Vital Role of Immigrants
Inquiry--Debate Adjourned
February 24, 2026
Rose pursuant to notice of December 10, 2025:
That he will call the attention of the Senate to the vital role that immigrants have played — and continue to play — in shaping Canada’s economic growth, cultural richness and social fabric.
He said: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to my inquiry calling the attention of the Senate to the vital role that immigrants have played — and continue to play — in shaping Canada’s economic growth, cultural richness and social fabric.
This inquiry follows the important work initiated in 2020 by our former colleague, the Honourable Ratna Omidvar, who called the Senate’s attention to the link between Canada’s past, present and future prosperity and its deep connection to immigration.
An immigrant herself and a respected authority on this subject, Senator Omidvar founded the Senate’s working group on immigration and led this conversation with clarity and conviction. I am proud to continue that work today and delighted that many senators have already shown interest in participating in this important national dialogue.
Immigration is not a secondary feature of Canada’s success; it is one of its defining strengths. It is at the heart of most policy discussions and decisions in our country.
Our economic growth, our resilient workforce and our vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem are closely linked with the people who choose Canada as a place to build their lives. Immigrants fill important skill gaps, create companies at a solid pace and offer up international networks, new ideas and cultural perspectives that make our economy more competitive and innovative.
Statistics Canada regularly reports that Canada has one of the highest proportions of immigrants among developed countries. Immigrants are also more likely to own a business than persons born in Canada.
In a country that is dealing with a demographic crunch and an aging population, sustained immigration is not an option. In fact, it is essential if we want to maintain productivity, support public services and ensure that future generations will inherit a confident and flourishing nation.
Yet, in recent years, opposition to immigration has grown louder. Newcomers are sometimes portrayed as a strain rather than a strength. These arguments tend to isolate short-term pressures — housing comes to mind — while ignoring the long-term economic and social dividends immigration delivers.
More concerning still, rhetoric that frames immigration as a problem risks eroding the very social cohesion that distinguishes Canada. It is neither necessary nor helpful to pit communities against one another when history and evidence show that inclusive growth strengthens us all.
Canada’s story is, at its core, a story of contribution. Immigrants do not simply participate in our economy; they shape it, and they expand it. They are job creators, innovators, community builders and leaders whose impact ripples across generations. Recognizing their achievements is not about dismissing challenges; it is about acknowledging where our true advantage lies.
By emphasizing the immense value that immigrants bring, we are reinforcing a message of confidence and unity. We know that Canada prospers when it welcomes, properly integrates and retains talent, ambition and determination from around the world.
Canadians recognize that immigration is a powerful driver of opportunity. In this broader context, I’d now like to present three concrete examples of entrepreneurial excellence within our immigrant community.
Canada’s immigration system is designed to welcome newcomers who can contribute to our economy and strengthen our communities and country. I have seen this first-hand over my 35 years in the banking sector. I had the privilege of working alongside thousands of entrepreneurs. I have seen first-hand the risks they assume and the sacrifices they make. Business owners put everything on the line every single day.
Today, I wish to pay tribute to three outstanding Canadians of Italian, Hellenic and Armenian heritage, whose stories reflect resilience, vision and generosity.
First, the D’Argenio family of Laval. In 1950, Gerardo D’Argenio left post-war Italy aboard the ship Argentina and arrived at Pier 21 in Halifax on Christmas Eve with his mother. Each was given $5 before boarding a train to Montreal. Like so many newcomers, he carried little more than hope, something my own parents could relate to when they chose Canada from among so many other nations a decade later.
Deemed ineligible for the French school system and too old for the English one, Gerardo had little choice but to work, though still a teenager. He took on gruelling jobs, often outdoors in winter, and for years, worked two or three jobs at a time, six or seven days a week, to support his family.
Those early years were difficult for the family, as they are for most newcomers, but his perseverance paid off. Through perseverance and discipline, he eventually co-founded a modest automobile dealership in Laval, mortgaging everything he had. That enterprise grew into one of the largest and most respected BMW dealerships in the country, BMW Laval.
