I want to begin by introducing myself and by giving a little bit of my background. My name is Colleen. I am a college student in the city of Toronto, and I was asked, as part of my Humanities course, to start a blog. At first, the idea of giving my reflections on the world of migration and culture seemed like an impossible task to accomplish. Being born and raised in the very small secluded town Moosonee, located in the very north of Ontario, I thought, “What do I have to offer the course?” I mean, what does a small town girl know about the world? I certainly didn’t stay up to date with world politics or histories of how everyone migrated to places all over the Earth. Researchers found that we all migrated from the Rift Valley in Africa. I had no idea what the Rift Valley was until the first day of class.
Telling people who I am and where I come from can be a little difficult at times. The hard part is getting them to understand without having to give a little speech. When people try to guess where I’m from, 9 times out 10, they are wrong. I’ve been asked a number of times if I am Mexican or Portuguese. I respond by having a chuckle and telling them that I wish I was so worldly. In fact, I’ve never lived anywhere outside of Ontario. I am an Aboriginal. My ancestors were the first settlers on Canadian soil. To the government I am also called “Status-Indian”. I heard a portion of everyone’s story in class, of how they either just moved to Canada, moved here when they were a child, or they were born here but their parents migrated from another country. To be honest, I felt like the outcast for the first couple classes. Most people back home are Aboriginal like myself, so this was a new experience, and a very interesting one.
Honestly, I had no idea what to expect to learn from this course. My curiosity for the reason why people move away from home, what they experience, and how they cope is what brought me here. I often wondered how my partner could go seven years without seeing his mother, when I can’t go one month without seeing mine. What could convince a person to leave home? What is the reason three percent of all people migrate in their lifetime? I have no answers yet for these questions. My goal for this blog is to reflect on my understanding of the information given to me over the next few months, and also to inform you the reader of all the interesting things I learn.
I hope my blog intrigues you, thanks for reading!
Colleen W.
