Conversation with Kevin Parre Duque

Title

Conversation with Kevin Parre Duque

Description

Kevin Parra Duque was born in Medellín, Colombia, and later immigrated to Canada 15 years ago to pursue new opportunities. His journey began at the University of Toronto, where he laid the foundation for his career. Over the years, he travelled extensively, exploring different regions before settling in Ottawa three years ago. Kevin's move to Ottawa was driven by a job opportunity that allowed him to establish himself in the city and kept him closely connected to his Colombian roots. His work enables him to travel frequently between Canada and Colombia, maintaining a strong link between both countries. With 15 years of experience living in Canada, Kevin has built a life that bridges cultures, blending the best of both worlds.

Date

2025-03-16

Format

MP3, 17 min 33 s

Language

English

Spanish

Interviewer

Sabrina Shah; Carlos Gnecco

Interviewee

Kevin Parra Duque

Transcription

Carlos Gnecco: Alright so...
Sabrina Shah: Thank you for letting us ask you some questions. We invited you because we are very curious about your culture and your opinion on your day-to-day life in Ottawa. We hope by the end of the interview we will have a better understanding of Latin American culture.
Carlos Gnecco: So, we’re with an individual from Latin America. Who’s here to share their culture and experience integrating in Canadian society.
Sabrina Shah: So, the first question is, what is your country/city of origin?
Kevin Parra Duque: I’m originally from Medellin, Colombia, but I’ve been living in Canada for around 15 years and in Ottawa for three years.
Sabrina Shah: Thank you. What brought you to Ottawa and how long have you been here?
Kevin Parra Duque: I’ve been in Ottawa between three and four years. I came to Ottawa originally for a job. I am Colombian, but I did my university in Toronto, so after that I spent some time travelling around and then I had a job offer, and then yeah, I’m happy to say that I’ve been in Ottawa for around three to four years now.
Sabrina Shah: Very interesting. Do you have any family here and do you see them frequently?
Kevin Parra Duque: So, I don’t have any family in Ottawa. I have my parents live in Hamilton, Ontario but most of my family still lives in Colombia. So, the ones in Colombia, I only see maybe every year, every two years, sometimes every three years. My family in Hamilton, I try to see them every few months, but yeah, unfortunately I don’t have much family here in Ottawa.
Carlos Gnecco: In Ottawa, do you belong to a Latin community or live in a neighborhood where Spanish is spoken, and do you celebrate special occasions?
Kevin Parra Duque: Here in Ottawa I live in a neighbourhood, that in fact is in its majority francophone but I have a community around me that speaks Spanish, my partner speaks Spanish, so in my house we still preserve the Spanish language, I have Latino friends with which I speak Spanish, when I speak with my family is in Spanish and also I am fortunate that in my job there are many people that speak Spanish, even there is a couple of people that speaks Portuguese, that way we can communicate socially in Spanish and even when celebrations happen we invite them to social gatherings what we do a lot is things like when there are events in the Latin community, we all go together for I believe is called the Pupusa fest or a Colombian festival in the past so we try to build at least the sense of community and still being part of this Latin American activities and events.
Carlos Gnecco: How good, I really like that, and for you what is the most important celebration, I mean in the community what celebration will you say is the most important.
Kevin Parra Duque: I will say as a Colombian at least the region where I am from, the most important celebration and by far is Christmas celebrations, and I think that Colombians celebrate Christmas in an intense way I would say and is something that I preserve something like “Candles day” when I go down south were my family is we do the “Novenas” we celebrate Christmas as we do back in Colombia with typical dishes with the younger children the “Niño Dios” still comes to bring gifts for them, so then yes by far that is the most most important celebration, at least for the community that I belong, but also in the past I have celebrated other things like the “Colombia’s Independence Day” but they are more here in Ottawa and in smaller scale I’d say.
Carlos Gnecco: And what about the food, what type of food is there?
Kevin Parra Duque: Yes so then let’s say that the most typical food at least that my family still makes is “Natilla” and “Buñuelo” “Natilla” is a type of dessert made out of corn and “Buñuelos” is a dough between cheese, a very cheese dough that is fried and are very tasty but we also make “Tamales” “Lechona” that are also typical foods in Colombia or even Latin America we could say. And yes, Christmas is the season where we make the most traditional foods.
Carlos Gnecco: Good answer, and then, can you describe me how does a typical day in your Ottawa community looks like?
