No Really, I’m From Canada!!!

I’m taking a break from writing about what we’ve been doing/seeing/eating today to write about a topic which has been bugging me as of late – the question of “where are you from?”  We are asked this all the time – when we go eat, when we buy something at a store, when we meet other people at the hotel/hostel/B&B – and when we reply Canada, we frequently get the response “No, originally where are you from?”  This has been bugging me because I’m really truly originally from Canada – just because I’m Chinese doesn’t mean I can’t be from Canada!!!

When we talk to people from Canada or the U.S. and we say we’re from Canada, they never say “really???” For those of us who live in North America, different ethnicities of people who identify themselves as American or Canadian is normal – both of these countries are multicultural nations with large-scale immigration from all over the world.  My experience is that when you immigrate, you identify yourself with that nationality, and most North Americans don’t question that.  My parents immigrated to Canada 30 years ago and consider themselves Canadian, and I was born in Canada so I see no reason to identify myself as anything but Canadian! 

Most European countries, however, are not that multi-cultural (England being an exception) and I find that most Europeans don’t believe I’m from Canada because I’m not Caucasian.  Some countries have been worse than others (i.e. Italy where they were like “no, no, no… You’re not from Canada… Japan? China?” but, that’s a whole other blog article when I get around to writing about Italy…)  Even when people do believe I’m from Canada, they ask where I or my parents are originally from.  This irks me because technically, unless you are of Native American descent, anyone from Canada or the U.S. originally came from somewhere else, so if you’re going to ask this type of question, don’t just ask non-Caucasian people!  Sure, some ethnicities (e.g. British and Irish) have been in North America for more generations than others, but nowadays it’s common to see first, second, or third generation Canadian/American born Asians, Indians, South Americans, etc. 

My point is, in today’s globalized world, migration is a common thing and you shouldn’t question the fact that someone is from somewhere because of their ethnicity.  If you’re trying to figure out what ethnicity someone is, you shouldn’t ask “where are you from” and expect that answer to tell you what race they are.  I get the fact that you can’t tell if I’m Chinese or  Japanese or whatever, but asking where I’m from isn’t the way to figure it out.  And if you’re ignorant enough to insist I can’t be from Canada because I’m not white, you need to hop on a plane and get out of your little bubble world…