Haroon Siddiqui: Pathbreaking Journalist’s Five-Decade Journey is a remarkable story of resilience and truth-telling. Siddiqui, now 84 and Editorial page editor emeritus at the Toronto Star, began his path after failing medical and engineering exams in India. He turned to journalism at 23, joining Press Trust of India in 1963. After losing his father, he tried running the family construction business before moving to Canada in 1967. At 25, he worked at the Brandon Sun in Manitoba, where children stared because they had never seen a non-White person. He insisted on being called Haroon, not Harry, and wrote about the need for multiculturalism.
Siddiqui’s career took him to war zones. In 1979, he reported on the Iran hostage crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He traveled 700 km along the Iraq-Iran border in the 1980s. Haroon Siddiqui: Pathbreaking Journalist’s Five-Decade Journey shows how his diverse perspective as a Muslim from India shaped his reporting. He says, “I saw things with Indian eyes, Third World eyes, Muslim eyes and immigrant eyes, which were now Canadian eyes.” This unique viewpoint helped him earn the Order of Canada in 2001 and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023.
For Siddiqui, journalism means hewing to facts and leading public opinion. Haroon Siddiqui: Pathbreaking Journalist’s Five-Decade Journey emphasizes his belief in strengthening democratic institutions. In an age of polarization, he urges civil dialogue. He says his motto is simple: “Tell the truth. Let the facts do the talking.” This approach has defined his work from covering wars to writing his memoir, My Name Is Not Harry.
Haroon Siddiqui: Pathbreaking Journalist’s Five-Decade Journey concludes with a message of hope. He believes in the old Indian model of syncretic culture and the need for mutual respect. As societies become more multicultural, he says majorities must respect minority rights. Siddiqui’s life and work remind us that journalism can foster ideas and augment civility in society.