How this Kurdish reporter ended up as a barber in Niagara Falls, Ont.

Hemin Sadiq has known his passion since he was a youngster.

With a dream that "people should listen to me one day," at 14, he left home behind his parents' backs to start a career as a radio announcer. By his mid-30s, he was a well-known journalist in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

But much has changed since then.

Sadiq arrived in Vancouver in 2016 and moved to Hamilton in 2018, relying on a friend's promise to house him and his family. The friend changed his mind, however, and Sadiq ended up homeless in the city for 20 days.

But he rebuilt his life, working as a barber, among other jobs, bought a home and then moved to Niagara Falls, Ont., in 2024. 

Now, at 42, Sadiq lives in Niagara Falls with his wife and four daughters. About a month ago, he opened a new business, Stay Classy Barbershop, and so far has been "very busy."

Sadiq enjoys speaking with people throughout the day and listening to their different stories, as he did when he was working in journalism.

Both careers have been fulfilling for him, but journalism remains his true passion.

At first, he hid his media career from parents

Sadiq began his journalism career by presenting programs on a small radio station. Being so young, his parents didn't want him travelling an hour away from home to get to the station, so he hid the gig for "a few months" before his father heard Sadiq's voice on the radio while they were together one day.

"My dad said, 'Is this you?' … I said, 'Yes, it's me,'" said Sadiq. "He was shocked, and then he listened to the program till the end and he said, 'Wow, you're very good.'"

Sadiq moved on to a successful 19-year career as a reporter, when he was known on TV as Hemin Malazada. Some of his gigs included news presenter at Kurdistan TV, a reporter and editor at a local newspaper and correspondent for the Rudaw Media Network while living in the U.K. for a year.

As a TV anchor at Rudaw Media Network, Sadiq said, he was one of the few journalists who covered the first time the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) invaded Iraq in 2014.

He recalled it as a confusing time, when "no one knew what's going on." The CEO of his news network advised him against going, but he went anyway.

Sadiq remembers briefly speaking with an ISIS member back then.

"I said, 'I'm a Kurdish and I don't have any problem with you … I just want to interview you.'

"They said, 'It's not time for interview. It's war.' ... They let us leave."

Looking back, Sadiq said he made many risky choices, but it was all part of looking for a "fresh story" to tell.

"In these kinds of areas in Middle East, when you decide to become a journalist, the first thing you have to understand that you may be killed any time, any day, any moment."

Sadiq said his friend, Sardasht Osman, a journalist in Iraq, was kidnapped and killed after writing about a high-ranking government official. 

He remembers Osman every year on the anniversary of his killing. "He will never die in our memory."

'The problems started' after 1 particular story

His last job as a journalist was as host of the TV program Hotline, where he interviewed people about local social and political issues.

"I always wanted to help others," he said, which is what drove him to continue reporting, no matter how controversial the topic.

He said one of the last programs he presented was about the sexual assault of a minor by someone in a political family. 

Sadiq interviewed the child's father on the show. "And then all the problems started."

Following the episode, Sadiq said, he was beaten and threatened, and his family's safety was at risk. He went into hiding for in Iraq and eventually fled to the U.S.

At the time, U.S. President Donald Trump was just starting his first term. Seeing threats against immigrants and refugees in the U.S., Sadiq decided to come to Canada. He arrived in Vancouver in 2016.

Obstacles faced by journalists coming to Canada

Sadiq has had myriad jobs since coming to Canada, from construction to real estate to his current work as a barber.

However, his "dream" is to be a journalist again here in Canada, reporting on the Middle East.

"I'm from there — I can explain much better than someone that doesn't have any ideas what's going on there," he said.

But he recognizes it's hard to break into the industry. 

The Canadian Association of Journalists' national newsroom diversity survey does not include data on the immigration status of journalists.

The CAJ's latest report, in 2023, recognizes the efforts made by newsrooms to encourage diverse candidates, but adds "the vast majority of Canadian newsrooms" are still not representative of "the communities they serve."

George Abraham is the founding publisher of New Canadian Media, an online publication where many of its contributors are journalists from elsewhere who now live in Canada. He had a successful journalism career in India and the Middle East and is a former Nieman fellow at Harvard University. 

Abraham, who has been living in Canada since 2002, said newcomers to Canada who want to work in journalism face "enormous" challenges. He divides them into four major issues:

• International experience can "count for nothing" in Canada, he said.
• Canada has a dying media ecosystem. Abraham said he doesn't blame news outlets for not hiring immigrant journalists when there are many Canadian-born reporters also looking for a job. 
• Diverse immigrant voices are often overlooked when pitching stories or offering ideas, according to Abraham.
• The "way of doing journalism" can vary from country to country, making it difficult for journalists to immediately fit into the space. It wouldn't be hard for journalists like Sadiq to get used to the media landscape in Canada but "nobody's willing to make the effort" to help bring them in, Abraham said.

In his many years of experience interacting with both newcomer reporters and news outlets across Canada, Abraham said, pathways to getting a journalism job as an immigrant are slim at best.

"I'm a realist," he said, adding he understands not everyone will find a job in a newsroom, but "their field of expertise" could be used more often. 

"Call on them, talk to them, help them inform your reporting."

'Canada saved my life'

Sadiq said he "never wanted to leave" his home and career in Iraq.

"When you're born in some place, you have roots over there … You have lifetime friends. You have memories with everything.

"When you leave, it's like a flower you take out from the ground, from the soil, and you put it back somewhere. It's never going to be the same."

Sadiq said he still gets offers to work as a reporter in Iraq, but his family and life are in Canada now and they're happy.

"They're all my life," he said.

Though life here has not been easy, he's grateful for everything the country has done for him.

"Canada is home for me. Canada saved my life."