The Rural Reality A Conversation on Race in Rural Canada

to begin

i wish to acknowledge that i am speaking

on the traditional unseated territories

of the musquam

squamish and sueyla tooth nations

i was eight years old when i watched the

fantastic

kung fu western film shanghai noon for

any of you who does

don’t know shanghai noon is a buddy cop

comedy set in the old west

where the lead character uh chun won

played by

hong kong film legend jackie chan teams

up with owen wilson’s character

roy o’bannon to save a captured princess

along the way we see chun juan dressed

in classic cowboy attire

shooting guns riding horses and getting

up to all sorts of misadventures

to me chan won was my hero

here was a man who represented both

sides of my identity

as i had grown up on a horse ranch where

we bred and trained race horses

in rural canada

chun won represented both sides of who i

was and he helped to romanticize my

interpretation of my chinese heritage

which up until this point

i knew very little about growing up

i was the only asian kid to ever attend

my elementary school

as soon as my asian heritage came to

light i was instantly placed on an

advanced

placement program where i was skipped a

grade the following year

pressures were placed upon my shoulders

to be that

smart asian kid as after all the school

district had spent an incomprehensible

amount of time elevating me up through

the gate grades

no one stopped to ask if this was what

was best for me

i was dubbed ching li

by my peers a name that i would

not shake until it was replaced by an

equally demeaning nickname by a

gentleman on a pipeline work camp

triscuit the rice cracker

and i have to hand it to them on that

one that one is it’s pretty cr

pretty clever this conflating of my

identity into something i wasn’t

is a very common occurrence for people

of color in rural communities

and it was something that i embraced

because it made me different

and unique now

allow me to unravel this

story about my dear friend hassan

hassan and his family moved to my

hometown

from london when we were children

hassan’s family

is of sudanese descent and because of

this they are practicing muslims

being a practicing muslim in rural

canada has its challenges

with none being more profound in this

particular

story that hassan tells me of when he

and his family were pulled over by two

rcmp officers on the side of the road

hassan tells me about how terrified

he and his family were terrified for

a couple of reasons the first reason

being that

hassan and his family were black

immigrants

alone on a lonely highway in the frozen

north with two rcmp

officers hassan’s mother wore hijab

and his brother’s name was muhammad

hassan tells me about how his brother

muhammad was constantly the focus

of people’s racial intolerance in our

hometown

muhammad felt uncomfortable being

addressed by his own

first name preferring to be known as mo

hassan tells me about how moe was

questioned for

an incomprehensible amount of time by

these two

rcmp officers when he was only 10

years old this

was his reality fearing your own first

name being seen out in public and

traveling all of this

was a challenge and now

you might be wondering why i’m telling

you this

and don’t you worry we’ll get there

multiculturalism has been the law of the

land in canada for decades

multiculturalism was first enshrined

into canadian law under section 27 of

the canadian charter of rights and

freedoms

canada and the united states takes two

different approaches to how

they integrate their new immigrants into

their societies

canada favors the mosaic model while the

united states favors the melting pot

model

can any of you uh do any of you have you

ever heard of these terms before

the mosaic model seeks to adhere to the

principles that

uh new immigrants should keep their

identities intact and become an

amalgamation of various cultures

histories and religious nuances all in

one

creating this aforementioned mosaic

the melting pot model seeks to

for all new immigrants to remove their

identities so as to take on the american

identity

for themselves at first glance the

mosaic model appears to be

more sensitive to the histories of the

immigrants coming into our society

can any of but can any of you accurately

and

uh think of an example where the mosaic

model was a true representation of of

immigrants being integrated into your

societies

is it accurate to say that the mosaic

model is being followed in your

communities

in the beginning of the coronavirus

pandemic

anti-asian racism was at an all-time

high a recent study by

statistics canada that was published on

may 12th revealed

that asians felt a 30 increase in

perceived hate crimes

i myself was the target of people’s

racial intolerance in my

small community in rural canada

my little brother who is white and i

were going to get groceries when it

happened

a white pickup truck drove in front of

the safeway and rolled down its windows

to reveal its occupants

there was two men and one woman both of

them stuck their heads out of this truck

shouted at me heckled me and spoke an

incredibly racist rendition of chinese

a classic my brother

not knowing what to look for when it

comes to these sorts of things didn’t

even

even really understand what was

happening until he had already gotten

inside

anti-asian racism is increasing

dramatically and when the pandemic being

began videos flooded social media of

asians being harassed and discriminated

against

the chinatown lions in vancouver were

defaced not once but twice

and i won’t deny i was shocked and still

am by the events that transpired

it had been years since race had ever

really been a thing for me and

part of the reason why i moved out of my

hometown was it was the easiest way for

me

to prevent myself from being harassed

and

demeaned for the color of my skin

living in international metropolises

like vancouver

or paris race was never really a

deciding factor for who

who i was that’s not to say that racism

doesn’t exist

in places such as this because it does

it’s just

not so in your face

the death of george floyd shocked the

world and anti-racism protests

swept the globe the words

i can’t breathe

those words will resonate with me until

the day i die

i can’t breathe

the words of a man suffocating under the

crushing weight

of privilege and prejudice

i can’t breathe

coming off the coattails of the incident

at safeway i saw this

as my chance to finally begin making

moves

and advancing the conversation on race

within my community

it was time to start a discussion the

year is 2020

and racism should not exist

it was in the weeks afterwards while

