Given enough time and attention, the Somali community in Ontario slowly, but surely, will adapt the habits of their new country
By Abdullahi M Arale
This paper expresses frustration and disappointment against the Somali community in Ontario for not making significant efforts toward integration into the Canadian society, and against the Canadian society, for being intolerant toward the community. The paper highlights the conflict arising between the Canadian society’s expectation of an expedited integration from the Somali community, and the community’s reluctance to relinquish their cultural customs at once, therefore, creating tensions between the two parties, here, in Ontario, Canada. There has been precedence in the Canadian immigration history of such conflicts, whereby other visible communities, i.e.; the Chinese, have experienced similar predicament, but in the end, took significant strides toward integration, and to some degrees, succeeding to have their mores partially incorporated into the Canadian way of life. In a similar fashion, the Somali community shall overcome its psychological barriers and make its own move toward integration within a reasonable time and space.
For sometime now, there have been unrelenting negative stereotypes against the Somali community in Ontario. Somalis, as an ethnic group, has not taken observable steps in the direction of integration, is the gist of the charges made by society through the Canadian social service agencies and through the Ontario learning institutions. In this context, Integration means merging into one’s new society by conforming to its established social standards and equally adopting its political culture and way of life, as his or her own. It is very important to address this issue at this time, for the increased tensions between the founding groups, the English and the French; the increased awareness of mistreatment of the Aboriginal peoples; and the increasing tensions between the visible minority and the majority groups in Canada. It is also important to address this question, at this time because “there are ethnic groups with very different cultural and religious backgrounds and practices who must try to get along in this country”, (Victoria Essess and R.C. Gardner: 1996).
The majority of the Somali nationals, fleeing from the ongoing bloody civil war in their country, settled in Toronto and Ottawa, OntarioCanada for shelter and safety. As they were coming to Canada, Somalis brought their customs and cultural values with them. As part of the common understanding, Somalis were/are expected to learn and conform to the traditional Canadian political culture that is based on the principles of democratic plurality in which citizens are represented in an elected body of representatives in the House of Commons. In this political culture, ownership of property, individual improvement in the ranks of society and conformity to the laws of the land are exceptionally advised to residents as well as citizens. It appears however, that the Somali community is holding on to their ethnic cultural traditions thereby attracting negative stereotypes onto themselves from the non-Somali Canadian citizens. The gist of the stereotypes against the Somali community in the Greater Metropolitan Toronto (GTA) and in the Ottawa valley have been, in sum, of being absent from the workforce and equally invisible in the national civic activities, such as general election campaigns, and in the public gatherings that are necessary for all Canadian citizens to join forces, and celebrate together in times of happiness and mourn together in times of sorrow. Moreover, the community is charged of being distant and separate from the rest of the Canadian population by choosing to live in secluded apartment complexes in clan-based settings. By all standards, the charges against the community are very strong, genuine and serious. On the other hand, many Canadian citizen of Somali descent who have lived in Canada for decades and have an intimate knowledge of the community’s views and attitude on this matter, reject such charge, asserting that this community loves its adopted country very much, appreciate the generous welcome that they were given at their arrival to Canada, and have a desire to integrate into the Canadian society, sooner rather than later. However, because of their turbulent historical past, as an ethnic group, their ancestral clan/tribal structures and nomadic way of life, the ongoing, deplete civil war in their native country, and because of the perceived racist attitudes against them, here, in Canada, the community needs enough time to get used to their new environment, and, little by little be cajoled to merge into the Canadian society. As a start, Canadians, should illuminate, acknowledge and validate the community’s positive contributions to the Canadian society, rather than focusing on their negative dispositions. Due to their ancient tribal structures and distinctive historical circumstances that will be laid out later in the paper, Canadians must equally extend their hand of generosity and understanding to the community. This paper examines the politics of differences exhibited in the stereotypes against the Somali community and experienced by other immigrant communities in the past. Next, the paper highlights how history and tribal structures may influence the community’s daily function outside of their clan structure and how their attitude would help or hinder their endeavors toward integration into the new society. And finally, the paper concludes its analysis with suggestions regarding what steps the community should take in order to make smooth transition toward noteworthy integration.
