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| The
Other Indian Americans |
By
Lavina Melwani |
| A stone’s throw
away from the American border, a million
Indians call it home. |
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It’s
so near and yet so far.
It’s a country spanning 5,514 kms
and six time zones from east to west.
Its land area, third only after Russia and
China, could contain 18 countries the size
of France or 40 United Kingdoms.
Oceans on three sides surround it and its
maritime boundary could circle the earth
more than six times.
And nearly a million people of Indian origin
call it home.
The country? Canada, of course! It’s
America’s closest neighbor, that perennially
forgotten cousin. Canada and America are
both nations in North America, yet the Land
of the Maple Leaf is overshadowed by its
flashier sibling. |
It’s within shouting
distance of New York. In fact, stand on
the Canadian side of the Niagara Falls and
you can see, almost like a mirror image,
American tourists waving from across the
border. Yet few Indian Americans have connected
with their desi biradri across the border
— socially, culturally or economically.
Indians have been coming to Canada since
the 1890’s and though Lake Ontario
may not have Lady Liberty holding up her
lamp, this country is one of the most immigrant-friendly
nations in the world and quite partial to
Indians.
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Indeed, at
a time when America is turning increasingly
paranoid and inward-looking, closing its
doors to anyone who’s brown or has
a strange-sounding last name, Canada is
spreading out the welcome mat and turning
on the porch light.
“We need
immigrants. We cannot survive without immigration,”
says Chantal Ramsay, manager, Business Immigration
Section, Ministry of Economic Development
and Trade in Toronto, in what would surely
sound like music to would-be immigrants’
ears. “By the year 2013, a 100 percent
of our labor market growth will come from
immigration. There is no question in anybody’s
mind that we as a country are in the business
of attracting immigrants.”
The Indian community in Canada traces its
origins to Vancouver in the 1890’s
when Sikhs worked on the Canadian National
Railroad, alongside Chinese laborers. While
Vancouver has a large Sikh and Ismaili community,
Toronto has drawn people from practically
every part of India.
“Today the
Indian origin community in the Greater Toronto
Area (GTA) is truly diverse, coming from
India, East Africa and the Gulf and are
from backgrounds from all over India,”
says Divyabh Manchanda, Consul General of
India in Toronto. “Their professions
are also very wide ranging: business, professors,
engineers, doctors, taxi and lorry drivers
and consultants.”
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According to Manchanda, in
the late 1960’s there were only about
500 people of Indian origin in Toronto;
by the early 1970s their numbers rose to
about 5,000 and in 2004, their number is
estimated at almost 500,000. He says, “It
is the probably the largest population of
Indian-origin people in one area in the
world.”
The 2001 Census recorded a South Asian
population of 917,000 and projections are
that the population has tipped well over
a million by now. Over half the Indian population
is concentrated in the Toronto Metro. The
500,000 South Asians in the city constitute
fully 10 percent of the metro’s population
and are the single largest minority group
in the city, larger than even the Chinese
and the Black population.
The next largest Indian concentration is
in Vancouver, which recorded a South Asian
population in 2001 of 164,000. Other major
Indian concentrations are found in Montreal,
Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa.
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Ten
percent of Toronto’s population
is South Asian, the highest proportion
outside India. |
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As we journeyed to Toronto from New York by
Amtrak, we encountered several Indian families
on the train, headed to meet relatives for
the summer. And yes, the very first Indian
we saw as we emerged out of Union Square Station
in the heart of downtown Toronto was a desi
taxi driver.
New York or Toronto, some things never change! |
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| Indeed, walk through Toronto
or drive through its suburbs, and you
cannot fail to see the Indian presence.
The beautiful city with its skyscrapers,
its CN Tower, the world’s largest
structure, and the lush Harborfront Center,
is like a cooler, calmer version of New
York with an almost relaxed, European
feel to it.
