Conversation with Rafael Rodriguez

Title

Conversation with Rafael Rodriguez

Description

Rafael Rodriguez is a Dominican-Canadian from Santo Domingo who moved to Canada in 1999 after his grandmother’s passing to join his family. Now living in Ottawa, he actively fosters the Dominican community by organizing cultural events, including hosting this year’s Dominican Independence Day celebration, which features live music, performances, and dancing. He values community connections and has seen Ottawa’s Latin community grow over the years despite the absence of a sizeable Latin neighbourhood. Significant celebrations for him include Christmas, Dominican Independence Day, Dominican Mother’s Day, and community picnics. Passionate about music, food, dancing, and baseball, Rafael also works as a financial advisor, a career he pursued after taking various courses. A pivotal moment in his life was losing his 38-year-old sister to breast cancer in 2012, which led him to prioritize family and a meaningful career. His dedication to community and culture makes him a key figure in preserving Dominican heritage in Ottawa.

Date

2025-02-27

Format

MP3, 20 min 17 s

Language

English

Interviewer

Dina Kaufmann

Interviewee

Rafael Rodriguez

Transcription

[Dina Kaufmann] 13:56:02 Okay, beautiful. Hi, Raphael. Thank you so much for joining me today. My name is Dina.
[Dina Kaufmann] 13:56:11 And I will be asking you a few questions for my interview for my anthropology class with Dr. Laurie Winston.
[Dina Kaufmann] 13:56:20 So for the first questions, I will be asking you what is your country of origin?
[Rafael Rodriguez] 13:56:26 Hi, Dina. Yes, I am originally from the Dominican republic Santo Domingo, it's also known as Santo Domingo.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 13:56:35 And I've been here in Canada for a few years. I will say that i will say I'm kind of like a hybrid right now. Dominican, Canadian.
[Dina Kaufmann] 13:56:45 Okay, well, beautiful. Thank you so much. And what has brought you to Ottawa?
[Rafael Rodriguez] 13:56:51 It's a long story, actually. My family had been living here in canada for a long time already. And I used to live with my grandmother back in the Dominican and back in 1997, she passed away and as a young teenager, I was living alone in the house and
[Rafael Rodriguez] 13:57:12 My mom that lived here in Canada, she said, well, this is not acceptable. You come into Canada and I end up just coming here because I was told to come, basically.
[Dina Kaufmann] 13:57:22 Yes, well, it's a sad story but we are happy your are here. Are you happy here in Ottawa?
[Rafael Rodriguez] 13:57:28 I am happy no matter where I am. Happiness comes from the inside.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 13:57:33 The issues, you can choose to be miserable. You know. I mean, the mind is a place of its own right I don't know who said this. So the mind is somebody said this. And the mind is a place I mean, in it, you can make a hell or a haven or a haven
[Rafael Rodriguez] 13:57:52 Or a hell, right? So for me, I try to find the good in everything. And yes, absolutely. I'm happy This country has been a blessing to me. It has provided me with many different opportunities right and actually to say the right
[Rafael Rodriguez] 13:58:07 Side of the coin, like anything in life has a positive and a negative but Which is what to look for, right?
[Dina Kaufmann] 13:58:16 Yes, 100%. And did you come here with any family or do you see your family back in the Dominican Republic frequently?
[Rafael Rodriguez] 13:58:25 Well, I do have family in here. It's not a very large group of individuals, but I do have some families here a couple of nephews. I have a stepbrother, a few nephews.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 13:58:42 One of those nephews has kids here. My sister is not in Ottawa. Actually, she was traveling the world. She retired, but she came back now. She's going to be living in Cape Breton And, you know, she's here, my mother as well she's a snowbird
[Rafael Rodriguez] 13:59:01 She's my late mother, as you say she's in her 70s now. And right now she's in the Dominican Republic. She lives for the whole winter and then she's going to come back Once they started getting a bit warm.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 13:59:11 And obviously my two kids, 9 and 11 years old and they are uh obviously my closest family along with my wife that the has made everything possible. She has held held the this household together.
[Dina Kaufmann] 13:59:28 Yes, family is extremely important, especially when you're so far away from from the Dominican Republic.
[Dina Kaufmann] 13:59:36 Now, in Ottawa, do you live in a Latin community or a neighborhood where people speak Spanish?
[Dina Kaufmann] 13:59:42 And or portuguese and celebrate various occasions with you.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 13:59:47 I noticed that, you know, we attract people like us no matter where we go.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 13:59:53 And we find ourselves connecting better with those people. Therefore. We find those people. And I remember when I first came to canada back in 1999, I will never hear anybody speaking Spanish like rarely, right? And sometimes I'll be at the bus stop and i hear somebody speaking spanish and automatically
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:00:13 I would approach him just because the fact that we share the same language and I'll introduce myself and the next thing is we create a career connection yes absolutely in my neighborhood, Rahir, I'm here, I wouldn't say that it's a big community
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:00:28 However, just for being around for so long and also by you know the attraction of being around people that are like you, they share your heritage that group started growing. And yes, absolutely. We have a large community in Ottawa. I've made a lot of friends and
