On November 13th, 2002, the Government of Canada officially recognized June 27th as Multiculturalism Day across the country. Each year Canadians celebrate their diverse heritage and the contribution of many cultures to the growth and development of the country. To find out more about the celebration, I turned to my favourite cultural experts…the LAT team! Here are our thoughts and reflections on Multiculturalism Day:
What words come to your mind when you think of multiculturalism?
Catherine: newness, human, awareness
Michaela: friends, vitality, sharing
Emily: diversity, acceptance, beautiful
Damien: discover, sharing, learning
Lesley: diversity, creativity, tolerance
Lise: various perspectives
What are your favourite multicultural spots around Vancouver and/or Canada?
Catherine: Vancouver: Gastown, Commercial Drive, Chinatown Canada: Ottawa, Montreal, and-have-never-been-but-would-love-to-see the Maritimes.
Michaela: Toronto. I feel like everywhere is a multicultural spot in Toronto! In Vancouver, I love going out for Ethiopian food at the Red Sea Cafe. There is always a large mix of people from different cultures gathering around one of the universal languages: food!
I also love going to concerts at the Chan Centre because music has such an amazing ability to bring people of different cultures together.
Emily: Vancouver’s Chinatown is a great spot. I also enjoy the Museum of Anthropology in UBC as a place for seeing the intersection of many cultures.
Damien: Commercial Drive is a good spot for multicultural food and culture. I particularly recommend Carthage cafe for North African food. I also like both old and new Chinatown and the Cambie Community Centre in Richmond is a very multicultural spot for playing sports.
Lesley: Vancouver Library
Lise: When I was a student at UBC, I volunteered at Tonari Gumi, a Japanese community centre in downtown Vancouver. My role was to sell bento boxes at the Powell street festival. I’d work in the kitchen with the older ladies who, in some cases, had been in Canada all their adult life, but still knew very little English. For them, the centre was an oasis, where they could relate to one another, practice their English and contribute to their community. Each community has its own cultural oasis. For the French community, it’s on 7th ave where there’s a theater and a small library where we can borrow movies and books, etc.
Any particular plans for celebrating Multiculturalism Day on June 27?
Catherine: Food! My friends and family are from various cultural backgrounds, so um…yeah, that. And: food!
Michaela: Going out for dim-sum with my LAT co-workers?
Emily: Food of course! I’ll also be staying on top of social media, Twitter in particular, to see what’s going on across the country. #MulticulturalismDay
Damien: FIFA World Cup
Lesley: Nothing yet but I would love to join if there are any events.
Lise: Nothing specific, but if you provide good ideas…I might be tempted! Maybe I’ll go to a concert.
How does your work at LAT help you celebrate multiculturalism?
Catherine: Each day I have the pleasure of working with people or on projects about people from different cultural backgrounds, and each day I get to learn something new about other cultures – and mine. Over and over again I’m shown that behind each culture we’re all the same: human beings who care about the same things. The cultural aspects are how we express ourselves in different ways. I also learn that explaining my own culture to someone else isn’t always as easy as one may think! (“Why do North Americans love hamburgers…? Umm…they taste good?” “Why do we call a ‘toque’ a ‘toque’…? Umm….’cause it’s easier to say than ‘little knitted cap with a pom-pom on top’?). And suddenly I’m scrambling for a thesaurus or dictionary or good ol’ Google. Fun!
Michaela: Through my work at LAT I get the chance to learn about different languages and cultures on a daily basis. It might sound gimmicky, but I’m relatively new at LAT and one of the first thoughts that struck me when I joined the team was “wow, these people really live and breathe culture.”
Emily: As the English Content Manager, I am constantly looking for new ideas that will resonate with LAT’s audience. What I’ve discovered during my time here is that culture is at the centre of everything we do. Whether it be translation or marketing, our team works to connect various communities. I love writing and sourcing content that is rooted in multiculturalism and focuses on building relationships.
