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Trudeau's Cabinet Brings Pride to the Sikh Community

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Trudeau's Cabinet Brings Pride to the Sikh Community

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Justin Trudeau's Cabinet includes four ministers who are Sikh, including Minister of Defence Harjit Singh Sajjan.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week his newly named cabinet "looked like Canada," and the diversity goes much further than appointing an equal number of men and women.

Four Sikhs - a big portion of Trudeau's smaller cabinet - were among the 30 ministers sworn in on Wednesday.

Two of them wear turbans and hold powerful ministries, most notably Minister of Defence Harjit Singh Sajjan.

Sajjan's appointment is widely seen as the most symbolically powerful, according to Bupinder Hundal, a Vancouver journalist who covers the Sikh community.

"A man in a turban and a beard responsible for a Western country's military - that sends a real strong message, and in the community that's a real sense of pride," he said.

Others named to cabinet include:

Amarjeet Sohi, minister of infrastructure and communities.

Bardish Chagger, minister of small business and tourism.

Navdeep Bains, minister of science and economic development.

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Sikh community proud of newly named federal cabinet ministers | CBC News

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week his newly named cabinet "looked like Canada," and the diversity goes much further than appointing an equal number of men and women. Four Sikhs - a big portion of Trudeau's smaller cabinet - were among the 30 ministers sworn in on Wednesday.

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Indian Immigration to Canada

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Indian Canadians faced pervasive discrimination in Canadian society. Without the right to vote they could no longer enter professions, get government contracts or good jobs. For decades, Indians like Bagga Singh were paid less than white men for the same work. Despite the hardships, Canada still offered better opportunities than India, and hard work did pay off.

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What it’s like to be a Muslim living in Canada

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What it’s like to be a Muslim living in Canada

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‘People act as if I’m the spokesperson for ISIS’

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That was a Conservative MP's comment this week about Muslim women who insist on wearing a niqab during citizenship ceremonies. It was quickly followed by an apology, but it wasn't totally off-message: The Prime Minister himself insists that Muslim face-coverings are "rooted in a culture that is anti-women." The niqab, of course, is just one example of the climate of suspicion that's emerged around Canada's more than one million Muslims. The acts of extremists - bomb threats, shootings and stories of one radicalized youth after another slipping across the border to fight with ISIS - have shaken many Canadians. It has also spurred the government's proposed anti-terror bill, which would allow for increased scrutiny of Muslim-Canadians, among others.
So what does all that mean for the everyday lives of Muslims in this country? The National Post asked a few people across Canada for their thoughts.
Mohsin Masood, Markham, Ont. Originally from Pakistan, he is a controller for a food distribution company and volunteers at the Islamic Society of Markham.
Every time there's news about Muslims joining ISIS, I just turn off the TV. It's too much for me to bear. I have three kids - 4, 10 and 12 - and I don't want them to think this is what Islam represents.

There are over one million Muslims in Canada and so far the information we've got from the media is about 100 Muslims - mostly the new converts. That's only .001%.

At my mosque we used to talk about morality issues - now, it's more on how to downplay the appeal of ISIS. It's unfortunate.

Sometimes people approach me as if I'm the spokesperson for ISIS, as if I know what's going on in their minds. I don't know. I'm a very proud Canadian and I don't think of myself as a misfit. But you know, I have a beard. One of my reports asked me just yesterday if I'm OK if he keeps a beard. I said, "It's your personal choice, but just make sure you know the risks involved."

Soon after 9/11, I was in the Haliburton area and stopped by a Tim Hortons. Out of nowhere, a big, strong white guy and his wife came up to my family - they used abusive language and threatened to punch my face if I didn't leave. I was so embarrassed. Now, I tend not to travel outside of the GTA.

Thankfully most Canadians have been very warm and I don't have too many negative experiences. But I was excited when I heard the speech by Mr. Trudeau this month in favour of freedom of expression for Muslims.
Kiran Malik-Khan, Fort McMurray, Alta. Born in Pakistan, she is director of stakeholder relations at the Fort McMurray United Way and the committee president for World Hijab Day Fort McMurray, a day to promote cultural awareness.
Stop calling Muslims terrorists. Muslims are not terrorists. Islam is a religion of peace. We believe killing a person is killing humanity. ISIS fighters are not getting heaven, or their 72 virgins, because that's not what the religion says.

And when someone maligns Islam, I will stand up and say "You're wrong, this is what Islam's about." It strengthens my conviction to continue to speak about this. If lies are being said to you by people hiding their faces, then I'm not hiding my face and I'm telling you this that this is what we do, this is what Islam is - it's about community, peace, love.

[np_storybar title="Analysis: The debate over the niqab is clearly a proxy for larger anxieties about Muslims in Canada" link=" http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/03/20/what-we-really-debate-when-we-debate-the-niqab/"%5D

I have no great affinity for the niqab.

It's an outgrowth of an ultraconservative iteration of Islam that I am uncomfortable with - and that precipitated my family's immigration from Afghanistan. My mother was a reformer who fought for decades against such oppressive religious conservatism and I have never seen her wear anything heavier than a loose headscarf, and even then on only a handful of occasions.