Today, it remains a family enterprise. His son Carmine serves as president, alongside the next generation of D’Argenios. The company employs more than 200 people and is deeply engaged in community philanthropy, supporting numerous charitable causes and organizations. For the D’Argenio family, success has not been measured solely in sales but in impact, in giving back to the country that has given them so much for so long.
As Carmine often says, lasting success is rooted in hard work, accountability and initiative. While support systems matter, personal responsibility and perseverance remain essential to both individual achievement and collective progress.
There is even a unique moment of national pride tied to this story. During the recent opening of Parliament, the blue BMW used by His Majesty King Charles III was provided by BMW Laval, a symbolic testament to how far one immigrant family has come.
The second story begins like the first, with parents who arrived with little but ambition. From Greece, the Mammas family came to Canada seeking opportunity. Their experience reflects that of countless immigrant families: work hard, raise children, integrate into the community and build something lasting. From this foundation emerged Peter Mammas.
Having grown up working in his family’s restaurant business and gaining experience in operations, customer service and entrepreneurship, Peter learned early on the value of small business ownership as a pathway to opportunity and integration. In 2016, despite some challenges and financial hurdles, he successfully founded Foodtastic Inc. in Montreal with a clear objective: to build a Canadian platform that supports independent entrepreneurs and strengthens local communities.
Today, Foodtastic Inc. supports more than 25,000 jobs nationwide through a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands in urban, suburban and regional markets. Its system generates approximately $1.2 billion in annual sales and sustains more than 1,000 franchised small businesses, many owned by first- or second-generation immigrants. Canadians across the country know its brands: Second Cup, Milestones Grill and Bar, Freshii, Shoeless Joe’s Sports Grill and Pita Pit, among others. Today, the business is global, operating in 17 other countries.
Through franchising, Foodtastic Inc. creates entry points into the workforce for newcomers and young Canadians alike. It invests in supply chains, real estate, construction and local partnerships, and its franchisees give back through charitable initiatives and food security programs in their communities.
Like the D’Argenio family, the Mammas family story illustrates how immigrant entrepreneurship multiplies opportunity, not only for one family, but for thousands.
The third story begins in very different circumstances. In August 1975, as civil war engulfed Lebanon, the Afeyan family arrived in Canada as refugees with their children still in high school. They came seeking safety and stability and found in Canada the chance to rebuild. Like so many newcomers, they brought little with them except determination, resilience and profound gratitude to the country that welcomed them.
Soon after settling, the family launched a business. What began as an import venture evolved into manufacturing. At just 18 years old, Levon Afeyan joined the family enterprise while attending CEGEP in Quebec. By 1981, the family had established a manufacturing operation producing vinyl-upholstered cushions for the chair industry. They soon expanded into curved plywood production, earning a reputation for technical excellence and innovation.
In 1994, Levon took over the business known today as Seatply. Under his leadership, the company pursued an ambitious growth strategy. Through sustained investment in technology and research and development, it became the largest producer of its kind in Canada. It expanded into U.S. markets, and by 2025, more than 65% of its sales were exported to the United States and Mexico.
Growth did not come at the expense of the community. The company acquired and revitalized struggling Quebec manufacturers in 2018 and 2020, preserving jobs and expanding its overall operations to 160,000 square feet, with more than 150 employees. In 2021, it also stepped in to save a veneer mill in Lac-Mégantic, protecting 100 jobs and sustaining a century-old industrial legacy.
Equally important is its human impact. Over the decades, it has hired and trained individuals with limited skills, offering stable employment and dignity. In 2015, when thousands of Syrian refugees arrived in Canada, the company welcomed more than 40 into its workforce, many of whom continue to thrive today.
From automotive retail to national restaurant franchising to advanced manufacturing and export leadership, these three stories span sectors, generations and origins. Yet, they share common threads: risk, perseverance, innovation and, most of all, gratitude.
It is a testament to what is possible when Canada opens its doors and its hearts, and when newcomers repay that trust many times over.