Canada’s preference of white-northern European immigrants over other races was reversed, late in 1960s. The need to replenish the dwindling Canadian population and the need for workers for the expanding Canadian economy took priority over the long held value of assimilation over integration. “Europe, as the traditional source of immigration to Canada was not able to meet these needs because of the labor demands of its own economic recovery” (Shibao Guo, 2006, p.198). By mid 1970, according to Guo, “there were more immigrants arriving from the Third World than from the developed countries (p.199). Guo, expanding the point further, wrote that 35.7% of the 3.7 million immigrants admitted to Canada between 1968 and 1992, came from Asia, Africa and Latin America (p. 200). Owing to the Canadian Immigration policy reversal, Somalis became part of the non-white influx into Canada, from late 1980s to the end of the millennia. Census 2001 (Stat Can) identified 33,725 Somalis living in Canada, about 1/3 of which live in the GTA and in the OttawaValley. According to a government web article, “History and Politics”, the Somali arrival to Canada started late 1980s as insurgents fought to rid the regime of Mohamed Siad Barre out of power which set off a destructive civil war that began in 1990, thus making 80% of the Somali immigrants, refugees (History and Politics: 2005). However, even though the first wave of Somali migration to Canada occurred in 1980s, but, the majority of the Somali refugees in Canada came between 1990 and 1995.
Who are the Somalis in the GTA and in Ottawa?
The two arrivals were characteristically different in terms of literacy and level of education. For instance, the early arrivals were predominantly foreign trained professionals such as scientists, technocrats, administrators, military officers and medical doctors who could not put up with the regimes’ abuses and mismanagement of the national treasury. This educated class was mainly comprised of individuals born in the two decades preceding the country’s independence in 1960. This group had received their primary education in British school system, in the northern colony, and Italian school system, in the southern colony. After completing primary education, the group was the first Somalis to be sent abroad to the EU and the Soviet Block countries as part of the international training aid programs for Somalia, following the independence. After graduating from various universities around the world, these individuals benevolently returned to their country in late 1960 and in early 1970, to help their fellow Somalis. However, after the military regime of Siad Barre took power, the educated class was forced to flee the country.
Contrastively, the majority of the Somali refugees who came between 1991 and 1995 were not educated people as much; they were literate people who knew only how to read and write in their Somali language and Arabic. This generation of refugees was mostly young people between the ages of 18 and 27 who were forced to abandon their land and flee the country by the raging civil war. As they came to Canada, these refugees brought their cultural values and their respective loyalties to their tribes with them. The refugees who currently live in Canada belong to the oppressed tribes by the deposed regime, and tribes belonging with the deposed regime, now, both victims of the civil war. As a result, they maintain their respective loyalties to the warring warlords back home in Somalia, which is a major factor in the Somali communities’ fragmentation in Ontario, Canada and elsewhere. The fragmentation will deepen even further, unless the Somali conflict is settled. Apparently, Canadians are not pleased with the Somali refugee’s attitudes and behaviors in their midst. As a result, Somalis are frequently talked about as the ‘other’ in Ontario, and characterized as violent and disorderly. In Ottawa schools, the Somali school children are known as the ‘brightest’, but the ‘laziest’ of all, meaning, that they oftentimes come to classes with unfinished homework and always speak in their first language among themselves. In short, Somalis are demonized by the system, dismissed as serious people and stereotyped for their clan-like behavior.
