"I Told You, I'm Canadian"
Genre: OPINION
"I am Canadian"now that's a great phrase,
eh? The bold red and white flag, the humble, laid back community,
the diversity, the peace, the freedom
ahhh, the perfect
countryand boy am I proud to be a part of it, because yes,
I AM CANADIAN.
"You're what?"
"Canadian."
"Oh. Well, I mean where are you really from?"
"I just told youI'm from Canada."
"I mean, your parents, where are they from?"
Well this is where my tale begins. Yes, the plight of young
Canadians with parents who have emigrated from a different country
to lead a life in Canada. What plight, you ask?
Read on.
Ilike millions of other youth my age, was born in Canada.
Calgary, Alberta to be exact. My parents emigrated from Bangladesh
in the seventies to lead a life and raise children here in Canada.
My brother and I were born and raised in Canadian society, attended
Canadian schools, watched the fireworks on Canada Day, and waved
little Canadian flags out our car window as we sped down the
highway. My Dad was a die-hard fan of the Calgary Flames, we
cheered for Team Canada during every Olympicsand gloated
with pride when our men and women did a double defeat to the
Americans in hockey at Salt Lake City 2002.Interwoven with our
"Canadian" upbringing was a very strong sense of religion
and culture. I was raised with strong religious standards that
have molded and shaped my life and made me who I am today. My
faith, Islam, is my way of life. Sometimes we turn off the hockey
game to perform one of the five daily prayers, or delay our participation in the backyard fireworks to make time for reading the Holy Qur'an. The clothes I wear to special family gatherings are of Bangladeshi
tradition and heritage, as is the food I eat. So, am I still
Canadian? Of course. Canada thrives in diversityno assimilating
melting pot for us (we'll leave that to our neighbours to the
South). So where does the "plight" come in? What am
I hinting at?
Read on.
It's hard. It is very, very hard to live everyday of your
life trying to "prove" that you are Canadian. To me,
being Canadian is being who you are. No transformations, no massive
make-overs to ensure that you'll fit in and look "right".
To me, Canada is every culture united under one flag, one country,
one cause. When you come to Canada and soon become a Canadian
citizen, you do not leave your past traditions, cultures and
heritage behind. Canada doesn't require you to strip yourself
of your identity before you swear your allegiance to the country.
Rather, Canada asks you to bring your cultural heritage along
for the ride. Where's the unity, you ask? The unity lies in our
desire as a people to live together despite our differencesthat's
what we have in commonour differences. Here's the problem:
All of the above is my opinion and I've come to realize that
not all people may agree with what my ideal Canada is. And sometimes,
that hurts. Whether we like it or not, there is a definite presumption
made by many multiple generation Canadians that those who are
the offspring of residents originally from another part of the
world, are not "really" Canadian. You have to feel
it to believe it. And believe me, I've felt it. Somehow, it seems
that some of us first generation Canadians just don't "fit
the part" in the eyes of some Canadians who have been here
for many generations. Somehow, in their eyes, (not all, mind
you but some) they can't fathom how we, odd looking creatures
with odd shades of skin in sometimes odd pieces of clothing,
eating odd concoctions of foodcan be Canadian. We don't
look like the "normal, average Canadian" (I still haven't
figured out what the "average" Canadian is).
Krispy Kreme is an American donut company that has just
opened its first store in Canada, in Mississauga Ontario. It's
Charity Week at our school and we're selling donuts in the main
hallway of our school.
"Do you guys have Krispy Kreme Doughnuts?"
"Nope! We're selling, good old Canadian Tim Horton's donuts"
"I wanted Krispy Kreme!"
"We're staying with the Canadian kind---Oh Canada!!!"
"That's weird, you guys are saying all that about Canada,
but not one of you is Canadian."
Whoa. That was a real conversation. How did our fellow
school chum come to the conclusion that we're not Canadian? We
don't look the part. Although all of us are in Western clothing,
we have distinctive features. I'm wearing the hijab, the
traditional headscarf worn by Muslim women, my classmate has
dark skin and is of Philippine descent, and my other classmate
also has a dark shade of skin and is of Indian descent. What
could we have done to look more Canadian? We speak perfect English.
I learned both Bengali and English at the same time, and am more
fluent in English than in Bengali. In factI have an English
accent when I speak Bengali! I want to know what our Krispy Kreme
fan's ideal Canadian is. What did we have to do to look Canadian
in his eyes?
The plight of the "by-birth" Canadian with immigrant
parents:
1. When asked, "where are you from?" from an innocent
inquirer: Replying with a simple, "I was born here"
doesn't work. Your acquaintance is waiting for you to finish
your sentence. "I was born here and my parents are from
blah blah blah
" Solution: If you want to know
my background, ask me, "What's your background"?
2. When explaining to a friend that you are born in Canada
and your parents are from somewhere else, you are introduced
to people by your friend explaining that you're from where your
parents are from. Solution: LISTEN TO ME!!!!!
3.Being approached by someone new, speaking to them and standing
dumbly as they exclaim in surprise, "Wow, you speak good
English!!" Solution: Correct your grammar, it's 'you
speak English well."
4. Hey, I know I'm Canadian and know I don't need to prove
that to anyone. I do hope however, that those who have trouble
deciphering, who "Canada" is, open their eyes and rethink
their opinions. We have a beautiful country that would never
be the same without its diversity.
CRITIQUES OF ARTICLE BY
PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS
- Nicely done. I was thrown off a bit by the numbered comments
at the end of the article. Also, the numbered comments did
not really explain the "plight" (i.e. condition or
state) of Canadians with immigrant parents, rather it was sort
of a list of rules for these people and the people who come into
contact with them. So while "plight" is used correctly
at the beginning of the article, it is confusing when used again
at the end. I think the article would have been better ended
before the list.
- This is one of the best arguments for multicultural Canadianism
I have read by any author of any age. Well done. I do hope --
as a journalism prof and journalist -- that you will follow your
talent and become a writer/journalist.
- Excellent article! The only area where you might have gotten marks was if you had a link/source cited after the article. You found your voice, spoke from your heart, and asked the question, what is a Canadian really? A very good read. Good effort! Good writing style.
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