Iranians
by Hadani Ditmars
Vancouver’s Iranian population has tripled in the last five years. In certain areas of Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver, shop signs in Farsi (Persian) are becoming the norm, and Persian restaurants, delicatessens and video shops are visible throughout the North Shore.
Prominent families such as the Khosrowshahis, who own Future Shop, have established themselves in the business community and Vancouver is now the home of well-known Iranian artists, architects and academics--many having arrived here in the last decade.
When asked to explain Vancouver’s popularity with the nearly 30,000 Iranians who reside here, many recent immigrants point to Vancouver’s natural beauty--and in particular the mountainous North Shore’s resemblance to Northern Tehran--as a deciding factor.
Environmental factors aside, for many Iranians Vancouver represents a safe haven, far from both the political turmoil that brought the first major influx of immigrants here after the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the post-revolutionary economic hardship and restrictions on personal freedoms that have encouraged a wave of emigration since the end of the 1980s.
A small Persian community did exist in Vancouver as early as the 1950s but it has really only been since the late Eighties that Iranians have come here in significant numbers. Although political tensions still cause some divisions within the Iranian community, a sense of cultural unity is slowly being fostered.
Schools, like Deh Khoda (named after a famous Persian philosopher) in North Vancouver, where children can study Farsi as well as Persian culture and history, and arts groups like Atash--a troupe that performs traditional Persian dances--are some examples of community projects that transcend politics.
Along religious lines, Vancouver’s Iranian community is composed mainly of Muslims but it also contains a significant number of Bahais, as well as smaller minorities of Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians.
As there is only one Shia (the predominant form of Islam in Iran) mosque in the Vancouver area- -the mosque in Richmond mainly frequented by Indo-Pakistani Muslims--efforts are underway to establish a new mosque where Farsi-speaking Muslims can hear sermons in their own language. In the interim worshipers meet for prayer every Friday at the Delbrook recreation centre in North Vancouver.
For many immigrants the transition from Tehran to Vancouver has not been an easy one. Culture shock and new social realities have particularly affected the adjustment process for women and young people.
But organizations like the Persian Independent Women’s Group provide counselling and legal advice in Farsi, and North Vancouver Family Services runs a program for Iranian youth, many of whom experienced the trauma of being drafted into the Iran/Iraq war in the 1980s. In addition the Persian Immigrants and Refugee Association of B.C. acts as an advocacy group and human rights watchdog, monitoring cases of deportation.
The Vancouver Iranian community’s developing cultural life is evidenced by publications such as Daftar-E-Shenakht, an international literary review published by North Vancouver-based novelist and poet, Payman Vahabzadeh. A recent performance of Quest, Morry Ghomshei’s dramatic adaptation of classical Persian poetry, successfully premiered at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. Vancouver-based artist Ali Koushkani, who plays the santur (a traditional Persian instrument), with often avant-garde invention, is internationally known. And Houshang Seyhoun, the renowned painter and architect who designed the famous Omar Khayyam mausoleum in Iran, has lived in West Vancouver for more than a decade.
A weekly Persian newspaper, Shahrvand-e-Vancouver (Citizens of Vancouver), was started in 1991 and has a national circulation of 20,000 (3,150 in B.C.) and a quarterly magazine aimed at the Zoroastrian community, Pake-e Mehr (Good News), has been in existence since 1994. In addition a weekly Persian show airs on Vancouver’s Co-op Radio and Byad-e- Iran (Memory of Iran) is shown three times each week on Rogers Cable TV.
Restaurants such as North Vancouver’s Casbah and the Caspian are known for their traditional Persian cuisine, and food for thought is available at Fruogh bookstore in Lonsdale, the only Persian bookstore in Vancouver.
Iranian architects like Foad Rafii, who designed the first buildings constructed on the north shore of False Creek after Expo 86 and the new mixed-use Woodward’s building Downtown, have made and are continuing to make a significant impact on the changing face of Vancouver.
As Vancouver’s new cosmopolitan attitude and natural beauty continue to attract Iranian immigrants, the Persian community will have an increasingly important role to play as shahrvand-e-Vancouver or citizens of Vancouver.
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