Shia Islam in Canada is a part of the global Shia community that continues to bond with Shias elsewhere. Shia Muslims have been a featuring segment of the Canadian Muslim society that became more conspicuous from the 1970s and onwards.
The Shia community manifests itself in two main forms in Canada. One is through the Twelver rite and the other is through the Ismaili rite. However, due to the lack of census questions that go into specific details in Canada, it remains unknown which community is larger between the two. However, both have established both community centers, spiritually attached leisure centers, as well as mosques in the country. The most prominent Ismaili center is the Ismaili Centre, Toronto at the Charbagh Gardens, while the most prominent Ithna Ashari center is the Ahlul Bayt Assembly of Canada.
Reza Hosseini Nassab is a Canadian Grand Ayatollah of the Twelver rite. Anisa Mehdi, a film director and journalist, who although a Shia, reports on her faith from a Pan-Islamic viewpoint.
Amir Attaran - lawyer, immunologist and law professor
Maziar Bahari - journalist, filmmaker and human rights activist
Farid Haerinejad - documentary maker and blogger
Mobina Jaffer - lawyer, British Columbia senator
Rahim Jaffer - former Alberta Member of Parliament
Amir Khadir - National Assembly member and former Québec Solidaire co-spokesperson
Hassan Khosrowshahi - founder of electronics retailer Future Shop
Rizwan Manji - television and film actor
Anisa Mehdi - Emmy Award winning film director and journalist
Leyla Milani - model, actress, TV host and fashion designer
Reza Hosseini Nassab - Grand Ayatollah
Farah Nasser - television journalist
Naheed Nenshi - non-profit sector consultant, mayor of Calgary
Taleeb Noormohamed - political staffer and activist, entrepreneur
Yasmin Ratansi - accountant, MP; first Muslim woman elected to the House of Commons
Omar Sachedina - television journalist and newsreader
Aliza Vellani - television actress (Little Mosque on the Prairie)
Ali Velshi - television journalist now working in the US
Alykhan Velshi - lawyer and former political advisor to Stephen Harper
Murad Velshi - former member of the Ontario Legislative Assembly, father of Ali Velshi
