Dr. Mina Hoorfar honoured with Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award

August 03, 2023

Congratulations to Dr. Mina Hoorfar, Dean, Engineering and Computer Science at UVic, on being selected as one of the recipients of the prestigious Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award for 2023!

Presented by Western Union and sponsored by COSTI Immigrant Services and Windmill Microlending, for 15 years, the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards have been a leader in highlighting inspiring stories of immigrants in Canada, from coast to coast and from diverse cultures and backgrounds. The Top 25 Canadian Immigrants of 2023 were chosen after an extensive nomination, judging, shortlisting (from an initial long list of 75) and public online voting process.

The full list (including bios and photos), introductory video and formal announcement of all 25 award recipients in 2023 is available on the Canadian Immigrant website.

To celebrate Dr. Hoorfar's achievement, we present the following interview with her about her personal and professional journey in Canada.

What was the biggest struggle or surprise you faced in your immigration journey to Canada?

I moved to Toronto from Iran in December 1998 and my first experience of Canada was arriving in the middle of a huge snowstorm and a temperature of minus 30-degrees Celsius! As a 21-year-old immigrant from Iran, the extreme wintry weather was a new experience for me and even though I had packed a suitcase full of what I thought were appropriate winter clothes, none of them worked to keep me warm. The very first night I wore ten layers to try to keep the cold away! I learned pretty quickly that it was important to buy a proper winter jacket in Canada and after that, I was able to walk around the city and feel comfortably cozy.

I’d add that at first I couldn’t speak more than a handful of words in English, but from the very first day, I was amazed at how friendly and kind and patient all the people I met were. I could feel a genuine acceptance of immigrants like me and people were eager to help me learn and to support me to integrate into Canadian society. I soon enrolled in free English language classes and started to find my feet in this country. That was a big boost—learning the language and the general atmosphere of acceptance and kindness. It really helped me to become Canadian—of which I am exceptionally proud. Canada is my home now and I feel that I’m 110% Canadian, just like the hockey players say!

What was your most important personal attribute or skill that helped you achieve success or get to where you are today?  

I would say that important personal attributes such as being resilient and determined combined with a strong desire to make this country my home motivated me to learn and to integrate into Canadian society. I was quite young when I came here, and I basically had to start my life from scratch in a completely new country, with a different culture and new language to learn, so I forced myself to be resilient, through sheer determination. Tenacity became my best friend! I’ve called Canada home for 25 years now, and there were certainly challenges and roadblocks along the way, but the great thing about a roadblock is that it doesn’t mean the end of the road, it is something that you can navigate under, above or around. This is something that I constantly tell myself—to see challenges as opportunities, to recognise that there is always a solution to any problem and to fully embrace being tenacious when the situation calls for it.

Please talk about your current professional role and what do you love most about it?

I lead the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Victoria in the beautiful capital city of Victoria, British Columbia. I am the first female Dean of this faculty and I absolutely love my job here! Engineering has traditionally been a male-dominated field, and I’m honoured to be in my role and aim every day to serve as a role model for women and equity deserving groups in what we call the STEM fields (Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). I hope that people seeking a career in these areas see in me inspiration for their own educational and career journey, and see that they themselves can attain positions of executive level leadership. That’s my goal—to enhance equity, diversity within my faculty, across the university, and ultimately throughout Canadian society. We have a goal within the faculty to have 30% female students by 2030 and we are already almost there! We are making progress in many areas, and what I love most is to see the results of these efforts—happy, determined and successful students from diverse backgrounds achieving their potential and contributing to making Canada be the very best that it can be.

Any other confirmed future plans or projects or hopes to share?

In terms of future plans, I’m really happy in my current job and have many plans to grow the faculty and to enhance equity, diversity and inclusion efforts at UVic. Over the next couple of years, we will be constructing two exciting new buildings for the Engineering and Computer Science faculty with enhanced and state-of-the-art lab, research and teaching facilities, and we will be providing seats to hundreds of new students and hiring dozens of new faculty members. This is a very exciting time in my job and I’m fully focussed on achieving success with all the great initiatives we have underway. Long-term, I’d like to advance my career and with all the ideas I have in terms of improving the educational experience, embracing diverse learning styles and approaches and providing opportunities for everyone to achieve their potential, I could imagine serving as a president of a university. I don’t want to get ahead of myself though—I love my role as the first female Dean of Engineering and Computer Science at UVic! And personally, I know that work-life balance is incredibly important and it is something that I work on every day, as well as taking care of my family with an abundance of love and joy.

What motivates you to work so hard and to try to make a positive difference in your new country?

My main motivation is to help people. My whole goal, since I first came to Canada, is to contribute positively to this country through my work and research and the foundation of that is to help people to achieve their potential. I see my most important job as Dean is to make sure that I foster an inclusive environment where everybody has the chance to earn the education that they deserve and to help people find and to achieve their passion in life. Advanced education has always been close to my heart, and it has given me tremendous opportunities far beyond what I ever imagined as a child in Iran. I want to give back by helping my colleagues and students to achieve their potential. Most of all, these values—inclusivity and a supportive, people-centred approach, are what drive me forward in my life and career.

What is your top tip for other newcomers to Canada?

Canada is my country. I chose to be here and I’m honoured to call it my forever home. From the very beginning, I have been welcomed here. This is a country where if you are willing to put in the work, there is no limit to what you can achieve. The more effort you put forward, the more you receive in return. The sky is truly the limit and I don’t think there is anywhere else in the world where I would have been able to achieve all the things I have done in Canada.

My top tip for newcomers in Canada is not to give up, not ever. There will be ‘ups and downs’ but Canada is a country where with determination and hard work you will be rewarded with a world of opportunities! And for newcomers arriving in the dead of winter, like I did 25 years ago, please take care of yourself and buy a proper winter coat to stay warm! You won’t regret it and when it’s cold and showing outside, never forget that summer will eventually come. I think that’s a nice metaphor anyone can apply to their life, education or career—keep going because brighter and warmer days are always ahead!

More information on the Canadian Immigrant website.