Soft spoken and articulate, 28-year-old Yusuf Gaya came to Canada in the winter of 2015 to pursue his studies in Information Security Management at Fanshawe College in London. Even though he had braced himself for the cold, it was, says Yusuf, “a baptism by fire.”  Yusuf hails from Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria which is situated in the north. “Nigeria is a mix of ethnicity, faiths and beliefs,” says Yusuf, “but we have all learned to coexist together. That’s the mark of humanity, being able to coexist together.”
Yusuf had a comfortable upbringing with opportunities to travel and visit family in different parts of the world.  He obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of East London spending two years in Malaysia and one year in England. Soon after completing his National Youth Service, he found work as an IT Analyst in Abuja. A gap in IT security in one of his projects sparked his desire to study further and he came to Fanshawe with the intention of completing his course and returning to Nigeria.
While Yusuf was able to navigate the system in Canada without too much difficulty, he did find himself in a place where he knew no one. “But my experiences have been positive,” says Yusuf, “my neighbours, peers and colleagues at Fanshawe made me feel at home and accepted.”  He continues, “It could be something as simple as a smile, holding the lift door open, being addressed with respect. It is these small gestures that made me feel welcome.” 
When Yusuf graduated from his program in August 2016, he realized that he was eligible for the study work permit, so he applied for work and was able to find a job almost immediately as an IT analyst at WILL Employment Solutions where he still works. In addition, he also works at the South London Resource Centre as Program Support with the settlement agency. “Working with WILL has given me a comprehensive picture of the struggles faced by newcomers to London,” says Yusuf. He recommends that anyone who comes to Canada for the first time should look up the settlement services offered in their city and reach out to them, as the support provided is invaluable.
Yusuf is the youngest of four siblings, and he feels that being in Canada has allowed him to grow up in ways that would not have been possible if he had stayed in Nigeria where his parents and older siblings would have watched over him carefully. However, Yusuf believes that the values he was taught have held him in good stead. “I would never compromise those values,” he says, “as I would be very disappointed in myself.” 
Yusuf reflects on the increasing diversity in London. “It’s a blessing,” he says, “because we have an opportunity to know about other cultures, food, religions etc. and realize that we are all Canadians and friends.”  He is part of a soccer playing community that believes that sport is a vital way to promote unity. He often reflects on the lessons he learned in his one year in the Nigerian National Youth Service, which aims to promote the spirit of selfless service to the community, and to emphasize the spirit of oneness and brotherhood of all, irrespective of cultural or social background. 
“There are many different Nigerian sayings about life,” says Yusuf, “but the one I live my life by is “that ‘Experience is the best teacher.’  It allows me to be adventurous. To make mistakes and learn from them.  To be successful and learn from that success.”
As a young Muslim man, Yusuf found his way to the London Mosque early on and believes that the Friday prayer is a way for all Muslims to come together and commune. “The whole point about having faith is not about the individual, it is about humanity,” says Yusuf, “all faiths preach compassion and kindness. You cannot claim you have good faith if you are not kind.”   He treasures his freedom to practice his faith in Canada and feels that he has never been discriminated against as a Muslim man.