But the niqab, as a symbol, is something I will defend.
Zunera Ishaq, Mississauga, Ont. This Pakistani newcomer's insistence on her right to wear her niqab at her Canadian citizenship ceremony has sparked a national debate, and a court challenge by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
There are much more important tasks - why is Mr. Harper taking time out of his job to talk about this? This issue is really personal. Mr. Harper is representing the state. It's nonsense.

It is my religious obligation, from my point of view, to cover myself as much as possible. It makes me feel more comfortable, protected. I feel more dignity wearing the niqab.

I know there is difference of opinion on the niqab. And that difference is OK. This is the basis of Islam - and all religions have some differences.

But for me, the niqab is part of my identity. If Mr. Harper wants to know if I'm oppressed, I'm open to meeting him and will show him I'm not. I took niqab at a very young age, 15, and I was not married. This was my decision.

And for the past seven years, I've been very much a part of my community. Nobody was saying, "If you are in this kind of dress we are not comfortable with you." They have given me the chance to integrate and work with them. And I feel I can do whatever I want in whatever veiled dress I want. The public is not on the same page as the prime minister.
Tarek Fatah, Toronto
Born in Pakistan, he is the author of Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State and an activist for Muslim secularization.

Ten years I've been riding the same bus and I've never seen a woman get on with a child's carriage and not be given a seat - whether they are black, white, whatever. But in the last six months I've noticed that nobody gives their seat to a woman in hijab. No one. They just look away because she represents an insult to our way of life.

I've never voted Conservative, but I also support Mr. Harper's challenge to wearing a niqab during a citizenship ceremony. If he doesn't do that, he's giving sanction to a form of apartheid, to the oppression of Muslim women. If Justin Trudeau genuinely believes that the niqab ban is like Jews being expelled by Mackenzie King, then he is unstable.
Shahad Salman, Montreal Iraqi-born lawyer working in research in health law and policy at McGill University.

It's become more challenging for Canadians of Muslim faith on many issues, I think especially in Quebec.

It's been escalating since the charter of values was introduced. There is a fear within the community: It's niqab, it's ISIS, it's right-extremists coming to Montreal from Europe. And the charter of values, I think, really gave more power to those who fear the other to express themselves publicly. We've had incidents of Muslims being directly targeted in the streets. That's where it becomes really dangerous.

This year, the Charlie Hebdo incident and ISIS, and those youth leaving for Syria - I think certainly that's made it even worse. There are so many people who directly relate terrorists to Muslims, especially on social media.

What we need, on all levels of government is a clear statement on unity and to stand firm against Islamaphobia. Again, especially in Quebec. We are not heading in the proper direction.
Omair Khan, Toronto Born in Saudi Arabia, he has been in the military for the last eight years. Currently he is a Corporal, Paratrooper, in The Queens Own Rifles of Canada. He was also chief security officer for the Islamic Foundation of Toronto.
I'm still very much a minority in the military. And in any workplace there are times when people are not as well informed about who you are and what's going on around the world. Sometimes I do have to say, "I'm just like you, I wear the Canadian flag on my left shoulder."

But Muslim soldiers are taken care of - I'm allowed to grow my beard, I can pray five times a day, I get halal meals. After the death of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo on Parliament Hill one of my colleagues reached out to me. He's Caucasian and is a different faith than me but he was worried about any backlash against me. "Hey, it's messed up man, but don't let anyone put you down," he said. "Don't let anyone tell you it's all your fault."

Being a soldier, I'm sure some people are going to look at me the wrong way, especially because I have a beard. But no one's really bothered me.
Safwan Choudhry, Toronto Born in Pakistan, he is a spokesperson for Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at Canada - an "international revival movement" within Islam - and the recent "Meet a Muslim Family" campaign.
If Canadians are concerned about radical Muslims, I understand. I think we share the exact same concerns: ISIS has killed far more Muslims within Syria and Iraq than anyone else - and they pose a huge threat to peace-loving Muslims.

A sentiment we frequently hear about extremism is that "Muslims aren't doing enough. They say one thing in media when they condemn it, but they don't really mean it - deep down they have ulterior motives." I don't think we can go any deeper than to show you the inside of our homes, to invite you in.

This is not the first time a religious minority in Canada had to really work hard to fit in and really to prove that they're Canadians. The Catholics went through it, the Jewish community went through it, the Japanese community went through it.

I think the timing of the "Meet a Muslim" campaign is pretty important, though, given everything we're going through as a nation. We have more requests to meet a Muslim family than we can currently accommodate.
Interviews have been edited and condensed. National Post * Email: sboesveld@nationalpost.com | Twitter: sarahboesveld

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What it's like to be a Muslim living in Canada: 'People act as if I'm the spokesperson for ISIS'

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That was a Conservative MP's comment this week about Muslim women who insist on wearing a niqab during citizenship ceremonies. It was quickly followed by an apology, but it wasn't totally off-message: The Prime Minister himself insists that Muslim face-coverings are "rooted in a culture that is anti-women."

