Mr. Khalid Tarrabain was born in Lala, Lebanon and came to Canada in 1986 after finishing high school. Khalid is related to one of Canada’s early Muslim pioneers, Ali Tarrabain, who arrived in Canada in 1901. Khalid attended NAIT and studied telecommunications. He had a computer business until 1999 and today he works in the area of land development.
Mr. Tarrabain has been extremely active over the years in Edmonton’s Muslim community. He was elected President of the Canadian Islamic Centre for the first time in 1993. Khalid has been re-elected to that position up to the present year without interruption.
From 1987 to 1991, he was a youth director at the Canadian Islamic Centre. In 1991 he became a board member of the Centre for a two year term. Khalid then became the Chairman of the Social and Religious Committee and was responsible for such activities as hiring Imams, Islamic classes, visits of churches to the Centre and interfaith dialogues and conferences. In addition, he became the Vice-Chairman of the Education Committee.
As President of the Canadian Islamic Centre, Khalid’s responsibilities have been numerous. He was the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Edmonton Islamic School where he reformed the operations of the school and set its strategic plans. Khalid has been involved with the Islamic Funeral Society, which looks after all aspects of Islamic burials and the Inter-Mosque Council that served as a co-coordinating body between mosques in Edmonton. Khalid was also a co-founder of the Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities. This council lobbies on behalf of Muslims and represents them in areas such as public policy, education, media and interfaith activities. Khalid has been involved in developing liaison committees between the Muslim community and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Edmonton City Police.Khalid also serves as a member of Majlis Ashoora (Board of Directors) of the Islamic Society of North America and has been Chairman of the Canadian Islamic Trust Foundation from 2009 to the present time.These are only some of the many activities that Khalid has been involved in.