Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking at Loyola Secondary School to a large crowd of Grade 9 and 10 students. This event was organized by an initiative called “Passages to Canada” (www.passagestocanada.com), the Dominion Institute’s national storytelling programme, which explores the complexities of immigrant and refugee experiences.

I had an opportunity to share a brief outline of my life story and engage the students in a conversation about overcoming life challenges and difficulties. I explained to students how life experiences have helped shape my values and perspectives. I acknowledged that had I not immigrated to Canada, my outlook on life would have been drastically different from what it is right now.

My journey through both difficult and comfortable times, my interactions with good and bad people, my professional work experiences, my social activism and community involvement, my increased knowledge of various cultures and religions, my endless discussions about policies and politics and my ongoing engagement with average Canadians have humbled me and helped me recognize the richness that diversity creates. I am not just talking about racial diversity, I am referring to learning how to respect and empathize with differing point of views. This variety of opinion is a natural outcome of different experiences.

The private sector uses a term of “sharing best practices” when encouraging each other to benefit from already tested and effective methods of doing business. In fact, it is considered a waste when businesses try to reinvent the wheel when a sister business has already gone through a similar situation.

Learning from our society’s diversity is a social equivalent of “sharing best practices”. We can save ourselves time and pain if we are open to learning from experiences that others may have endured before us.

My most important message to the students yesterday was to urge them to surround themselves with the right kind of friends: friends who work hard, who are honest and who are kind. Being associated with such company will always encourage us to improve and strive for greater heights and accomplishments.