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I realize whether it is that you’re young when you immigrate, or you’re with a family, you’re an adult person, it’s always very hard, extremely hard. It’s equal to losing yourself. Whatever you were back home you start from zero. You are almost—but like a child. In new country. You don’t speak the same language, you don’t—your jokes don’t make sense, your sense of humour maybe is not the same like it was back home. You don’t know how to buy a coffee on Starbucks or Tim Horton’s. When you go for the grocery—everything is different, everything is different. After twelve years I am still learning how to buy, or get the coffee at Starbucks, the one that I like I don’t know I haven’t tried all of them (laughs).
Aamir Mirza was born in 1969 in Quetta, Pakistan. After high school, Aamir completed a bachelor of arts, a degree in law, and a master’s in international relations. In Pakistan, Aamir worked as a teacher and in community development. He applied to immigrate to Canada because he was interested in studying abroad.
Aamir arrived in Canada on May 31, 1999 and first lived with his father’s cousin in Cambridge, Ontario. After struggling for five months to find work, he moved to Mississauga where he got a job in a factory. While living in Mississauga, Aamir met an employment counsellor from Pakistan who helped him find work at an organization that supported new immigrants. Aamir continued working for the next few years for various organizations assisting newcomers. In 2002, Aamir went back to school at Humber College for a program in international project management.
After the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, Aamir returned to Pakistan with his wife and daughter to work with the Save the Children organization. The family returned to Canada in 2008 and moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Aamir’s parents, brother, and sister eventually joined him in Canada. Aamir currently lives in Saskatoon with his wife and three children and works as an employment counsellor at the Saskatoon Open Door Society.