His playing career is far from done, but Calgary Flames star Nazem Kadri is taking a look back at his life so far in his first book. The memoir, titled Dreamer, My Life on the Edge, begins with the story of another Nazem Kadri — his grandfather, who came to Canada from Lebanon in the 1960s.
“That’s what makes the unique story as unique as it is,” Kadri said in an interview with Global News. “There was no hockey background for myself, no experience coming in.”
Still, Kadri fell in love with the game when he was just a little boy, In his hometown of London, Ont., he and his dad would attend every game they could to cheer on the London Knights. On the ice, Kadri showed talent early on. But in an environment where most of his teammates and their families were white, the Muslim hockey player encountered racism as well.
“As a young kid you don’t quite understand how to navigate that, so I leaned on my family lots.”
Racist comments would follow Kadri throughout his professional career. During the Stanley Cup playoffs with Colorado, Kadri received racially motivated hate and death threats. It’s why after winning the Stanley Cup, Kadri was moved to bring the trophy back to his hometown to celebrate the city’s Muslim community at a local mosque
“It was special for me,” Kadri recalled. Among the children he met on that day was a little boy who had also experienced racism and hate. On June 6, 2021, four members of a London family were killed while out for a walk. The family was deliberately struck while waiting at the intersection, targeted because they were Muslim.
Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna Afzaal and Salman’s 74-year-old mother Talat Afzaal were killed. The couple’s then nine-year-old son was the only survivor
Kadri says he saw himself in that little boy.
“That was one of my favourite moments of bringing the Stanley Cup to my hometown,” Kadri said. “Just to understand and see how grateful and happy they were after, you know, something like that.”
In 2020, Kadri co-founded the Hockey Diversity Alliance with seven other NHL players to shine a light on racism in the sport.
“(We’re a) bunch of great people that have experienced similar issues firsthand,” he said. “We’ve seen it and heard it and lived it. The initiative is to combat racism in underserved communities and give kids the opportunity to play hockey and that’s something we’re working very diligently on.”
Kadri hopes it will be part of his legacy to the sport for the next generation of Muslim players and his own child as well. However, Kadri says he’s not sure if hockey will be his five-year-old’s sport of choice.
“I don’t know,” he laughs. “She’s more of a tennis player but we’ll definitely get her on the ice.”