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:00:46 And I'm a big believer on community. I am a big believer in community and uh that's part why i'm hosting the Dominican independence day event uh here in Ottawa this year. And there's a couple of hundred people that will be there.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:01:01 Probably the majority are going to be Dominicans, I would say in there. So there is a large community but you have to be actively seeking them out. If you don't seek them out you know uh you don't even know who your neighbor is, right?
[Dina Kaufmann] 14:01:16 Yes, 100%. You definitely have to go and talk to people and find out exactly where they are and get to know them.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:01:25 Absolutely. I agree with you.
[Dina Kaufmann] 14:01:27 So for my next questions over here, I was just going to ask you what celebrations are most important to you?
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:01:37 To me. And the quarter aspect No, my most important celebration, it has nothing to do with culture I don't think it has to do with who I am and i love christmas christmas is by far my favorite celebration and [Rafael Rodriguez] 14:01:55 I believe it's because it is the celebration that's very similar to Thanksgiving that brings a everybody together uh right and uh have some of the the fond memories that I have around Christmas, you know, they are irreplaceable and that
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:02:09 I try to make a big deal about that. On the cultural aspect of it, I would say there are a few throughout the year, the different times that the In Ottawa that are important.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:02:22 And I'm not… I don't host and I don't coordinate all of them. We have a lot of good community leaders here as well in Ottawa. But I would say the biggest one is the Dominican Independence Day.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:02:35 Celebration that we have obviously we're very proud of our red white and blue flag and uh you know when we present and what does it mean to be an Winnican and all these things uh for example today is uh
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:02:49 Dominican Independence Day, we were just at the city hall there raising our flag and By the way, this year is seven years, seven years anniversary of canada In Dominican, starting the trade agreement and we've been partnering this and we both thrive with benefiting from each other, right? So this is one of them, for example, and then the celebration that we have on saturday
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:03:14 It's going to be a good one. There is another one that's happening on Sunday. It's being hosted by a friend of mine and this is more that one is more tailored for the youth for kids to meet other kids from the same heritage
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:03:29 Hours on Saturday evenings is more of the party we have live bands we have DJs, we have cultural performances and I'm going to be performing there as well, you know, and it's going to be a great event throughout the summer. There are other leaders that do different events. We have an event. It's a Dominican Mother's Day celebration
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:03:49 That's also my good friend Paulina Vasquez here, and she does that by Stanley park usually it's a lot of work she puts into this she puts her heart and sweat and soul into making this happen you know to bring the community together
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:04:02 And because the Dominican independent mother's Day is different than Canadian. So it's the last Sunday of the month and the is always a big event that happens okay so there are other events as well. We have a dominican picnic at us
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:04:17 That's hosted by a group of individuals here in Ottawa. Usually the Vincent Massey Park is around the summertime, probably around August or something like that, July, August.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:04:25 That's a good one as well to take part in and And then we have the event for the whole Latin community, which usually happens in the first weekend of September, just before the kids go back to school.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:04:41 That is usually hosted right downtown this year that just passed.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:04:45 It was hosted at the hosted at the horticultural building right on the Lansdowne park there i took part in that i I put a group together. We did a performance with our carnival with We had a lot of fun as well.
[Dina Kaufmann] 14:05:00 Yes, I remembered this actually i have one of my friends, she actually went there to Lansdowne. She said it was a lot of dancing, lots of food, lots of happiness.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:05:09 Yes,. It was a lot of fun. That's the best way to describe it.
[Dina Kaufmann] 14:05:16 Yes, 100%. I mean, celebrations are just so important just to be together with everyone and celebrate something that is so important.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:05:24 Yes, totally. I do agree with you. And that's part of what brings the community together.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:05:30 And I find that every culture has something that drives people more than others. With us, Dominican is usually music food and dancing. Those things are easy way to bring Dominicans together.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:05:44 And baseball as well but You know, we're not going to get into sports.
[Dina Kaufmann] 14:05:51 That's a whole different topic.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:05:53 Yes, it is. The Dominicans are very passionate about the sports.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:05:58 I'll just say about their baseball.
[Dina Kaufmann] 14:06:02 Baseball in particularly?
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:06:03 Baseball in particular, yes.
[Dina Kaufmann] 14:06:05 Are you able to describe a typical day in your community?