The policies of differences
Without diminishing the genuineness of the Canadian society’s reaction to the Somali community’s attitude described above, the Canadian diversity, however, has a history of maintaining the politics of differences. This meaning that there are unquestionable powers bestowed to the so-called “the founders of Canada”, the English and the French, which conveys the message that the rest of the population, including the indigenous Indians has to battle over the leftovers. In this regard, since the settlers’ arrival to Canada (the early English and French conquers of North America) there has been an established perceptual invisible color sensitive social ladder in place in society. In other words, the skin color has established ranks, putting those with the brightest skin color at the top of the ladder, and the darkest, at the ladder’s lowest steps. In this regard, in the context of Canadian diversity, Shibao Guo wrote “Descendants of early European settlers, now long–time Canadians, do not think of themselves as immigrants” (P. 201). This supports the general belief in the Canadian society that the darker one’s skin gets, the less successful, they get in climbing up this perceived ladder. This is also supported by the findings of a research project conducted by Victoria Esses and R.C. Gardner of university of Western Ontario, the authors of “multiculturalism in Canada: Context and Current Status” which states that “Canadians may feel less comfortable with recent immigrants to Canada than with the second and latter generation members of ethnic minorities due to the perception that recent immigrants are more likely to hold different values and have different cultural practices than do the rest of Canadians” (Essess and Gardner). In view of Victoria Essess’ assertion, Somalis fall into the stated visible minority-immigrant category that would hold different cultural practices than do the ethnically invisible Canadians, which might be one of the reasons why they do not fit in, easily, in the Canadian society.
The pre-colonial era
Somalis, traditionally refer to the territory they occupy as ‘the land’, ‘Somaliland’ as opposed to the ‘country’. This wording has a special semantic meaning in their geographical movements from ancient times to the 15th century. According to a government website “History and Politics”, the Somali land currently recognized by the United Nations “is the east most extension of the African continent and is bordered by Djibouti; Ethiopia, Kenya, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean”. Somalis are one of few groups that define a nation; they speak the Somali language and adhere to Sunni Islam. Somalis have an ethnic homogeneity that is not common in the African continent. According to many historical sources, the current lands under the Somalia proper, a junk of land in northern Kenya and the Ogaden territory currently under Ethiopian control, was established in the 15th century. Regarding the clans settlement patterns, History and Politics gave this account: from, late 15th century until the 17th migration brought clans more or less into the regions they occupy today. In early 17th century, “Ahmed ‘Gurey’, the left-handed”, with the help of the Ottoman troops conquered a large part of Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia).The clans eventually succeeded to move down to the south dislodging the Arab dominated merchants oligarchies along the coastal settlements/merchant posts except Mogadishu, the official capital city of Somalia (History and politics). Following, the Somali clans had established good trading relationships with Omani Sultanates of Mogadishu, establishing large land holdings between the two rivers Shebeelle and Jubba. Moreover, the clan landholders made use of slave labor as they considered farming as degenerative work. For their exploitation of the land, the Somali clans used ‘Bantu-speaking’ slaves captured in Malawi and Tanzania to harvest grains, using also Oromo women and children for domestic works, (History and Politics).
Due to lack of written evidence of the early history of the Somaal ancestor, many versions of the Somali ancestry is in circulation. According to Arab historical sources the ancestors of the Somali people migrated south from the shores of the red see into the Cushitic Oromo region from approximately the 10th century (History and Politics). Another source based in northern oral history, the Somalis are a hybrid group originating in the marriage of two Arab patriarchs to local Oromo women, whose descendants migrated from the Gulf of Aden towards northern Kenya in the 10th century (History and Politics). This turbulent geographical movement, the unsettling historical ancestry and the constant fight for both water and pastoral resources among themselves exacerbated by foreign forces, religious beliefs and colonial exploitation has without a doubt influenced the Somali character as people, their loyalties, and way of life.
Throughout the history of the Somali tribes, particularly before the arrival of the European colonizers there were always conflicts amongst them. However, these conflicts were mainly surface conflicts usually triggered by competition for green pasture and water resources. While, these common surface conflicts might have exploded several times in a year, yet, they had never rose to full-blown conflicts. Usually, such conflicts were mediated by the worrying clan elders, settling the outstanding differences within the guidelines of local tribal treaties and Islamic teachings. It is very important to emphasize the importance of local treaties among tribes in this discussion.
