Who is Canadian….?

Photo by Ksenia Makagonova on Unsplash

Who do you expect to see when that kid in the Canadian flag turns around?

This was a recent discussion I had with one of my neighbors. He was lamenting the term ‘white Canadian” as more commonly heard now than previously. I asked him if “black Canadian” was a recent term. To which he answered no. There were always black Canadians.

This brings us to the picture above. Do you expect to see a white kid with light eyes unfurled from the Canadian flag? We say Canada is the land of diversity and multiculturalism, yet our language has not kept up. It was an issue even before the waves of immigrants hit our shores.

Black Canadians are often asked “where are you from”? Even if their great grandparents are born in Canada. By using black to describe Canadians of African descent while just using Canadian to describe white Canadians – it made the norm ‘white Canadian’ and the other ‘black’. When expressed in such a manner, my neighbor was quick to agree that as much as he does not like the term, it must exist if white and black Canadians are on equal footing.

As an immigrant I expect to be asked where I am from. To which I usually respond “Mississauga”. Then I get “No, really where are you from”. I am not embarrassed by my Caribbean roots or why I had to leave but I have difficulty with a question purely based on my skin color and accent. The real question people want to ask is” where were you born?” When asked in that manner, the intrusiveness of the question really becomes apparent and many will think twice before asking it. The whole point of the question is to categorize me and decide on the interaction based on that category.

Our hyphenated words – Indo-Canadian, Asian-Canadian, black Canadian are harmful. My neighbor and I can agree on one thing. Black and white should not pre-empt what type of Canadian we are.  In the end we are all Canadians and immigrants are just “Canadians in waiting”.