Born and raised in Amman, Jordan Hetham Karky has had to overcome several setbacks, beginning with the loss of his parents when he was very young.  He put himself through Law school in Jordan, and just before the pandemic he was invited to join Western University’s Law School as a visiting scholar. He arrived in London in July 2019 and was soon immersed in the community around him. “Since coming to Canada in 2019, I have been involved in several community organizations,” says Hetham, “I am currently the Vice-Chair of the Neighbourhood Legal Services Board and a Member of the Diversity Inclusion and Anti-Oppression Advisory Committee with the City of London, and past Chair of the University Heights Public School Council for two consecutive years.”
There are many achievements that Hetham is proud of, but the one that stands out is the establishment of the Rights and Responsibility Awareness initiative (RRAI) of which he is the Executive Director. “As a new immigrant I became aware of the challenges that newcomers face in Canada,” says Hetham, “especially the pitfalls from the differences in language, culture, law - which at certain points can be dangerous.”
RRAI, an initiative created by Hetham, was funded by City of London, when his proposal to create and deliver educational courses and seminars on the rights and responsibilities of newcomers to London won the “Get Involved London, City of London, 2019,” funding. The RRAI pillars focus on Community, Education, Diversity and Justice. “RRAI is now a registered charity, established under federal Canadian laws and regulations,” says Hetham, “through our work we aim to create a better and stronger community. Our services are for everyone and the education we provide helps with legal, financial, and cultural awareness.”
“RRAI is well supported in London,” says Hetham, “more that a thousand people have been through our awareness programs – both newcomers and long-term residents. This is because the topics we cover are often universal in nature, such as wrongful dismissal, financial literacy, tax issues, housing issues.”
RRAI has received support over the years from various organizations in London providing office space, venues, trainers, etc. “I am very grateful for the support,” says Hetham, “to name a few, Pillar Non-profit Network; the London Public Library, London Police Service, the Community Legal Services clinic at Western Law and WILL Employment Solutions. In fact, Libro Credit Union provides most of the financial literacy training.”
Hetham attributes his exposure through travel to his job with Ministry of Industrial Works in Jordan. “I was fortunate to interact with people of all faiths and cultures,” he says, “but here in Canada I was further challenged to create and sustain healthy, fruitful relations not only with people of different faiths, cultures but also of different orientations, beliefs etc. and given all the differences that exist, respecting boundaries has been a good challenge.”
“Family, community, kindness, honesty, integrity, accepting others – that is the key to living harmoniously” says Hetham. He muses further, “It is a sign of an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it. You have the right to believe whatever you want, and I must respect that. You have a right to believe regardless of whether I too subscribe to that belief.”
Hetham reflects on the experiences that he and his family have had over the past three years in London. “We have had some amazing experiences,” says Hetham “my wife misplaced her handbag one day when out shopping at a mall, and she was terrified. But people helped her, someone offered her taxi fare to get home, which she refused opting to take the bus. The bus driver allowed her to ride for free when he found out that she had lost everything, including her bus pass and phone. When she got home, we called her cell phone. The call was answered by staff from a local restaurant, and they told us that someone had found her handbag and given to them for safe keeping hoping the owner would return for it.” 
After the devastating Afzaal family incident, a stranger came up to them at the grocery store and asked if they were Muslim saying, “you are welcome, I am so sorry for what happened. You are absolutely part of our London community, if there is anything I can do please let me know.”
“Experiences like these have left was an indelible mark of the kindness, care and concern that my family has received since coming to London,” says Hetham, “this is indication of the country and community that is Canada.”
When asked what message he would like to convey to newcomers to Canada, Hetham says, “In Canada all people are treated the same – the law applies to everyone. This is so liberating, and it breeds respect among people. My advice to newcomers,” continues Hetham, “is to work on your language skills. When you have strong language skills you will be able to communicate with people. And when you can communicate things will be much, much easier.” 