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:06:11 I was, would you say in my community as a whole for myself how how do I go about on my daily day day to day
[Dina Kaufmann] 14:06:21 Yeah, so mostly on yourself.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:06:24 Just myself. Well, for me i uh in a perfect day for me is I would go to the gym in the morning.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:06:33 I didn't do it all the time as i should but i go to the gym very early, six, seven in the morning, so I can just go and come back in time to see my kids, you know, spend the bit of time with them before they just send
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:06:44 Them off to school. Then I go to my office. I have a business. I have a financial brokerage here on Home Club in Ottawa.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:06:52 And I go there and I work throughout the day and the day to day, my business, I help clients, you know, helping them with their any individual finances. This is something that I'm very passionate about.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:07:05 Which I never knew that I was going to find passion in this um because uh you know finances is not something that i uh that I went to school for originally I've taken a bunch of different courses you know uh
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:07:20 Computers has been one of them. Music production has been another one of them. Different things but uh life to basically guide me through finances and uh finances And because it was basically what fit what I was looking for. I was looking to spend more time with my kids.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:07:38 Sounding, this is a bit more personal but something happened in 2012 and I lost my 38-year-old sister to breast cancer. In one year, cancer took her from us and She left a couple of kids and those her kids end up living with me and my wife and
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:07:54 And I believe that was the catalyst to also even talking today, 14 years later pretty much.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:08:01 Because that's when I started realizing what was important in life.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:08:06 You know, in health you know uh family relationship and those things and I never being a shallow person, but I never really put too much emphasis into how important it was to look after your health and to look after
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:08:22 Maintaining those good relationships of the people that you have around you and And tell them that you love them on a daily basis and actually take a second to hug them and You don't know the last time you have know
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:08:33 A conversation with someone in the average person's life is all the good things you know that our loved ones do around us. We just take it for granted. We keep it to ourselves and Just to say to on a podium on a funeral when you're reading the eulogy for them and you never told them usually and i
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:08:52 That's one of the things that I took from that. I would never Like my people, my close friends and family members for granting and i tell them those things. And by the way, it was awkward for them at the beginning when I started telling them this interface i appreciate you for this and this and this and that. And I really mean that.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:09:09 And they'll be like deflecting in our day-to-day is i believe most people are just looking for their bad.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:09:19 Ain't know the good. And people don't get praised enough for the good things they have, like genuine I'm not talking about flattery right here. Flattery is no good I’m talking about like genuinely generally approach them you know tell them hey
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:09:32 I really do appreciate you for this and this and this. I want you to know that. I appreciate that.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:09:37 You do that for me. I believe that was a big catalyst for me. I started in a personal development journey and started doing different businesses. And that's when I created my financial brokerage back in 2015 and You know, almost 10 years later now i am
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:09:54 Serving the community and my focus is focusing on the on the bible community.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:09:59 Immigrants you know just to give you an idea I own it back then. I already had a home on a home. I already had you know financial products, insurance as an investment, but I didn't know how any of it worked.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:10:12 Nobody ever explained to me and nobody was doing that in the community. And that's when the idea came to my mind. Well, wait a minute.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:10:19 If I am in this situation, I wonder how the rest of my community is. And that's when the idea came.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:10:24 And now it's all about serving my community and help somebody you know get those government grants for the kids who has a disability or or you know those bonds for the kids education or When you get to the labor you know a $50,000 check to a person just got diagnosed with cancer and now they know they can't afford the medicine and
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:10:45 Or you deliver a check to the widow and orphan that just lost their loved one, the mortgage is paying and all of that, you know.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:10:51 That's far beyond money. I call those dividends for the soul.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:10:57 So I have a lot of passion about that. So that's what my focus doing my work throughout the day is And then usually I come home and I try to on a perfect day, three, four o'clock so i can
