You’ve likely heard the argument, or perhaps made it yourself.
It goes something like this:
“When you come to Canada you should be prepared to be Canadian. Do whatever you want to do from ‘your own culture’ at home, but otherwise this is how we do things here.”
Often in this argument someone says, “When in Rome…”*
There is so much I want to write on this topic, and will do so in the coming weeks. But for now, consider this glaring irony:
The people who I have heard making statements like these have been immigrants or descendants of immigrants to this country.
If we really consider what we are saying, and if we were really serious about these statements, “the way things are done here” would be a way that has been almost obliterated by those who came to this country and changed the rules.
“The way” would be Indigenous.
See more.
*I was curious where that phrase comes from. If you are too, you can find out more here.
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