In pre-colonial times, Somali tribal laws were intimately connected to/and reflected on the environment they lived in, in terms of resources and relationships. Thus, within a tightly knit clan system, the individual functioned within that system and strictly identified with it. The individual, as a result, has no value of his/her own, outside the clan. Also, Islamic religion was and still is a strong cultural character that shaped and influenced the clan-tribe traditions and their way of life. Unlike Christians who while acknowledging the existence of one god, consider Jesus as a strong symbol, representing god’s wishes, capable of delivering divine orders, forgiveness and blessing to subjects/worshippers, Islam gives the individual an autonomy from any share of god’s worship with other idols, symbols or personalities. Prophets are regarded in this religion, strictly as messengers of god therefore, making any intermediary third party between the individual and his/her god is a slur or blasphemy to God’s omnipotence. Taking this very personalized spiritual/religious attitude to the clan/tribe level, one will have great difficulty in separating the clans’ loyalty to Islam/God from their way of living and thought-making. This strict interdependence of nature, god and the clan blood line system, sets up a much decentralized governance, which eliminates any claim of authority over the clan/tribe from outside their realm of control, be it a dictator of their own, or any other government that does not take their concerns into consideration. In this clan affair and custom, one has to understand that Allah/God is the supreme in these clans’ lives. He might be invisible to Canadians, but for the Muslim-Somalis, Allah is with them in every step of their lives, in family affairs, in business and in politics and in fact Allah’s loyalty would trump any other here-and-now-man-made-objective constitutions and common laws imposed on them which has great consequences in how Somalis conform to other societies’ laws.
In this modern day and age, Somalis, even those in North America still prefer justice and positive peace (negotiated peace) over the Canadian common law practice, which principally is based on negative peace (imposed law and order). Exhaustive justice, exchange of ‘blood’ for ‘money’, collective tribal consensus about issues such us living together as good neighbors basically, affirming the virtues of the Ten Commandments is the preferred justice in the Somali clan system. Also, in this tribal system, an error/crime committed is held responsible not only against the individual perpetrator, but also against the clan which the perpetrator belongs to. In this system, the individual is less important outside of his/her clan, therefore giving the clan the authority to speak for, and protect the individual clan member. A curious individual would ask how this tribal historical background of the Somali community relates to the Canadian social context
Generally speaking, albeit, the Somali people who reside in Canada firstly identify themselves as Somali-Canadians, and secondly as Somalis, nonetheless, the foundation of their day-to-day individual function in Canada and elsewhere remains based on their tribal thought making. On the other hand, there is no doubt in the minds of individual members of the community about the community’s cognizance of the dynamics of the Canadian democratic political system, government and its constitutional laws. Despite of community’s instinctive acceptance of the Canadian democratic system of government as their ‘fait accompli’, there is however, an abstract barrier on the community’s way to fully integrating to their new society. More to the point, the missing link for full trust to take hold amongst Somalis for the system is to establish a direct contact between the community and the Canadian politicians, both in the provincial and federal levels. In Somalia, successful politicians are those who do keep close contact with the tribesmen they represent, and with the electors, in democratic electoral contexts. They do so by having direct contacts with their fellow tribesmen through visitations, heart to heart talks, eating and praying with them. Putting this in the Canadian political context, individual members of parliament could help ease the community’s anxieties by meeting and establishing contacts with them, in their ridings, which would not only encourage not only the individual members of the community to vote, but also drive the community as its entirety to join and mix with the rest of the Canadian population. Without such engagement, the community may perceive Canadian system of government as less or not relevant to their lives. In short, evidently there is a cultural misunderstanding between the Somali community and the Canadian society that needs to be patched up.
