Canadian Values

Just recently, while buying groceries at Superstore of all things, I realized once again why I'm so happy to be Canadian.

I was waiting at the checkout for Hardy, who was not quite done shopping. On the bench beside me sat two elderly gentlemen, engrossed in conversation, possibly also each waiting for someone. One of the men had a rather heavy accent, the other one spoke a good English. The first man was telling the other all about Portugal. Listening attentively, he asked a few questions, then began talking about Vancouver and why he liked it so much there. It was obvious that they didn't know each other previously, but were simply enjoying a good chat about each others lives.

Across from them, on overturned bins in front of the produce aisle, sat two young women, obviously enjoying each other's company while eating sushi very expertly with chopsticks. They were not oriental, and my curiosity got the better of me. I went over and asked them where they had learned to handle chopsticks with such expertise. They smiled and one of them told me that their teacher in high school had been to Japan and had taught her class how to use them. 

Our Superstore is a good place to experience Canadian multiculturalism in an informal setting. Two more formal events Hardy and I experienced recently have also made me proud to be Canadian.

The first one took place at the Legislative Building in Winnipeg on a cold January Sunday afternoon. Ray Dirks, a Mennonite and an artist, has been working for several years on a project called Along the Road to Freedom, which recognizes the sacrifices made by Mennonite women who brought their families to safety through war-torn Europe during the two world wars. Over twenty-five paintings illustrate the individual women and their stories. These paintings were hanging in the legislative building during the month of January.

At the Sunday-afternoon event, Ray invited six women to tell their stories. Three of them were related to the Mennonite women in the Along the Road to Freedom project; three others featured more recent refugee women who had found their way to freedom in Canada. Ray had also invited some Aboriginal drummers as well as the Louis Riel Gentlemen's Choir. Ray explained that we all need to be thankful to the Indigenous people who occupied this land before we did, who had invited us so many years ago to share it with them. For the most part we have been unkind and thankless to our hosts, not even remembering that we are on their land. That needs to change.

The Brown Bear Spirit Singers drumming

Six refugees tell their stories

I tell a story from my grandmother's (Katharina Epp Kroeger) diary.

 She is the middle person in the painting. 

[It is the story I shared in my November blog post (about her son, Dietrich).]

The second event I want to mention took place at the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery where Ray Dirks is the curator. This gallery was one of only three galleries in Canada to host Synagogues in Germany: a Virtual Reconstruction. This multimedia exhibition was brought to Canada by Dr. Mark Grellert of the Darmstadt Technical University.

During Hitler's Nazi regime all Jewish synagogues in Germany were destroyed. With the help of the computer-assisted design program CAD, 16 synagogues from 14 German cities have been virtually reconstructed. We are no longer able to enter these beautiful places of worship with our bodies, but we can view them again and appreciate them, thanks to the work of some very dedicated people under the sponsorship of the German government.

An example of a virtually reconstructed synagogue

For me this became a beacon of hope in our dark times where destruction of sacred places of worship is so very prevalent, and where people at worship are gunned down, as just happened recently in Canada, the country I love.

Our church has recently sponsored a refugee family, and Hardy and I visit them weekly so they can improve their English conversational skills. We have come to love and appreciate each other. Knowing this is happening all across Canada gives me reason to rejoice. We can share our Canadian values and learn from another culture in an atmosphere of freedom, acceptance and love. 

Asma loves to draw and color. She was a baby when the family arrived

Habibah and Jismabibi. 

Jismabibi was born in October in Winnipeg; she is automatically a Canadian citizen.

Everyone has a need for some sense of significance, and if we can't make that possible, or even probable in our society, then it will be obtained in destructive ways. The challenge before us is to find ways that people can achieve significance and recognition so that destructive violence will not be necessary.  

[Rollo Reese May, 1909-1994]