Ottawa —

The Honourable Tim Uppal, Minister of State for Multiculturalism, recently concluded a successful mission to Pakistan and India. While in Pakistan, Minister Uppal met with vaccinators, doctors and UNICEF staff to announce Canada's latest contribution in the fight to eradicate polio in Pakistan and around the world. Minister Uppal also visited the Badshahi Mosque, Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, and Joseph Colony (a Christian community in Lahore), and met with federal and provincial Pakistani government ministers.

Minister Uppal joined the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) in its week-long trade mission to India with stops in Amritsar, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Anandpur Sahib and Jalandhar.

As part of the trade mission, Minister Uppal met with Canadian and Indian business people, Indian government ministers, and trade officials to promote greater trade between the two countries.

While in India, he participated in two conferences – the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conference in New Delhi, and the Pravasi Punjabi Divas Sammelan conference in Anandpur Sahib and Jalandhar. Both conferences gave Minister Uppal the opportunity to participate in discussions about the Indian diaspora in Canada and around the world. He also took the opportunity to meet with community leaders and elected officials from many different countries to discuss multiculturalism.

For many years, India has been one of Canada’s top three source countries for immigrants. The Government of Canada expects this trend to continue in the years ahead and for the numbers of Indo-Canadians to continue growing within Canada.

Quick Facts

• Tens of thousands of Indians continue to make the journey to Canada every year to help us build our country and our economy and, in many cases, to settle permanently and become Canadians.
• Nearly 25,000 Indians became permanent residents in Canada from January to September 2013, taking the first step towards full citizenship.
• Canada is also a popular destination for Indian youth. Citizenship and Immigration Canada approved more than 15,104 study permit applications and extensions from Indian citizens in the first three quarters of 2013.
• Prime Minister Harper’s state visit to India last year was his longest official visit to a single country, underscoring the importance of the Canada-India relationship.
• During the visit, Prime Minister Harper and Prime Minister Singh reiterated their desire to triple our bilateral trade to $15 billion annually.

Quote:

“Canada’s diversity is one of our greatest strengths. With over one million Canadians of Indian heritage living in our great country, we hope to capitalize on our close ties to strengthen our trade relationship.” – Tim Uppal, Minister of State for Multiculturalism. 

src:news.gc.ca