The Journey Home: How My Immigrant Story Fuels a Dream of Global Equity

At the Centre for Newcomers, we champion immigration as a powerful tool that benefits both newcomers and Canada as a whole. Effective and inclusive immigration pathways are essential for addressing Canada’s economic and labor challenges, fostering seamless newcomer integration, and supporting the nation’s long-term prosperity.

However, the strained Canada-US relationship, ongoing trade tensions and uncertainty over our current strategies for economic growth and collaboration has led to challenges. Business leaders, policymakers, and communities must recognize and harness immigrant talent as a vital resource to overcome these hurdles and strengthen Canada's economic resilience.

Below is a guest blog authored by Iman Bukhari. We are thrilled to have Iman as a Keynote Speaker at 'Bridging Success' - CFN's 9th Annual Fundraiser. Iman is a nationally recognized Canadian leader, researcher, and advocate who builds more equitable, inclusive systems through technology, storytelling, and policy. Her work transforms lived experience into practical solutions that address structural inequities.

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A young Iman Bukhari standing in the ruins of castle in Pakistan that once belonged to her great, great, great, great grandfather, looted and destroyed by the British more than 200 years ago.

When I first arrived in Canada at 11 years old, I carried with me the same mix of hope, anxiety, and determination that defines the newcomer experience. I also carried the indelible memory of girls my age whose educational journeys ended before they ever truly began—not due to a lack of curiosity, but due to barriers of poverty, societal failures, and circumstance. That memory didn’t fade as I built a new life; it became my compass.

My journey, like so many of yours, has been about translation. I had to learn to translate not just language, but my experiences, my values, and my outrage at injustice into action that my new community could understand and support. This led me, as a young woman, to found the Canadian Cultural Mosaic Foundation. I started with a simple belief: that we could combat racism not just by reacting to it, but by proactively building understanding. What began as a small volunteer effort grew into a national organization. We didn’t just host workshops; we produced groundbreaking research, like Canada’s first longitudinal hate incident tracker, This Act Does Not Represent Us, to give data-driven weight to the lived experiences of marginalized communities. We translated that research into graphic novels, podcasts, and policy tools like Calgary’s Multilingual Policy Framework, ensuring the work always reached both the corridors of power and the communities most affected.

These achievements—recognized with honours like the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal—were not endpoints. They were proof of concept. They showed me that with perseverance, an immigrant’s unique perspective—that dual vision of the world—is not a weakness, but a superpower. It allows you to see gaps in systems, to bridge cultural divides, and to innovate because you are not confined by “the way things have always been done.”

Now, I am taking that superpower back to its source. As I begin my Doctorate of Education, I am channeling everything I’ve learned in Canada toward a project for my first home: co-designing generative AI tools to educate out-of-school children in Pakistan. This is the full circle of the immigrant dream. Canada gave me the tools, the safety, and the opportunity to develop my voice. Now, I am using that voice and those skills to address one of the most pressing injustices I witnessed as a child. This isn’t about charity; it’s about partnership and leveraging technology for human dignity.

To every newcomer and immigrant reading this: Your journey is your strength. The resilience it took to get here, the dual perspectives you hold, the deep understanding of what it means to strive for something better—these are the very ingredients for transformative leadership. You will face barriers, moments of doubt, and systems that seem designed to say "no." See those moments not as stops, but as fuel.

Do not give up. Do not minimize your story. The dream you are chasing is not just for you or your family. The unique lens you possess is what our communities, in Canada and around the world, desperately need. Use it to build, to innovate, and to bridge success—for yourself, and for others. Your greatest contribution may well be the bridge you build back to a problem you once left behind, now armed with the tools to solve it.

I will see you at the ‘Bridging Success’ fundraiser, where I look forward to sharing more of this story and hearing yours. Let’s build forward, together. Your greatest contribution may well be the bridge you build back to a problem you once left behind, now armed with the tools to solve it.

With hope and solidarity,

Iman Bukhari