He’s a straight shooter!

Ali Kazimi was pulled aside for questioning when he landed in Canada for the first time in 1983 as a 22-year-old graduate student from Delhi who had been offered scholarships through an exchange program with York University.

Though a professor was waiting to receive him at the arrivals gate, the immigration officer questioned the veracity of his documents. He eventually let him go, mainly because he “spoke such good English” and said he would thank him for this some day.

And thirty-six years later Kazimi did, as he celebrated being selected as one of eight artists in the country to receive a Governor General’s Award for lifetime achievement in Visual and Media Arts, the first time an Indo-Canadian or even a South Asian Canadian artist has received this honour.

Not facetiously, but because that experience had opened up a path for him to explore for the rest of his life what power was and how it impacted our lives says the documentary film maker and associate professor at the department of Film and Media Art at York University.

UBC bestowed a Doctor of Letters, honoris, on Kazimi – most honorary doctorates are Doctor of Laws, the D.Litt. is given specifically to scholars.

His critically acclaimed documentaries Narmada: A Valley Rises, Shooting Indians: A Journey with Jeffrey Thomas, Continuous Journey, Random Acts of Legacy and others have been shown at festivals around the world. They have picked up several prestigious international honours and awards including a Gemini. Many Canadians only became aware of the infamous Komagata Maru incident through watching Kazimi’s Continuous Journey.

“I started from scratch, I knew it would be very difficult and it was – I lived extremely frugally for the first 20 years of my career and only found financial stability after I began teaching. But I knew arts councils judge on merit, not on your connections. Canada Council for the Arts has been absolutely central to my growth, as have the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council.”

“One of the best ways for immigrants to connect with the land, literally, is to go out and see what grows when and how,” he says. “I find gardening immensely calming. Our yard is filled with trees.”

He also suggests volunteering as a way of getting to know the community intimately.

“Volunteering on boards of film festivals and at volunteer artist-run centres allowed me to understand the Canadian context in my area of interest. The nucleus of my friends’ circle comes from that. Otherwise you risk getting stuck in this paradox of having come with your qualifications but not being able to break in because of lack of Canadian experience. We all make trade-offs in terms of how far we’re willing to deprive ourselves of material things to achieve our goals in life. It’s a personal choice that we have to confront with clarity.”