Sarah Bawazir is an unassuming young woman with big ambitions.  The oldest of five children, Sarah looked up to her father to guide her through life.  She was encouraged to pursue her education in accountancy and felt her life was good until the Yemen Civil War broke out in September 2014.  In desperation, Sarah escaped to Jordan, where she applied for refuge through the United Nations Refugee program, and within a year she was accepted by Canada.  Sarah arrived in Canada in June 2019, just a few days before Canada Day.  “The celebrations were exhilarating”, says Sarah, “but the COVID lockdown a few short months later made it impossible to meet people or to attend any public events.”  This year however, she has enjoyed being able to attend some of them.
Sarah’s inspiration is her father, an aircraft mechanic who was the very first Yemeni national to work with Saudia Airlines in Riyadh.  He studied in Egypt and Ethiopia, sparking Sarah’s love for travel and adventure. After returning from Saudi Arabia, her father’s job took them all over Yemen and Sarah believes that he faced the same difficulties she has faced in Canada, just in his home country. The struggle to find a community, friends, accommodation.   When she left for Jordan, he did not deter her instead he encouraged her to seek a good future for herself.  Sarah remembers his words well, “Your education is your power, if you graduate you can do anything.”  She continues, “I saw the truth of that, because when I went to Jordan, I found work as an accountant.”
When Sarah applied for the UN Refugee Program, she hoped they would send her to Canada.  “From my research,” says Sarah, “Canada is the one country that is welcoming and accepting of all cultures, religions, and races.”   When asked about her expectations, Sarah says, “Before coming to Canada I thought when I get there I will finally start living, be the best person, realize my dreams and start my real life.”  The happiness she felt when she stepped off the aircraft on arrival in Toronto was intense and she felt so proud of herself, for having made this entire journey on her own. 
Sarah’s first hours in Canada were memorable, and a reminder to her that her prayers had been answered.  She was received at the airport by someone from the Canadian Refugee Program, who waited with her for over three hours to catch a bus to London.  Once she arrived in London, there was a taxi waiting to take her to her temporary home.  When she got there, she was greeted by members of the London Cross Cultural Learner Centre (CCLC) who had a hot meal and warm welcome waiting for her.  During her first few weeks she credits volunteers from CCLC who helped her in many ways, including finding furniture for her one-bedroom apartment and negotiating simple things like grocery shopping.  It was through the London & Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership that Sarah found her apartment, and CCLC helped her to negotiate all the paperwork.
“Everyone has helped me, even my neighbours,” says Sarah. “I have never felt worried about my safety, and even when I walk home a little late, I don’t feel afraid”. 
Sarah did not like being on social welfare, as she has looked after herself all her life. “This is not me”, says Sarah, “I have never needed help from the government before, and I don’t need help now.” She signed up to English-language courses at College Boreal and is currently enrolled at Fanshawe College to obtain her Accountant Certification for the Canadian market.  “I still need to improve my English,” says Sarah, “so I listen to the English News and to TED Talks.  That helps me to stay current with what is happening in Canada and around the world and learn to listen and speak at the same time.”
The move to Canada has not been easy for her – the loneliness, lack of a community, the difficulty finding work, made worse by the pandemic lockdown. However, as soon as she was able to, she started job hunting.  Sarah found initially that her Yemeni Accountancy degree and work experience in Yemen and Jordan were not accepted here in Canada, so she took the chance of approaching the new Yemeni restaurant on Wharncliffe road for work.  Sarah has been working there as an Accountant for the past year, under the tutelage of the owner Morad AlHarabi. 
Sarah is her father’s daughter – every aspect of the way she describes her father is the way in which she tries to live her life.  Sarah has some goals she wants to achieve in the next year - buy a car, finish her accountancy diploma studies, and get her Canadian Citizenship.   
She says to newcomers, “Be patient - patient with yourself, patient with your community, patient with the process. Work on your English skills and work on finding your place in your new country.  Work to reach what you want, because otherwise you will remain in one place.  Even one step in one year is better that not moving at all.”

Hina Kalyal’s mild and unassuming demeanour masks an incredibly talented lecturer, respected and internationally recognized authority, and published author in the field of Organizational Behaviour with a focus on evidence-based policing practices.  She has had an illustrious career in industry and academia spanning over 25 years.  It has taken her from her native Pakistan to Sweden, USA, Saudi Arabia and Canada. 

Hina received her first PhD in Business Administration from NUST Business School, Pakistan and was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship in 2012 where she completed her postdoctoral studies under the world-renowned authority on police organizations, Professor Stephen Mastrofski. This was followed in 2015 by her second PhD in Sociology at Western University, where she received the Ontario Trillium Scholarship, a provincially funded initiative to attract top international students to Ontario for PhD studies. She finished her PhD in 3.5 years, a new record for the department and she received the Canadian Sociological Association’s Outstanding Graduating Student award for it.

