Proud Canadian

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I am Canadian.

It feels really good to be able to say that.

I have not always been able to say "I am ......" (fill in any country).  I had spent part of my childhood in Hong Kong and part of it in Peru.  But I was neither Chinese nor Peruvian.  For the first few years of my life I held a British National Overseas Passport yet I had no free passage to the UK.  I had a permanent resident card from Hong Kong yet the place was as foreign to me as Africa.  I had a resident card from Peru but that was not enough to qualify me as Peruvian.

Why should you care?  - You may ask.

I bet most of you asking that question have never felt displaced.  You were born into a country that gave you rights and freedoms and for better or for worse your identity was/is tied to that country.

It's only when you don't have it that you learn to cherish what you do not have.

I became Canadian November 17, 2004.  I still remember the day.  I still remember the emotions, the gratefulness, the feeling of "finally!".  It had been a long journey.  I can't say I came to Canada aiming to become Canadian, but I learned to love this country and my identify became more and more tied to it.  At one point, I felt more Canadian than Chinese or Peruvian; which left me no where because I was still either holding a visitor's visa, a student visa, or a temporary worker's visa.

I can still remember the day:
- I held my own Canadian passport
- I wrote "Canadian" on the customs and immigration form as I re-entered Canada after a trip overseas
- I answered "Canadian" when the customs and immigration officer asked "nationality" and could not help but smile
- I cast my vote for the next Prime Minister and Government
- I filled my kids' birth certificate and entered that their mom was Canadian

Today is Canada Day - and at our church we sang "Oh Canada" - and I don't know about the others but I was filled with gratefulness to this country I now call my own.  I am grateful because I was not one of you and yet you accepted me as your own.  I am thankful to all the Canadians that have shown love, hospitality, generosity and relationship to my family; not just verbally, but by their own actions.  I am even thankful for the Canadian government, especially during the times my brother Andy was sick.  Without your many types of assistance, even though we were only foreign students at the time, we would not have been able to get through it.

Yes, we can choose to criticize our country.  There are many things that still are not right.  But let's choose today to think of what Canada is, and not what it isn't.

Happy Birthday Canada!

Bonne fête Canada!


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