Damien: I see my work with SEO as a way to help company’s websites be found by people that don’t speak English. Working on keywords is a really interesting way to understand cultural differences. It is the same thing for social media. LAT gives companies the opportunity to reach and engage with different communities. I would say that LAT is a multicultural interpreter.
Lesley: All our project managers are from different cultural backgrounds; it’s a lot of fun to share stories and experiences of the culture that each one knows the best.
Lise: At LAT, we live and breath multiculturalism every day just by working side-by-side, sharing ideas and planning the growth of our business. Each of us has a different cultural background. Our team is our greatest asset. Last year we started learning languages. Lesley learned French, while some of us attempted to learn Mandarin. It was a fun experience, which I hope we can continue. We also have a board game night once a month, at which we introduce various games to one another and try to learn. So far we’ve done very poorly at learning Chinese games though…but we’re not giving up!
Another way to celebrate multiculturalism is through food. Damien comes from the Bordeaux region in France, Lesley from Szechuan, other team members are from Seoul, Delhi, the Punjab, Sri Lanka, Japan, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Québec, not to mention Ottawa, Vancouver, Toronto…each with their favorite dishes and flavors to introduce us to. This reminds me…we should have pot lucks more often!
Why is it important to celebrate multiculturalism?
Catherine: Humans are the same – and yet come in unique flavours – all over the world. I appreciate learning and experiencing other cultures as a way to a) learn about other people, and therefore better understand myself and b) better understand my own culture, and therefore better understand others. Secrets and intolerance drives me nuts; openness and tolerance – especially when I see people around me show these to each other – are a joy to see and uplifting to feel.
Michaela: It’s important to celebrate multiculturalism because we can all learn so much from people who are different from us- and also discover surprising commonalities! From food to music to fashion and literature, in our global world we are more and more frequently shaped by the cultural practices and traditions of people around the world. Diversity is richness.
Emily: Multiculturalism should be celebrated because it is a great opportunity for learning and community building. Yes we are all human, so it’s great to discover commonalities, but we are not all the same, and embracing this diversity and using it to develop greater understanding is wonderful. In many ways, celebrating multiculturalism is a celebration of creativity and collaboration.
Damien: Countries and cities are more and more multicultural. It is important to understand and learn about other cultures. That allows people to live together in the same area.
From a personal point of view, I would say multiculturalism is a key factor in limiting racism and ethnic crises.
Lesley: It’s a good way to let people know different cultures. Especially in Canada, it is very common to know someone, maybe friends, co-workers from another culture.
Lise: Because each culture, language or viewpoint enhances our own. By celebrating our differences, we learn from one another and expand our own worldview.
Anything else you’d like to say about Multiculturalism Day?
Catherine: We should have more of them. How about a Multiculturalism Week? Or Month? Better yet, why not a “Let’s Celebrate Being Human Around the World” month. That’s really what it should be, isn’t it?
Michaela: Multiculturalism has brought so much to my life! I can’t imagine life without it.
Emily: It’s great that there is a special day for celebrating multiculturalism, but really it should be celebrated all the time!
Lise: I always have lots to say about this theme! LAT embodies our passion for differences, for connecting with one another to share ideas, tools, and concepts. Each part of the world evolves in different ways, each according to their strengths and weaknesses. Taking advantage of the knowledge each person brings when immigrating here is a true competitive advantage. From China, where eCommerce is huge, we learn what the future will be and how to help clients get ready. From France, we learn about new concepts like MOOC, a great opportunity for Universities and Colleges. From Australia, we learn about the potential of the ASEAN as a fast growing, tightly knit market offering tremendous opportunities. Examples abound… you get my drift.
A word cloud made up of our team’s thoughts on multiculturalism.
Catherine Wankiewicz is our Operations Manager, Michaela Baer is our Visual Content Manager, Emily Larson is our Content Manager, Damien Morvan is our Digital Project Manager, Lesley Ning is our Cultural Marketing Specialist and Project Manager, and Lise Alain is our President. For more information on the LAT team, check out our team page.
How will you be celebrating Multiculturalism Day? Let us know in the comments or tweet us @LATMultilingual #MulticulturalismDay!
