Economic Life

While the first wave of immigrants was primarily from the professional class, those who arrived in the second have been mostly concentrated in small and medium-sized businesses. A stereotype of Iranians in Canada depicts them as a wealthy community. It is true that some who left Iran, especially during the Islamic Revolution, had strong connections to world markets and brought with them considerable financial capital, which enabled them to set up businesses after their arrival. On the other hand, most middle- and lower-middle-class immigrants had no access to such capital. They have nevertheless been able to mobilize other means, such as their education or ethnic resources – premigratory experience in business, group identification, credit associations, and community networks – to establish entrepreneurial operations in Canada. In many cases, factors such as the inability to find a professional job, unemployment, and immigration restrictions have determined an orientation towards ethnic entrepreneurship. Membership in an ethnic or religious minority, or even a political grouping, has also been an important resource in economic life. This path has not only ensured rapid integration into the labour market, but also facilitated upward mobility.

In Canada, Iranians are employed in many segments of the economy. Many are concentrated in professional jobs as medical doctors, engineers, nurses, dentists, or lawyers. A considerable number are involved in small entrepreneurial activities, including construction, taxi driving, restaurants, bakeries, dry-cleaning shops, grocery stores, accountancy and taxation, repair shops, computer stores, and publishing. The Iranian yellow pages, which are published in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver, list these activities in the formal sectors of the labour market. Some Iranian women are involved in more informal small-business activities, such as catering, sewing, baking, and providing services for community members or ethnic segments of the market.

The economic success of many businesses contributes materially to evolving forms of Iranian identity through the promotion of such activities as Persian-language journals, magazines, and radio and television programs. Iranian-Canadian businesses cater to the demand for ethnic food, ceremonial objects, works of art, books, videos, and tapes. The fusion of economy and Iranian culture in the case of such enterprises is a striking phenomenon. Many businesses organize social events such as poetry readings and music evenings and are actively involved in the maintenance of community culture. Some journals founded in the mid-1990s are distributed free on the basis of business advertisements, among them the weekly Persian-language newspapers Shahrvand (Citizen; Toronto) and the Iran Star (Toronto). These papers include political, cultural, and sports sections in addition to a considerable amount of commercial material. Funding for some television shows is also provided by Iranian-Canadian businesses. The financial dependency of certain print and visual media upon business has created concern among intellectuals and political activists about increasing self- or community censorship. In Toronto some community members have launched a counter-cultural journal, Rouyesh, without advertisements in an attempt to establish a press that can provide independent political analysis.