At the downtown hotel where we stayed,
the Novotel, the manager happened to be
Indian. A Pakistani owned the small gift
shop in the hotel, and he became our instant
guide and advisor. In the lobby we met
a young Bangladeshi couple, both academics
with new jobs at the university, who had
emigrated just a few days earlier and
were putting up at the hotel while they
hunted for an apartment. The father cradled
a little boy in his arms, and looking
at these new migrants, you could feel
a sense of movement, of being in the midst
of a churning sea of immigration.
When we turned on the radio at random,
we caught a Punjabi station, a lively
call-in show for drivers; another time
on another channel, it was very catchy
Tamil bhajans set to Bollywood music.
Canada has a significant Tamil population,
not only from India, but also refugees
from the civil war in Sri Lanka, who have
found a welcoming home in Canada. |
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The
Indian population in Greater Toronto
tops 500,000, the largest in any
metro outside India. |
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In fact, the Greater Toronto area boasts
of nearly 30 South Asian ethnic publications,
including 16 Punjabi newspapers, six in
English, two Urdu papers as well as a
few in Hindi and Gujarati. One radio station,
CMR, Canadian Multicultural Radio, has
been designated exclusively for ethnic
communities, and Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu
programs are all a large part of it. There
are also an estimated 30–40 South
Asian radio programs, most of which have
bought time on mainstream stations and
some of these are very interactive call-in
programs in Punjabi, Tamil, Urdu and Hindi.
Walk down colorful Gerard Street in Toronto
and you see hundreds of sari boutiques,
gold jewelry shops, eateries and grocery
stores and no fewer than five paan shops!
This continues to be the strongest Little
India. You will see a microcosm of South
Asia — Sikhs in turbans, women with
hijabs, Sri Lankans, Muslims from many
different countries besides Indians, Pakistanis
and Bangladeshi,s as well as Arabs and
Afghans.
Traveling to the suburbs, to the towns
of Mississauga, Brampton, and Scarborough
was even more of an eye-opener. Indians
have settled in large numbers in Missisauga,
and driving through the town you could
see signs that told the story of a nation
in change: Nader Hallal Meat, Pakwanchi,
Royal Jewelers, Tandoor.
We ate lunch at Brar Sweets, a small restaurant
franchise in a strip mall, whose owners
belong to the Radhaswami sect and are
strict vegetarians. The huge buffet boasted
many meatless delicacies that we had not
tasted even in New York, such as chutney
and paneer fritters with a dab of chili
ketchup hidden inside the fried center.
We were told the food was cooked by elderly
Sikh women and no wonder it had such wholesome,
home-cooked taste.
In all these towns, Little Indias have
sprung up in strip malls, and Little Sri
Lankas too. You could call them Little
South Asias, because almost all the regions
are represented. In many places the enclaves
juxtapose so that it’s possible
to purchase Hindu temple accessories,
Sri Lankan curries or hoppers, hallal
meat and five samosas for $1 — all
in the same mall.
America may have many thriving Indian
communities, but nowhere does one see
the scores of temples, gurudwaras, churches,
mosques and jamat khanas for Ismailis,
who are the followers of the Aga Khan.
The Toronto area alone has over 20 gurudwaras
and over 50 temples, as well as 100 mosques,
which cater to Muslims from many different
countries.
While the Indian population in New York
or California is large, neither holds
a candle to Toronto, both in size, but
even more significantly in proportion
of the total city population. Consequently,
the different religious institutions have
a strong following. Visit one of the temples
on a festival day and you see thousands
of devotees and the sheer energy they
bring. While some of these houses of worship
are grand structures, others are makeshift
ones in old houses or industrial complexes,
some next to auto shops and Kung Fu Centers.
“Toronto is unique in the way of
preserved culture with more than 250 organizations
which vary from cultural, language, religion
to community based,” says Arti Chandaria,
an arts activist who has been in Toronto
since the 80’s. “Living far
away from home this helps in celebrating
festivals and religious events, and to
showcase artistes within the community.”