On the other hand, the Canadian society’s attitude toward the Somali community can be called into question. It should be mentioned that there is an unmistakable discriminatory tone toward the Somali community by the native Canadians, propagated in the media and in the learning institutions. For instance, there is a common attitude for many school boards across the GTA and the Ottawa valley for passively labeling Somali children and youth in their schools as violent and uncontrollable. According to the Ontario Ministry of Education’s mission and mandate, school boards are to facilitate equal access to learning and promote progressive knowledge and development to all Canadians learners. This is to support the fact that there is no explicit agenda on the part of Ontario school boards that denies instructional knowledge to/or treats any particular ethnic group differently. However, given the degree of popularity of the negative stereotypes against the Somali children in the specified localities, one cannot help believing no less than assuming the school boards’ tacit support for the noted stereotypes against the Somali community. A valuable approach for the Ontario school boards as well as the media to get to the bottom of the Somali community’s social issues is to examine the root causes of the alleged peculiar behaviors. In short, Labeling an entire community’s children and youth as deviants would not be helpful approach to help the community’s school children to transform let alone to luring a skeptical community into integration. If the goal of multiculturalism in Canada is to extend helping hands to those who lag behind in society, then, take concrete measures in terms of time and investment to improve this particular community’s socio-cultural problems rather than blaming them for who they are. In short, at this juncture, both the Somali community and the Canadian society need to change their respective consolidated attitudes toward each other. As a start, the Canadian social institutions and politicians should show interest in the Somali community’s concerns regarding their perceived barriers toward integration. Correspondingly, as people of different cultural background with distinct traditions, Somalis should show interest in taking part in the citizenry’s efforts in building the Canadian economy by visibly joining the labor force so that they can pay taxes on the goods and services that is availed to them as anybody else.
Barriers to an expedited integration
The Somali Diaspora living in Canada is torn between fully integrating into their Canadian society, and maintaining loyalty to their old country’s habits and traditions, a dilemma that takes not only the community’s attention away from leading a comprehensive living in Canada, but also perpetuates their habitual clan bloodline division, here in Canada, the same way that those living in Somalia proper are divided. Due to the raging violence in their country and the collapse of its economy, the Diaspora has become the de-facto source of lifeline and sustenance for the population back home in Somalia, thus, turning the community into social workers of an entire nation, which requires them to provide an nonstop financial assistance to their relatives, particularly their elders who are in dire health conditions. Accordingly, en light of the unrelenting, and violent situation back in their country of origin, the chances for the community members to be a peaceful, productive citizen in Canada is compromised. Oftentimes, members of the community ask themselves, whether coming to Canada and live quietly was a good idea in the first place, when their parents and grandparents are at risk of being killed or starved to death. Unfortunately, however, these above noted situations are not the only factors that contribute to the community’s lack of success in integrating into the Canadian society.
Recently, socially watchful researchers and critics of the Canadian integration polities revealed that the Somali refugees, at their arrival to the Canadian borders, suffer from a range of psychological problems which undoubtedly is a major contributing factor in their nonconformity attitudes. This is to say that a good number of them, youth and women, in particular, suffer from mental health problems, such as traumas and other unidentified illnesses. The study further revealed that the health characteristics that Somalis suffer from, are mainly ‘post-traumatic stress syndrome’ characterized by depression, anxiety, lack of concentration, physical disability” triggered by physical abuse during their migrations journeys, most prominently exhibited in women’s physical health and their psychological state after their arrival in Canada. For instance, according to an article published in “the 411 Initiative For change” website, reported that “many Somali-Canadians or their relatives have lived through horrible trauma, physical atrocities, and have seen the loss of loved ones, in the civil war”. The article further revealed that “approximately 70% of the Somali youth living in Toronto, have spent a period of time living in a refugee camps prior to migrating to Canada”. The article has also revealed that “Somali refugee families have come to Canada primarily via other east African countries [Ethiopia and Kenya] and the Middle East [Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Syria]”. It has been reported in various sources that each country that the Somali families went into to live, have abused them in different ways, robbing them, physically abusing them and without impunity raping their young females, being the most notable. For the noted circumstances and life experiences that they had endured throughout their migrations, Canadian society should give this community enough time to sort out their issues and recuperate from the noted immigration-related psychological problems. Civil wars, turbulent historical background, mental health problems and traumas of war are not the only factors that hold back the Somali community’s expedited integration to the Canadian society.
