By Shumaila Mubarak
Although Canada prides itself on being a cultural mosaic rather than a homogenous melting pot, some students at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) find there is an unspoken expectation to blend in and adapt to societal norms to be accepted by the majority.
Some students say that many immigrants and racialized people in Canada feel that expressing their culture or faith can lead to receiving conspicuous stares or even outright hostility, leading some to conceal their identity for the sake of fitting in.
“If you don’t have that confidence, it’s very easy for you to be pushed back”
But for many, this unintentional surrender to criticism and conformity is not their chosen path. Racialized students at TMU are choosing to push back and unapologetically celebrate their cultures through outward expressions.
Sarah Ahmed, a fifth-year philosophy student, still remembers the time she felt unable and unwanted to join a high school media class because she wore the hijab.
“I wanted to join this media course and this teacher was like, ‘Oh no sorry, I think because of your hijab, it might be difficult,’” she said. “It set me back so much…I was very young. I was innocent.”
Ahmed is originally from Germany, where she has faced more upfront racism due to the country’s strict laws and bans of Islamic face-coverings, including the burqa and niqab. When she moved to Canada in 2017, a country known for valuing multiculturalism, she did not expect this kind of treatment.
“I feel like discrimination or racism here is expressed differently. Systematically, first of all, but then also kind of not directly in your face, but behind your back,” Ahmed said.
Zujaja Ahmad, a second-year public health student at TMU, has faced some of this discrimination. In her experience, outward expressions such as wearing the hijab mean others automatically place her in a box, making assumptions about who she is and what she stands for.
Despite these regular encounters with silent pressures and judgment, she has leaned even further into her values and identity—the key to this being confidence.
“If you don’t have that confidence, it’s very easy for you to be pushed back,” she said. “Believing in yourself is a must here.”
“That sense of belonging makes you feel as though you’re in a safer space”
While condemnation of celebrating one’s culture and religion can appear differently—ranging from subtle aggressions to overt pushback—its emotional and sociological impact is undeniable, ranging from feelings of isolation to even alienation.
Shirin Khayambashi is an assistant professor of sociology at TMU whose research focuses on Canada’s multiculturalism and the immigrant experience when settling in the country. She described the correlation between lower self-esteem and discriminatory behaviour from society.
“When you’re experiencing any form of discrimination, segregation, any form of rejection of who you are, when your identity goes under question, you lose your sense of belonging,” explained Khayambashi. “That sense of belonging makes you feel as though you’re in a safer space.”
To her, a prominent way people respond to discrimination is through self-regulation—the constant need to change or “control” oneself in order to fit in.
In Khayambashi’s experience, people often opt for self-policing and suppressing their beliefs to avoid the negativity directed at them.
“Self-policing is going to have a negative effect on the individual’s self-perception because if you’re self-policing, that means there is something wrong with you,” she said.
While self-policing can be a reality for many, some boldly resist assimilation as a way to stay true to who they are.
“[As a Palestinian] in a foreign country that I’m not from, the only [things] I can hold on to are the values and the richness of my culture”
For Jana Alnajjar, a fourth-year Palestinian student studying nutrition and food at TMU, unapologetically celebrating her Palestinian culture means embracing the traditions her parents taught her.
“[As a Palestinian] in a foreign country that I’m not from, the only [things] I can hold on to are the values and the richness of my culture,” she said.
As the president and founder of the Palestinian Cultural Club at TMU, part of Alnajjar’s methods for combating conformity involves teaching others about her roots.
From Palestinian embroidery to traditional dances, she said teaching people about her identity helps to lead others toward acceptance of culture and keeps her in touch with her background.
“[Education and awareness has] opened doors for so many conversations with people that have opposing ideas or they don’t know too much about the Palestinian culture…I’ve actually seen so much love and support,” said Alnajjar.
While assimilation can be a challenge living in the West, Alnajjar believes that finding a balance between worlds and making sense of what your roots mean to you can be a gateway to completely embracing your culture.
Loyalty to one’s identity and beliefs can feel like it comes with a hefty price for some. But the art of true belonging is not about erasing differences—instead, it’s about embracing and being unapologetic about them, as exemplified by Ahmad.
“Realize that you’re not the problem,” said Ahmad. “[People are] going to perceive you as how you perceive yourself…If you believe in yourself in a way that ‘I have my values, I have my preferences,’ and you uphold those values, I think nobody can shatter that.”
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