|
|
Vancouver's
Iranian Community |
|
|
|
The
Thunderbird
By Fram Dinshaw December
5th, 2007
|
|
|
If you’ve ever travelled to Tehran,
Iran’s capital, you will notice the snow-capped Alborz mountains
just north of the city, with its tidy villas, tree-lined streets,
and large, well kept parks. This is why many Iranians have chosen
Vancouver to start a new life, as the Coast Mountains dwarfing
Vancouver’s high-rises and spacious avenues remind them of the
land of their birth.
| |
|
| The Discover
Vancouver website says that Iranians have made their
home in Vancouver since the 1950s, but mass immigration only
started after 1979, when the Shah (king) of Iran was toppled
and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s regime swept to power
during the Islamic
Revolution.
After that came the eight year Iran
- Iraq War. The resulting hardship saw many Iranians
emigrate.
Since 2002, the Iranian population in Vancouver has
tripled. Iranians come to seek a new life in what community
leader Behshad Hastibakhsh describes as a “Promised
Land.”
Today, North Vancouver has many Persian restaurants and Farsi shop
signs, with Iranian institutions like the recently-opened Deh
Khoda School (named after a Persian philosopher) allowing children
to study Farsi and Persian history.
|
North Tehran's Tajrish neighbourhood, reminiscent of
North Vancouver
|
| |
|
|
The Iranian community is well established. It has its own
media, with the Farsi language Shahrvand e Vancouver (Citizens
of Vancouver) being the main newspaper.
Not all Iranians living in Vancouver are Muslim. Many with
secular values came here to escape religious fundamentalism in
Iran. Other Iranians follow the Zoroastrian,
Christian, Baha’i, or Jewish
faiths. No matter what faith they have, all Iranians have cultural
festivals in common, such as Norouz
- the Persian New Year that falls on March 21 - and Yalda,
the winter solstice festival celebrated on December 21.
|
|
|
|
Bowen Island and the coast mountains on a rainy day, like
Northern Iran's Caspian region, again reminding Iranians of
home.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