The decision to seek Canada as a permanent home was led in part by the deterioration in security in her native Pakistan, especially with schools being targeted and the desire to continue her studies in her chosen field.  The decision was helped by the fact that she has family in Canada.  “Since we had visited Canada a couple of times prior to moving here, we were familiar with the culture and had a good sense of what to expect.” says Hina.  She continues, “and the PhD accommodation at Western University offered a safe and familial environment.”
 
Hina was a business school professor before coming to Canada and there were challenges in doing a PhD as a mature student, adjusting to a different style of learning and an entirely different discipline.  “My mentor Prof. Laura Huey guided and supported me through the program,” adds Hina.
 
“All immigrants should look for volunteering opportunities as that is the best way to connect with the wider community. I was introduced to the LMLIP by a friend and now this volunteer group is an extension of my family,” says Hina, as she reflects on what it means to be an immigrant in Canada. She says, “Canadian society is based on the idea of integration, and I don’t have to surrender my cultural identity or faith in order to be accepted. I have always felt safe and respected in Canada. Open communication is the key to effective integration in my view.” 

Hina firmly believes that Canadians pride themselves on their multi-culturalism and immigrants must play their part in ensuring that they actively integrate into the society. “I would like people of various faiths, especially the Muslim community to know that isolated incidents such as the Afzaal family tragedy do not define  Canadian society,” she says. 

Hina is currently employed as a Research Planner Analyst at London Police Service, where she is focused on police organization based on evidence-based policing and community policing.  In addition, Hina is a lecturer at Western University, Kings College University, Huron University and part-time faculty at the Lawrence Kinlin School of Business, Fanshawe College.
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Hina is proud to be one of the few Pakistani Muslims to represent her community at the London Police Service and to be recognized for her work within the organization. “I couldn’t have chosen a better and more caring organization to work with,” she says, “here I am considered a part of the “family.””  She sees her work with the London Police Service where she is tasked with establishing a harmonious relationship between the police and community they serve as vital to the betterment of the London and Canadian community.
 

Following the 1989 Sudanese military coup Nader Abdelmajed, a highly qualified engineer with a bright future, no longer felt safe in his beloved country and he fled to New York as a refugee. However, his stay there lasted less than a day, as the unsettling sounds of gun shots and police sirens made him anxious and scared. Encouraged by fellow refugees who had made their way to Toronto, he boarded a bus and headed for the Canadian border. It was 1990, and for the first time in nearly two years Nader felt a deep sense of being home and safe. As he walked across the Niagara border into Canada, he passed the famous Niagara waterfall. “It was so uplifting,” says Nader, “I could hardly believe that I was seeing something I only read about in school.” 

“It’s so much easier if you have family and friends when you first arrive in Canada,” says Nader, “my friends helped me ease into my new life. I started on the right foot and the rest is history.”  He moved to London within the year and found valuable support from the London United Way Orientation Program for New Immigrants. Through the program he did a work placement at a police station, brushed up on his education and learned to navigate in Canada. He has found overall that people are generous, welcoming, and accepting of diversity.

Nader says of being a Muslim person of colour in London, “There have been very few ignorant experiences and thankfully none of those define my experience in making Canada home.”  He says it is heartwarming to see so many young Muslim role models carving out careers in television, sports, and entertainment. “In Canada, our kids can have different aspirations. My father told me I was going to be an engineer and I became an engineer!”  It has been challenging he says, to raise his kids in the same way that he was raised in Sudan. In the end, you educate your children, and they decide for themselves. In fact, this is a key principle in Islam. You teach and trust that your kids do what they think is right.

Nader spent his early childhood years in Saudi Arabia, and he recalls the example his father set for him when they returned to Sudan in 1971. It was a new experience settling down into a new place, but his father showed them how to adjust. His family had the only TV in the village, and the neighbours came to their garden to watch special programs. “What you have you share with others” he says, “and when you come to a new place and you decide it is going to be home, you must be patient and go through the phases to settle in with an open mind. If you don’t make the effort to fit in it will be hard.”  Being aware of the dominant cultural differences and knowing that there is room for different ethnicities, cultures and religions is vital. Nader notes that the fabric of the London community is changing, it is much more diverse now than when Nader came here 30 years ago.

