Nick Noorani Website

NAEEM ” Nick” Noorani has a message for recent and prospective immigrants: Ask Nick.
The North Vancouver resident is set to field questions relative to new and prospective Canadian on his new weekly segment, Ask Nick, a part of The Link, a daily program on Radio Canada International.

“It’s disseminating information. There’s a lot of excitement, but also fear of the unknown (for new immigrants) but because the questions are being answered by an individual like me (on the show), it’s not the government’s perspective,” said Noorani.
A Canadian since 1998, Noorani knows first-hand the challenges that new Canadians face, and he considers his wealth of knowledge as the practical, ground-level sort rather than the academic.
For example, new immigrants may be told to get a credit card by going to the bank, but Noorani notes it’s not that easy. Instead, he would tell a listener step by step about how to establish a credit line.
“I pepper them with a lot of anecdotes. Anecdotal is a lot more easy,” said Noorani, nothing that the story aspect tends to captivate listeners, whose questions will drive the content of the weekly 10-15 minute Ask Nick segments.
One such anecdote could be centered around health care.
“For example, you need to know it’s going to take you 90 days before your medical will kick in over here. So you need to buy private insurance. We didn’t know and we ended up paying $500 for an X-ray,” said Noorani, who immigrated with his wife, Sabrina, and their two children.
Another common question Noorani fields is about whether or not it’s worth it to import a car, especially from folks coming from the United States.
“The answer is no,” said Noorani, noting that cars need to conform to Canadian standards like mandatory daytime running lights. “It’s just now worth the hassle.”
Noorani laughed as he recounted the biggest challenge he faced upon coming to Canadian, which was getting used to the taxes, after living in Dubai where salaries were large and taxes were minimal.
Noorani came to Canada from India via Dubai and a couple other countries along the way. He settled in North Vancouver when he arrived in large part because his brother lived here, but he fell in love with the area, counting deep Cove as one of his “weak spots,” and has stayed here ever since.
In 2001, he and his wife released a book filled with tips for immigrants and billed as a survival guide for new immigrants in Canada. IN 2004, he founded the Canadian Immigrant Magazine.
Noorani encourages immigrants to make use of local immigration settlement services and here on the North Shore, Noorani said he considers the North Shore Multicultural Society an excellent resource for immigrants.
Noorani couldn’t be happier that he’s got a regular spot on the radio: “it’s nice that the media is looking at communication for this underserved demographic,” he said.
Noorani’s segment Ask Nick launches on The Link on Oct. 30 on Radio Canada International. It is broadcast around the world on shortwave and is available on Sirius satellite radio, the Internet (www.rcinet.ca) and soon will be available as a podcast.
North Shore News – Sunday, October 29, 2006