She points out that individuals belong
to multiple organizations, based on their
language, religion, community group and
cultural interests.
She adds, “Today the most amazing
and promising cultural renaissance is
happening in the community as the next
generation has grown up and are at the
age where they are involved in the fabric
of Canada and are growing up as Canadians
of Indian origin rather than as Indians
living in Canada.”
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Pradeep Sood, president
of the Indian Chamber of Commerce, a national
body with business councils in Ottawa
and Montreal, which celebrated its 27th
anniversary this year, has been in Toronto
since 1990, moving from Delhi via Kenya
and Tanzania.
He says many Indians came to Canada from
Africa with Kenyan or Tanzania passports,
not necessarily as Indian nationals. Says
Sood, who is himself an Indian citizen:
“In Kenya it was very common for
a family to have one son in Canada and
another in London. Sort of hedging their
bets.”
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Gerard
Street boasts no fewer than five
paan shops. |
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| Indians
are the second largest immigrant population
in Canada, after the Chinese. India is
also the second largest source of new
immigration to Canada, after China. In
2003, almost 25,000 Indians and another
12,000 Pakistanis immigrated to Canada.
“Unlike earlier, now they are more
educated — 75 percent are skilled
workers,” Sood says, pointing out
that the Indian community is young and
vibrant, constantly growing, with over
a third of the population under the age
of 24.
The average household income of Indians
in Canada at $54291 (US$41,748), is almost
16 percent higher than the national median
household income of $46,752 (US$35,966).
Says Sood, “Most come from India
with zero income base, they literally
start from scratch and because every year
20,000 are coming, the averages move down.
Yet, there are many making six figure
incomes too.”
Surjit Babra, whose company SkyLink began
operating over 20 years ago with a single
travel agency, has grown to include several
operating companies and joint ventures,
including a network of worldwide travel
offices representing over 30 major airlines.
It also has its own fleet of aircraft
to provide international charter flights
For those living in Canada, it’s
a good place to be. Sood says Indian Canadians
have blended well, partly also because
the country is so adapting and accommodating:
“The community here is very well
knit, and accessing or meeting people
here is very easy as compared to the U.S.
Here everything’s much closer —
even though Indians are spread out. There
are really no ghettos.”
Indians are well entrenched in the transportations
sector, as truck drivers and taxi drivers.
Many others have ventured into small businesses
and franchises like Tim Horton, Second
Cup, Pizza Hut and Burger King, as well
as the hotel and motel business, like
in the United States. Sood says it’s
difficult to fully gauge the economic
muscle of the community, “You’ve
got to understand our community is one
of those who keep quiet about what they’re
doing. They downplay what they have so
very often you don’t know the size
of the person.” |
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Ajit Adophia, a community
activist and journalist who has written
for The Toronto Star, has lived in Mississauga
for many years. He observes about the
strong, close-knit Sikh community: “Because
of their demographic strength they are
able to exert quite a bit of political
clout, both federally and provincially,
and they have elected eight members of
parliament in Canada because of their
numbers and concentration.”
Canada also has a large community of
Ismailis from Africa, who chose to re-emigrate
all over the world, especially Canada
and the United States.
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In
many areas, the enclaves juxtapose,
so that it’s possible to purchase
Hindu temple accessories, Sri Lankan
curries, hallal meat, or five samosas
for $1 — all in the same mall. |
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also a significant population of people
of Indian origin from the West Indies,
from Trinidad and Guyana. Many of them,
in fact, had journeyed from Goa to the
West Indies and one encounters many Fernandezs
and De Silvas.
“Another interesting phenomenon
is that we have a lot of Indian and Pakistani
nationals coming in but they don’t
come in from their home countries, they
come in from the Middle East or they come
in from Africa,” says Ramsey. “
It’s a very complex thing and we
track less by ethnicity as by nationality.”
Yet no matter where the sea of immigrants
of Indian origin comes from, they generally
come into Canada as skilled workers, rather
than through the business immigration
category, which has largely been used
by the Chinese community, who often were
bootstrap entrepreneurs.
