawyer and now, in addition to serving as a judge, sits on many professional and governmental bodies. Once asked why she doesn’t wear a veil or head scarf, Dossa said, “The Koran talks about modesty but it doesn’t talk about being veiled. The Koran is actually the first document that regards women as legal people. The prophet Mohammed was very much for the emancipation of women.”
Vancouver Sun
Ismailimail 