OH CANADA !

 

When I read the stories and see the pictures of how life in 1965-1975 was in Saigon I feel enraged, it seems so surreal. How could this happen? How could anyone have the power to take away one's freedom to the point of fleeing your home no matter the cost in order to find it again? I have lived in Canada all my life, the same city in fact. I do not believe that I have taken freedom for granted as I truly do know how lucky I am to have been born here. Yet I still cannot imagine the events that the boat people had to endure.

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My father was born in England and also came to Canada by boat. His circumstances were very different from the boat people as he had the freedom to choose to live here. He bowed his head when I reminded him of how he came to Canada , his journey on the small boat that lasted two weeks on a very uncertain stormy ocean. When he thinks of the boat people who were coming into Canada as he had just arrived to Toronto a few years prior and says, it does not even compare.

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I am comforted that so many people found freedom safely in Canada . I am saddened at the fact that so many had lost their lives, how brave they were. I am proud to live in a country that helped the boat people in many ways, a country that freely shares its home. Known as a young country, compared to the Qin Dynasty or Ancient Egypt our roots have not come from centuries of history. Confederation did not happen until the year 1867. When asked to give my view as a Canadian on the boat people and refugee's coming to Canada my first thought and also my opinion is……”are we not all immigrants?” We are a country with numerous ethnic backgrounds that work, live and play together in freedom.

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Last July I was very lucky to visit China for my first time. A group of us from The Wushu International College , Burlington/Hamilton, Ontario were led on an amazing adventure by our Sifu Rick H.Y. Sue and Simo Cintia Yan Sue. We spent most our time in less touristy areas and more time in the remote areas of China . We often experienced stares from the local people as some were seeing foreigners for the first time. They stood around us with interest and wonderment in their eyes. I remember wondering if they knew where we were from. I looked around our group; China, Taiwan, Italy, Korea, England, Sri Lanka, Germany, Canada, India, Philippines, France, Ireland, we consisted of several different ethnic backgrounds. Some of us were born in Canada and some of us not. Many of our parents or grandparents had emigrated from other countries.

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I then realized, of course they knew where we were from. Where else could we be from?!

Canada ……….. Ethnically seasoned and culturally unique!

 

Suzanne DiCecca