According to Ramsay, for Indians, the
business immigration category, as a whole,
accounts for 6 to 10 percent of the overall
immigration in any one given year. She
says, “It’s a relatively small
portion, but you don’t have to have
a huge movement for it to be successful.
And there are lots of immigrants who come
under other categories, such as family
or professional, who end up going into
business anyway.”
Ramsay adds, “The three big cities,
Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, are draws
for our immigrants because there is the
infrastructure, both cultural and social.”
America and Canada may be neighbors,
but the immigration policies seem worlds
apart. “You don’t have quotas
in Canada and we have an active program
to attract skilled workers to Canada,”
says Ramsay. “The U.S. program is
largely family-based and quota based,
so it might take you 20 years to bring
over your relative in the U.S. There is
an independent movement, but it’s
so elitist that it’s very hard to
qualify for it.”
In Canada, immigration is structured on
merit, with a point system based on age,
profession, education, adaptability and
language skills. In Canada, unlike the
United States, immigration is a shared
jurisdiction between the federal and provincial
government. The provinces are interested
in attracting people to their areas so
immigration fairs are held in different
parts of the world.
Says Ramsay, “It’s like doing
any kind of trade show. You set up booths
and you try to sell them on the idea of
coming to Canada first, and then the provinces
have friendly competition in saying ‘Pick
me, pick me.’”
There has clearly been a change in the
American attitude to the immigration movement,
post 9/11, which has impacted South Asian
immigrant groups in the United States
disproportionately. Has that meant greater
interest in Canada? Says Ramsay, “I
certainly receive more phone calls from
South Asians who are concerned about their
tenuous status.”
And what may be useful for Indians in
America to know is that Canada is particularly
attracted to Indians on H1-B visas, many
of whom are forced to return home when
their visa runs out and they can’t
find employment in the United States.
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these individuals make fabulous potential
immigrants, because they have North American
work experience, they are usually working
in hi-tech industry and they are motivated
to remain in the North American context,
and they speak English. How great is that?”
says Ramsay. The Canadian government has
conducted seminars in the United States
targeting H1-B visa holders, working with
TiE Tri-State in New York.
Says Ramsay, “Without appearing to
be a poacher, I believe there are opportunities
for us to look to the United States for
many third country nationals that are there
who may wish to avail themselves of a country
that is not only perceived to be, but I
believe, is, more immigrant friendly.” |
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Kiran
Ahluwalia receiving the World Music
Album on the Year. |
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While Indian Americans and Indian Canadians
have not usually been big business partners,
Canada is trying to build those bridges
by working with TiE to jump start collaborations
to expand to Canada. In fact two TiE companies
actually ultimately made a business decision
to set up operations in Canada. Others,
like Satyam Computers, are multinational,
with offices in both Canada and the U.S.
Sood, of the Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce,
acknowledges the lack of Indian Canadian
and Indian American businesses linkups with
a few notable exceptions. Robin Hood, a
mainstream Canadian company, is the largest
supplier of atta flour and produces Golden
Temple atta, which is exported to America.
Since Canada is a rich source of Durham
wheat, several mills cater to the Indian
food industry. Rubicon is one of the largest
companies dealing in processed foods and
juices. Several other Indian Canadian grocery
suppliers have also entered the U.S. market.
Dr. Sen Gelda, who’s originally from
Rajasthan, came in 1954 to the United States
for further studies in dairy science and
secured his PhD from the University of Minnesota.
After teaching in the United States he was
hired by Borden in Canada. On retiring he
started Gelda Foods and his sons joined
him in the business, which has four divisions
— pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, research
lab and food manufacturing and distributing.
The company, now in its 27th year is now
run by his two sons.
