Salma Lakhani

Salma Lakhani, whose birth name was Salmabegum Rajabali, was born in Kampala, Uganda; the sources differ on her birth year between 1951 and 1952, with the French article and Wikidata giving 1951.¹²³ Her official biography at the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta describes her as "a proud Ismaili Muslim" who inherited her devotion to giving back from her parents, and Simerg profiled her in its series on Ismaili leaders.⁴⁵ Lakhani was installed on 26 August 2020 as lieutenant governor of Alberta, the first Muslim and the first South Asian to hold a viceregal office in Canada.¹

Lakhani was raised in Kampala, the daughter of Abdul and Malek Rajabali, and was educated at the Aga Khan School there.⁴ She began at the University of Manchester in the autumn of 1971 and earned a BSc (Hons) in Clinical Biochemistry.¹ She was home on holiday in Uganda in August 1972 when Idi Amin's expulsion of the country's Asian minority began; her family's assets were expropriated, and she was left stateless in England.⁴ The British government waived tuition for her and for Zaheer Lakhani, who was studying medicine at Leeds, and they married in Leeds in 1977.⁴ She came to Edmonton in June 1977 for her husband's residency at the University of Alberta.⁴ Lakhani managed her husband's cardiology practice and ran an early-childhood-education business.⁴ She spent a year's sabbatical in Dar es Salaam in the late 1990s volunteering in schools and women's charities.⁴ Her appointment as lieutenant governor was announced on 30 June 2020, and she was installed on 26 August 2020 as the office's 19th holder.¹

Lakhani's volunteer service in Edmonton extended over decades: she was a mentor in NorQuest College's Youth in Transition programme and a founding member of 1000 Women: A Million Possibilities.⁴ She volunteered with the Lois Hole Hospital for Women, Kids Kottage, Sorrentino's Compassion House, the Alberta Cancer Board and the Zebra Foundation for children.⁴ She also served with Aga Khan Foundation Canada and on the board of the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights.⁴ She received the Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005, the Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012, an honorary diploma from NorQuest College in 2019 and an honorary LLD from the University of Alberta in 2021.¹ Her official biography records that she was given the Blackfoot name Iss'stoo'tsimaakii, "Eagle Plume Woman", in 2025.⁴

This section sets out different positions as reported in the sources. It is not a verdict by the museum. The sources consulted record no prominent political criticism of Lakhani; they focus instead on her community service and on her being the first Muslim to hold a viceregal office in Canada.¹⁴ The sources differ on her birth year: the English article gives "1951 or 1952", inferred from a report of her age, while the French article and Wikidata give 1951.¹²³

• Salma Lakhani — English Wikipedia¹
• Salma Lakhani — French Wikipedia²
• Salma Lakhani — Urdu Wikipedia⁶
• Salma Lakhani — Wikidata Q96758100³
• Salma Lakhani — official biography, Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta⁴
• "Celebrating Ismaili Leaders: Salma Lakhani" — Simerg (2022)⁵