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:11:10 I meet my kids when they come home so we can have dinner together. And then we spend probably an hour on the couch.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:11:17 Watching TV, watching some anime And I think the TV watches me because I usually fall asleep and And then usually I try to do a couple more client meetings in the evenings because we have the power of technology now. It doesn't have to be my office. I can just do it via
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:11:35 Virtual meetings in the And usually I just end up spending a bit of time with my wife in the evening and that's how we try to have an average day. [Dina Kaufmann] 14:11:45 Yes, that's absolutely amazing. You're balancing so much within your life and you're trying hard to be the person that you wish you had when you came here
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:11:57 Yes, I realized that. I understand this now.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:12:04 The single most powerful thing that will help you mature. Is having a child. Nothing will ever ever make you mature as much as having a child.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:12:16 Until i had a child i remember holding him on my arms and that's the first time in my life I'm not a crier. That's the first time in my life I cry out of happiness.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:12:26 I remember that moment. And that very moment right there, I realized it wasn't about me anymore. I should say it wasn't just about me anymore before then i just say.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:12:41 I was the kind of guy, I was kind of like a daredevil Like I didn't care about anything I jump out of planes i've motorcycle race i don't know all these crazy things You know, I was probably the guy that was speeding through a neighborhood in my cars
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:12:59 After that, that was the guy yelling at the guys that were spitting in the neighborhood. Everything changed.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:13:04 Once you have a kid and For me, the number one thing that I wanted to do when I saw my sister pass was I want to spend time with my kids.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:13:12 You know, one year after she passed, my first one was born and I want to spend time with them. And as a chef, I was a chef for 15 years here in Ottawa.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:13:21 I was always in the kitchen. I never saw them. And I did that. And through becoming an entrepreneur and I was able to do that. I was able to quit my job, you know, become a full-time, a part-time entrepreneur, but the income was good enough
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:13:35 Was able to take him both out of daycare and basically because before I was working to pay somebody to raise my kids.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:13:41 But with the part-time I was making you know just not much, like 30 40000 dollars part-time But I wasn't paying 20,000 in the daycare So it's basically the same income that I was making as a full-time chef. And I did that for
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:13:56 Over seven years, I wanted to teach my kids how to be a strong, kind, confident man and And to be provided to the world. I'm a big legacy thinker. And I know that everybody's trying to control what other people are doing when I know that's impossible
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:14:11 Everybody has their own way of thinking. But how you can change a world is by how you handle your own household how my kids would treat their wives the way they see me treat my wife My kids were going to have work ethic, probably the way they see me work. My kids are going to probably treat a neighbor the way they see me.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:14:30 They're going to interact with the community the way it's not do, as I say is uh is that they will do what they see me do. And by the way.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:14:41 A thought here. Your kids are probably going to do 100% of everything that you do run and probably about half of everything that you do right.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:14:51 Go right to that.
[Dina Kaufmann] 14:14:53 Yes, I think that's absolutely amazing what you've done with your kids. I mean, it's definitely very important for them to see a dad that's working very hard and is treating his wife right and he is doing he’s putting so much effort into the family. I think it's absolutely incredible.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:15:10 Thank you. Thank you. For me, I believe the My reward in all of this is when I see them.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:15:20 When I go to any public place. My kids are the only one usually allow it to come to places Because they know they're the only kids that are respectful and not destructive. For me, that is the biggest compliment you can give me.
[Dina Kaufmann] 14:15:37 Well, Rafael, thank you so much for joining my interview today. I really appreciate everything that you have told me.
[Dina Kaufmann] 14:15:45 You have been incredible. You have been so amazing with me. Thank you so much.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:15:50 You're very welcome. You're very welcome. And, you know. If you come to the Dominican, you're going to really enjoy our foods. You're going to enjoy our music. You're going to enjoy our more than just the sun and the sun, the sun and the sun, you know, you're going to enjoy the rich culture. And there is a community for that in Ottawa.
[Dina Kaufmann] 14:16:08 Yes, I'm 100% very excited to visit Dominican one day and actually go into the city And see how everyone is with each other.
[Rafael Rodriguez] 14:16:17 Amazing, amazing. Thank you so much, Dina.
[Dina Kaufmann] 14:16:19 Of course. Thank you, Rafael. Thank you. End of recording.

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