Gelda shared his observations as a businessman
in Canada for 40 years: “We call it
more of a friendly country. People who’ve
been to the U.S. find that country a little
bit rough, not that friendly and there’s
more prejudice there they think. Since 9/11
a lot of these situations are more, especially
the Sikh community in the U.S. finds it
more — if you have turbans or beards
— more prejudice is automatically
there.” He says that even some Indians
from the Middle East are leaving the United
States and moving to Canada for the same
reasons.
He feels even the climate for business is
discouraging. Any sample of food going to
a customer has to be registered with the
FDA first, and the customer has to be registered
with the FDA to be allowed to receive the
sample now. A box of rotis he sent to a
client in Dallas was destroyed and the empty
box taped and sent to the client.
“A lot of Americans are very high
strung about America: how big and almighty
they are, but they think very little of
Canada itself. It’s just a small country
up north. They have very little knowledge
of Canada itself, how big it is, how beautiful
it is, which we find. Even Indians who live
in America become Americanized — all
they talk about is America.”
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At the same time, Gelda admits
that the opportunities are greater in America,
with more risk taking. He says, “Here
in Canada we have an overflow of too many
doctors and professionals from India who
are working at jobs which are not utilizing
their talents. Any professionals who come
here, it takes them at least two years to
get into their own field, because Canada
doesn’t recognize the degrees that
you have from India.”
While many of these degrees are not recognized
in the United States either, Gelda says
that because of greater opportunities, professionals
find it easier in the United States. Some
people in Canada, he says, have to move
away from their own field and go into business
even though they are doctors or lawyers.
While new immigrants take some time to
settle down, he says the ones who came in
the 70’s have done exceedingly well.
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You’ve
got to understand our community is
one of those who keep quiet about
what they’re doing. They downplay
what they have, so very often you
don’t know the size of the person.” |
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In this breathtaking global world, businesses
are interlinked in strange ways. Diamonds
have become a major industry in Canada and
almost $750 million worth of diamonds go
to Gujarat in India for cutting.
Sood says, “They don’t go directly,
but via Amsterdam, so it gets recorded as
Amsterdam trade and not Indian. But it’s
a trade that has started from here and gone
and helped the economy in India, because
the cutting is done there and then is sent
out all over the world. So there are a lot
of these things that don’t get recorded.”
But perhaps the greatest distinction between
the Indian community across the border is
in the political arena. Indian Canadians
have penetrated the glass ceiling of some
of the highest political offices in the
country, which seems so remote for most
Indian Americans, who are still at the fundraising
and photo ops stage, with very few actually
running for office.
Ujjal Dosanjh, who served as premier and
attorney general of British Columbia, serves
as minister for health in Prime Minister
Paul Martin’s government. Ten Indian
serve as members in the federal parliament,
including Dr. Ruby Dhalla, the first Indian
woman to be ever elected to this position.
The Indian Canadian community is also entrenched
in the cultural and social life of Canada,
both with its own organizations as well
as mainstream ones. Arti Chandaria, publisher
of artsNow, an email newsletter that promotes
South Asian art and artists, says, “People
say in Canada the multiculturalism is a
mosaic,” she says. “I find that
the mosaic is important, because it helps
people to co-exist, but I would like to
see people integrate and interact with each
other more.” She sees this interaction
strengthening with the younger generation.
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Pamela Arora, a second generation
Indian Canadian whose parents emigrated
from Amritsar is the editor of Anokhi Vibe,
a glossy magazine aimed at young Indian
Canadians, which celebrates their success
in music, arts, medicine and technology.
“Canada is a hotbed for successful
and creative Indo-Canadians,” she
says. ҼThey are so many bright,
second gen South Asians who are choosing
non-traditional and traditional paths as
career options.
There also is a great entrepreneurial spirit
that exists here.”
Chat with Arora and you see the range of
ventures this young, vibrant generation
is engaged in: There’s Nisha Pahuja,
whose lively documentary Bollywood Bound
is about young Indian Canadians yearning
to make it big in Bollywood;
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Pamela
Arora, editor of Anokhi Vibe: “Canada
is a hotbed for successful and creative
Indo-Canadians.” |
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Mitra Sen,
who produced and directed the very empathic
short film Little Red Dot about cultural
understanding; Sen also plays a big role
in the ReelWorld Film Festival where many
South Asian films that make their debut
appearance.
