Asha was born in Rawalpindi (Now in Pakistan), British India. She pursued her Bachelor of Arts from Punjab University, Chandigarh. Her husband got an offer for a teaching job in Sydney Mines in Nova Scotia, Canada. His family wanted him to marry before she left India. She left India to settle in Nova Scotia, Canada in September 1966 with her husband. She moved to Ottawa in 1972 due to weather, lifestyle, and limited job opportunities in Nova Scotia.
Sydney Mines where she came is/was a very small place. She experienced various problems as a new immigrant in Canada such as loneliness, lack of friends, homesickness, weather, no domestic help, Indian grocery, etc.
Although she is a trained high school teacher and worked as a supply teacher in 1967 in Nova Scotia, she started working in Stats Canada once she came to Ottawa in 1972. Between years, she was busy raising her twins. She worked for Statistics Canada for over 35 years. Prior to her retirement in 2008 she acted as a Business Profile Manager during her last ten years of employment. As a Business Profile Manger, she travelled to different parts of Canada to profile large Canadian businesses which produce 80% of the revenue in this country. Asha Mehta was the only Indo-Canadian Stats Canada employee to receive the Golden Jubilee Medal on the 50th Anniversary of the occasions of Her Majesty the Queen to Throne, for her work in Stats. Canada.
Asha started thinking of another career three years before her retirement. She was ready to quit the 9 to 5 job but knew that she would work for the community where she had lived since 1972. She had refused Stats Canada’s offer of contractual work after the retirement. Currently, she is enjoying retired life.
She did volunteer in distinct organizations and had different respectable positions. She was an office bearer of ICCC as well.
Asha’s activities in the voluntary sector include the following organizations: Heart and Stroke foundation, ICA, Festival of India, Social Planning Council of Ottawa, Indian women’s association of NCR and Gandhi Peace Council besides a few more. For about ten years she was involved in organizing the popular Indian festival “Diwali at the Hill”.
In 2012, she received a Leading Women, Building Communities Award from the Ontario Govt. She feels that the respect and the recognition she received from the community is/was the biggest award any one can get. Asha’s main purpose to join these organizations was to give something back to its community and society in general from where she received so much. She is extremely positive, compassionate and a believer of age-old values truth, peace and, harmony.
Asha Mehta suggests that do volunteering only when you feel strongly for some cause. Give generously and make a full commitment. It must give pleasure and sense of fulfillment to the doer and satisfaction to the receiver.
New immigrants should stay positive and integrate the Canadian ways of life while maintaining an Indian way of life to that extent that it feels comfortable to live. Accept the weather and learn the activities related to weather to enjoy the weather.