Breaking borders: Stories told by Canadian immigrants and refugees
By Eula Mengullo, March 4 2021—
For International Development Week, the University of Calgary’s Sustainable Development Goals Alliance (SDGA) hosted a webinar titled Breaking Borders: Stories told by Canadian Immigrants and Refugees in order to highlight immigrants and newcomers perspectives through storytelling.
SDGA is a student-led organization that aims to create a platform for our campus and community to mobilize the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Throughout the event, seven speakers took turns in sharing their diverse stories which included themes of identity, sustainability and combating racism.
One of the speakers, Richard Lee-Thai — a student at the University of Lethbridge — spoke about his experience growing up in Canada. Growing accustomed to Western culture, Lee-Thai described how this often clashed with the worldview of his parents who immigrated from Vietnam. In navigating these two realities, he discovered that the common ground between the two was ultimately living a happy life rooted in his own terms.
“Through self-reflection I came to the realization that a happy life came from a sense of internal self-worth, practicing gratitude for the present moment and living in alignment with my purpose,” he said.
Lee-Thai further explained that he aspires to build meaningful human connections in the service of others — which is essentially what sustainability means to him — by cultivating a sense of responsibility and recognizing our interconnectedness.
Similarly, Sanya Chaudhry, an undergraduate student at the U of C, shared her story in finding identity and purpose, while also trying to merge two different cultures. She shared a recollection of her upbringing in Canada and how practices deemed acceptable in Western culture are often frowned upon in her traditional Pakistani roots.
“The more that I am trying to merge these worlds into one, [the more I realize] that it is tremendously hard,” she explained. “Just because a lot of the things that I want to do for myself which are acceptable in the Western society are not [acceptable] within my traditional Pakistani family.”
With regards to gender and societal norms, Chaudhry elaborated that she constantly pushes boundaries, as well as her parents’ expectations, in order to fully realize her authentic self.
The importance of race as a component of one’s identity was also highlighted by George Amoh, founder of the Huri Movement — a sustainable Afrocentric fashion brand that embraces elements of empowerment and sustainability. He recalled his experiences with discrimination as a Black male, and also explained that the inspiration behind the Huri Movement is to create room for Black people within the space of sustainability.
As he recalled the stereotypes and discrimination that he has been subjected to, Amoh drew on the intersection between fashion and social justice.
“A lot of our energy [as Black people] is devoted to justifying our existence in spaces, and the reason why I got into fashion is because I didn’t want to just talk about the pretty side of it, I wanted to talk about the social justice aspect of it as well,” said Amoh.
During the question and answer period, Amoh further elaborated on how he combats systemic racism by turning pain into purpose through education and by establishing dialogues with those who are experiencing it.
“A major piece of advice I would give is to be open — make sure that you do the work of researching the experiences that certain people go through,” he stated. “But most importantly, environmental sustainability is not just about the environmental aspect, but also about the people that live in it and the experiences that they go through. Everything is intersectional.”
Throughout the event, each speaker shared their unique lived experiences that are often tied to finding and developing their identities while settling in a new environment. Some spoke of the personal adversities and hindrances that they had encountered, but which ultimately led them closer to finding their true passions and sense of purpose.
To learn more about upcoming events and how to get involved, visit the SDGA website.