Mohit Rajhans has created Filmi, a South
Asian film festival that is attached to
the Mehndi Masti Masala Festival.
Then there’s mybindi.com, a social
organization that is well known in Canada
for its interaction with second-generation
Indian Canadians. Young South Asians are
also contributing their pulsating rhythms
to Canadian music, including such groups
as Riksha and Lal, both in Toronto and the
Mantraboys in Vancouver. Acclaimed Canadian
ghazal artist Kiran Ahluwalia won a 2004
Juno Award in the Best World Music Album
category for her latest release Beyond Boundaries.
“Yes, the mainstream media has opened
up to Indians simply because they are sharp,
talented young people that are highly qualified
for the job,” says Arora. “There
are a few role models for us. People like
Ian Hanomansing, Suhanna Merachand and Monika
Deol broke into the industry at a time when
seeing an ethnic person on prime time news
was not likely. They are highly respected
and recognized for blazing a trail and making
headway for the many South Asian media personalities
that are part of Canadian media today.”
Then of course there are the big names,
which are recognized internationally and
whom Canada has embraced as its own. Director
Deepa Mehta has made deeply moving films
from Fire and Earth to the comedy Bollywood/Hollywood,
which are viewed as Canadian movies, opening
at the Toronto Film Festival to critical
acclaim.
Writer Rohinton Mistry, who was born in
Bombay, now lives near Toronto, and received
the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best
Book of the Year for his first novel Such
a long Journey and the Giller Prize for
A Fine Balance, besides many other awards.
M.G. Vassanji, who was born in Kenya and
raised in Tanzania, came to Canada in 1978.
He is the author of five acclaimed novels,
including The Gunny Sack, which won a regional
Commonwealth Prize, The Book of Secrets
that won the very first Giller Prize and
The In-Between World of Vikram Lall, the
winner of the 2003 Giller Prize, which awards
$25,000 annually to the author of the best
Canadian novel or short story collection
published in English.
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Vassanji, whose multilayered,
absorbing novels have been very well received
in Canada over the years, was awarded the
Harbourfront Festival Prize in 1994 as one
of 12 Canadians on Maclean’s Honor
Roll. This year he was nominated for the
Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book.
It’s hard to think of any Indian American
author who has been honored as much in America.
º“In the early 70’s there
was a phobia in Canada about the immigrants
coming in from the newly independent countries
in Africa and Caribbean,” Vassanji
says. “The people were not really
used to it, but now it’s a place where
it’s so comfortable for immigrants,
especially in the big cities.”
Nearly a quarter of Canada’s population
is foreign born. Says Vassanji. “People
everywhere just accept differences whereas
earlier it was seen as an encroachment on
their territory or on their country or culture,”
he says.
“Now it is a part of Canadian culture
and identity to celebrate differences and
diversity of society. I believe —
and I think many people believe that —
it is the identity of the country.”
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Arti
Chandaria: “Toronto is unique
in the way of preserved culture with
more than 250 organizations.”
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He travels
to remote parts of Canada, to small towns
and big cities in New Brunswick or Alberta
for readings, to find attentive audiences.
He says, “I get to travel quite a
bit through Canada and really I feel very
comfortable. Nobody questions the fact that
I was born elsewhere and I feel proud to
say I was born elsewhere.”
“The Indians are not assimilated
because that concept doesn’t exist
in Canada, fortunately,” says Vassanji.
“ In England or the U.S. assimilation
is still a concept. People are coming in
all the time so Canada itself has changed.
Every culture is legitimate.”
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| Vassanji’s wife Nurjehan
Aziz heads TSAR Publications, which is dedicated
to bringing the reading public fresh writing
which reflects the global influences, multicultural
works pertaining especially to Asia and
Africa.