As a Muslim, Nader respects the freedom of others, and in return he too enjoys the same freedom. He says, “this is a privilege that we have today in Canada, and I want it to be the norm for future generations. I would love for the freedom we have now to continue, to practice faith without fear or persecution.” 

Nader works at the London Muslim Mosque as an Operations Manager, where he is involved with programs that collaborate with mainstream organizations such as churches, universities and the public system, providing help where it is needed. “These community support programs are constantly adapting to peoples’ needs. We help whoever knocks at our door – not just Muslims,” he says.

Nader believes in living the principles that Islam teaches. “In Islam we have an inherent principle that your value as a human being is determined by how much you do for others. From that perspective the job I hold at the mosque has enabled me to help my own community, while also to helping others outside my community.” 
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Nader believes that his greatest contribution to the London community is changing the perception of Islam by being a living example of the qualities embodied by The Prophet Mohammed, which are consistently to be loving, generous and kind.
 

​Dr. Heba Al Tarhuni, a respected dentist with a thriving practice in London, is grateful for the opportunities afforded by Canada.  “I am a Muslim dentist, mother, volunteer, activist and health advocate,” says Dr. Heba, “I try to live a balanced positive life and inspire and support those around me to do the same.”

Dr. Heba was a young 10-year-old when her parents decided to immigrate to Canada.  At that time the family was living in Saudi Arabia, where their Palestinian/Lebanese heritage made it almost impossible to access further education. “My parents really wanted to seek out better opportunities for us, and with my mom being Francophone, Canada was the top choice for them.  It was one of the biggest sacrifices they made, but look at us now - my sister, my younger brother and I all became doctors.”

London was the choice of destination for Dr. Heba’s family because they had distant cousins living here at the time.  They made the big move in May of 2001, leaving behind her eldest brother who choose to remain in Saudi Arabia.  Dr. Heba attributes the success of their transition to being in the multicultural neighbourhood of White Oaks, where there were people like herself.  “Luckily the place we were renting was right next to the South London Community Centre and my mother reached out to them.”  She remembers with great fondness the team at the centre, where she was enrolled in summer camp as soon as she arrived.

Dr. Heba says, “It is literally 20 years ago and Krista, who worked at the centre became like a real aunt to us. She signed me up for camp, took me shopping, helped me get my hair done, she even gave me my very first winter coat! There’s nothing like having your hand held gently when trying to take your first few steps!” There were counsellors at the South London Community Centre who wore the hijab (headscarf), and for the young Heba it was a powerful lesson that she too had a place in this country.  Heba says, “It's not that we were being forced to assimilate. It showed me that we can integrate while holding on to our culture, our identity, and our perspectives.”

Heba remembers her first job in London as a young girl.  She had been accepted to work as a server at the still to be opened Krispy Kreme before she covered her head.  In the time it took to open the outlet, Heba had made the decision to wear the hijab.  She was very nervous before her first day that she might not be allowed to be part of the team.  However, when she showed up for work that first day her manager admired her head scarf and even commented on it being an excellent alternative to the hair net.  This acceptance and normalization of her visibility as a Muslim was a defining moment for Heba.
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While she believes that Canada is a beautiful place for all religions and all cultures, she is not blind to the struggles that immigrants face. She hopes for more minority representation in every level of every sector to combat those small pockets of xenophobia that all minority groups face.  “The best way to have real change is to use education effectively,” says Heba, “to have acceptance of all colours, races, cultures, ethnicities engraved on our hearts from an early age.”

For Heba, her Islamic faith is her moral compass. It is the reason she tries to be better every single day.  She says, “to belong to the Muslim community is to have a strong backbone in times of happiness and need”.  As a visible Muslim (wearing a hijab) she feels a responsibility at every interaction to show that she is an asset to this beautiful community. “We work hard, we pay taxes, we volunteer,” she says.  Dr. Heba believes Canada wants immigrants to succeed and there are so many great role models out there like hockey super star Nazim Kadri. “Dreams do come true”, says Heba, “you just have to keep trying”.