helping to lead an anti-racism protest

in my community

which was met initially with positive

reactions we had lots of mothers and

teachers come to show their support but

we also received

pushback the pushback came in the form

of online hatred

it came in the form of hecklers shouting

all lives matter from their lifted

pickup trucks as they did

nasty burnouts in front of our protest

site

but also curiously came in the form of

the confederate

flag now i know what you’re probably

thinking

tristan the confederate flag in rural

canada

that’s ridiculous in early july

cbc reported on an anti-racism protest

that was occurring in the okanagan

and it was met with counter protesters

brandishing the confederate

flag the confederate flag is a symbol

that is

very commonly seen in the united states

a prevalent symbol in the deep south

with a history that is steeped in racial

prejudice

what if i was to tell you that this

symbol is just as prevalent in rural

canada

as it is in rural america

this brings me back to my dear friend

hassan

when hassan first got to my high school

he was greeted to a wave of orange and

blue

a young teenager had just tragically

passed away and to honor this teenager’s

memory

baseball caps t-shirts and sweaters were

all engraved with a symbol of the

american

confederacy

the tragic death of this young man was

not the genesis

of the confederate flag being flown in

canada

the confederate flag is a common symbol

that we see in rural areas

as an immigrant to canada these images

to hassan were shocking

if not totally horrifying

he at first he did not understand what

this symbol meant as he was too young

but as he learned about it in school he

was horrified to see that his classmates

teachers and peers could all fly such a

symbol

he asked me tristan what is the

difference

between this symbol and the swastika

flag of nazi germany

the only answer that me and him could

come up with was that the nazis

primarily targeted

european jews white people

hassan’s story is but one of many for

people of color in rural canada

and highlights disconnect between the

ideals of the mosaic model and the model

in

the way it’s actually put into practice

in in his new home hassan felt societal

pressures to be the prototypical black

kid

one who was outgoing good at sports and

gets along with everyone

this is not unlike the the experience

that i had

when my asian heritage came to light and

i was placed in an advanced placement

program

societal pressures were placed upon my

shoulders and hassan’s shoulders that

any child is going to struggle to live

up to

now imagine this

you’ve immigrated to a new home where

your new peers place stereotypical

societal expectations upon your

shoulders

they call you out and they expect you to

behave in a way that they

think that you should act all the while

they fly the flag of a group that fought

to enslave your people

now i ask would you stay

and live in such a place

all throughout my childhood race was the

number one thing that caused problems in

my

in my day-to-day life primarily due

to the societal expectations that were

placed upon my shoulders due to the

color of my skin

and the slant of my eyes it didn’t

matter

that that i was just a kid

and who was placed in this program at a

very young age

i didn’t get to choose this it didn’t

matter that hassan

was a shy kid who was more interested in

drama

and theater than being that outgoing

sports jock

it is here that we truly see the flaws

of the mosaic model

the mosaic model thrives in urban

centers

where communities can form within

your own community in rural areas this

model does nothing but create

barriers during my days protesting in my

hometown

a man drove from a small community an

hour away

just to bring us coffee and donuts

he pulled me aside and he said tristan

have you had any problems with counter

protesters and i said no

and he said that he had heard rumors of

the proud boys appear wanting to show up

at another anti-racism protest in a

community

a few hours south for anyone who’s

unaware

the proud boys are a white supremacist

organization

that were founded by a canadian and hold

deep roots both in canada

and the united states just like the

confederate flag is phone in canada

white supremacy exists and thrives here

too

i don’t have all the answers to these

incredibly complex problems and i

wouldn’t be standing here on this stage

if i did

i’m not a doctor or an engineer

i’m not an entrepreneur or politician

i am just a 23 year old kid who is tired

of having to justify

his own self-worth due to the color of

his skin and the slant

of his eyes i

am just a 23 year old kid who’s had

enough of carrying around a pocket knife

in his pocket out of fear of being

assaulted on the street

i am just a 23 year old kid who has had

enough

and above all else i am just a 23 year

old

canadian for people like myself and

hassan

the battle for equality has raged for as

long as we can remember

and we wouldn’t i wouldn’t be here

discussing these issues if this could

all be fixed easily

we have come to a generational reckoning

and it has become clear though that

black indigenous

and people of color can’t do this on

their own

we need allies we need

white allies we need the people

who hold that privilege that we crave so

dearly

to take a stand not just on social media

but from the comforts of our own homes

and the privacy of our workplaces

for too long people have acted as

voyeurs

to our struggle and have done nothing

we need people to stand up

just like george floyd we are have been

suffocating for far

too long and we need those other three

officers

to rip that row cop off of our throats

we need people to stand up

don’t let your uncle cry

about reverse racism or white genocide

at christmas dinner

don’t let your boss or your colleagues

tell that insensitive joke at the water

cooler

call them out and let them know that we

see you

and we will not tolerate this sort of

behavior anymore

the people of this nation we celebrate

the cultures of the world and

as more and more nations unite

under the banner of multiculturalism and

globalism

canada serves as an example

an example that unfettered

multiculturalism

without a plan in place to properly

integrate immigrants into

our societies not just in urban centers

but in the small rural communities as

well

none of this is going to change this is

a problem that can’t just be hidden

behind the curtain

any longer the year 2020

is going to go down in history as one of

the most tumultuous

and uncertain years of the modern era

and as this story is taught to students

in schools

which side of this story are you going

to be on

thank you

you