'Now we know each other better': Winnipeg's Iranian community grew from dozens to thousands

Arestaurant in Winnipeghas become a meeting place for the city's small but growing Iranian diaspora and, aftera fatal plane crash this week stole some of their sons and daughters,a place formourning.

"All my customers they were coming in, 'Did you hear the news?' 'Do you know anybody in that plane?'" saidMaryamNadmeh, inside theTehranCafe on Pembina Highway.

"They were telling me who they knew."

Among the 176 victims of theUkraine International Airlines Flight PS752 that crashed outside of TehranWednesday, 63 were Canadians.

Winnipeg's small but growing Iranian community has beenshattered after learning at least eightof their members died when a passenger jet crashed in Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday.

It is now believed the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, according to Canadian and American intelligence.

Closer to home, the loss of life is devastating to thetight-knit Iranian community in Winnipeg.

'Very few' Iranians at first

Around 30 years ago, Winnipeg's Iranian community numbered in the dozens, real estate agent Ali Charmandsaid. Statistics Canada said1,900 Winnipeggers identify as belongingto an Iranian ethnicity, as of the 2016 census, but community members say it is closer to 3,000 to 4,000 people, including those on temporary visas and international students.

Charmand arrived in Winnipeg in 1989 with hopes of a better life for his family, but he was lonely at first.

There were "very few" Iranians, he said. "We didn't know anybody. A couple people would show up, like under a hundred, but now there are more."

Today,Iranians gathertogether for holidays and meals. They connect regularly through social media, wherenewcomers askthe more experienced Winnipeggersabout finding work or classes to take.

"Now it's better," Charmandsaid of living in Winnipeg. "Now we know each other better."

The Iranian populationin Winnipeg isusually university-educated professionalsbecause the provinceseeks job-ready immigrants, he said.

Nineteen years ago,Nadmeh remembers settlinginto a one-bedroom apartment on Corydon Avenuewith few possessionsto her name. She figures there was maybe 1,000Iranians in Winnipeg back then.

Since then, the Iranian Community of Manitobahas thrived, hostingfunctions like a summer potluck andYalda Night to mark the longest and darkest night of the year.

Nadmeh went from opening a catering business for Iranian food, to starting a grocery store and then a restaurant as well. She feelsshe knows just about every Iranian in Winnipeg now.

"I don't have my parents here [in Winnipeg], so they're likemostly my best friends," she said."My friends are like my family, I guess."

Thegrowth in the city's Iranian population is credited, in part, to a formerprofessor,University of Manitoba presidentDavid Barnard said.

"I think it's largely the result of personal contacts by some folks," he said."One of our senior, very well-respected faculty members, Dr. Lotfollah Shafai, in engineering, some years agoinvited folks that he knew in Iran to come to Manitoba to study and to engage in research," he said.

"Inthe intervening years, I know it's become more widespread than just in engineering."

A group for Iranian students at the University of Manitoba is also active today. The U of M counted 209 students from Iran, according to 2018 statistics.

A graduate student in engineering, Amir Shirzadi has livedin Winnipeg for a year and a half. His life is as normal as any Canadian, he said. He meets friends at TimHortons and goes to parties.

He relishes his freedom in Canada. In Iran, he'd have to worry about what he says.

"I feel comfortable, I have freedomhere and people are nice," he said. "After that crash, every Iranianappreciates Canadians and Canada."

Shirzadisaid thecommunity is well reflectedin the school'sclassrooms and laboratories. He is one of dozens of Iraniansstudying engineering at the university.

"You don't need to actually look for Iranians you often see them everywhere," hesaid.

"One of our concerns is thatin engineering we are always talking Persian," Shirzadisaid, referring to Iran's predominant language. "Our English is not going to improve because we're always talking Persian."