 Bahman Yazdanfar's
life can truly be called a journey, whether one uses that
expression to mean physical travel, emotional challenges, or mental and
spiritual development. Born in Tehran, he made a choice of settling in
Canada and came to Toronto as an immigrant early in 1986 at the age of
27 and immediately began to learn English. He also set himself the task
of familiarizing himself with Canadian culture, which was very different
from that of Iran, or of Afghanistan, where he attended medical school,
or Europe, where he resided before his arrival in Canada.
Like many newcomers, Bahman started from
scratch by working in a factory as a general labourer while trying to
get back into his field. After some time he learned the unfortunate
truth that the policies and the laws of the land were not favourable to
the resumption of his medical career, and he had to choose another path.
So, he pounded the pavements of Toronto, seeking his destiny in his new
home country.
Receiving his citizenship in 1990, he
traveled from coast to coast to discover Canada. He learned that, in
contrast to the more than a dozen countries he had resided in before his
arrival, Canada is a place where immigrants from all cultures,
backgrounds, races, and religions live side-by-side, and share the
commonality of belonging to the human race. This strengthened his
resolve to contribute meaningfully to his chosen homeland. To improve
his English language, Bahman enrolled at the University of Saskatchewan,
then followed his dream of continuing across Canada to British Columbia
where he lived for about four years in Vancouver.
Through his experience Bahman adapted his
skills to helping individuals and society in a way that diverged
somewhat from medicine, but to which he found himself eminently
well-suited, namely business consultancy. Upon his return to Toronto, he
started his own small advertising company to help retailers and
merchants promote their small to medium size businesses. Since then he
has been advancing his knowledge and developing new systems in order to
provide the necessary training and consulting for those business owners
who are facing serious challenges and hardship in their daily
activities.
Bahman's resilience and belief in keeping
up the good fight has been honed by the many hardships he has overcome,
including years of political turmoil and social unrest in the Middle
East, where he was raised and educated. His natural resilience and
independence helped him deal with loneliness and statelessness in Europe
while he was waiting to immigrate, and uncertainty of the future and
day-to-day confrontation in Canada while adjusting to his new life.
Adversity, to him, has come to mean an opportunity to learn and
understand the universe, and each rough ride has taken him closer to the
realization that he is not here to waste his talents on trivialities.
So, instead, he focuses his energies and creativity on problem-solving.
This new environment has provided Bahman
with an opportunity to observe and discover that people from all walks
of life and every corner of this planet suffer internally in a very
similar fashion. At thirty, looking back at his life and the
roller-coaster he was riding on, Bahman pondered that there had to be
something more to life than just work and paying the bills. Hence, he
started to search for peace of mind and to seek reasons for his
existence, and like many, he tried different venues to no avail.
In the last twenty years, Bahman has
witnessed day-by-day local retailers and merchants gradually losing
their hope of prosperity, mainly due to the restricted policies and
taxes that are imposed by different levels of government, as well as
lack of proper management of the market economy by the bank authorities.
Bahman believes that a stable economy, free from useless restrictions,
is one that best benefits communities. He also believes that an
unmotivating environment makes society dull in the long run, and
complacency carries the danger of being a medium for corruption and
crime. That is why he has entered into political affairs. He wants to
apply his knowledge and experience in an attempt to make a difference.
He sees remarkable similarities between
how the major political parties run their campaigns, and how they run
the government. Instead of resolving issues that affect every citizen in
this vast, beautiful land, they spend their time finding faults with
their rivals at the expense of taxpayers in order to stay in power.
Bahman holds the view that if you want improvement, you cannot get it by
repeating mistakes, and finding alternatives is do-able, especially if
one taps into the potential of Canada and all of its people.
Bahman's passion for addressing matters
of serious public concern has led him, in recent years, to allocate most
of his time to journalism. His own media outlet, Voters
Echo, has links to online interviews which he conducts and panel
discussions which he facilitates. These videos, along with articles
written by himself and other conscientious observers, draw our attention
to issues that affect us all, though they are ignored by mainstream
radio and television.
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Previously, the only way to work
outside the old-line party system was to be an Independent Member of
Parliament. An honourable approach, but a tough road to follow!
