50 years after arriving in Canada, this Toronto family is sending 50 other refugees to university

When 16-year-old Nimi Nanji-Simard arrived in Canada in 1972, she knew the country would be an "important new home" for her family. 

Having been stripped of their citizenship and assets in Uganda, Nanji-Simard, her parents and siblings were among thousands of Asians who had just fled under the rule of then-dictator Idi Amin, even though many had lived there for generations. Canada opened its doors to approximately 7,000 of the displaced.

"We were received with so much compassion and respect," she told CBC News. 

The family landed in Montreal before settling in Toronto, where her father and mother, Pyarali and Gulshan Nanji, eventually started the Nanji Family Foundation. 

Through the foundation, the Nanjis made it their mission to give back to a long list of hospitals and organizations — both in the country that welcomed them and to a myriad of other international causes.

Now, to mark their 50 years in Canada — and how far they've come as a family — they're providing university scholarships to 50 young refugees across the world.

"No matter how successful one becomes, we're always aware of our roots and we know where we came from," Nanji-Simard said.

"We're so blessed to be in a country that allowed us to grow as much as we did — financially, academically, socially, in terms of our communities — it's every level." 

The scholarships are made possible through the Aiming Higher campaign launched in 2020 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 

The UNHCR says the family's donation of $1 million will provide sorely needed funding to refugees seeking health-related university studies in their countries of asylum. 

Nanji-Simard recalls the opportunities she was given when she first arrived to Canada — opportunities she says must be given to youth, a cohort she describes as "very vulnerable." 

"We had school counselling, we had career counselling — whatever guidance we needed was always available," Nanji-Simard said. 

While she and her siblings were in school, her parents started buying real estate and eventually came to own Markham-based Belle-Pak Packaging Inc. It's through the success of that company that they were able to pursue philanthropy and their steadfast goal of giving opportunities — "not handouts" — to those in need. 

"In my life I have learned something, that if God gives you opportunity, try to share it," Gulshan Nanji said in a statement.