Kevin Parra Duque: Yes so at the end of the day the majority of Latin Americans living here, have similar journeys like the people around us, but then yes if I described my day it doesn’t differ much from an average person like waking up and go to work I come back home I rest a little bit so what I think is different is maybe that there are certain things from my culture that I see in my everyday life, for example the way I have breakfast always I have to have coffee sometimes when I have some I eat “Arepas” even though is not that common but for example drinking a lot of coffee during the day is something very Colombian, I also like when I have a chance to socialize a bit after work, like Latin American I think that by itself the stereotype is that we are extroverted and if there is something there in the fact that after work I really like to spend a bit of time with my coworkers stay for a while chatting, go out for a walk and so I think that those are the little differences per say that mark me as a Latin American in my daily life but I would say that the rest well I’d say that to have been here for so long I’m really integrated in the way how people live their life here.
Carlos Gnecco: well thanks for sharing that… Now Sabrina is just going to continue.
Sabrina Shah: How do you celebrate your heritage?
Kevin Parra Duque: So, I celebrate my heritage. I mean I am still very proud of being Colombian and I really love being Colombian and being Latin American. I think one of the things that I’m very lucky is that I get to celebrate my heritage almost every day. I have the opportunity to work with Colombians, in Colombia for my actual work here and for me that is a celebration. That’s something of giving back to a place where I’m from. But things for example, like I like showing my friends and colleagues that perhaps, they are not as familiar with Colombia. I love showing them what we eat, how we celebrate, telling them a little bit about our history. Sometimes for example, I have this thing where I buy Almojabanas, which are like Colombian pastry, to give to my colleagues because I know they love them. So little by little, you know by sharing my culture with them, I think it’s how I try to celebrate my heritage. But it is also a question of like, I like trying to keep in touch with my country by reading news, I deeply care what happens there. So, I feel like the celebration is continuous and I’m able to maintain those very strong links with my own culture.
Sabrina Shah: That’s a lovely response. Um, you mentioned that you work, like you do work for Colombia.
Kevin Parra Duque: Yeah, I do. In my work, I work in kind of the Government Sector, in international development and a lot of our projects are based in Colombia. So, I get the opportunity to be in touch with Colombians very often, continuously.
Sabrina Shah: Oh wow, that’s amazing. Do you mind sharing some values that you hold most dear as a member of the Latin/Caribbean community?
Kevin Parra Duque: Yeah, of course. First, I will say is that, is that I think we’re a diverse community. Uh, we come from many different countries so, it’s a little bit hard to say that there is some value that we all share. But there’s definitely somethings that we have in common, I think most of us Latinos, or Latin Americans, we really value family and community. I think that is still something that is very important even to me, like maintain those links with my family, we really value solidarity. It’s something that you can see when you when you meet Latin Americans here. We try to help each as much as we can. That when we’re in Canada, we realize that we have actually so many things in common, as I said. Language is also another thing, that is I think very important to our community because it’s kind of what set us a little bit apart from other communities because, you know as I was saying from the beginning, like we come from many different countries, we come from many different ethnic groups. But I guess one of the things that we all have in common is that most of us are able to communicate in Spanish and share some kind of culture references. So, I will say that family, solidarity and language are probably some of the most important values that we share.
Sabrina Shah: That’s great to hear. What would you like to share about yourself or your community that you think is important for people to know?
Kevin Parra Duque: Well, I think one of the things I really would love for people to understand about the Latino community or Latin Americans is that we are very diverse, as I said before. I think a lot of people think we’re kind of just, sometimes people don’t know much about the region, so they think we all kind of, you know, there’s a stereotype that we like only tacos and tortillas and stuff like that, and, that is just a small part of us, and that also we come in different shapes and forms, and that we are incredibly, as I said, diverse, and that we are a community that’s very rich because of that, and that we also are diverse in the way we think, the way we behave, in the way we live our lives. So yeah, I think there’s a lot of stereotypes of our community that maybe because of media, a lot of people think that we are, that we’re kind of very similar, but the truth is that we are extremely different from each other. I think that is also what makes us so unique and so great at being Latin American, it’s a category that includes many others, I will say.
Sabrina Shah: That’s amazing. Just pertaining to travel, I was wondering when your most recent visit to Colombia was and what did you do there?
