No free sacks of wheat or land!

Welcome to the inaugural issue of The Canadian Immigrant Magazine. Canada is a country built by immigrants. Every year close to 250,000 immigrants come to this great country with dreams. Dreams of a better life than what they left behind and a future for their children and themselves.

Since my arrival six years ago, I have always been fascinated by this group of people called immigrants, me being one of them. Research into the subject brought several gems of information. Like how the Canadian government in late 1800’s enticed people from UK to migrate by promising land and a sack of wheat!

Fast forward to the 21st century. Canada has a declining birth rate and an ageing baby-boomer population. The statistics are alarming, to say the least. The average age of workers increased to 39.0 in 2001 from 37.1 a decade earlier. And the problem will only get worse. Statistics Canada is predicting that by the end of this decade, 15 per cent of the workforce will be within 10 years of retirement — meaning there will be severe shortages in certain occupations by 2011.

Immigration was an important source of new workers, representing almost 70 per cent of the growth in the workforce over the last decade. Statistics Canada says it's possible that immigration could account for virtually all labour force growth by 2011.

Research from Statistics Canada showed it takes an immigrant an average of 10 years to ‘settle’ into Canada. That is a very scary proposition. Given that the average immigrant age is 37-40, by the time the person has started being productive, he has very few years before retirement! The media continuously provides us with stories of immigrant angst. From pilots driving cabs to scientists flipping burgers. A joke doing the rounds is that Toronto has the best educated Taxi drivers in the world!

Recent studies conducted by the Conference Board of Canada have indicated that between $4 billion and $6 billion is lost to the Canadian economy each year as a result of not taking full advantage of skilled immigrants in our labour force, due largely to unrecognized qualifications.

As an immigrant, I found that whilst information on several facilities and services were available, one had to go to several different Government bodies to get the information. Yet, that information was written in such officialese, that for a new immigrant it made very little sense. In 2000, my wife and I co-authored a book with Lynda Cumming – Arrival Survival Canada. Dubbed ‘A handbook for immigrants’ the book was available globally through amazon.com and helped immigrants prepare for the different nuances of migrating to Canada.

Meeting with immigrants from different countries and professions, it seemed pretty apparent that the issues we face tend to be vastly similar irrespective of our ethnicities. By and large, they would be learning the language, getting a job, upgrading one’s skills, buying a house, etc. Almost every immigrant goes through periods of depression and anxiety. Mostly centered around the decision to migrate, and what the future holds for us. We will address issues related to anxiety, leaving a whole life behind, issues of children growing in an alien land and cultural issues.

I had also noticed a lack of a non-denominational, non-ethnic publication for immigrants. One that would bind us immigrants as one! Whilst ethnic publications abound, and do a fabulous job of making immigrants feel at home, our true success in this country will come of our ability to assimilate and integrate into the mainstream of Canadian life. For that, we need to embrace all that is Canadian!

The Canadian Immigrant was one of those 3 a.m. ideas that rob you of your sleep for several days. In my case – a year! A year spent doing research on the subject. Meeting and talking to immigrants.

All immigrants know that they will have a struggle ahead of them. The problem is a large number of immigrants do not have the tools and resources to help them settle faster. The Canadian Immigrant hopes to help immigrants cross that divide and to provide them with the information tools to help them settle.

It would allow immigrants to interact with each other and our mandate would be INFORM, EDUCATE & MOTIVATE.

In every issue, we will focus on immigrant success stories. Successes like Dr. Ho, Ujjal Dosanjh, Jenny Kwan and Ann Lippert as well as successes of the immigrant next door. Or on the street.. All of who go towards building the social fabric of British Columbia. This will, I hope, help us all feel ‘Yes! I too can make it!’ Additionally, we will have columns from experts in the field of labor, real estate, mortgage and many more.

Lastly, The Canadian Immigrant Magazine is the voice of the immigrant. We have an ‘open mike’ page. Where you are welcome to rave or rant about issues that move you.

Welcome to The Canadian Immigrant.
The Magazine for all immigrants.

Naeem Noorani
Publisher

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http://www.thecanadianimmigrant.com" rel="nofollow">LINK

Hi. I happened to read a few pages of this book a year ago. It was thought provoking and I still remember the 3.00 am syndrome..

You mentioned your experiences in Middle East and then Canada.

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What goes around comes around...
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A CANADIAN INDIAN

Neembhai,

Congratulations for launching this wonderful magazine. I did get a chance to look at the magazine and I must recommend this magazine to fellow desis. It is for us. It is for any new immigrants. In many ways it is doing the same thing what we - CanadianDesi - are doing, but this is a print media, so it has its own place.

You also got a wonderful team to work on this informative magazine.

Unfortunately, it is not available in Toronto. Any plans?

Best of Luck!

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A Proud Indian Canadian

Thanks Sudhish & Garvo.

Today is the launch party Chief Guest Ujjal Dosanjh

We plan to have the entire magazine available as a net edition, so feel free to give us suggestions and feedback. Whilst at present we have launched the Vancouver edition, we hope to be in Toronto by December! And Canada Wide by mid next year.

Research shows that the major issues immigrants face are pretty much the same irrespective of your ethnicity. A Chinese person has the same issues as an Indian or Vietnamese has! The magazine attempts to bring immigrants together for the first time on one collective platform. Hopefully this strength will help us make changes for ourselves and our future generations. The magazine is aimed at the immigrant from Day ONE to at least ten years and the articles are all original and not recycled garbage!

I encourage CD members to get involved in this venture. And a BIG thank you to R bhai for his good wishes and encouragement!

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http://www.thecanadianimmigrant.com" rel="nofollow">LINK

Congratulations to all immigrants! Your very own magazine is now born!

I was fortunate to be at the launch party last night. It was a wonderful event, celebrated in the most diverse way possible [music, ethnicity, attire]. It was wonderful to be part of it.

What a glorious day in immigrants' history. I too encourage CD members, especially those active on this board, to get involved and contribute to this excellent work [which if distributed free, by the way].

Thank you Naeem ... We are with you all the way.

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Massood Joomratty, LLB(Hons), LLM

http://www.passportcanada.com" target="_blank">Your Canadian Immigration Lawyer

http://www.joomratty.com" rel="nofollow">LINK
+1-604-590-0607

Mr Noorani, good luck on yr new magazine venture .

Just a quick comment - Some people (eg. moi) despise the word "immigrant", prefering the more-antiquated "settler". Maybe it's just me, but that's really what we all are, settlers looking for a new place to settle down. It kinda sucks that even after twenty years of living in a place one is still classified an "immigrant" just because one had the ill-luck to pack one's belongings and move from one end of the earth to the other once upon a time. "Settler" - or some other euphemism along those lines - kinda tones down the backlash and the connotations behind the word "immigrant" a bit.

btw, I don't agree with yr comment that we need to embrace "all that is Canadian" to assimilate into the Canadian mainstream. By retaining our original heritage while adding on a new layer, we bring more diversity to an already diverse khichdi, making Canada part of a more pluralistic, multi-faceted and cutting-edge society.

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i am back

Good Luck Naeem on your magazine venture. Instead of 'The Canadian Immigrant Magazine' i think it should have been named 'The New Canadian Immigrant-Magazine' . Sooner or later the reading material will be on newer immigrants.
Considering that at least the first immigrants from India who came around 1914 there will not be much to say now except how some of them became successful in the lumber industry and other business.
There will be more to read though on immigrants from other country. But that is just history.
The focus is on the new immigrants and what they would like to pour out from their heart and their experiences after coming to Canada.
Wish you all the best and hope it is a successful magazine.