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Toronto’s first Tamil Fest promises Sri Lankan eats including hoppers 

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Toronto’s first Tamil Fest promises Sri Lankan eats including hoppers 

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How does a food festival like this promote the culture of South Asians in Canada?

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There's a dedicated hopper station in the Hopper Hut kitchen.

The house specialty gets a gas stove to itself with room for a pot of batter, a bowl of thick coconut cream, a tray of tiny eggs and a collection of bowl-shaped hopper pans.

The round-bottomed pans - which also go by the names appachatti, kadai or karahi - look like miniature woks with steep sides and short handles. They sit on the stove on "wok rings."

Oil the pan. Add a ladle of fermented rice flour batter. Tilt and swirl like you're making a crêpe. Add a cracked egg or spoonful of coconut milk if you like. Cover. Wait.

A couple of minutes later, your hopper (a.k.a. appam) is ready.

"Eat it when it's hot if you want to really enjoy it," advises David Poopalapillai, national spokesperson for the Canadian Tamil Congress. "Actually you should stand in the kitchen and when it comes, eat it hot, hot, hot."

Of course he means you should stand stoveside at home - not barge into a restaurant kitchen.

Eat your hopper by itself, with a coconut or seeni (caramelized onion) sambol, with curry or even with a banana. Eat it for breakfast, or whenever you like.

You either love hoppers or you haven't tried one yet. In either case, this would be a good weekend to eat one because Toronto's first Tamil Fest runs Saturday and Sunday.

Hosted by the Canadian Tamil Congress, the street festival will close off Morningside Ave. between Finch Ave. and Neilson Rd.

Hopper Hut will be one of the food vendors, tempting us with hoppers, kottu roti, dosas, mutton rolls and other freshly fried snacks.

More than 300,000 Tamil Canadians live in Greater Toronto. About 60,000 live in Morningside Heights and can walk to the festival.

"Tamil Canadians have been here since the 1960s and we are very much integrated into Canadian society and work in all fields," says Tamil Fest spokesperson Jeevitha Deborah Lieberman. "So I think we are pretty much ready to feature our culture, entertainment and food."

Tamil Fest aspires to become as entrenched in the city's calendar as Taste of the Danforth and Festival of South Asia.

Imagine if hoppers become as well known as souvlaki?

Hopper Hut, in a strip mall at Ellesmere and Kennedy Rds., has been around since 1991. It's a go-to spot for private parties when Indian and Sri Lankan celebrities come to town.

I first wrote about it in a 1999 exploration of Tamil food in Toronto. Ragavan Thurairatnam was the manager back then. Now he's the owner and his nephew Renujan Raja is the manager in charge of rebranding.

Hoppers are an affordable treat. Plain ones go for $1.50, milk for $1.75 and egg for $2.50. Hopper combos, in the $6 range, come with four assorted hoppers and coconut or onion sambol.

Hopper Hut staff try valiantly to show me how the batter is made, but can't scale down the industrial-sized batch for home cooks. All I know is that white rice flour and cooked rice semolina are mixed with salt, sugar, baking powder, coconut milk and homo milk. The batter is fermented overnight in the fridge and thinned as needed with more liquid. (Some hoppers have yeast. These do not.)

Hopper Hut probably serves a thousand hoppers every Friday, Saturday and Sunday and 600ish on other days.

Milk hoppers, rich from coconut milk and sweet from sugar, are best eaten alone and are often ordered as dessert.

Plain hoppers are the perfect accompaniment to curry.

With egg hoppers, Raja advises, "break off the crust and dip it in the middle just like you would dip toast in eggs."

He offers one final hopper thought: "The guys who really love hoppers usually put eggs and coconut milk together - but that's a hidden secret."

Instant Hoppers

Since I couldn't wrangle the Hopper Hut recipe into submission, I took the easy way out and used Kavin Home Foods instant hopper mix (rice flour, wheat flour, sugar, yeast and salt) made by Fresh Home Foods in Scarborough. If you buy a different brand, follow the package instructions for the batter but use the cooking instructions below. Eat hoppers alone, with sambol or with curry.

I bought groceries at Yal Market (2499 Eglinton Ave. E., yalmarket.com) and got a $12 hopper pan and "wok ring" at Samy & Sons (1884B Kennedy Rd.). You can brush your heated pan with oil, but my non-stick pan worked better without oil.

1 cup (250 mL) milk (homo, 2 per cent or coconut) + more if needed for thinning batter

1 cup (250 mL) instant hopper mix
Optional:
Small eggs

Coconut cream (top layer from most cans of coconut milk)

Granulated sugar

Purchased coconut or onion sambol

In microwave or in small saucepan over medium, heat 1 cup (250 mL) milk to 110F (45C).

In bowl, whisk milk and hopper mix until smooth. Let stand at room temperature 45 minutes until foamy. Whisk well and thin with additional milk if needed to make it pourable.

