Quote:
Originally Posted by activeStick
Are you very close to your ancestral roots? When you were young, did your parents and family strongly value ensuring their culture's traditions continue with you? Do you continue now to celebrate whatever customs and traditions (like holidays, meals, etc) are important for your ancestral country?
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It was a big part of my family life growing up. Most of my family still lives over there and we maintain close contact. My siblings are my only blood relatives here, aside from my daughter. We lived in a small remote rural area, so we weren't part of a larger expat community. We certainly didn't have cultural associations and institutions that bigger cities and larger immigrant ethnic communities in Canada have. As a Chinese Canadian, you are probably better to answer the question, but does a Chinese person moving to Canada having access to many of the cultural features from home, make it easier to identify as Canadian, or does it make it more difficult? From my perspective, Chinese culture is woven deeply into the Canadian tapestry pretty strongly, particularly in large cities and the province of BC. It seems like it would be a pretty organic transition these days, but probably wasn't at all for the older generations. Aside from the original colonial powers and Indigenous Peoples, Chinese and Indo-Canadians probably make up the next largest and influential builders of Canada.
With my family, it started off as a temporary asylum situation, so for years my parents didn't know if they were staying or not, so I think it prevented them from getting totally immersed and starting over as Canadians. I know the plan originally was to go back eventually if things were safe, but by the time they were, the ship kind of sailed.