Isak | Moving to Canada was hard. It often wore me down. This gesture changed things
2026/06/30 2 Comments
In contrast to MP Jivani’s proposed elimination of all such months. As noted earlier, unlikely to fly politically even among most conservative voters:
…Imagine a July when their city marks Somali Heritage Month — when the story of their parents is told not as a tragedy survived but as a contribution made. It tells a child they do not have to choose between being Somali and being Canadian, and that the room they walked into is theirs too.
A month in the calendar will not pay anyone’s rent or open the jobs that stay closed to so many of us. Recognition is not the same as justice. But do not underestimate what it means for people to hear their name spoken with pride in the place they now call home. To those who spent years feeling invisible, it can feel like being handed back your own reflection.
I still remember walking off that field in Etobicoke that warm June day, feeling lighter than I had when I arrived. A heritage month would stretch that sense of belonging across a whole country — a month in which a boy, who once watched his city burn, could stand in Toronto and hear his people’s name said proudly, and out loud.
Source: Opinion | Moving to Canada was hard. It often wore me down. This gesture changed things
About Andrew
Multicultural Meanderings 
I took something else from the Star article.
“I came here with a degree from Mogadishu University, years of reporting for the BBC, and work with the United Nations. Canada told me, politely and repeatedly, that none of it counted.”
It is very difficult to figure out how to count foreign education and foreign work experience when evaluating candidates for a position, but it should be done. I have worked (and currently work) with some qualified people whose first and second degrees were obtained outside Canada.
Agree