2 25 96 https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/750457e22cc412b7083db73cb7bbb08c.mp3 e28488ea39f71bd35caeaa3652303649 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Adam Armstrong, Sierra Forth Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed David King Location The location of the interview Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Sierra: Well, good afternoon. Thank you for taking the time to meet with us. Do you mind just stating your name for the sake of the interview? David: David King Sierra: Okay, perfect. So we're interviewing you for our anthropology class of Caribbean and Latin culture. So we're going to go through a list of questions, and if ever you have any questions that you feel uncomfortable answering, just let us know, and we can skip over to the next one. Is that okay?  David: Sounds good Sierra: Perfect. So we're gonna jump into the first question. What is your country of origin? David: Jamaica Sierra: And whereabouts in Jamaica David: Black River. St Elizabeth Sierra: Perfect. And what brought you to Ottawa?  David: My parents was here, so they flew me over and didn't have a choice. I was only 10 year old. I left Jamaica when I was 10, so that's the culture, and then everybody else came up 10-15, years later. I met my mother when I was seven. And I said, “Hang on… I've been living with this lady for seven years, and she’s not really my mother?”.  “No, that's your grandmother”  “Okay…and that's my mother?” Yeah, I don't know you. And then had me leave the country with a stranger, which I didn't even know.  Sierra: Huh  David: And then they came and I lived with her, and then lived with her husband and my two half brothers and a sister, which I've never met. Adam: So what year was this?  David: I came up in 76,  but I thought my grandmother was my mother until I was nine year old and realized, no. Because actually, I never met my mom until I was seven.  Sierra: Really? David: Yeah Sierra: And you had no idea, like, did you find out by yourself? Or did they end up just telling you? David: No, when she came down, my grandmother told me. Sierra: Ohhh David: Yeah. So I was like, I was my grandma the whole time. So I thought it was my mom and my grandfather, and then seven years later, this lady shows up when they go, “that's your mother”.  And I'm going, “No, it's not”, **Laughs “never heard of her, never seen her before”. Yeah, so it was a whole different culture shock in that.  Sierra: So how was the dynamic after that? David: I was happy with my grandmother! She came once, and then I saw her, and then they didn't see her again for another year and a half. And then she came and picked up Janet and Winston and brought them to Canada. She said, “Oh yeah, I'm gonna come and get you”.  Sierra: Okay David: Yeah, well, that was another three and a half years before that happened.  Adam: And did you wait so long, like, for financial reasons, or was there something else about it?  David: No idea. Couldn't tell you. Sierra: Really? David: Couldn't tell you.  Sierra: Huh.  David: So when I came up here, it's like, who's all these people?  Sierra: Yeah. David: Because I never knew I had a brother and sister either.  Sierra: Until he was five. David: Yeah, and even Janet and Winston. They were in Jamaica. I never knew I had a brother and sister. I met them the day before my mom came to pick them up as she was taking them to Canada. And she said “Oh yea, this is your brother and sister”, then they all disappeared. **laughs Sierra: Were you guys living close to each other in Jamaica?  David: They were in St Marie, I was in Black River. Which is about an hour's drive away. Because I lived there. And I thought, all, my cousins – like Uncle Paul and so on Sierra: Yeah. David: We all live together. So I thought they were my brother's sister. In Jamaica, the families are all intertwined Sierra: Yeah. Adam: So kind of like one big family?  David: The whole country is almost like one big family Sierra: Okay, so I guess there's like, a big sense of community David: You go from one Parish – you guys have provinces but we call them Parish, different sections. So I guarantee you have a cousin or a step brother, a half brother over there, and you probably won't know until after you get married. They don't marry. Just get together. Oh, yeah, well, it's too late. Sierra: I guess that's kind of risky, though, like, just given how deep the family ties are, I wouldn't want to marry someone who's Jamaican. David: I mean, that's just the way the culture is. Sierra: Yeah David: They just go wild and crazy.  All: Laugher  David: Yeah, because they had the slavery back there. And so what happened with slavery in Jamaica, is that whichever slavery owner you’re under, that's the name they give you. So we were under the name Baker – the guy who owns the plantation, his last name is Baker. So all the families that worked for them, they got the name Baker, and then it gets passed on.  Adam: Oh yeah, because I was gonna ask you about your last name David: Well here it goes, I found out from mom, before she passed away. So, my father had a different last name. So when she was leaving Jamaica, or when she got married – no, when she had me. She gave me King, because the guy told her that was his last name. Said his last name was King, but it wasn't.  