Feeling Canadian

Happy Geese Day!

Have you ever wondered what made you Canadian (or another nationality that applies to you)?  I’ve pondered this thousands of times and have discussed this topic in great lengths…but today, I got thrown off when I was told I was more Canadian than a couple of other people in the room.

A curious international student, whom I will refer to as “Ms.Curious”, asked me about my birth place and ethnicity and then said,

“You seem more Canadian than him (referring to another person in the room).”

I proceeded to ask her what made me Canadian and she said,

“I don’t know, I just have this feeling.”

Due to lack of time, I was unable to probe further, but I couldn’t get that phrase out of my thoughts.  Is there really a way to categorize people into Nationalities?  How do we measure our “Canadian-ness”?  Was Ms.Curious assessing me based on the way I talk? Or my body language?  Or my place of birth? Or my accent /  lack-of accent?

There are so many factors to being Canadian, yet also many “restrictions.”  What makes you Canadian can be very different from what makes me Canadian.  Interesting.

Inspired and Motivated!

The organizers of Vancouver Change Camp did an amazing job with the day’s events and facilitating such great discussions!  I am still digesting the June 20th event and am inspired and motivated to make the changes I am passionate about.

The event revolved around two questions, but discussions were not limited to these topics:

*How can we help government become more open and responsive?

*How do we as citizens organize to get better outcomes ourselves?

Briefly, some of the topics included:

*net neutrality *how to engage citizens in social change *what social media tools can we use to self-organize and collaborate on social change movements *what can the BC government do to engage citizens? *open source and transparency

More thoughts to come…

Vancouver ChangeCamp

I stumbled upon this in one of Vancouver’s local papers and am excited about attending!  Hope to see you there!

Vancouver ChangeCamp

Spotlight: World Community Development Education Society

“The World Community Development Education Society (WCDES) is a group of ordinary people guided by visions of a better world. WCDES was formed to foster awareness in our community of development issues and the links between local and global concerns.”

A great concept that any community in Vancouver and in the world could adopt.

Full Circle

I had an interesting conversation with a father of a 7-month old baby the other day.  We were chatting about what I do and I mentioned the Vancouver-based organization that I’m volunteering for – Check Your Head.  Check Your Head educates youth on urgent issues occurring around them and empowers them to take action.

[Check Your Head (CYH) is an amazing organization that empowers youth to make changes in their schools and communities by providing support and resources.  “Sustainable Schools” is a program within CYH that gives presentations and workshops to Vancouver elementary and secondary schools on local environmental issues such as food security, water conservation, and environmental sustainability.  They also deliver workshops on media awareness, globalization, climate change, sweatshops, and lots more.  Check them out here.]

Back to my conversation with the new Dad.  He recounted his childhood education and claimed that the Canadian school system was just not accommodating enough for his smarts.  He was worried that his newborn would experience the same dissatisfaction and was considering home schooling for his child.  For him and his wife, the benefits of home schooling were much greater than public schooling.  Education that revolved around structured and unstructured learning, interactive activities, and experiences that developed the child’s social skills were all very appealing to the couple.