Anil Sukhija migrated from Pakistan to India as a toddler with his family after the partition of India and Pakistan. He grew up in Delhi, India. He received an undergraduate degree in Science (Bachelor of Science) from Delhi University. Following this, he pursued his post-graduation in Marketing and Sales Management. Professionally, Anil Sukhija worked with pharmaceutical companies in India. He started his career in the pharmaceutical field at the most junior position as a Medical Representative. Over the span of 35 years of working in pharmaceutical companies in India, he had worked his way up to Vice-President of Marketing in a big multinational company.
In the year 2000, Anil Sukhija along with his wife moved from Delhi, India to Ottawa, Canada. Both of their daughters were living in Ottawa, Canada at the time and had no intention of going back to India. One of their daughters was married and the other was studying at Carleton University. Their daughters had suggested that they should move to Canada. This was a tough decision since moving to Canada required Anil Sukhija to leave his high level position at a multinational pharmaceutical company but he decided to move to Canada with his wife so that they could be close to their children. Anil Sukhija’s initial experience in Canada was good as he did not experience any culture shock like people usually do when they move to Canada. This was because his children were living in Canada before he moved there and he had heard from them how the society is here, how people are and more. In addition, he did not experience any culture shock as he had travelled internationally many times during his career in India. Overall, he found it fairly easy to adjust to life in Canada.
After moving to Canada, Anil Sukhija wanted to get back into the workplace. Getting back into the pharmaceutical industry was a big challenge as it required moving out of Ottawa and he was not keen on this as he wanted to stay in Ottawa where his daughters were. Working in Ottawa required him to almost start his career all over again. In Ottawa, Anil Sukhija worked in car sales for around 15 years. After this, he retired.
During his retirement, Anil Sukhija heard about Indo-Canadian Community Centre (ICCC) from family friends. Upon learning about ICCC, he became interested and wanted to become involved with it. He met the then chair of ICCC’s Seniors Program, Dr. Indu Gambhir, expressed his interest in becoming involved with the seniors’ program, and become involved as the captain of the Workshops and Seminars Team. After Dr. Indu Gambhir had stepped down as chair of ICCC’s Seniors Program, Anil Sukhija took over as the chair of the Seniors Program and still holds this position today. Anil Sukhija also represented ICCC in the ethnocultural group of the Social Planning Council of Ottawa (SPCO). He then served as a team leader in SPCO’s ethnocultural group and is now on the board of SPCO as a Director. He is also on a few committees including the Excess and Equity Committee of SPCO.