I) Normative Narratives
Francios’s story:In her self-story, she likened herself to a hurt crow, she was very nervous and afraid of everything that happened outside, until she came to a place with ocean, here She was soothed, and lost her confidence again to stand on the stage to show herself and welcome other birds. The bird like the crow generally does not represent a positive image. I guess it is because she is in a long-term and very unconfined state of herself, and in her article mentioned “second home” I guess from this sentence Shows that she is an immigrant who came to Canada. This proves that Canada is a free country, where people can show themselves to their heart’s content and do not need to feel inferior because of their identity.
In Michaela’s self-story, she shared a chat with her classmates of different races on the definition of Canadian in Indigenous Studies 30 class. They mentioned the ICE camp on the border of the United States in the chat, and her friend is very thankful that they live in Canada, where people are open-minded and accept all new things. But Michaela has a slightly different opinion. Although most people living in Canada are white people, a large part of Canada is immigrants, people of color, and aboriginal people. Although Canada is now more accepting of new things, In the past, she also did things that caused the aboriginal people to almost genocide. She said that as a real Canadian, you should not only try new things, accept the differences between each other, and discover the good places of each other, but also face the history squarely, and Work hard to restore the relationship between the aboriginal people and the Canadian government and fulfill their obligations.
In Gavin‘s story, she shared a piece of her experience of watching the Powwow Dances, a traditional dance of the aborigines at the school. When the students saw dancers in traditional costumes walking into the hall, they were confused about their dresses, but But it does not hinder the performance of the performance with resistance or disgust, but just discuss it with my friends in a low voice. After the performance, the dancers interacted with their classmates. Everyone actively participated and was very happy to learn the culture and knowledge of these indigenous people. These performances are exactly what a Canadian should perform.
ii) Counter Stories;
In JANAYA‘s self story, She shared an experience of playing bench ball in school. In this game, everyone was divided into two groups. During the half-time break, the teacher decided that the English at the back of the team was not very good for colored students. Pulled to the front, and laughed at them for only hiding, and not going to catch the ball, because the English level of those students was not very good, and they didn’t fully understand the teacher’s meaning, so they had to stand awkwardly. The teacher here did not show any respect for the students, and directly picked them out in front of all the students, because they did not “participate in the game.” For these students whose English is a second language, the teacher did not give them the guidance they deserve, such as explaining to them the rules of the game, or giving encouragement, just repeating “everyone should participate”. This is unfair and unfair. Discriminatory attitudes should not be the attitudes of a Canadian, let alone a teacher’s attitude towards his students.
These stories are all related to the theme of Being Canadian. The story of Francios is about Canada’s high acceptance of different cultures. Every nation that comes here can show themselves proudly and do what they want to do. Michaela’s story represents that as a Canadian, not only do we treat all cultures equally, but we also need to review history and face up to the fact that this country has committed unfair treatment to the aborigines. In Gavin’s story, it is about the cultural exchange and mutual respect between the aboriginal people and Canadian students. Everyone has their own ideas about what is Canadian, but the most important thing is that being Canadian means respecting the culture of different peoples, rather than laughing at or changing it.