Six years ago, Mushtaq Arif and his wife, Aqiqa, came to Canada from strife-torn Kashmir. At one time, a reasonably peaceful place, in the struggle for independence from India and Pakistan, the troubles in Kashmir caused many people to leave it.

This couple left a great deal behind: Aqiqa was a history professor at a college in Karachi and Mushtaq was a civil engineer. Their son, Habeeb, came with his M.A. in hotel management from the University of Western Australia, with his wife, Zerga. They all brought their skills and knowledge to Canada to work and contribute to this country as a whole.

Habeeb owns and runs a hotel in Toronto. Zerga, works in the information technology industry.

Mushtaq and Aqiqa have an import business, bringing in goods from Kashmir.

Kashmir is famous for its hand-made products, fabulous rugs, shawls, hangings, cushion covers - all sorts of decorative pieces for a home or office. There are also a limited number of garments, all highly decorated. Jackets, long and short, kaftans and some shirts.

Each piece is meticulously crafted by hand and the quality of the work is immediately obvious. The designs of the art work coming from Kashmir are influenced by its neighbours — Afghanistan, Iran, western Asia.

The patterns are mainly floral in fact or in inference and it is nearly impossible to love one over the other. The colours are taken from nature — clean and pure. Just when you think you have found the perfect piece and nothing could please you more, there is another that is also exquisite and delightful.

Of course, with the Indian touch, there are items that sparkle with sequins adding a touch of light to the fabric and weaving, the shine of them leaving a mark in one's memory of something beautiful.

Where I met the Arifs, in the International Pavilion of the Ex, even in the midst of a chaos of colour and brilliant things, their goods stood out for the purity of the patterns and colours, and the skill of the craft.

They deal with a group of 10 to 15 artists in Kashmir who work to produce most of the huge array of cloths they have to sell. So, although they live and work most of the year in Canada, they also strive to support their fellows in Kashmir. Everyone wins, with such wonderful items that anyone here might own, not necessarily available through the Indian importers, the Arifs being able to support the artists in Kashmir and being a viable business here in Canada.

I found it interesting to learn that Habeeb and Zerga live with Mushtaq and Aqiqa. When I suggested that this made economical sense, she denied the necessity.

"It is our tradition to live together," she told me.

We like to live as one family, not go our separate ways."

They also run their son's hotel as a family. In fact, like others at the Ex, they only sell all their tremendous volume of goods at the Canadian National Exhibition. Otherwise, they work to run the hotel and winter in Kashmir.

Aqiqa said, "It is so cold here during the winter. There is winter in Kashmir but it is not as cold as here. We go after the Eid back to Kashmir for the winter and come back to Canada in March. Then we work to run the hotel and at the Ex to sell our things."

It was remarkable, actually, just how many people share in that exercise of coming a long way to participate in the vendor venues at the Ex. Some of them have been coming for many years. It says a lot about Toronto and the Ex. An open door to others - one of Canada's greatest strengths and, possibly, one of those strengths that will save a flagging economy, if we let it. We have a lot to learn about selfreliance from our newcomers.