Sunday. November 4, 199C - North Shore News - 43

AFFLUENCE & INFLUENCE

IN HER OWN WORDS

Jaffer on law, immigration,
the Agha Khan and racism

MOBINA JAFFER: ‘I never expected special treatment, just equal
treatment.”’

NEWS photo Stuart Davis

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What kind of reception did you
receive from your peers when you
became 2 practising lawyer?
“When your're first starting Gut —
going out to fight the world —
and you get a put down, it’s very
hard. Lawyers are very egotistical,
and they would try to be in-
timidating. But when you've come
so far nobody can do anything to
intimidate you...1 don’t think
people meant anything by it, i
just that they are not used to
something different.

Judges were sometimes very
hard on me, but I was lucky:
had a senior partner who would
sit in court to let them know there
was no reason for it, because they
wouldn't be Sike that with another
young person who was starting
up. I never expected speciai
treatment, just equal treatment.”’

How have you personally dealt
with racism? ‘*The best way | can
describe racism is, especially on
the North Shore, like being on a
spinning wheel. My children gct
hurt, my husband gets hurt, and |
can never deal with my hurt
because I’m busy comforting
them...it’s sad because the North
Shore should be a leader. But
what do you do? Go and form
your own groups and not deal
with the outside community
because it’s easier? I refuse to
succumb to that."

What do you think of recent
changes to the federal Canadian
immigration policy? ‘I’m very
pleased because what it has at
long last done is given dignity to
immigration. It's making the
country realize we need immigra-

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sion because of Our aging popula-
tion, and for economic reasons.
Immigration is going to happen
whether we like itor not; and
there’s two ways we can deal with
it: we can have these people come
and say, ‘we want your work but
we don't like you, and you stay in
your community,” or we can wel-
come them and treat them with
respect. | think when people have
their self-esteem they work bet-

ter

What role has your faith played in
your career? “*The Agha Khan has
always pushed women. I've always
grown up with this idea: that if
you have two children, a gir) and
a boy, and you can only educate
one of them, educate the girl
because she is the future of your
country and the backbone of the
family."

What reaction have you and your
group received from immigrant
women? ‘There's been no
backlash at all. Sometimes it feels

Jaffer fights for

From page 42
The biggest thing we're trying to
portray is that we are here to stay,
that this is our home.”’

Jaffer acknowledges that being
of a different color means she will
probably never be compietely ac-

as if a lightbulb goes on, especial-
ty for women in isolated coni-
munities. They feel they have
found their voice and that naw
they have to go out and break
down that barrier. You know Pat
Carney talks about the glass ceil-
ing, well 1 talk about the glass
door, (Caucusian) women are at
feast now able to enter the room
and reach a certain level, but we
have not even been able to open
the door. Now we have found the
key and we've got to go out and
join other women.”

What are some of your memora-
ble cases? “*Just Jast week | hada
case of a Sri Lankan whose
brother got killed because he was
mistaken for him, and his mother
died immediately after from
heartbreak. } just look at him and
say to myself, ‘it's better to die,
because how can you live with
that?’ Everywhere you move your
psyche tells you my brother
should be alive, not me."’

minority rights

cepted by the Law Society. But
she says she'll keep fighting in the
hopes that attitudes wilt change.

“tf | work hard at it,’’ says
Jaffer, ‘‘my son will be accepted.
I'm going to keep trying, because
power comes from within.”’

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