Canada Day publication

Tonight CBC's The National featured various stories of refugees settling in to Canada. In keeping with that theme, I was pleased to have the following piece published in today's Canada Day version of The Ottawa Sun.

June 20th was World Refugee Day.  Ottawa marked the event at City Hall as part of Welcoming Ottawa Week. “Welcoming Ottawa Week is a wonderful platform for us to reflect on Ottawa’s current and historic welcome to refugees and newcomers, while showcasing our genuine respect for the courage and strength newcomers demonstrate in overcoming tremendous obstacles to join our community,” said Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson.

Perhaps he should talk with an employee I encountered at a local store that day. While grocery shopping I suddenly became aware of a loud conversation. A cashier was talking to a customer. “Well I hope Trump gets in. We can’t have Clinton. Imagine how many refugees she’ll bring in. Trudeau has let so many in here.”

 It’s one thing to follow news reports about Trump’s speeches, but to have someone spouting his rhetoric right in front of me was disturbing. My inner voice told me to walk away but, like watching a train wreck, I couldn’t leave.

“Take Sandy Hook “ she continued, turning her attention to a couple of fellow employees, “ If those teachers had been armed, we would have had a different result. It’s not guns that kill, it’s people who kill people.  Did you know that ISIL has sent 40,000 trained radicals all over the world? How many of them are here in Canada?”

Still reeling from her verbiage, I left and got into my car. Suddenly I was on a completely different wavelength. In honour of World Refugee Day, CBC radio’s All In A Day was airing an interview with Kaylee Brennan    and Raphael Cuestas.  Brennan works at Matthew House, which provides assistance to refugees. Cuestas is a volunteer there and a former client. The interview was exactly what I needed in order to restore my faith in humanity. Here was a refugee who is now working at two jobs. He regularly donates 10% of his salary to Matthew House so that other refugees can be helped.

The following day I attended an ESL drop-in group for Syrian refugees,  organized by the Catholic Centre for Immigrants. I spent my afternoon sitting around a table with four Syrian men. One of them is a pharmacist who has already obtained a driver’s license, a car and a job. When I remarked that he must have studied English in Syria, he told me that he never spoke English before coming to Canada four months ago. Upon his arrival he studied for sixteen hours a day. I asked what topics they’d like to cover: money, food or body parts. How difficult and humbling to have to start from zero. We started with the names of coins and focused on the pronunciation of words like quarter and forty.  (Why do those t’s sound like d’s?) We talked about the differences between chin and shin, cheek and cheque. We enjoyed a laugh over chest and breast. “At the store do I buy chicken chest?”

The room was hot and crowded with loud construction noise coming from the apartment overhead. At the end of  two hours I was ready for a break and I wasn’t the one who had to concentrate and practise pronunciation in a foreign language.

The troubling conversation in the grocery store is a distant memory but unfortunately only a small example of the current climate of fear around immigration. On a much larger scale we have the momentous Brexit decision. How much of that was fuelled by a similar fear: of immigrants, of those who are unfamiliar to us. Speaking from my experience as an ESL teacher and volunteer, I admire the stamina and courage of these families who are struggling to make a new life for themselves in Canada.

As we celebrate Canada Day and reflect on our past, present and future, I think about my own ancestors. They were all poor people who came to this country from Ireland, England and the Ukraine. They worked hard and contributed to the development of Canada.  I choose to believe that these newcomers will do the same.