Tag Archives: Vancouver

The Global in Hyperlocal

MC40_Commercial_Drive

I was speaking with my class of primarily East Indian students, Registered Nurses in their own country, studying in Canada and hoping to become nurses here. We were talking about cultural differences between our worldly realities.

I asked my students how they felt in Vancouver, being from another country and culture, what their experience was like. One male student responded by saying, “I expected to see all white people, like you, that I would stand out, be noticeably different. But most days I see less white people and more people from everywhere else. I was surprised, but I feel as if I blended in right away. I didn’t feel as different as I expected I would.”

- Lou in Vancouver

Family Timelines: A Daughter Reflects on Being Biracial

PatternSquare06I was born in Vancouver in 1960. My great-grandfather, a Christian missionary, came here from China to minister to the Chinese that were building the CN railway. When my father (Chinese) fell in love with my mother (Dutch-Irish) and wanted to marry her, his family opposed it. My mother’s family was not keen on the idea either — they hesitantly gave their approval but that was only because she was pregnant. They never did marry because interracial marriages, in those days, were just not acceptable. Both of my parents have terrible memories of how they were treated in those days. Continue reading →