Ferial I Haque
Ferial Imam Haque is a retired scientist who lives in Ottawa. She has traveled to many countries since her early childhood. She has rich and diverse experiences, specializing in science and society. Through her powerful experiences she has contributed not only to the scientific community but also to the well-being of women and children. Her conviction is that women are people and should have their individual identities, which can be achieved through education. She was born to parents who were educated in the nineteen thirties in British India. Her father was a physicist, and her mother was a philosopher. She was awarded her PhD degree in chemistry by the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, in the Summer Convocation of 1970. She emigrated to Ottawa, Canada, on July 1972, having survived the liberation movement of Bangladesh. It was a rough journey to prove her identity as a scientist and forensic scientist. She is dedicated to living in harmony in a society of diverse people and seeking to achieve a common understanding to appreciate and accept the many ethnicities of the people of Canada. Her objective is to continue to document her rich international experiences in education and diversity as a senior citizen and a woman in the twenty-first century. Ferial Imam is the daughter of remarkable parents who were both educationist in British India. She grew up and spent her life in the public eye at home and abroad. She has traveled and lived in many countries as a student and researcher. People around her have observed and shared her successes and hard times. Hers is a story of triumph and turmoil while traveling through the many phases of her life: childhood, married life, maturity, depicting her vision as a daughter, sister, wife, student, scientist, and mother. She offers touching impressions of emigrating to Canada, leaving behind the tragedies of the battlefield. Beginning a new life as an immigrant professional woman in 1972 with sad memories was a challenge in Ottawa. It was not easy. Her key role as a professional immigrant woman in the seventies was to savor some of the taste and flavor of multiculturalism in Ottawa, Canada?s capital. Being a member of many groups in Ottawa, Ferial has introduced and implemented a new vision of who women are. With diversity and tolerance, she welcomes new Canadians from many corners of the world.