Abu Alam, Richmond Hill mayoral candidate

Yorkregion.com
September 25, 2018

I was born and raised in Bangladesh, where I pursued an honours degree in public administration and a minor in political science and sociology.

I came to Canada as a political refugee and helped many other refugees settle in Canada, partly through my work as an interpreter and translator for the Immigration and Refugee Board. Currently, I am the president and CEO of Requirements Canada, an organization that helps people from both overseas and within Canada to settle in the country (finding housing, business, etc.). Appointed by the premier of Ontario, I became a board member of the Ontario Advisory Council of Multiculturalism and Citizenship. At present, I am the director of the Center for Human Development International, a not-for-profit organization that is dedicated  to helping humanity at large (by funding human upliftment projects and providing social settlement services, as well as, economic and educational programs and services).

I've worked in various other fields after settling in Canada, and they have allowed me to earn valuable experience in numerous areas. One of my passions has been real estate, and to this end I've worked at London Life, Royal LePage, Montreal Trust, Canada Trust, Coldwell Banker, Century 21, Re/Max, and HomeLife. Currently, I am a member of the Toronto Real Estate Board and have also been a member of both the Ontario Real Estate Association and the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Inspired by the value my father placed on holistic health and the "whole" person, I also developed a passion for learning about alternative medicine early on. Several years ago, I earned my doctor of homeopathic medicine degree and founded Nature's Nutrition and Remedies, which is a company specializing in all natural vitamins and supplements. I have formulated over thirty different natural herbal products that have been licensed by Health Canada and that the company continues to manufacture and distribute.  

My diversified fields of study and career pursuits are a testament to my wide-ranging interests, goals, values, achievements, and capabilities. As a mayor-hopeful, I believe these will translate to a clearly defined focus on each of the issues that need to be addressed to support the soundness and function of the "whole" town.

I have a modern plan to revitalize the Town of Richmond Hill to suit the needs of the 21st century. This plan involves a unique solution for addressing issues associated with traffic and transit. My most important plan involves preventing an increase in property taxes, as I believed that it is an old fashioned practice to run a town on the basis of property tax.