The company publishes 6-8 titles a year
and Aziz emphasizes that these works are
well received, reviewed by mainstream publications
and the authors invited on television programs.
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The
Sears Department Store featured an
Indian costume display in collaboration
with the Indian consulate. |
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Indian writers
who have bagged prizes in Canada include
Nalini Warriar who won the Quebec Writers’
Federation prize for First Book for Blues
from the Malabar Coast, and Rajinderpal
S Pal, author of Papaji Wrote Poetry in
a Language I Cannot Read, who won the Alberta
Prize for First Work.
The noted poet Cyril Dabydeen, who was
born in Guyana, has written powerful poetry
juxtaposing his life in Canada and the Caribbean,
often harking back to his Indian origins.
His books include My Brahmin Days and Other
stories and Hemisphere of Love.
In a review, the Toronto Star called him
simply “A gifted Canadian poet.”
Not Indian, not Indian Canadian, not West
Indian Canadian.
Simply Canadian.
And that, perhaps, is the strength of Canada.
You can be any color or ethnicity, but in
this country, which is remaking itself every
day in the mirror image of its changing
population, you can be every inch a Canadian.
So is this a real Utopia for immigrants
– or just a shimmering Shangri-La
of the imagination? The opinions are mixed.
Binoy Thomas, the editor of The Weekly Voice,
an Indian weekly newspaper in Toronto, has
seen the gap between promise and actual
results in the lives of new immigrants.
He insists that immigrants are doing much
better in the United States. Many people
from India and Pakistan came to Canada during
the past few years on the assumption that
Canada wants skilled people, but in spite
of their qualifications, they did not find
work and some even returned home.
“It’s not a very open society.
They need immigrants, but their local systems
are closed. It’s a very discriminatory
system with a regimented approach to employment,”
he says. “There is a big debate in
Canada and many politicians admit that this
is a problem, but the debate is just beginning.”
He points out that there are over 2,500
doctors who are unable to practice their
calling and some are reduced to delivering
pizzas: “According to Health Canada
Statistics they have a huge deficit of 2,000-3,000
doctors but the regulatory bodies are all
powerful. And these foreign qualified doctors
are not being given a chance to practice.”
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He adds, “It’s
ghettoization in the name of multiculturalism
and it’s not working.
People always look at you for your turban,
they don’t see that under the turban
you could have a brain.
In a job situation, they give you dignity
in an ethnic sense, but they don’t
want to accept you as a capable, perhaps
even better person than they are.”
The problems stem in part from an anemic
economy. Says Thomas, “There are far
too many immigrants and too few opportunities.
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Ruby
Dhalla, seen here with Prime Minister
Paul Martin, became the first Indian
woman member of the federal parliament.
Another Indian Ujjal Dosanjh has served
as premier of a Canadian province. |
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a time when Canada paid for your plane ticket
and brought you to your workplace the next
day after you landed. The good old times,
you talk about it. But now it’s a
very different society. Even politicians
have realized it. If you don’t or
can’t use the talent then the country
doesn’t benefit.”
But for many, Canada is a place to start
over.
Rita Sadhwani lost her husband just as they
were set to immigrate to Canada from Poona.
As a young widow with three little children,
it seemed hard to imagine any kind of a
future. Yet she gathered her courage and
with few resources, left for this unknown
new country.
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On arrival, she found
a job as a substitute teacher and in a few
years became a full time teacher in the
Canadian school system. Today, she has a
wonderful success story to tell. She loves
her job and her three children are all grown
and doing brilliantly in university.
She feels that the plane journey from India
to Canada was the best step she undertook,
because it enabled her to fulfill the family’s
dreams and allowed the children to reach
their full potential. With shining eyes,
she showed us around the house she has finally
purchased, a cosy three-bedroom house in
North York with a small garden bursting
with roses, lilies and marigolds.
She says simply, “Canada has been
very good to us.”
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Of Article..... |
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