Hey, Hi, and Bonjour! Glad you stumbled upon, or very purposely arrived at, my blog. I, along with several other students, will be responding to numerous questions posed by both my prof, Erika Paterson, and my fellow students of English 470A. This class is suitably called “Oh Canada… Our Home and Native Land?” For me, the emphasis is on the our. Whose land is this? I’m currently in Koerner’s Pub, so technically this is the occupied, unceded, traditional, and ancestral territories of the Coast Salish peoples, specifically the sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) nations. But, I may be getting a head of myself…
I’m Caitlin, a 5th year English Lit and French Lit student who is super excited to someday become a high school teacher. I (very) recently returned from a 4-month travel around Australia.
There are 9 nationalities represented in this photo! I’m on the bottom, second from the left.
Nothing makes you more proud of being Canadian than not being in your home country. Maybe proud isn’t the right word… I think aware is what I mean. I was very aware that I identify as Canadian, even though many people were confused by that. One of my favourite (sarcasm) conversations goes like this:
“So, you don’t sound Australian…”
“Good eye. Or ear, shall I say”
“Yea thanks. Err, what are you, then?”
I don’t have words here, so instead just imagine the face of having to answer this question countless times, because apparently this is an appropriate question.
I know that they’re either asking about my ethnicity or my nationality, but I just want to be that person that responds quite literally: “A woman. A person. A human. An avid reader. A world traveller. A lover of tea, fine wine and food. A Christian. A sister…. is that what you’re looking for?”
I’ve always been Canadian, and I will (hopefully) always be Canadian. I had a “typical” Canadian childhood, filled with Rick Mercer talking to Americans and Mr. Dressup. I grew up much (un)like the Degrassi kids, and slowly began loving beer at the appropriate. My family eats too much bacon at Christmas and my dad owns 8 flannel shirts. 8/11 shirts are flannel. My mom’s boyfriend smokes his own salmon that he has caught himself. If these things don’t make you Canadian, I don’t know what does.
But my version of “Canadian” is not universal. Waneek Horn-Miller is also Canadian and her life has been different than the childhood you read about above. Not only is she an Olympian athlete, a mother of two cute children, a survivor of the Oka crisis, but she is Kahnawake Mohawk. She is currently participating in a law suit so she can live with her non-Native husband in the community she has grown up in and raised her children in. Her story, which I heard a snippet of at the 2014 Student Leadership Conference held here at UBC, is drastically different than mine, but equally valid as being classified as “Canadian”. I hope that through this course, I am able to “learn to recognize and challenge colonizing narratives and representations”, as the Course Overview suggests.
Thanks for reading, and I’m excited to have you along for this journey of exploration through Canadian literature.
Works Cited
BonoRocks100. “Rick Mercer – Talking to Americans!!” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 13 Apr 2012. Web. 6 Jan 2015.
“Course Overview.” UBCBlogs. Erika Paterson, n.d. Web. 6 Jan 2015.
“Former Olympian Waneek Horn-Miller among Mohawks suing Kahnawake council.” CBCNews. Kate McKenna, 2 Nov 2014. Web. 6 Jan 2015.
lakesidepark2112. “Mr. Dressup CBC Television animated opening.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 19 Sept 2008. Web. 6 Jan 2015.
Hi Caitlin – very nice to meet you indeed! A great introduction with some excellent links, a wonderful beginning. I am looking forward to your contributions to our course of studies; you have a great perspective so far. Enjoy and thank you.
Hi – will you please change you settings so that comments do not need approving – take a look at our FB page – top post, for instructions. Thanks 🙂
Hi Caitlin. Great blog so far! Travelling has obviously left an impact on you (it did for me as well), and I was wondering if your time abroad changed the way you may identify with Canada or being Canadian? Perhaps a different perspective that made you take off the proverbial rose coloured glasses, or maybe something that helped solidify your personal identity with Canada. I hope that question made sense.
Hi Charlotte,
Thanks for the encouragement. I would say that travelling has changed how I see Canada more than it has with being Canadian. I previously lived in France for 1.5 years, and I noticed a lot of Canadian heritage while I was there. I was constantly confronted with pieces of France that helped shape my country and what I know of my homeland, but it also educated me. I stayed in a home that was older than Canada, and that was really humbling! Knowing that there was so much more to Canada really made me appreciate home, but also helped me to confront my ignorance about the role settlers had on our history. For example, one evening my host-mom was asking me about how Canadians treated the Indigenous people, and why we were so horrible to them. My first response was that technically Canada wasn’t a country yet, so it was still the French and English that did these acts. But then we had a discussion around Indigenous people, as places like France don’t exactly have Indigenous people, per se. I was a great learning opportunity for both of us, and really helped me remember what I love about Canada and all that I have left to learn.
I hope my answer made sense 🙂
Hi Caitlin!
I really enjoyed reading your blog! I found it super engaging with many interesting perspectives. The first thing that popped out to me was your comment on being proud to be Canadian when you’re not in your home country. It got me thinking about Canada’s culture and how we show we are proud people. Or do we? From my perspective I look at the USA and think, wow those are patriotic citizens, because it shows in everything they do. They are elaborate and emotional and so heavily invested in the decisions of their country. But as Canadians I do not see that same pride and patriotism, although I feel it intensely! So do we need to show it? I think not, because to be Canadian is to be humble. To quote your blog we are “A woman. A person. A human. An avid reader. A world traveller. A lover of tea, fine wine and food. A Christian. A sister”. We are people. I am proud to be Canadian because it does not say I must be Canadian, it says go out and be free and choose your path. You say I “will (hopefully) always be Canadian”, to me that “hopefully” says we have a choice, and to have a choice is a powerful gift!