Kevin Parra Duque: I was there yesterday, actually. It’s the reason I couldn’t do this interview sooner, but I was there for work. So, it’s a little bit different because I am from Medellin, which is the second largest city of Colombia. But for my work I mainly travelled to Bogota. So, during this trip I don’t really get the chance to see my family much, but it is still amazing to be able to be in Colombia, surrounded by people that are in a way, a little bit like me. I get to eat some of the food, hear some of the music, hear the language. So, even though I don’t see my family when I go on those trips or in most of them, I don’t see my family, I still really enjoy them.
Carlos Gnecco: Alright. Now that you mentioned that you were recently in Colombia, what foods did you make that remind you of home and where do you purchase your groceries to prepare your traditional meals, here in Ottawa?
Kevin Parra Duque: You know, so I am very lucky that I live in neighborhood where there’s actually a lot of Latin American stores. So, I think for most of things in Ottawa, there is a few stores that are like Pan-Latin American, that sell a little bit of everything from the region. So, when I’m really craving Colombian food or Colombian.., I mainly crave Colombian candy to be honest, or Colombian fruits, it’s the main thing. I’m lucky that I can go to the stores and a lot of that candy I can get. The fruits are a little bit harder to get, but it is also not impossible, Colombia is like a country with many-many different fruits that I eat, honestly, I’ve been to some places, and I never seen a country where there is so much variety of fruits. You are able to actually get some of them here at some of the other.. there are some African stores that have them, some East-Asian stores that also have them. So, I’ve done a little bit of research, and I know where to get my fruits from. But in terms of cooking food, I’ve been here for so long that I will say that I don’t really cook as Colombian as I used to. Something that I really enjoy. For example, when I’m with my family is, there is some food that we enjoy. Arepas, are one of them. I really like Mondongo, which I don’t really make, my mom makes and it’s something that which she makes, she makes a lot of it. So, I can freeze some of it and eat for a little bit. But yeah, things like that I really like.
Carlos Gnecco: Oh, that sounds so good! Well, just to wrap up. How likely would you and your family use the website we’re creating for uploading your stories and how would you use it? We would like to better serve the community so any suggestions from you about accessing the website as well as what should be posted, would be greatly appreciated.
Kevin Parra Duque: I think this is a great idea. I think it’s really important because there is a lot of Latin Americans, here in Canada, here in Ottawa and I think sometimes we are not as visible because most of us have come here very recently in the last couple of decades. So, a lot of us are very still new to Canada and it’s important to record what our lives are like now, in this very special also period of Canada. I think I will definitely use it, and I think I will also be very interested to hear from all Latin Americans that live here in Ottawa. I know we’ll have very different experiences arriving here and we share also many commonalties, and I think it’s so important to be able to hear about those too, where should it be posted. I think an online platform that is easily accessible to people that are maybe not even part of the university community, will be great because I think that also another of the issue is that a lot of people don’t really.. are not very familiar with the way the academic world works here in Canada, because you know a lot of the Latin Americans come here and they start working and raising their families, so they don’t have a lot of time to maybe.. explore exactly how all these platforms work. So, I think something that is easily accessible that doesn’t require to have like an OttawaU ID or anything like would be great but I think this is a great idea and I really like that this is being done.
Carlos Gnecco: Well, thank you so much for that feedback because it will be very helpful and useful for us. So just before we end, do you have any other comments or concerns?
Kevin Parra Duque: No, I think I don’t have many concerns. In terms of comments, I, yeah, I’d just like to emphasize that as Latinos here in Canada are so diverse and that you know, as I said, we share some things that it is also important to remember that we all come from many different countries, and we come with different ideas and that we’re a community that is extremely plural and that is important to remember. I like the interviews that are being done because it allows us to also understand how different we’re from each other. So yeah, that would be my only comment, just to emphasize that.
Sabrina Shah & Carlos Gnecco: Again, thank you very much. Sabrina Shah: We really appreciate your time and your willingness to share your heritage.
Carlos Gnecco: We will let you know when the interviews posted on the Omeka website for you to access.
Kevin Parra Duque: Alright, thank you so much to both of you. This was great!

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