On becoming an immigrant without really trying

Ibrahim Hayani

When the airplane that brought me from England arrived at the Toronto Airport on July 9^th 1968, I never thought that I would be spending the rest of my life in Canada. I was supposed to spend a 6 week vacation here, and now forty years later I am firmly rooted in Toronto. At the time, I did not have the faintest idea about Toronto, let alone Canada, but I came to visit because I happened to have a friend (originally from Bolivia in South America) who immigrated with his wife to Canada right after we finished our M.A. studies in economics at Manchester University (England). I stayed in England to finish my Ph.D. in economics with special emphasis on the economics of oil in the Middle East. My friend (Fred) and his wife (Rosario) were living and working in Ottawa. As a university student, single, and supported financially by my family in Syria, I wanted to see as much of the world as possible.

My friend and his wife came to pick me up from the airport and as we drove to Ottawa, I could not help but be impressed by the vastness of this country. In my country of birth Syria, you can cross the entire country in less than 10 hours and even end up in Lebanon. At the time of my arrival, little did I know that the Arab existence in Canada is just as old as the country itself, and every single one of us has a beautiful and moving story to narrate. It’s about time that we chronicle our history here because it is essential for the survival and maintenance of our collective memory.

In Ottawa, I stayed with my Bolivian friend and his family and we visited the U.S. and did a lot of sightseeing. The last thing on my mind happened: through the good office of a friend of my Bolivian friend, I was offered a job as a housing market research economist with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), a well known public corporation in Ottawa that has branches throughout the country. It is difficult to believe it now with the way the immigration system is, but at the time, my employer, a federal agency, submitted a request to the Canadian immigration authorities that I be granted my immigration papers as they needed me to work for them. Within a relatively short period of time, I became a legal immigrant, and started making what, at the time, was a respectable salary. When I received my first pay cheque from CMHC, I sent the pay stub to my father in Syria, to let him know that he no longer needed to send me a monthly allowance. I was very pleased with myself becoming economically self-sufficient.

Ottawa is a very beautiful city and I lived the life of a single-man-working and socializing quite a bit. I met a lot of Arabs most of whom were of Lebanese origin and I soon realized that if the restaurant owners in Ottawa were to go on strike, Ottawa will starve because almost all the restaurants in Ottawa those days were owned by the Lebanese. At that time, Ottawa’s population was around 300,000, now it is 800,000, and it was like living in a small bureaucratic town, very neat, clean, and quaint. One of Ottawa’s “attractions” for single men is that the city has far more single females than males.

Progressively, I discovered how little I know about Canada, and how little Canadians knew about the Arabs. Although in Ottawa, until today practically the third language is Arabic because of the big numbers of Arabs who live there, we still don’t have that much influence politically and the average Canadian has little real knowledge about our civilization and culture. Negative stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims are rampant and we tend to be viewed as people who are prone to violence, oil rich sheiks who love belly dancers and foreign blond women, or desert dwellers who hate Israel for no apparent reason.

To me an Arab is not somebody thatcan trace his or her ancestry back to the Arabian Peninsula but rather, a person who wishes to be identified as an Arab, and who shares Arab cultural values and norms. It stands to reason that the worst thing that we can do to ourselves as Arabs is to deny who we are, because in the final analysis once people know where you were born, they will view you as an Arab. More importantly, the more one knows about the richness, vibrancy, and innate nobility and tolerance of Arab culture, the more proud one feels for being an Arab. It goes without saying that even Arabian horses are known for their unmatchable beauty, intelligence, grace, and, above all, nobility.

I consider my self a book lover. Recently I have had the chance to read a book by the renowned Arab American author and politician Ralph Nader entitled “The 17 Traditions”. In it Nader writes about values and traditions that he learnt from his Arab-Lebanese family such as love of learning, reciprocity, independent thinking, charity, business, listening, table manners, hospitality, and so on. Stories were told to him and his siblings by their parents at the dinner table. After reading the book, I thought to myself: if our culture is so rich, sophisticated, humane and tolerant, why would anybody want to deny one’s Arab origin? Furthermore, to me any Arab who entertains hostility towards Islam and Muslims cannot possibly be true and genuine Arab, and by the same token, any Muslim who entertains hostility to Arabs cannot possibly be true and genuine Muslim. The two are inextricably intertwined. After all, the Prophet Mohammad was an Arab, the Qur’an was revealed in Arabic, and Islam was carried to the rest of the world mainly by Arabs. On the other hand, the contributions of non-Arab Muslims to the Arabic-Islamic civilization are far greater than the contributions of the Arabs themselves. We are the inheritors of all of the rich civilizations that developed in the Fertile Crescent (including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine); the Nile Valley (including Egypt and Sudan); the Maghreb or North Africa (including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya); and the Arabian Peninsula (including Yemen, and the Gulf States). The Arab world is indeed the cradle of human civilization.

