Award-winning journalist Mansoor Ladha was recently presented an award by the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association (AWNA) for his 25 years of service to the weekly newspapers. The award was presented at their annual convention in Calgary on September 11, 2010.
Introducing Mansoor, the president of AWNA, Mr Ossie Sheddy, said that when Mansoor Ladha came to Canada in 1973 with his wife Anaar and two year old son, Hanif, he only had $1000 with which to make a new start.
“They were among thousands of people forced out of newly independent east African countries for simply being what they were — African-born but of Indian ancestry.
“Within a few months of arrival in Canada, he resumed his career as a journalist, taking a job as a copy editor with the Edmonton Journal. Later on, he bought the Morinville Mirror and started the Redwater Tribune. He sold the two papers in 2005 to Bowes Publishers (Sun Media) after celebrating the Morinville Mirror’s 25th anniversary and moving to Calgary.”
In Calgary, Mansoor worked for a year with June Warren Publishing, publishers of oil and gas magazines and later on as a copy editor with the Calgary Herald. In 2008, he published a book entitled, A Portrait In Pluralism, a book about the Ismaili Muslims who have settled in Canada following their expulsion from Uganda by dictator Idi Amin. He writes a regular column on the editorial pages of the Calgary Herald and for the Calgary Senior newspaper.
He has served on several public boards and was awarded the Citizen of the Year in 2004.
Currently, Mansoor is working on a second book – his memoirs — about his life in Africa.
He was born and educated in Tanzania and got his journalism diploma from Cardiff, Wales.
Ismailimail 