Supportive and selfless

The flow of immigrants from South Asia to Canada sharply increased in the early 1970s. Much like our economic and social needs, entertainment is also an important demand of life — especially for immigrants who are thousands of miles away from their homeland, friends and relatives.

To cater to this important need, and to help ease the stress of loneliness, an immigrant from Pakistan, S.G.P Jafry, took a small step, exhibiting big courage, and did some pioneering work in the field of Canadian entertainment media. He decided to create and present quality entertainment through radio, TV shows, musical evenings and different kinds of social activities at a time when South Asians were rarely seen on the streets of Toronto, Ontario, let alone on the TV screens across Canada.

His work had two purposes: the first being primarily entertainment, and the second helping to increase love and understanding between different cultural groups.

Jafry’s distinguished achievement is that he is equally respected in all Indo-Pakistani communities, despite the many ideological divides between the two. Jafry is a silent and selfless worker, who truly listens to these different communities and, as a result, helps builds sense of unity among them.

Due to his outstanding contributions as an entrepreneur, producer and supporter of inter-faith harmony, Jafry is very well known in Canadian entertainment, media and cultural circles.

He was born in India in 1939, got his early education in Pakistan and, later on, finished it off at the University of Bradford in England. Jafry then went on to establish a communication company in 1967 in Toronto, which has gone on to provide 42 years of service, as of April 2009. Since 1969, the company has produced over 19 TV series that have included more than 8,000 half-hour TV programs and over 3,136 one-hour radio programs.

Jafry started organizing live shows that highlighted famous artists from across the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, and invited musical giants like Lata Mangeshkar, Mukesh, Kishor Kumar, Talat Mahmoud, Hammant Kumar, Mohamed Rafi, Mehdi Hasan, Noor Jahaan and others to come perform for Canadian audiences. The way I see it, this is his greatest contribution to the cultural life of South Asian communities.

Since 1975, Jafry has also raised more than $7 million for various social organizations. He managed a fundraising dinner for Bosnia in 1995, which featured special guests, Indian actor Dalip Kumar and former Indian Prime Minster V.P Singh. He raised a great deal of money for a cancer research hospital in Pakistan, Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto and other local organizations.

As Jafry simply states, "We are not human beings going through a temporary spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings going through a temporary human experience."  

And, as if all this were not enough, Jafry also started Radio Taxi, a radio broadcast for Toronto taxi drivers, many of whom are recent immigrants. Plus, on the spiritual side, he worked as the director of a multi-faith program that has helped promote understanding between groups from different religious backgrounds.

Jafry's unparalleled skills and tireless efforts have earned him a formidable reputation among all those who have heard of his good work. His contributions have been highly acknowledged by many Canadian Prime Ministers, Canadian leaders and even the House of Commons.

Jafry has received numerous awards and commendation letters from both provincial and federal leaders, foreign dignitaries and ambassadors in Canada for his great service to this country.

Jafry has shown all immigrants how to survive, flourish and shine this new land and how, with ceaseless effort, determination and hard work, we can climb to any peak of success.

Mehdi Rizvi is a former member of The Community Editorial Board, Toronto Star and an affiliate of The Center of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement, which is a consortium of three Toronto universities. He's a chemist who has worked in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, cement and UV printing products for the last 34 years.