Points of View
Read what those involved with current issues across Canada have to say about cultural diversity and multiculturalism.
Ontario
Lawrence Hill
Lawrence Hill is a writer and journalist who lives in Burlington, Ontario. He has a B.A. in economics from Université Laval in Quebec City and an M.A. in writing from Johns Hopkins University. His first novel, Some Great Thing, was published by Turnstone Press in 1992. His most recent novel is The Book of Negroes (HarperCollins 2007) and his most recent non-fiction book (co-authored with Joshua Key) is The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Canadian Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq (House of Anansi Press, 2007). Lawrence Hill can be reached through his Web site.
Social Alienation United Blacks from Three Distinct Backgrounds
Novelist and journalist Lawrence Hill discovers that the thread of social alienation permeates discussions of the experiences of Blacks in Ontario, be they descendents of long-time Canadians, people of Caribbean descent or recently arrived Somalians.
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Canadians might like to think that “projects” are a purely American phenomenon, but a visit to Jane-Finch or a thoughtful viewing of Home Feeling will shatter that myth in minutes. As in Speakers for the Dead, what is most striking about this documentary is that the men and women in Jane-Finch – many of them immigrants from Caribbean countries – are made to feel like second-class citizens who do not belong in this country, who do not deserve to work here or have the right to fair and equitable treatment at the hands of employers, landlords, judges and police officers. The overall sense of disenfranchisement is striking, and the most depressing aspect of the film – which is emotionally credible and utterly believable – is that one can well imagine that since it was made in 1983, the social and economic situation facing Blacks in Jane-Finch has continued to deteriorate.
The last of the three films, Le Quatuor de l’exil, directed by Allan Collins, examines numerous issues facing francophones from Somalia who have chosen to settle in Toronto. Released in 1994, the film renders vivid the complexity of immigrating to Canada from a country suffering from civil war, as well as the difficulties facing African countries with a long history of economic, military and social exploitation at the hands of European colonizers. From adjusting to open expression of homosexuality in Toronto (such as the Gay Pride parade), to dealing with women’s legal right in this country to live free of domestic violence and oppression, to juggling issues such as polygamy and arranged marriages, the people featured in Le Quatuor de l’exil are all coping with their own forms of alienation as they make the transition to living – and hopefully one day thriving – in Canada. It appears they still have a long road to walk.
This article is part of the Across Cultures Web site <nfb.ca/acrosscultures>.
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See films and photos
Speakers for the Dead [2000]
Excerpt - 6:18
Le Quatuor de l'exil [1994]
Excerpt - 1:50
Home Feeling: Struggle for a Community [1983]
Excerpt - 4:42