Honourable senators, these families did not simply build businesses. They created thousands of jobs. They invested in research, expanded into international markets, revitalized industries and strengthened local communities. They trained young workers and welcomed newcomers into their workplaces. Their success multiplied across generations. Their stories are not isolated. Throughout the country, in each of our communities, there are similar stories that remind us what Canada is all about: kindness, openness and fairness.
They prove to us that immigration is not an abstract political debate, but a living force that shapes our economy and strengthens our communities every day. Immigrant journeys remind us that immigration serves to renew Canada’s promise. It serves to ensure that talent, courage, and hard work continue to find fertile ground here.
If we aspire to remain economically strong, socially cohesive and confident in our future, then we must remain a country that believes in the power of immigration. Canada succeeds when we open our doors and those who walk through them build, give back, and help write the next chapter of our shared history.
I will leave you with one final thought.
In the spirit of the Olympic Games, one of our beloved Canadian artists reminded us during a recent Canadian Olympic piece that “family isn’t just by name. It’s a lasting flame.”
I would add: In Canada, family is also forged through citizenship. It is built in classrooms and on factory floors, in boardrooms and on main streets. It is built by those who arrive with little but hope and who, through determination, help shape a stronger nation for us all.
Ask the D’Argenio family. Ask the Mammas family. Ask the Afeyan family. Ask the Loffreda family for that matter. Ask millions of Canadians whose stories began somewhere else. When asked who they are, their answer would not be hyphenated or hesitant. It would be clear, proud and loud: They are Canadian.
Thank you. Grazie.
Will Senator Loffreda take a question?
I just wanted to mention there are only about 35 seconds left, so it has to be brief, unless Senator Loffreda will ask for more time.
I ask for more time, as there will be probably more questions.
Is leave granted, honourable senators?
I do understand and appreciate it’s a late hour. My question will be brief, and I will try to elicit a brief response.
I listened to your speech very carefully. I share, obviously, many of the values and principles you articulated because the story doesn’t apply only to the Mammas family and the Loffreda family, but the Housakos family as well. My parents came in the 1950s. We both represent constituencies back in the Greater Montreal area that come from that background, that history.
When I go back and speak to those immigrants who came in the 1950s — and, unfortunately, many of those Canadians and Quebecers are passing on; they are getting of a certain age — they lament today that this is not the country that they inherited or that they came to full of promise and hope, as you articulated in your speech. One after another, they have a sense of resentment where they say — and you have heard it; we have gone to the same cocktail parties. It doesn’t matter if it’s Peter and Lawrence’s father or my father or anybody else. They say, “When we came to this great country, we had no security or safety nets. We had no free medicare. We had no welfare. When we got to Pier 21, we had to prove to the Government of Canada before we got to Pier 21 that what was waiting for us was a job and a commitment to work hard to fulfill that Canadian promise.”
A lot of these Canadians now have come to a certain age, and they are saying, “Why are we entitling people to services they have paid nothing to gain? When we came to this country and laid the foundations and built up, we never wanted any hand down.”
What do you have to say about that?
Senator Housakos, thank you for your question. Yes, I’m proud of your family, too, which came here, and very proud of what you accomplished. I hear it all the time in your community, so congratulations on that.
I said it in my speech. Canada’s immigration system is designed or was designed to welcome newcomers who can contribute to our economy and strengthen our communities and country.
I have given you proof that this was the case, and that should be the case going forward. It is up to us parliamentarians, at the House of Commons and here in the Senate, to ascertain and make sure that Canada remains a strong country where newcomers are welcomed, where we support them and where we choose the proper immigrants who will make our country stronger and better.
Senator Simons once gave a quote — her favourite Canadian was Leonard Cohen. I can’t say it as well as Leonard Cohen or as well as Senator Simons, but it says no system is perfect:
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
I think we don’t have to lose hope. We have to keep trying and working hard. It is up to us parliamentarians to ascertain that that continues. Stories like these continue making Canada a great nation. Thank you for your question.