On a side note I loved your examples of your Canadian childhood! It make me nostalgic. Good Job!
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for the kind words – I’m glad my words have made you think, and I thoroughly agree with your conclusion. I find that some American pride can be over-the-top or grandiose for my Canadian taste – I appreciate the level of pride we have for our country, while still maintaining our approachability, if that makes sense 🙂
Hi Caitlin!
I love your blog and how you comment on the issues of what it means to be a “Canadian” in a different place. What makes us Canadians different from any other person around the world? I agree with your description that we are all human beings, whether male or female, a student, mother or astronaut. From being a Canadian, I am proud like you to live in a country of freedom and understanding. (With a little more emphasis on bacon too!). When I describe where I come from to people who have never visited Canada, I find I have to think about what it really means to be a Canadian citizen. And yes, I always get the question do you actually say eh? And always with a laugh I say “Yes, I am from Canada eh!” Your post really confronted the questions of what it means to be from where your live, but what do you think of people who originate from a certain country, for example Canada, but after living in a different country for many years become more adapted to their current ways of life? How do they describe who they are?
Hi Alexandra,
Thanks for the kind words and awesome questions! I think what makes us different is how we feel. We feel that we’re different because while we’re in other parts of the world, we recognize that we are foreign; our culture is different, our customs are different. I don’t believe that it’s only Canadians that feel this way, but all people. When we enter a new space, we are able to sense that there are differences between what we are used to, or our norms, at the norms of the new space.
As for the expatriates, I would say that they are able to identify themselves as they please. They should not feel like they need to fit into a certain mould, but that they are able to classify themselves as they want. Also, within Canada there are so many different cultures and norms. I can use my house as an example. I grew up in Vancouver, living what I would call a traditional Canadian life. One of my roommates grew up in Saskatoon and Regina, and her version of Canadian life is really different than mine! Our third housemate immigrated from Iran in 1996, and thus was raised in a Persian home in Coquitlam. We all spent a huge portion of our lives in Canada, but all three of us have spend, at most, three years away from Canada living elsewhere, but our ideas of Canada are all valid. Kinda cool how fluid the term can be, but it can also be difficult when trying to describe it or define it. What do you think? Can the term “Canadian” be fluid? Can we allow ourselves to be both Canadian and American? Or Canadian and French? Or like my roommate, Canadian and Persian?
Hi Caitlin,
First of all, I want to tell you that I really enjoyed reading your blog. What brought me to your page was the title you chose. It caught my eye as I can totally relate to and love Timbits and Ketchup chips! What could be more Canadian than that?!
I see that we are on the same journey. I too am studying to get my English Literature degree here at Ubc. I hope to become a high school teacher too. What part of English Literature do you like the most? Do you have a minor? What grades do you think you’d want to teach in high school?
Welcome home from your Australian tour! Where in Australia did you go to? One of my younger cousins has just moved there and hasn’t felt an ounce of homesickness so I don’t think we will be seeing her for a while. I hear it is such a wonderful place. While traveling can be great, I completely agree that it allows you to become more aware of your country. I have a cabin in the United States, just outside of Bellingham, Washington. When I go there, it’s a like a home away from home as I have had this cabin since birth. However, as soon as I cross that border, I feel out of place. I feel different from those around me and miss my country instantly. This is probably because southern Americans are exceptionally patriotic and have flags at every house, gas station, super market and liquor store. It makes me ask myself how their stories might be different from ours. Are they even really that different? Are their experiences different but stories the same? These are questions I hope this class will address.
I look forward to reading more of your entertaining blogs!
Ps. My dad has so many flannels too. He stocks up at Target every time we go to the States!
Jess
Hi Jess!
Thanks so much for reading and your encouragement! I tried to think of the most Canadian foods that I loved as a kid, and these were definitely high on the list haha.
Great degree choice 😉 Honestly, the only reason that I read is to better understand why people make the choices that they do, so I love current American/Canadian Lit (Miranda July is high on my list), Gothic Lit (Flannery O’Connor is the bomb) and Victorian Lit. I’ve also started getting into Kafka, which has surprised me a lot. My minor is French Lit, which is also really entertaining. I want to teach the IB program, preferably English but I know that I’ll also have to teach French haha. What about yourself?
I flew into Cairns and travelled south in a van all the way to Melbourne! It was such an amazing trip and I honestly don’t know how I did it. Ive been home for 32 days and sometimes I forget that I even went haha. It is very similar, but with some differences which were interesting to delve through.
The cool thing about stories is that the same story can be different depending on the speaker. This is one reason why I’m also really excited to be taking this course! I’m excited to read your blog 🙂
Caitlin
Hey Caitlin, I like the title of your blog (gotta love us crazy Canadians eating the center of the doughnut and forgetting the rest of it!). I’m glad to find more people in the class who are as travel-happy as I am, and I’m sure your experiences of confused foreigners is one felt by many Canadians. When I’m travelling with my native/east Indian friend we always get awkward questions; so you white people are from Canada, yeah, but where’s he from? I think many people are unaware of the cultural diversity that Canada has, and one of my plans in this course is to suggest that our canon would be incomplete if it did not include input from everyone that makes our country so special. I like your reference of Horn-Miller and the note you make about your shared nationality. We may not look the same, sound the same, or even feel the same way about our country, but I believe our diversity inspires a tolerance and understanding that foreigners note when they consider us to be one of the nicest countries in the world. I look forward to hearing more from you in your blog!
Cheers,
Nick Thomson
Hi Nick,
Awesome perspectives and thanks for the kid words! I totally agree with your ideas of Canada and how different cultures see us.
Thanks,
Caitlin