By Alexander Witt (3L)
Salim Kassam came over to me after Justice Abella’s Q&A session ended on November 3 to tell me that Canadian citizenship means much more than a travel document. Minutes before, I had asked Justice Abella what Canadian citizenship means to her, and in doing so I indicated that it is not much more than a right to a passport. He wanted to tell me that Canadian citizenship means a lot more than a passport. But his initial reaction was to tell me “You’re taking it for granted!”
Kassam was born in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. His grandfather came, at age eight, from India in 1906. In the early 1970s, at the same time as East Indians were expelled from Idi Amin’s Uganda, East Indians in Tanzania suffered from government discrimination. Homes and businesses were nationalized. His parents decided that the family had to leave Tanzania. They went to Karachi, Pakistan. But many families fleeing Uganda went to Canada, including some of Kassam’s extended family. From 1974 until 1984, he and his parents lived with their lives on hold.
Read more: http://www.canonsonline.com/2010/01/a-conversation-with-salim-kassam/
http://www.law.ualberta.ca/facultystaff/administration.php
Ismailimail 