Heat non-stick hopper pan/appachatti set on the stove on a "wok ring" if needed over medium-high. Add 1/4 cup (60 mL) batter and quickly swirl to cover entire surface of pan. (In a pinch, you can use an 8-inch/20-cm non-stick skillet.)

If making egg hoppers, add egg. If making milk hoppers, add 1 tbsp (15 mL) coconut cream and sprinkle with sugar. Cover with lid. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, adjusting heat as needed, until set in thick bottom, crisp on thin edges and hinting at golden on bottom.

Repeat with remaining batter, adjusting heat as needed just like with pancakes and crêpes.

Eat hoppers on their own or serve with sambol, if desired.

Makes about 6.
jbain@thestar.ca

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Toronto's first Tamil Fest promises Sri Lankan eats including hoppers | The Star

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There's a dedicated hopper station in the Hopper Hut kitchen. The house specialty gets a gas stove to itself with room for a pot of batter, a bowl of thick coconut cream, a tray of tiny eggs and a collection of bowl-shaped hopper pans.

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Bangladeshi community a portrait  of growth

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Bangladeshi community a portrait  of growth

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Toronto Star Article: With numbers estimated at 40,000, this community might be a small drop in GTA's half-a-million-strong South Asian population but it is making its presence felt by retaining its unique character.

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If things had turned out the way artist Syed Iqbal hoped, renowned filmmaker Deepa Mehta would have attended the joint exhibition of his paintings and Rafiq Azam's architectural designs in January.

Mehta couldn't make it. But the unexpectedly high turnout, even without a celebrity buzz, overwhelmed Iqbal and Azam, an award-winning architect and fellow Bangladeshi.

The duo see the exhibit, the first by Bangladeshis to take place in Yorkville, as an emblem of their community's emerging identity. "It is a matter of prestige that our work was accepted at this gallery," says Azam, about Gallery Hittite.

"Over 150 people turned up while we were expecting 20. It was ... very encouraging," says Azam, who lives in Dhaka, but whose wife and son live in Toronto.

Iqbal, whose works are on display at the Cedar Ridge Studio Gallery until April 26, agrees.

The painter, writer and filmmaker runs a graphic design business in what now goes by the name of Bangla Town, the stretch of Danforth Ave. between Dawes Rd. and Victoria Park Ave. He has been a witness to the area's changing demographic.

"There were just two or three (Bangladeshi) grocery stores when I came here in 2002 and very few businesses owned by the community. Look around now. From money exchange to laundromats ... you find everything here," he says.

Bangladeshis are the largest ethnic group in Crescent Town - the neighbourhood north of Bangla Town -accounting for more than 24 per cent of the population, up from 18 per cent in the 2001 census.

"I remember the time when I had to place an order for green chilies in grocery stores here," says Sabi Ahmed who started Bengali bookstore Anyamela. "And now, I get hilsh a fish, a specialty from Bangladesh's famous Padma River, and even sweets and snacks from back home. No one anticipated the community would grow so much."

Ahmed also runs a driving school and says new immigrants in Bangla Town prefer Bangladeshi instructors because "we speak the same language, share the same background and are willing to go that extra mile by offering suggestions on housing, school, health care, jobs" and service organizations.

When Dilara Quadir arrived in Canada with her husband and three children in the '70s, South Asian grocery stores didn't exist in the predominantly white GTA and a few families made up the Bangladesh Association. She also recalls racial epithets hurled at South Asians.

When her son, Asif Quadir, went to University of Ottawa in the '90s, he and an Indian student were the only South Asians studying law.

Now he sees more South Asians in the law school, where he mentors and youngsters of Bangladeshi origin nudging their way up the business, consulting and accounting ladders.

With numbers estimated at 40,000, this community might be a small drop in GTA's half-a-million-strong South Asian population but it is making its presence felt by retaining its unique character.

Realtor Shakti Deb says, "We take great pride in our language. Unlike our South Asian neighbours, we have a common language and that binds us. Our literature and poetry are great unifiers."

Outside Crescent Town, there are major pockets of Bangladeshis in Regent Park, the Eglinton Ave. and Markham Rd. area, says Sutama Ghosh, assistant professor of geography at Ryerson University.

The spurt in numbers has been accompanied by changing profiles. "The first wave of Bangladeshis arrived as refugees after the 1971 war of liberation from Pakistan," says Iqbal. Since the '90s, skilled immigrants are making Canada home.

Ghosh, who has researched the community extensively, says, "New immigrants are much younger and are more educated." Bangladeshis likely cluster in Bangla Town because of its services, including Qur'an classes in Bengali, she says. "There is a feeling of community."

Afroza Akhter, an independent consultant who also works with Bangladeshi-Canadian Community Services in Crescent Town, says the community "is definitely getting a signature of its own."

Nevertheless unflattering, perceptions persist. She is often asked if she is from "that poor country often gripped by floods." She responds: "And home to a Nobel Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus."

"If we are assertive and clarify the picture, perceptions will change," Akhter says.

