Editor’s note: This story about Canadian multiculturalism was originally a single 3,600 word article meant for a British magazine. I decided to turn it into a mini-series. It tells the story of Peter, a Lebanese-Canadian youth and his experience of Canadian multiculturalism. He meets different people through his life who influence his thoughts. Although this tale contains many true elements and anecdotes, it is a work of fiction. Read part 1 here, 2 here, and part 3 here
When I was still in CEGEP[1], some eight years ago, I used to work in a call centre. Those who worked
there were either students who needed a part-time job, recent immigrants whose experience in their home country was deemed inadequate just because it wasn’t Canadian experience, and strange characters you wished you’d never known. Most of the time, I sat with a group of Brazilians, a Senegalese youth named Didier, and a Pakistani Muslim woman named Saeeda. There were very few French-Canadians and Anglo-Canadians. One of the supervisors, a male French-Canadian student, once walked into the office and said after having looked at all the employees “Holy Shit! I’m the only white person in this room!” Because of my
doesn’t play one of the various roles, chaos comes like a hurricane.