Prejudices and systematic stereotypes, lack of information about the system and unfamiliarity with the dynamics of competitive society are the other factors that somewhat limit the Somali community’s successful mergence into the main stream Canadian society. In a recent report, members of Somali community shared what they believe to be a widespread negative stereotype against them in Canada. Respondent of a survey taken recently by Somali youth revealed that “Somalis have three strikes against them [in Ontario]: being dark, a Muslim and a new comer”. Experienced discrimination is reported to be occurring in employment interviews, housing and in school settings. Most of the Somali children and youth living in Ontario have been exposed to wars and hardships before their arrival to Canada. As a result, the youth may behave violently in school settings for their past exposure to wars and their lack of knowledge about proper behavior, governance and opportunity for early childhood education. The tragedy for the Somali children/youth goes beyond that. Because of their past exposure to weapons and wars, Somali children/youth have been reported committing acts of violence in schools. Also having been exposed to narcotics (qaat, indigenous narcotic leafs), Somali children/youth are very susceptible to drug use and alcohol as they arrive in Canada. All these negative behaviors in the public sphere make the Somali youth not only unattractive to the Canadian public eye, but also make them susceptible to all kinds of stereotypes and discriminations.
Another barrier on the way for the Somali community to move on with their lives is lack of information. The findings of a recent study by “Demographic Highlights of Somali Refugees in Toronto” revealed that accessing information and services through family and community tend not to use services that provide multi-lingual services-the barrier often being language. More often than not, the barrier to access to resources is lack of available information. The survey also revealed that the main barriers to accessing social, health and educational support have been a lack of available information to these programs. In almost all areas of service (social, education, health), the respondents to the study attributed their inability to access programs to not knowing that the existence of these programs. Those who were able to access information and did take advantage of the programs were by far the most successful in pursuing both academic skills for higher education and vocational skills necessary for employment.
Another barrier on the way for the Somali community to get along in Canada seems to be their unpreparedness to the stereotypes they encounter in Canada. Late 1980s, many Somalis became very wary about the people staring at them. Somali women’s Islamic traditional dresses were the most peculiar attraction to Canadians. Another factor that makes Somalis to be vulnerable to stereotypes is their prior unfamiliarity with subjugation. In other words, Somalis have never been subject to any domination of any kind even in the colonial times. Italians and British colonizers were very clear about not interfering with the Somali religion and customs. In towns, the colonial forces and administrators were not allowed to go to the Somali residential areas and their places of worship. In fact, one could state that Somalis have never been subjected to servitude, or any other depilating subjugation by which others peoples have suffered from. In fact, the European colonialists treated Somalis almost as their equal for their courage in the colonial wars in which they were used both by the British and the Italians. As a result, when they came in Canada, they became ‘fish out of water’: all of a sudden, they cannot speak in their minds, as they used to; they cannot make judgment of other people, as they used to; and equally, they find themselves disregarded and dismissed disrespectfully by others.
In a survey taken by Somalis and published in “411 Somalia”, one respondent sharing his emotional feeling about his experiences in Toronto said that “Somalis have no previous experience of racial discrimination and so they are unprepared to deal with it”. Another respondent emphasizing the way the media participated in the degeneration of the Somali community noted that “the way that the images of war and famine in Somalia were portrayed in media in the early 1990s resulted in further negative stereotyping of Somalis in Canada”.
Apparently, there are many obstacles facing Somalis to move forward toward integration into their new environment. In this, Canada made a rational choice to let Somalis and other ethnic groups to Canada to be part of the Canadian social fabric. By doing so, it has reconciled the issue of assimilation with population boast. In accordance with the Somali proverb “he who seeks perfect people, he shall fall short of finding people at all”. Accordingly, Canada chose to make its society a multicultural one, where every ethnic group in the world is represented. Somalis being one of these groups will overtime find their way to make Canada their country. As a former refugee, myself, I have not forgotten my living situation: I came to Canada empty handed, insecure and afraid. I got help and subsequently found my way through the system. Similarly, it is a matter of time, when the war in Somalia will end and Somalis will bring their attention back to their adopted country’s issues of economic development and defense.
