Nick Noorani Website

I am writing today’s “Publisher’s Note” on the same computer and in the same room in my North Vancouver townhouse where I started my entrepreneurial dream four years ago. And along with the sunlight through the window on this warm spring day, so many memories come streaming in.
It was just three years ago today that the Canadian Immigrant magazine first hit the streets. I still remember vividly the days, weeks and months leading up to the launch. So much to do and so few hours in the day to do them! Calling on advertisers, reaching out to communities and consulting with my business advisers and the advisory board I had put together. Where should the magazine be available? How many copies are economically viable? I had so many questions on what the magazine should contain and not many places we could seek answers.

Recruiting the most critical person — the editor — was not as easy as I thought it would be. We had more than 300 applications to a job posting that didn’t even mention that little detail it would be a magazine for immigrants. And to make matters more confusing not a single immigrant responded! Margaret’s writing stood out amongst all and having her by my side in the years that have followed showed you don’t have to be a full-fledged immigrant to work on this magazine — you just need to have the heart! (Read her take on our third anniversary in “Three years and counting …”)
As the launch neared, we had layout queries, arguments and worries about revenue. But the stories of immigrants we started to hear — their struggles, frustrations and above all the triumph of their spirit — kept us going. Stories like that of this month’s Toronto “Success Story” Ratna Omidvar, executive director of the Maytree Foundation.
For almost three years, we published primarily in Vancouver. And then the Toronto edition finally happened this March. Today 80,000 copies a month are distributed in Toronto and Vancouver simultaneously. We will soon add Calgary and Edmonton before the end of the year. The response to the Toronto edition has been overwhelming and has validated our proof of concept several times. And as we celebrate a new milestone — our third anniversary of the magazine — I want to thank everyone once again who has supported us, from staff to writers to advertisers.
The second milestone for me this month came in the mail — a letter from Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The Nooranis are going for their citizenship exam! Becoming a citizen is the final stage in the journey of immigration, and I am so proud to take this step. But I am prouder still to know that, through our little three-year-old magazine, we have contributed in a small way to present and future immigrants, and to the growth of my adopted country.