The University of Alberta community is mourning the passing of Professor Emeritus Dr. Baha Abu-Laban, a recognized leader in the scholarship of immigration and integration in Canada. He died Sept. 29 at the age of 95.
Abu-Laban was born in Jaffa, Palestine, and completed BA and MA degrees from the American University of Beirut. In 1957 he immigrated to the United States under a special program to admit Palestinian refugees. He completed PhD studies in sociology at the University of Washington in 1960.
He started his career at Stanford University and moved in 1961 to become a faculty member of the U of A’s Department of Sociology, where he established himself as a scholar and champion of multiculturalism, human rights and inclusivity in Canada.
During his tenure at the U of A, Abu-Laban served as chair of the Department of Sociology, acting dean of the Faculty of Arts and associate vice-president of research. He also served as president of the Canadian Ethnic Studies Association, the Association of Arab American University Graduates and the Muslim Research Foundation.
He was the founding director in 1996 of the Prairie Metropolis Centre for Research on Immigration, Integration and Diversity, a research network based at the U of A that organized and sponsored immigration-related research at six prairie universities including the University of Calgary, University of Manitoba, University of Regina, University of Saskatchewan and University of Winnipeg. The project was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
“It brought together researchers across disciplines to help make Canada a better place for everyone,” says Abu-Laban’s former student and colleague Anna Kirova, professor emerita in the U of A Faculty of Education.
Abu-Laban was invested as a member of the Order of Canada in 2014 for his “contributions as a scholar and volunteer building a more inclusive society,” including his work as a leading Canadian scholar in the area of race and ethnic studies and immigration, and an organizational leader who played important roles in many important multicultural organizations.
He also served on the board of directors of Rights and Democracy, an institution created by the Parliament of Canada to encourage and support the universal values of human rights and promote democratic institutions and practices globally. Among his many awards, he received the Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005 and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002.
“Baha was a rare individual who overcame incredible hardship early in life and went on to inspire so many of us,” Kirova remembers, adding that he was a mentor and friend who made “broad and profound contributions to our academic community and our country.”
Baha Abu-Laban is survived by his wife Sharon McIrvin Abu-Laban, professor emeritus of sociology; daughter Yasmeen Abu-Laban, professor of political science in the Faculty of Arts; and son Riyad Abu-Laban, a U of A alumnus and professor in the University of British Columbia’s Department of Emergency Medicine.
In Abu-Laban’s memory, the family asks for donations to be directed to the University of Alberta Disrupted and Displaced Palestinian Students and Scholars Initiative.