I’m getting really tired of hearing white Canadians say things like “Why do we do so much to accommodate immigrants?” or “If you move here you should adopt our culture, and leave yours where you came from” or my personal favourite “Why don’t these people learn to speak English?” – like learning a new language is just a switch you flip! Do you people even hear yourselves? DO YOU??? Did you fall asleep every single day in high school history? Do you know anything about how your family got here? Where they came from? Because I may not know you, or your heritage, or anything about you – but I can tell you one thing with absolute certainty – if you are of any descent other than indigenous, you are descended from IMMIGRANTS.
If you are of Western European descent, there is a good chance that your ancestors came here, and did a heck of a lot more than just expect to be accommodated – I’m descended from the Red River Settlers, and while there is a lot to be proud of there - the existence of Manitoba as it stands today, founded by people who struggled to build a prosperous future in one of the most difficult (populated) climates on earth - it is equally important to acknowledge that while my ancestors sometimes partnered and worked with indigenous peoples, we were also part of the history of atrocities that happened to them in this Province. I can’t go back and fix the past – but I certainly can recognize what happened in the past, and work to make my Canada a more equitable one for all people.
I’ve noticed this “old stock Canadian” shit popping up more and more lately, and it takes everything in me not to pick fights with strangers on social media… because I don’t have the energy. As it is, I recently confronted something like this that came up in my Facebook feed from a “friend” from high school. She promptly deleted me – which is fine, she really just beat me to the punch, but clearly my confronting it did nothing to change her perspective.
How does it hurt you to be inclusive?
If a Christmas concert is now called a Holiday concert so that the Muslim, Jewish, Atheist, etc., etc. kids feel included, who did that hurt, and how did it hurt them? Did it ruin your Christmas? Did it stop you from celebrating with your family and friends? Did it make the experience of watching your child get up and sing any less of a great parenting moment?
If you had to annunciate your coffee order, or even repeat it, to the Tim’s employee who struggled with English, this morning… how exactly did that make your day worse? Because let me tell you from experience, it is a whole lot harder to be the person who struggles to communicate in a new country, than to be the person who once or twice a week has to work to ensure communication.
This morning I saw people complaining about an article where a Canadian University had installed sinks where Muslim students could wash their feet, in keeping with tenants of their religion. How did this hurt anyone? You might make assumptions that the University funded this to the detriment of some other program – but something tells me that the people spouting off on social media did nothing to understand where the money came from, or how prosperous that particular school might be.
I worked at Assiniboine Credit Union’s Member Communication Centre when we rolled out our Islamic Mortgage – a product that allows Muslim’s to own their own homes, and still follow the tenants of their religion. The hateful calls from across the country as we made National news for our unique product broke my heart. Who did this product hurt? No one. It only serves to help create equity – and yet people indulged in their ignorance without any real understanding of what the product was.
Here’s what I want to know… How can you have been the beneficiary of this country’s generous immigration policies (or, like my family, have come here before any such thing existed), come here and built a prosperous future, in a relatively safe country, where you had access to opportunities and health care and a million other amazing things about being Canadian – how can you have been the beneficiary of all this, and then stand up and say “Oh no, that was for me and my family – it’s not for yours.”?
If you read my blog regularly, you know that I spent a year living in Japan. As the years go by, many things about that year fade, and I become less and less that person I was all those years ago – but one thing stays with me (and I believe it always will): I remember how hard it was to be a new immigrant in a place where I didn’t speak the language, or read the alphabet, or understand the culture. I was lucky as hell, because I had someone to arrange an apartment for me, and go with me to set up my bank account and act as a translator – so at least in those initial days I wasn’t left totally to my own devices, as many new immigrants are. But after those initial days were over, I was on my own – left to memorize the characters for stops on my train line, so that I could get around without being able to read. I got lost frequently going into Tokyo, at least at first. I learned to use one ATM because I memorized the buttons a friend had shown me to push, so that I could withdraw cash – which led to an interesting evening, when that ATM was out of order and I didn’t have any money. I struggled to learn the language, so different from English or French – which was exhausting – so when I was with people who spoke English fluently I slipped into the easy comfort of rambling in my mother-tongue.
I am also lucky that the Japanese are ridiculously tolerant of the many faux pas outsiders to their culture make – and even if they may have felt offended or annoyed, they always displayed an infinite amount of patience, and understanding of the fact that I didn’t know any better.
I remember all of those things, and then I try to imagine how much infinitely more difficult it must be to do those things without enough money, in a place where your skills and education aren’t acknowledged, with a baby and a toddler depending on you. So I strive to be as patient and understanding as the Japanese were for me. I feel no animosity for “accommodations” that allow someone new to this country to participate in their religion, speak their language, celebrate their culture alongside mine.
Canada has been made up of immigrants for as long as it has been known as Canada – we have all contributed to what this country is today, in both heroic and horrific ways. I just wish that for the people out there who think we have to protect what we have by being exclusive rather than inclusive, that I could find the words to remind you that this country once accommodated you when you were something different.
