Kahsennenhawe Mandy Jacobs
It’s human nature to want to fit in. When in another country and I am a visitor and I come with respect for their land, their customs and their language (when in Rome!) Greeted by the locals I was readily accepted as one of them. Because I look like a local. But getting the scowl when I say I don’t speak their language. With the language barrier I had to represent who I was by doing the hand over mouth saying “woo – woo – woo” Only when I use a racist action and just short of doing the tomahawk chop made popular by a certain sports team, do they understand who I am.
The local women says,“It’s too bad, because you look like us”. These words were never spoken to me on this side of the border. I was finally not fish out of water. My heart beams because I finally fit in, unfortunately it’s a thousand miles away from my home. The home of seven generations before me. Where the government tried to assimilate us and take away my language and force me to speak theirs.
As a visitor to their land, I don’t enforce my language on them and they don’t enforce their language on me. I listen as the tourists from Quebec belittle and berate the locals for not speaking French. They carry the air of arrogance and superiority over others and are insistent that they should be spoken to in French. Similar to what they do when they come into my community.
But then, in a friendly conversation with an older gentleman from Canada, I find my platform to educate. A chance to squash a few negative stereotypes about being Onkwehón:we/Indigenous (means, the original people). The look I get when I say, I don’t drink and that my parents do not drink and that my father is a Graduate of McGill University, that I did my undergrad at McGill and am currently working towards a Master’s Degree and my daughter is studying at McGill, completing her undergrad in Education (Triple whammy, and with that I think this Onkwehón:we family trumped the Trudeaus!).
Sorry, not sorry for sounding smug, but these are just a few of the situations we have to deal with on a daily basis. The mention of ethnicity and language, becomes a cause to defend. If Quebec thinks they are not racists, come to our local arena watch and listen to parents sling racial slurs at 5 and 6 year olds.
Van Herk, G. (2012). What is sociolinguistics? (Linguistics in the world). Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell. (2012)
Sorry for the long comment BUT…
Kahsennenhawe Mandy Jacobs this is a powerful post and I like how you addressed parents in sporting environments. Hockey is like a ritual for the francophone Quebecois and parents can be ruthless. Anti semitism, anti-indigenous and anti-anything else that isn’t me happens all too often. As an Anglo growing up in very Quebecois parts of Quebec, I can attest to this as I’ve been targeted for having the name ‘Crawford’ on my jersey. It’s not everyone, but the ones who are racist, sexist, prejudice paint an ugly picture for the rest of us. It’s hard to tell people that I’m an anglo from Quebec and usually I’ll say Canadian before saying ‘I’m an Anglo from Quebec’.
Definitely do not be sorry for sounding smug as sometimes that may be the only way to get the message across. The “tourists from Quebec” wording speaks to me also. My dad always says: “We’re all immigrants here” (except you Mandy) and this demeaning attitude shared by all too many people here sucks and it is not ok. I’m surprised I’m still here to be honest. So many of my high school friends said *bleep* this, and moved to Ontario for this exact reason.
Shayne Crawford
Kahsennenhawe, this post is heartbreaking – thank you for writing it and for trusting us with it. I find this home of ours a very challenging one at times, but I don’t think it would hurt so much to see such hatred here if it were not home – i.e. I can tell by how much it hurts that I truly love my home. Your post also had me reflecting on the privilege of so rarely having people assume things about me – nobody looks shocked when I say my mom studied at McGill, for example. That you manage to express these things in clear prose rather than allow frustration to boil over is deeply impressive to me and, I imagine, takes immeasurable strength. thank you for your deep generosity in using these experiences to help us grow.
Shane, I also struggle with witnessing things that are ugly here more than elsewhere but I think, partly, that is because I can disavow elsewhere – when I see blatant racism in Newfoundland I can feel in my heart that it is separate from me. I think the divisions in Quebec society mean that we can all select a label and opt out when we please and I wonder whether, in some small ways, doing so is to participate in the very same othering we find so problematic. I am trying, instead, to take issue with the ideas I find objectionable, rather than the people who hold them – only then can I see where I might hold these problematic ideas myself. a struggle everyday to find a home free of hate, it seems. courage!
Amelia