Quote:
Originally Posted by Kitchissippi
Of course it doesn't resonate with you because you don't have to live with it on a daily basis. For non-white Canadians, the inevitable question they always have to address when they meet someone is "where are you from originally?" as if they have to explain their family history and reassert their "canadianess".
also
Travelling in Europe—
Euro: Where are you from?
— "Canada."
Euro: You don't look Canadian.
— "Oh, what's a Canadian supposed to look like?"
Crossing the US Border:
<hands Canadian passport>
Border Guard: What's your citizensihip?
— "Canadian." <thinking, how the F#@K else would I have this passport>
Border Guard: Where were you born?
<clenches teeth and surrenders the answer sheepishly>
This shit becomes normal to you, it becomes part of how you see yourself, to the point that you don't know who you are without it. It never goes away.
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Travelling 'back 'ome' in I think 2000 the passport guy at the airport in the UK looked at my UK passport, spoke to me and quickly figured out I've lost my accent (moved here at age 9 from the UK but lived in the USA and Canada for a year each before that) and said to me 'ah, you must be one of those poor folks whose parents forced them to move to the colonies and now you've seen the light and you're back for good' My wife and kids were stunned at this level of 'banter' at the airport and I engaged in some friendly talk with him for a minute or two telling him where we were going etc. Can't imagine that crossing into the USA from Canada where they always seem surly and suspicious.