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Bangladeshi community a portrait of growth | The Star

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If things had turned out the way artist Syed Iqbal hoped, renowned filmmaker Deepa Mehta would have attended the joint exhibition of his paintings and Rafiq Azam's architectural designs in January. Mehta couldn't make it. But the unexpectedly high turnout, even without a celebrity buzz, overwhelmed Iqbal and Azam, an award-winning architect and fellow Bangladeshi.

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An overview of the South Asian Community in Canada.

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Those people referred to as South Asians, Indo-Canadians or East Indians are one of the most diverse ethnocultural populations in Canada. They trace their origins to South Asia, which encompasses India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Those people referred to as South Asians, Indo-Canadians or East Indians are one of the most diverse ethnocultural populations in Canada. They trace their origins to South Asia, which encompasses India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Most South Asian Canadians are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from these countries, but immigrants from South Asian communities established during British colonial times also include those from East and South Africa, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Fiji and Mauritius. Others come from Britain, the US and Europe.

In 2011, immigrants from the Philippines represented 13 per cent of new immigrants, followed by immigrants from India (10.5 per cent) and India (10.4 per cent). These three Asian countries accounted for 34 per cent of all new immigrants to Canada in 2011. Census figures on ethnic origin reported that there were more than 1.6 million South Asian Canadians in 2011. In Canada, the 2011 census reported over one million people with Indian ancestry, followed by people with Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Punjabi ancestry.

People referred to as "South Asian" view the term in the way that those from European countries might view the label "European." While they acknowledge that South Asians share cultural and historical characteristics, their basic identification is more specifically tied to their ethnocultural roots. In areas such as Metro Toronto, over 20 distinct ethnic groups can be identified within the large (more than 857,575) South Asian population.

Origins

The ethnic diversity of South Asian Canadians reflects the enormous cultural variability of South Asia's people. About half of South Asian Canadians were born in India, where 14 major languages are spoken and hundreds of discrete ethnic groups exist. This pluralism extends to religion; although approximately 80 per cent of Indians are Hindus, over 50 million practise Islam and 15 million practise Sikhism. Many others are Christian or Jain. Islam is the predominant religion in Pakistan and Bangladesh, yet both countries are culturally diverse. A third major world religion, Buddhism, is practised by most Sri Lankans, but large Hindu, Christian and Muslim religious minority groups exist among Sri Lankans as well. Communities established outside South Asia are much more homogeneous, and in each community people have developed a unique identity and way of life that is distinct from any in South Asia.

Immigration

The first South Asian migrants to Canada arrived in Vancouver in 1903. The great majority of them were Sikhs who had heard of Canada from British Indian troops in Hong Kong, who had travelled through Canada the previous year on their way to the coronation celebrations of Edward VII. Attracted by high Canadian wages, they soon found work. Immigration thereafter increased quickly and totalled 5,209 by the end of 1908; all of these immigrants were men who had temporarily left their families to find employment in Canada. Perhaps 90 per cent were Sikhs, primarily from Punjab farming backgrounds. Virtually all of them remained in British Columbia.

Seeing in them the same racial threat as it saw in Japanese Canadians and Chinese immigrants before them, the BC government quickly limited South Asian rights and privileges. In 1907 South Asians were provincially disenfranchised, which denied them the federal vote and access to political office, jury duty, the professions, public-service jobs and labour on public works. In the following year, the federal government enacted an immigration regulation that specified that immigrants had to travel to Canada with continuous-ticketing arrangements from their country of origin. There were no such arrangements between India and Canada and, as was its intent, the continuous-journey provision consequently precluded further South Asian immigration. This ban separated men from their families and made further growth of the community impossible.

Vigorous court challenges of the regulations proved ineffective, and in 1913 frustration with government treatment culminated in the evolution of the Ghadar Party, an organization that aimed to overthrow British rule in India. The immigration ban was directly challenged in 1914, when the freighter Komagata Maru sailed from Hong Kong to Canada with 376 prospective South Asian immigrants. The continuous-ticketing requirement that was enacted to prevent immigration from ships such as the Komagata Maru had the desired effect and prevented immigration of its passengers: the ship had not arrived directly from India but had come to Canada via Hong Kong, where it had picked up passengers of Indian descent from Shanghai, Moji and Yokohama. Immigration officials isolated the ship in Vancouver harbour for two months, and it was forced to return to Asia. Revolutionary sentiment thereafter reached a high pitch, and many men returned to India to work for Ghadar.

The federal government's continuous-journey provision remained law until 1947, as did most British Columbia anti-South Asian legislation. Because of community pressure and representations by the government of India, Canada allowed the wives and dependent children of South Asian Canadian residents to immigrate in 1919, and by the mid-1920s a small flow of wives and children had been established. This did not counter the effect of migration by South Asian Canadians to India and the US, which by the mid-1920s had reduced the South Asian population in Canada to about 1,300.

