South Asians in North America

North America mainly encompasses the United States and Canada, both the countries have strong links with South Asia. A large number of people from the world's most densely populated region have descended on the land of Columbus over at least a century. The process is continuing as North America undeniably remains an attractive place. People throng there for livelihood, education and better professional excellence. Many return home but most seem to stay back obviously for better living and other attractions and later seek to take their dear and near ones as immigrants through existing rules. There is hardly any denying that many also take recourse to illegal stay as much. Even people from developed countries like Spain and Ireland still find North America a place of choice for living, let alone the developing or least developed countries like those in our region.

Certain reactions to the developments in the United States following 9/11 definitely caused ripples of uneasiness and consternation among Muslims from different countries and a sense of insecurity on part of many forced them to look for a new destination in the same region and the automatic choice was America's vast neighbour Canada. Not that the uncomfortable conditions for many in the US did not have any adverse reactions in the other Western nations particularly one like neighbour Canada but these remained to limited scale. There were some incidents like harassing Muslim women in some places in Canada as well but authorities made quick moves to take the culprits to the book and consequently things never exacerbated. The Muslims make up the largest religious community after the Christians numbering six lakhs in the total three crore population. Authorities there take special care to assuage their feelings which have received some degree of vulnerability after the 9/11 developments.

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Ottawa boasts of its multiculturalism approach as a strong binding factor for developing a homogenous society based on non-discrimination and ever-increasing diversity -- ethnic, racial, cultural and religious. Officials say that this approach has helped the country by building an all inclusive society which values differences and fosters a sense of belonging. True, this attitude has largely helped the immigrants making the country their home even though there may be some sense of deprivation or specific complaints among different communities.

South Asians are obviously a big community in North America and several organisations have sprung up over the years to look after the problems of people coming from the region like their job opportunities, treatment compared to other immigrants, removal of discriminations if any and last but not the least to educate and make the new entrants accustomed with the laws and conditions of the land so that they can take advantage of the existing opportunities. Admittedly, many are unaware of different issues related to the immigrants and consequently take too much of time to get themselves used to the rules and norms. "The council of Agencies serving the South Asians" is one such organisation which offers various services to help the immigrants coming from the region lead a better life by acquainting and adjusting with the conditions of Canada.

"We have formed such forums by developing cohesion cutting across political and other differences in South Asia since many of our problems are common and we feel happy to identify ourselves on a regional plane", say the activists of the organisation who all come from different South Asian nations like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. These organisations take up with authorities issues that seem to affect their interests. "Why should not a qualified doctor from our countries get a job of his profession here?," asks one activist and says such matters are among the concerns of the organisation. He says promotion of professionalism along with security and other matters of the south Asians occupy priority when taken up with the authorities on a regular basis for settlement of different matters. But they all agree that relatively the laws and conditions there are friendly to the immigrants and there is strong basis of Ottawa's claim that its multiracialism approach is helping create a decent society.

They also feel that economic and social links are expanding with more and more people engaging themselves in economic activities. Favourable offers from Canada are encouraging investment which also helps gain the facility of permanent residence. Students also find Canada cheaper. However, the potentials of cooperation with South Asia remain largely unexploited in various fields since Canada is also a nation that has achieved economic development at a faster rate as a member of the advanced nations group.

As for Bangladesh, the links are increasing and there have been several decisions that have helped closer cooperation in recent times. The facility given to readymade garments sector and the ever increasing CIDA programme are the testimony of greater interactions. It is plausible that new areas can also be explored. For instance, Radarsat International in Vancouver is a technologically advanced institution specialised in various fields and Bangladesh can derive the facilities particularly in the fields of increased agricultural production and minimising the effects of natural disasters. Students can be encouraged to seize cheaper educational facilities. A visit to the University of British Columbia(UBC) shows that the number of our students is far too less compared to other even smaller regional countries.

Bangladesh immigrants are mostly concentrated in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver. They are generally happy over the development of the bilateral ties in the recent times. However, they feel that steps can be taken for favourable mechanism for remittances, keeping them posted about the investment and other facilities both at home and the host country since many are not aware of such things, and better treatment on return home. Many feel the necessity of consular services in heavily concentrated Toronto and far away Vancouver. Three Bangla weeklies are brought out from Toronto -- the main being "Deshe Bideshe", followed "Bangla Kagaj" and "Bangla Report". The culture of Bangla language is being nurtured. However, Canadian radio does not run Bengali programmes like that of the BBC,VOA or the German Radio. It is expected that Canadian authorities will consider this idea which will serve the purpose of promoting bilateral understanding.

Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury is a senior journalist.