I lived in Ottawa for three years during which time I travelled throughout Canada as part of my work. To my amazement, I discovered that there was a vibrant Arab Lebanese community in Prince Edward Island (P. E. I.). The person who met me in Charlottetown (the Capital City of P.E.I.) introduced me to the Mayor of the City who was an Arab of Lebanese origin. I still remember that even the owner of the local hockey team was an Arab. Later on, I was not surprised to discover that one of the most famous Premiers of P. E. I. was an Arab – the late Joe Ghiz. As a matter of fact, presently Joe Ghiz’s son is the leader of the ruling Provincial Liberal Party in the Island. There are vibrant Arab and Muslim communities throughout Easter Canada, especially in Halifax where I met some fine Canadian Arabs in my visits to the Maritime Provinces.

My advice to my fellow Arab Canadians is to go and travel throughout this enchanting new homeland called Canada in order to feel its pulse, to experience its beauty and to appreciate the diversity and richness of its people. Canada is a magnificent country in more ways than one, and one of the most important characteristics that contribute to its enduring beauty is multiculturalism which has helped to make Canada an open and tolerant society.

I remember that when I lived in Ottawa, it was not unusual for people to have their lunch at the sprawling site of the Canadian Parliament. And it was not unusual at all to meet the Prime Minister (Pierre Elliott Trudeau) or the Federal Cabinet Ministers because they would be walking around mingling with ordinary citizens or having their lunch like anyone else. This really amazed me, because I had come from a country (Syria) and a region ( Arab World) where unfortunately governments are not democratically elected and despotic rulers and their ministers try to stay away from their people and employees as much as possible. In Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Sudan, and Libya, to name but a few, ministers usually have even their own elevators to go up to their offices. This says two things about them – they are completely out of touch with the people that they are supposed to be governing or serving, and that they don’t trust the people they are presumably representing.

At that time, the Prime Minister of Canada was Trudeau, who was one of the greatest Prime Ministers in Canadian history. In fact, I still remember vividly that when I was living and studying in England, I watched an interview on TV with Trudeau right after his Liberal Party won the election, and I was fascinated by his intelligence, intellect, charm, and vivacity. I thought that a country which can elect such an intelligent and charismatic person as its leader must be truly magnificent, and I must say I was not disappointed.

I was eventually transferred to Toronto and here I changed jobs and started working with the Ontario Ministry of Industry, Trade and Technology because they wanted someone with an economist’s background who was knowledgeable about the Arab World and the Middle East. After 1973, the region became very important as a trading and business partner because of the tremendous increase in the region’s oil wealth. I was appointed as an Economic Policy Advisor to the ministry. My job entailed organizing and participating in numerous trade missions to the Arabian Peninsula. My role also involved preparing up-to-date studies about Canada’s (and Ontario’s) economic relationships with Middle Eastern countries. That job gave me first hand experience about the centrality of trade and economic interests in international relations.

One of the decisive moments in my life was when I met, and eventually got married to, a very beautiful young Arab-Canadian lady – my fate was sealed and it became more likely that I would live my life here. One of the difficulties for many Arab and non-Arab individuals is how to ensure that they marry someone from within the community; so as to maintain their culture and therefore, ensure a sense of continuity. I always felt that among the most important elements that are lacking in the Arab and Muslim communities generally, are institutions where our young people can meet. I don’t mean just religious institutions, but here I am referring to social and cultural places where Arabs from different countries and regardless of religious affiliations meet, discuss ideas and get to know one another. This is one thing we as Arabs have failed to do – we have not built such institutions. Canada, on the other hand, is a country built on, and by, institutions, and in order to be effective both socially and politically, we need strong, well-financed and managed institutions. Three things matter in a democratic society: 1) Numbers; 2) Institutions; 3) Dedication/commitment. We need to make a statement that we are here to stay and that we are a visible and permanent part of the Canadian landscape. Without institutions we will always be marginalized. This is why the Arab Community Centre of Toronto is so important and why its expansion is so necessary. I dream of the day when Canadian Arabs can build cultural centres similar to those built by other groups, including Canadian Chinese, Greek, Italian, Ukrainian, Jewish, Armenian, and others. Cultural continuity can be maintained only through cultural institutions.

With all its shortcomings, the democratic system such as the one we have in Canada is the best political system. Democracy allows you and me to express our views, to live a relatively peaceful and affluent life and to grow roots. In this country we celebrate diversity whereas in many other countries that are ruled by despotic governments differences of opinions are not only frowned upon – they can actually land you in jail. The Arab World is the most diversified region in the world and yet despotic regimes pretend otherwise. Accepting diversity is a sign of confidence and tolerance.

In Canada, if the individual works hard, is flexible, and can adapt to change, life can be very pleasant. This is a country that values and rewards hard work. However, Canada can be very deceptive because things look rather simple and straightforward when in fact life is very complex and sophisticated. As an example, there are well over 100 languages spoken in Toronto alone which makes it one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. If a person gains knowledge of how to operate within such a highly diverse and sophisticated system, success can almost be guaranteed.

I now call Toronto home, where I live with my wife of almost 40 years. We have a son who is doing his medical residency in Ottawa, and who, hopefully one day, will carry the torch of our hybrid Arab-Canadian culture. I am doing my share by teaching economics at Ryerson University and Seneca College and by being an active member of society and our community.