During the 1920s, South Asian economic security increased, primarily through work in the lumber industry and the sale of wood and sawdust as home heating fuel. In addition, a number of lumber mills were acquired by South Asians, two of which employed over 300 people. The effects of the Great Depression on the community were severe but were mitigated by extensive mutual aid. By the Second World War, South Asians in British Columbia had gained much local support in their drive to secure the vote, especially from the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. In 1947, the British Columbia ban against voting, as well as other restrictions, were removed.

Faced with the coming independence of India, the federal government removed the continuous-passage regulation in the same year, replacing it in 1951 by an annual immigration quota for India (150 a year), Pakistan (100) and Ceylon (50). At that time there were only 2,148 South Asians in Canada. Moderate expansion of immigration increased the Canadian total to 6,774 by 1961, then grew it to 67,925 by 1971. By 2011 the South Asian population in Canada was 1,567,400.

As racial and national restrictions were removed from the immigration regulations in the 1960s, South Asian immigration mushroomed. It also became much more culturally diverse; a large proportion of immigrants in the 1950s were the Sikh relatives of pioneer South Asian settlers, while the 1960s also saw sharp increases in immigration from other parts of India and from Pakistan. By the early 1960s, two-thirds of South Asian immigrant men were professionals - teachers, doctors, university professors and scientists. Canadian preferences for highly skilled immigrants during the 1960s broadened the ethnic range of South Asians and hence decreased the proportion of Sikhs. Non-discriminatory immigration regulations enacted in 1967 resulted in a further dramatic increase in South Asian immigration.

In 1972, all South Asians were expelled from Uganda. Canada accepted 7,000 of them (many of whom were Ismailis) as political refugees. Thereafter a steady flow of South Asians have come to Canada from Kenya, Tanzania and Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly known as Zaire), either directly or via Britain. The 1970s also marked the beginning of migration from Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Mauritius. During 1977-85 a weaker Canadian economy significantly reduced South Asian immigration to about 15,000 a year.

Religious and Cultural Life

South Asian communities vary widely in the emphasis they place on extra-familial cultural activities. As a rule, groups with high ethnic consciousness, e.g., Canada's 455,000 Sikhs (2011), maintain a full round of these activities, whereas groups such as Fijians and Guyanese, and South Asians of the professional classes, do not. A similar degree of variability exists in regard to religious institutions. Sikhs are numerous, their identity is both ethnic and religious, and their religious institutions have been in place since the first Canadian Sikh temple was founded in 1908. They have consequently been very successful in establishing and preserving their religion in Canada. ( See also Sikhism.)

Ismaili Muslims are also both an ethnic and a religious group that has founded strong religious institutions. Canada's South Asian Sunni Muslims (chiefly from Pakistan and India) have generally allied themselves with other Sunnis in support of pan-ethnic mosques, and they too have effectively transmitted their religion to their children. In Hindu populations of sufficient size, people have established both community-specific and multi-community Hindu temples, which are used by a range of different ethnic groups for prayer, for the presentation of annual ceremonies and for important rituals linked to marriage and death. Sinhalese who practise Buddhism established their first temple in Toronto.

Most communities support a variety of other activities and institutions. Nominally religious organizations frequently support language classes for children and cultural activities such as South Asian music and dance. In addition, there are now over 250 South Asian socio-cultural associations in Canada. Folk and classical music and dance traditions are popular. In addition, South Asian Canadians now support newspapers and newsletters across Canada. South Asian programming on radio and cable television has expanded rapidly with dedicated programming and channels, especially in major centres.

Politics

Until 1965, South Asian politics were devoted primarily to lobbying for the elimination of the legal restrictions enacted by the BC Legislature and to changing immigration laws. Since then, South Asians have become increasingly involved on other political fronts. Their associations now actively lobby for government support for cultural programs, for greater access to immigration, and for government action to reduce prejudice and discrimination. South Asians have frequently held municipal level offices, but their federal participation was not extensive until the 1980s. Sixteen South Asians ran for federal office in 1993, and British Columbia had two South Asian provincial cabinet ministers in the same year. South Asians are sometimes involved in home country politics; for example, Canadian Sikh communities provided support for the post-1983 rights for Sikhs in Punjab.

Cultural Preservation

In 1994, approximately 80 per cent of South Asian Canadians were immigrants. Only the Sikhs have been in Canada long enough to have demonstrated a clear pattern of cultural preservation through the generations. Strong group consciousness and minority-group status resulted in high rates of cultural retention among British Columbia Sikhs. Virtually all of the second generation are knowledgeable about Sikh culture and language and marry other Sikhs.

Other groups, e.g., Ismailis, Pakistanis and other Sunni Muslims, have stressed religion above cultural and linguistic maintenance. For most South Asian groups, acculturation in the second generation appears extensive, partially due to South Asian patterns of marriage and family maintenance. Whether social integration will be equally thorough will depend chiefly on the future development of relations between South Asians and other Canadians.