History is a human element that cannot be separated from the people who make it. As well, as we all know, past history and life experiences of a people create collective memory, identity and national aspirations which are subject to changes depending upon the people’s logic and level of rational thinking. Tribal societies, as the Somalis, however, due to their closely knit clan blood lines, hold on to their collective memories longer than the non-tribal societies. But, despite of their rigid traditions, Somalis living Canada and elsewhere must draw a line in the sand and mark on it, the different historical stages and identities that they had assumed in past epochs. The point is that Somalis cannot be loyal to ancient feudal customs for ever; they have to change their ways with the changing world. As the great German modernist philosopher, Hegel, said, in a paraphrase, ‘the end goal of humanity is freedom and history is the vehicle to get there’. Accordingly, Somalis must free themselves from the bonds of tribalism. Nothing is wrong with vigorous community practices and collective endeavors for common aspirations, so long as these collective aspirations do not trump the choices that individual community members make. Somalis as people who literally share every drop of human traits and culture should not be fighting amongst themselves for destructive, separatist aspirations such as dividing their country into pockets of tribal enclaves where, minorities, women and children are oppressed. Somalia will become a whole country again sooner or later. Regardless of the system of government they choose for themselves, Somalis need to reach out the world for trade and commerce and exchange of culture and human experience with other nations. Somalis, particularly those living in Canada, have to work very hard to learn the laws and the democratic values governing Canadian society so that they can help their native country to build itself again. And, for those Somalis who choose to make their home in Canada permanently, should show interest in the rebuilding of their adopted country’s economy and defense. Canadian society on the other hand, should relinquish its tendency to discriminate those who are different from their dominant culture. Canadian Multiculturalism encourages ethnic groups to retain their cultural practices and yet share the Canadian experiences. To this end, Canadians should appreciate the presence of the Somali community amongst them. The negative dispositions of few individual Somalis should not be highlighted as the norm for the entire community. Instead, the positive aspects of their culture should be celebrated. Somalis have a lot to contribute to the Canadian cultural mosaic. For instance, according to “group watch” a” rich tradition of poetry and Islam are two corner stones” of the Somali community’s contributions. The article further notes that “Somalis introduced to Canada the trendy ‘henna’ designs that decorate Somali women’s hands and legs at weddings” and different culinary from European cultures. Singling out any particular group would not help the Canadian multiculturalism to blossom. Building coalitions in this globalizing world is the future success of the Canadian affairs internationally. Building cultural mosaic in Canada and maintaining it might be an expensive enterprise, but it is a worthy undertaking which makes the country safer and prosperous in the long run.
Reference:
Guo, Shibao. “Adult Education in the Changing Context of Immigration: New Challenge in a New Era”. Fenwick. Nesbit. Spencer. 198-2006.Context of Adult Education: Canadian Perspective. Thompson Educational Publishing, INC, Toronto 2006.
“Demographic Highlights from Study of Somali Refugees in Toronto. Survey of 385 adults”.1995.11 November 2006. <www.action.web.ca/home/somalicanaadian/attach/Demographic High-last01.pdf
“The 411 Initiative for Change”.411: Somalia 2001. 01 December 2006. <www.whatsthe 411.ca/index.asp?page ID=63>
“History and Politics”. Somalia-History and Politics march 2005. 11 November 2006. www.iss.co.zal/AF/profiles/somalia/politics.htm
Esses, M. Victoria, Gardner, and R.C “Multiculturalism in Canada: Context and Current Status”. Multicultural in Canada. 1996. 28 November 2006.
www.cpa.ca/cjbsnew/1996/ful_edito.html
“Diversity Watch”-RyersonUniversitySchool of Journalism”. Group ackground. 27 November 2006. www. diversitywatch.ryerson.ca/cackgrounds/Somalis.htm.
By: Cabdullahi M. Arale (Bulac)
abdullahiarale@hotmail.com
Toronto-Ontario-Canada
Bogga Hore
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