One of the things I exercised in my own mind was to never look at the name right off the bat. I looked at the curriculum vitae of the person. I looked at what they had done. I read the reference letters of that person. I built a character of that person. Sometimes I just had a piece of paper there and I would write down points that wowed me a little. If someone said this person has volunteered at so-and-so. I would say this is a great point. I would write that down right off the bat. I would go back to it afterwards and wonder if I had looked at it properly. It was never about where they came from, the colour of their skin, the political affiliation.
My position was to find the best person for that job. I was not going to allow anybody to make me make a decision, saying they are Indo-Canadian or Indo-French or Indo-this or Indo-that or any of that stuff.
I was just in South Africa and I gave a speech to some of the House of Commons people there. I said I came from the largest democracy, India, but I live in the best democracy, Canada.