Ghalib Iqbal is the Consul General of Pakistan in Toronto, Canada. Ghalib came to Toronto to take charge of the Consulate General of Pakistan in August 2002. Prior to that he was posted in Pakistan. He joined the Foreign Service of Pakistan in 1983. In 1985 he was posted to Ottawa. In 1991 he was posted to Sweden and then in 1993 to Italy. In 1998 he went back to Islamabad and was then posted to Toronto in 2002.

There are approximately 425,000 Pakistanis in Canada. Over 280,000 live in the Province of Ontario, out of which around 160,000 are in the Greater Toronto Area. The annual intake of immigrants from Pakistan is 14,000, at third place after China and India. This trend is expected to continue at least in the near future.

We spoke with Ghalib about a variety of topics related to the Pakistani immigrant community, and gathered some very interesting insights based on his experience. According to Ghalib, Pakistanis have “added spice to the Canadian life!"

Below are the salient points of our conversation with Ghalib.

When you move from one place to another it is obviously by choice – Canada is one country which receives immigrants with open arms. Multiculturalism is the core of their policy and that helps the immigrants to integrate with the local community at a much faster pace as compared to other countries around the globe. Yes, they do face a lot of problems. The foremost is that people do not get jobs in their field of expertise especially if they are doctors or engineers. All professionals face these problems and they have to take a few qualifying exams before they become part of the mainstream Canadian job market. After appearing in and clearing the exams they are invariably asked for Canadian experience, which is not there. More than financial inconvenience, I believe, it’s more of an emotional set-back, because families who have had a certain lifestyle in Pakistan have to cut back when they get here – they have to save money and earn extra to sustain not even to compare themselves with their earlier standard of living. Children have to face a lot of serious issues because of this change in lifestyle. I know of a Lebanese doctor who, despite taking the required exams, has not been able to find a job as a surgeon. In brief, it is not just the Pakistani community that faces these challenges. These problems are not specific to any race or ethnic origin, but faced by all immigrants.

The Consulate does not get involved beyond a certain point in providing settlement services. Our mandate is not to interfere with the host government – our job is to interact with the locals and to cultivate the locals. It’s a very fine line.

I know from experience that the community in Toronto is one of the best we have in the world. Secondly, most of them are from an educated and professional class. Most of them are well to do people so they respond very positively to any initiative that we take. As regards the cultural and nationalistic aspect, they are fully involved – there are plenty of activities going on in the city – cultural shows, musical shows, seminars trade related activities – all sorts of things.

Last year when we had the National Day Celebrations, we made it a point of inviting non-Pakistani Canadians, to promote the image of Pakistan as a forward looking and dynamic Islamic state. If you continuously start seeing the negative side of a country you start believing in it – if you see the positive, you start believing in that. We need the people to recognize the fact that it is less than 2% of the people that believe in extremism, especially because of unresolved political disputes around the globe. It depends on us to tell the people we go to school with, our co-workers and our neighbors that what we stand for is not terrorism but peace, love and harmony. We need to work hard to correct the image and that can only be done if most of us become a part of the mainstream and get involved with all sorts of local activities primarily political

At this stage many Pakistanis are in their second generation in Canada – this was not the case 10 or 15 years ago. Second generation Pakistani Canadians think like Canadians, talk like Canadians, operate like Canadians, so for them there is no problem. The problem partially lies with the senior generation that came from Pakistan. This generation has its excess baggage, it has its own ideology and its own way of thinking – nevertheless, they have also integrated very well with the Canadian society. Canadians are very warm people, and they believe in certain principles of life, which are very close to Pakistani principles. These principles help the Pakistanis to assimilate and integrate at a much faster rate.

One thing I always emphasize is that it is always good to stay with the community but it is even better to become a part of the mainstream. When you go and start living in a specific area of the city, like all Pakistanis, all Chinese, all Koreans or all Sikhs - it negates the basis of multiculturalism. My neighbor should not be Javaid and then Azhar, and then Sibtain. My neighbors should include Antonio, Ravel Singh, Paul and Samantha. That is how a street should look like where everyone is assimilating and working together. It gives strength to their country of adoption. It also allows people to act as a bridge between their country of origin and country of adoption. But we tend to live in our comfort zone where the culture and the language is familiar, where the children can meet each other. It’s good for you perhaps but it’s not good for your second generation. Your kids should have John, Edward and Ravinder as friends.

If you impose those values on your children that are contradictory, you are discouraging the younger generation from benefiting from their environment.  You have to let them become a part of the mainstream.  You have to explain and teach them the right and wrong. Then leave it up to them. Let them decide under your guidance but not under your will.

It is important for your future.  You are basically negating yourself and your decision to immigrate, by resisting to adopt your host country.  Secondly, even though some people may disagree I have to say that when you come here and start opening your own schools like the Islamic school, Urdu School so and so, you are converting yourself into a minority in a country that accepted you as an equal.  The children who are studying in those schools are not becoming a part of the mainstream in Canada.  If I have to impart religious and Urdu education to my children, I would not open a separate school for them.  I would rather go to the School Board of Canada and tell them that we have so many children of Pakistani or Muslim origin and we want 2 classes in a week that should teach them Urdu and Quranic studies – and there are schools that already do that.  It is also important that the mainstream gets to appreciate the genuine requirements of the “new communities”.

If you cannot become a part of the mainstream, you really cannot achieve much as a community.  If you cannot get into politics, if you cannot get into the mainstream jobs such as volunteer roles, get into the professions and the government, be represented on the Boards then you cannot have an impact on the policies that are supportive to you. If you attain a foothold in the mainstream, only then can you have an impact on the policies.

In business related activities, we have done very well locally as well as bilaterally, professionals have done very well locally and partially bilaterally, but in the political field we need to do much more.  We need to have people in the city councils, we have only one Mr. Khalid Usman.  We need to have people in the provincial parliament, at the moment we have only one, Dr. Shafiq Qaderi.  We need to have more people in the Federal parliament, at the moment we have just one, Mr. Wajid Khan.  They have taken the first step and come forward.  This is going to be beneficial to the community.  I am not supporting any political party but I do advise getting involved.  Things are changing fast around the globe. Especially after 9/11 we have seen that a lot of perceptions and theories have become redundant. With the fast pace of change we need to change as well.  We need to be a part of the mainstream political system so that we can safeguard our near and distant futures.  If you do not have a voice in the parliament, you will at best be treated as a protestor or a demonstrator.  We should get out of that role of a demonstrator protesting outside the Parliament and secure an elected position in the Parliament. The more people we have in the Parliament, the fewer will have to demonstrate outside its building.

There are many.  A few that come to mind immediately are:

Khalid Usman
Shafiq Qaderi
Wajid Khan
Zararr Rana
Farooq Dawood
Azam Gondal
Badar Munir
Arshad Bhatti
Bashir Khan
Sajjad Ibrahim
Khalid Awan
Zarrar Rana
Noor Feerasta
Farooq Dawood
Muslim Hassan

These are people who have a lot of accomplishments, but we need others. We need to encourage them and they need to encourage us.