About Canadian Immigrant

Canadian Immigrant

Canadian Immigrant is a free monthly magazine and daily website for newcomers to Canada. Founded in 2004 by social entrepreneur Nick Noorani, it is owned by Torstar and published by Metroland Media Group, with print distribution across British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia. Its website is canadianimmigrant.ca.

Overview

Canadian Immigrant aims at "informing, educating, motivating and connecting" immigrants across Canada. The print magazine is distributed free, and the website publishes daily editorial content. The brand's mandate is practical: helping new Canadians build successful lives and homes during their first years in the country, with content spanning careers, education, settlement, culture, money, and business. It also runs the Canadian Immigrant Fair, a career, education, and settlement expo held in cities across Canada, and the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards, which recognize immigrant achievement.

History

The magazine was founded in 2004 by Naeem "Nick" Noorani, a social entrepreneur who had immigrated to Canada in 1998 from Dubai. Noorani conceived the magazine after being laid off from his job as an advertising director for a technology company. After completing the Burnaby YMCA Self-Employment Program, he started the magazine out of his home in North Vancouver, British Columbia, with modest funding, several suppliers, an editor, an art director — and himself selling the advertising.

The first issue launched on April 28, 2004, with MP Ujjal Dosanjh and Harmony Airways' David Ho on the cover. Monthly issues followed, featuring profiles of successful immigrants, columns by specialists in banking, immigration law, and real estate, and stories of personal triumph. In 2005 Minto Roy became an ownership partner.

In 2006 Noorani and Roy approached Torstar's owners hoping to take the magazine national. By November of that year the Star Media Group, a division of Torstar, was convinced and took over the publication; a Toronto edition launched in March 2007. Noorani retained the publisher role but stepped down in August 2010 after seven years, telling Masthead that the magazine had grown from a 7,000-copy startup to distributing 82,000 copies, and that he wanted to do more to help immigrants to Canada. Subsequent co-publishers have included Gautam Sharma and Sanjay Agnihotri. The magazine is currently published six times a year in print alongside its daily website.

Content

The magazine's content is organized around the newcomer experience: settlement guidance, careers and employment, education, immigration law, banking and money management, real estate, health, and culture. Regular features include profiles of successful immigrants, expert columns, and stories of personal triumph. The website adds daily editorial, forums, tools, and resources.

The brand's events extend its editorial mission offline. The Canadian Immigrant Fair — presented in association with partners such as Scotiabank and Centennial College — brings career, education, and settlement resources directly to newcomers in cities across Canada. The annual Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards celebrate the achievements of immigrants from diverse backgrounds.

Coverage & Audience

Canadian Immigrant reaches newcomers across Canada, with print distribution in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and other markets across five provinces. A 2015 company release put its monthly readership at more than 287,000, with the website drawing more than 80,000 visitors per month. Its audience is defined by life stage rather than geography: recent arrivals navigating settlement, employment, and integration.

Ownership

The Canadian Immigrant properties are owned by Torstar and published by Metroland Media Group (the magazine has also been described as a division of Metroland Media Group Ltd.). Founder Nick Noorani led the publication from 2004 to 2010; it has since been managed within Torstar's publishing operations.

The Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards

The brand's most prominent creation is the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards, launched in 2009 and previously known as the RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards. Noorani conceived it as Canada's first national recognition of immigrant contributions, and the format has run ever since: nominations open to all Canadians early each year across criteria ranging from community contribution to professional accomplishment, a judging panel of leaders from immigrant and ethnic communities builds a shortlist, and the public votes for the winners — who are featured online and in a special issue.

The winners' roll call demonstrates the program's reach across Canadian public life: Toronto Raptors "Superfan" Nav Bhatia, VANOC CEO John Furlong, mental-health activist Loizza Aquino, Karl Subban — father of three professional hockey players — CBC News anchor Ian Hanomansing, and Adrienne Clarkson, the 26th Governor-General of Canada. Community advocates, entrepreneurs and cultural icons share the list, which is precisely the point: the award treats immigrant achievement as a single national story.

The Lilian To Scholarship

Less famous but equally characteristic is the Lilian To Scholarship, which Noorani developed through the magazine to give away $55,000 in education funding to newcomers every year. The scholarship put the brand's "informing, educating, motivating and connecting" mandate into direct financial form — a magazine that did not just write about settlement but paid for it. Under Noorani's leadership the magazine reported a combined readership of 500,000 per month across its two print editions and the online edition, and collected industry accolades alongside the audience.

Noorani After the Magazine

Noorani's post-2010 career shows how the magazine was one project in a larger advocacy practice. In 2005 he had already become the host of "Ask Nick," a weekly radio show on Radio Canada International. In 2013 he authored Welcome to Canada — the Government of Canada's official publication given to every newcomer to the country — and he was appointed by Employment and Social Development Canada to chair a panel on immigrant employment challenges. After the 2020 lockdowns he founded Immigrant Networks, a professional network matching newcomers by profession for weekly video chats, alongside the earlier Prepare for Canada program.

The through-line is the same problem he faced in 1998: the skilled immigrant told they have no "Canadian experience." In 2023 DIVERSEcity gave him its Newcomer Champion Award, sponsored by RBC, with CEO Neelam Sahota's citation noting the bestselling Arrival Survival Canada, the magazine, and the Top 25 awards. Born in Mumbai, carrying 23 years of advertising experience across three countries when he landed, Noorani spent the next quarter-century building the infrastructure he had needed on arrival.

The Fair as Institution

The Canadian Immigrant Fair deserves a final note as a business model. Presented in association with partners such as Scotiabank and Centennial College — a 2015 release announced the 5th annual edition as a career, education and settlement expo for newcomers — the fair converts the magazine's editorial authority into a physical marketplace: employers, educators and settlement agencies on one side, newcomer attendees on the other, with the brand as the trusted intermediary. It is the events arm that most free magazines never build, and it is why the brand survived the print advertising collapse that killed so many of its contemporaries.

Digital Presence

The brand's website at canadianimmigrant.ca publishes daily editorial content, expert Q&A resources, forums, and tools for newcomers. The site complements the print magazine's six annual issues with continuously updated settlement information. The magazine's history is documented in its Wikipedia entry, in Canadian Journalism Foundation coverage of its founding publisher's 2010 departure, and in Torstar/Metroland corporate materials. The Top 25 winners' archive on the site doubles as a two-decade record of immigrant achievement in Canada.