Settlement Patterns

Until the late 1950s, virtually all South Asians lived in British Columbia, but when professional South Asian immigrants came to Canada in larger numbers, they began to settle across the country. British Columbia's South Asian population in 2011 was 313,440, mostly concentrated in the Vancouver area. Virtually all South Asian Canadians live in urban contexts in Ontario (965,990), British Columbia (313,440), Alberta (156,665) and Québec (83,320). In addition, some ethnic South Asian populations are quite localized, primarily as the result of chain migration. For example, Sikhs are heavily over-represented in Vancouver, as are those from Fiji; those from Guyana and Trinidad in Toronto; and Ismailis in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary.

Economic Life

Early Sikhs in British Columbia were almost exclusively involved in the lumber industry. They are still active in this industry, both as workers and mill owners. Skilled South Asian professionals of various ethnocultural backgrounds who arrived between 1960 and 1985 are now well established. The occupational distribution broadened in the 1970s with the arrival of an increasing proportion of South Asian blue- and white-collar workers. The exodus of Ugandan South Asians brought many business people to Canada, many of whom undertook entrepreneurial activities ranging from the ownership of taxis to the control of corporations. The participation of other South Asians in businesses has also been high. In South Asia, few middle class women worked outside the home until the 1990s, but Canadian South Asian women have steadily become active participants in the economy in a variety of blue- and white-collar jobs, and a large majority of South Asian women aged 20-45 now have paid work. South Asians have also been involved in farming, especially in British Columbia.

Social Life and Community

South Asian Canadians have such widely varying backgrounds that few generalities can be made about their social and community life. One critical cultural commonality is that they all come from places where extended families, kinship and community relations are extremely important. Generally, immigrants from South Asia quickly accept many Canadian cultural patterns, but they have tried to maintain a core of continuity in family and community practice. Parents generally attempt, often quite unsuccessfully, to instil in their children key South Asian family values. This goes hand in hand with massive acculturation among the population who are Canadian-born. Husband-wife relations are changing, especially as wives acquire access to economic and social resources. Future family changes are likely, particularly in regard to intermarriage, as the second generation matures.

As a rule, informal social links between individuals of similar backgrounds are strong. South Asians do not usually form strongly geographically concentrated urban communities, and relationships are supported chiefly by continual visiting. In contrast, links between the various South Asian communities are extremely weak and are chiefly restricted to contacts among leaders. As a consequence, it is inaccurate to speak of "the" South Asian community of a given place, for there are likely to be many. Contacts between communities most frequently arise when communities are small or where culture, language or religion are shared.

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Those people referred to as South Asians, Indo-Canadians or East Indians are one of the most diverse ethnocultural populations in Canada. They trace their origins to South Asia, which encompasses India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Those people referred to as South Asians, Indo-Canadians or East Indians are one of the most diverse ethnocultural populations in Canada.

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Indo-Canadian entrepreneurs make their mark

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Indo-Canadian entrepreneurs make their mark

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Toronto Star: The new Canadian establishment is likely to be brown, white, yellow or black as immigrant groups start to flex serious economic muscle, with an impact felt beyond Bay Street.

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Having a lunch at Prego Della Piazza in Toronto's upscale Yorkville neighbourhood, Aditya Jha looks every bit the CEO.

The custom-made shirt and designer suit signal that he heads a string of successful businesses throughout the GTA. The private corner booth in one of the city's most iconic power-lunch venues solidifies the impression. Jha, an enthusiastic, passionate man, can't help falling in love with new ventures. Two years ago he bought the landmark eatery because he liked the food.

"I have this foolhardiness about me. I see something I like and keep thinking I can do a better job," Jha says with a laugh, tucking into artfully presented sea bass and prosciutto.

Jha's rise is the supercharged version of the immigrant success story. He grew up in a village in Nepal without running water or paved roads. Within a few years of immigrating to Canada he'd made more than $100 million from the sale of his first company.

"Isn't this incredible?" says Jah, waving his hands at a room packed with diners sporting Prada and Hermes shopping bags. "Fifteen years ago when I came to this city I would never have dared to walk in this restaurant. But now it's astonishing to me I can eat whatever I like."

Jha is one of the most visible examples of an emerging and wealthy Indo-Canadian society. The new Canadian establishment is likely to be brown, white, yellow or black as immigrant groups start to flex serious economic muscle, with an impact felt beyond Bay Street.

"It was a real delight to see someone, an immigrant doing not just well entrepreneurially, but giving back significantly to the mainstream community as well," says Ryerson University professor Sandeep Agrawal, director of the school's graduate urban development program.

The Star got an advance peek at a study by Agrawal to be released this month looking at high-income Indo-Canadians such as Jha, and what makes them successful.

The paper comes at a time when the Indo-Canadian community, arguably the largest Indian diaspora in the world and the second-largest immigrant group in Canada behind the Chinese, is enjoying a much higher profile.

"There really has been a demographic and societal shift that is going on right now that is really interesting," says Agrawal. "We all know the typical story of the struggling immigrant. But what about the immigrants who made it? And how did they do it?"

Others are asking the same question.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited India for the first time last fall, focusing attention on Canada's growing relationship with the emerging global powerhouse. And Toronto is increasingly becoming a centre for the Indian diaspora. Next year the city is set to host the International Indian Film Academy Awards, the first time a North American venue has been picked.

From technology to real estate to manufacturing, Indo-Canadians have made a major impact on the economy.

The new Indo establishment includes Calgary-based real estate landlord Bob Singh Dhillon, Steve Gupta, who has a string of hotels throughout the GTA, Vancouver-based broadcast mogul Kulwinder Sanghera, and Hari Panday, former president and CEO of ICICI Bank Canada.

Jha arrived in Canada in 1994 and has a masters degree in computer science. His wife Deepa has a doctorate in urban planning. Jha worked in Singapore, Malaysia and other parts of southeast Asia before arriving in Toronto.

He started work at Bell Canada before forming his own educational software company, which he sold to Sun Microsystems for more than $100 million (U.S.) in 2001.

Since then he has been on a philanthropic tear, donating money to causes across the country, including endowments at Ryerson, Trent and York universities, while building a string of other businesses ranging from another software company to a candy factory in Hamilton.

"Not everything I do is successful, but trying to do something beyond your means is what being an entrepreneur is about," says Jha. "But being successful means that you also have a responsibility to give back."

East Indian immigrants have been making contributions to the Canadian economy since their arrival 120 years ago, when the first Sikhs from Punjab made their way to British Columbia, says Agrawal. They worked mainly in the forest sector and steel industry.

Today, about half a million Indo-Canadians work in diverse sectors of the economy. Recent forecasts from Citizenship Canada project that India will replace China in the near future as the No. 1 source of immigrants to Canada.

Still, it is only recently that a new millionaire class of Indo-Canadians has been created.

Over the last two decades characteristics of Indian-born newcomers have shifted dramatically. Earlier immigrants largely comprised families with low educational and skill qualifications and limited English abilities. A large proportion now arrive as skilled professionals, such as Jha and his wife Deepa.

But old habits die hard, and despite their philanthropy, the couple remain frugal millionaires, flying economy class and living in the same 2,200-square-foot house in Mississauga they purchased for $250,000. "My wife thinks we will get spoiled if we move," says the affable Jha.

His first big splurge after he sold his company was a tennis racket and a new bicycle. "I was the king at SportChek," laughs Jha.

There was one big extravagance: A neat freak, he treated himself to a new shirt every day for six months.

His philanthropy, meanwhile, earned him an honorary doctorate from Ryerson last fall.

In his convocation speech, Jha barely spoke about himself. Instead, he talked about the high unemployment rate of native Canadians and the need for a "demographic dividend."

"The changing and hugely diverse demographics of Canada could be a recipe for success or disaster, depending on whether we leverage it for growth ... but if we are unsuccessful our demographics will be a ticking time bomb," says Jha.

He has put his money where his mouth is: His charity, Project Beyshick, pairs native youth with Toronto CEOs in a unique mentoring process. He is also working to build a school for the children of landless farmers in India and bring computers to kids in Nepal.

After his convocation, at a private dinner attended by Ryerson President Sheldon Levy, Chancellor Raymond Chang and a who's who of the Indo-Canadian community, Jha wasn't above a little ribbing from friends.

"Now that Aditya has got his PhD in Canada, we can safely say that he is now qualified to drive a taxi here," says the moderator. The biggest laugh comes from Jha. But there is a bitter grain of truth in the joke.

For every Jha, there are many more Indo-Canadians who are still struggling, says the Ryerson study.

Indian immigrants have a higher unemployment rate (6.3 per cent) compared with 4.8 per cent of Canadians in general, according to 2000 census figures. The proportion of Indian-born low-income earners is also significantly higher than the Canadian average, according to the study.

Those who have become high earners typically settle in Canada before they are 34, and have a university degree or are proficient in English, concludes the study.

"Indian immigrants who have experienced the most economic difficulty tend to arrive missing one or several of these traits," says Agrawal.

The study also finds that about 20 per cent of all high-income Indo-Canadians earn their incomes from entrepreneurism.

It's Jha's hope that a rising tide will lift the boats of all Canadians, regardless of sex or colour.

"Every new migrant community eventually makes the transition to a stage where they start to build mainstream success and to contribute to the mainstream," says Jha. "Canada needs us as much as we needed Canada, and that's a healthy relationship."

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Indo-Canadian entrepreneurs make their mark | The Star

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Having a lunch at Prego Della Piazza in Toronto's upscale Yorkville neighbourhood, Aditya Jha looks every bit the CEO. The custom-made shirt and designer suit signal that he heads a string of successful businesses throughout the GTA. The private corner booth in one of the city's most iconic power-lunch venues solidifies the impression.

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Guntaas Kaur Cheema on the second generation youth identity

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Guntaas Kaur Cheema on the second generation youth identity

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What does this leader have to say about identity?

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Guntaas Kaur Cheema on the second generation youth identity

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Komagata Maru: Continuing the Journey -- Guntaas Kaur Cheema on the second generation youth identity. More: http://www.komagatamarujourney.ca