Sierra: Did he know his last name? David: Oh yeah, but he got pregnant, and didn't want to take ownership. Adam: Ohhh  David: So he gave her the wrong name. He was a pass through guy through the country, he passed from province to province. I thought he was in the army, but Uncle Donald said he was a baker. He delivered baked goods, so he took a garbage truck and went to each parish. So he lied about his last name. Sierra: Okay, so I guess, like, you don't actually know the name of your father, then? David: No, don't know a first name and don't know a last name. Nothing. Sierra: Wow. David: Yeah. So, when I was getting married the first time, mom said, Well, you should change your last name to Forth, which is her name. But then says, I had to pay for it, so I looked it up. It was going to cost me 350 bucks, and I went “that's not happening” **Laughs Adam: King's good for you. David: King is good for me. I'll be the only king in the family. I'm good! ** Laughs Adam: So have you ever tried to find him?  David: About seven years ago, I tried to do that to find him.  Sierra: Really?  David: Yeah, but I had nothing to go with.  Adam: Yeah, it's not even King so.  David: Yeah and mom wouldn't tell me. Uncle Donald knows. Sierra: He knows your father?  David: Yup, but he wouldn't tell me information either.  Sierra: Wow David: But he knows him, and he wouldn't tell me.  When I was in my 20s, I was asking.  “Oh, yeah, I know your dad. You know he comes by the yard, we see him often. And this and that”  Sierra: Really?  David: Yeah.  Sierra: And this was here?  David: No, in Jamaica, yeah. I try for 20 years, and then I go “ all right,  I'm done”.  Never gonna know who this man is. I'm good! It's just wild. Sierra & Adam: Yeah.  David: I have no grudge. Im happy my name Sierra: Yeah, I like your name too. David: I do too! Joined the military. “King?”, yeah! Not gonna change it. And I wasn't gonna pay 300 or something dollars to get it changed. Sierra: Okay, so now that we know a little bit more about your childhood and your name, do you remember wanting to come to Canada when they first brought up the idea?  David: No idea. I was 10 years old.  Sierra: So they just like, took you to the airport?  David: We were looking. My uncle said “Well, you're gonna go to Canada”. Okay, so we went downtown, to the courthouse to get my passport and stuff signed. David: So I ride home and said, yeah, it came back. I left the country the next day.  Adam: Woah.  Sierra: So like, no warning or anything? David: No, it's just like, well, you're going to Canada. And it's like, okay, and I had no clothes. I had two shorts. That was it. So I come with nothing.  Sierra: When did you come? Like, was it like summer or winter?  David: It was November. Sierra: Oh, so you really had nothing Adam: Big change.  David: It was a big change! I came, and I was like “what's the white stuff? All: Laughter  David: Oh yeah. So it was done. We left Jamaica. We came in 76 in November, 76 and then, yeah, mom got me some jeans and stuff. And I went outside, and my foot and my jeans got wet, and then it sat off in the cold breeze. That was my only time wearing jeans,  never wore them since.  All: Laughter  David: Not  doing that!  All: Laughter  David: And then the summer time came and I was outside with no shoes on. Because I didn't wear shoes back home. The only time I wore shoes was to church. School is barefoot. Everything is barefoot Sierra & Adam: Yeah. David: Yeah. And then they forced me to wear shoes. And I'm going “what? No”. I'm in the backyard, running, playing and there's grass and rocks. And everyone is going "your feet are going to hurt”. Bottoms too tough. Doesn't hurt. Sierra: Yeah.  David: Even in the heat I'm there running around.  Adam: So I guess you just got used to it over time. David: Yeah, oh yeah. Mom was always to put shoes on. It took me about three years before I got used to that, because I never wore shoes. Adam: How's the difference in education? Like from coming from there to coming here?  David: I was in grade five. I start in grade five, but I had to go back one grade because I was trying to keep up with the language. I speak Jamaican, they couldn't understand a word I was saying, so they moved me back one, which is fine. But then I just take up after that. Oh yeah. But it was scary because my first teacher I met, she came in. And she was dressed in a green dress and a green scarf. And back home, we don't wear makeup, right? This lady had this big green thing above her eyes Adam: Ohhh David: And she came to give me a hug and I went “whoa” All: Laughter  David: I still remember, it scared the hell out of me because I've never seen a person with makeup on. But yeah. Sierra: So were the classrooms? Like, smaller? David: It was a smaller classroom. I think there were 15 to 20 kids in the class.  Adam: And in Jamaica, how many were there? David: Well, it's based on school, because Jamaica, you have one big school, but you have split class because there's not many. So in my class, there was grade four and grade five together. Sierra: Oh okay David: Yeah, so it was different. It was a different culture shock. But, you know, I got used to it.  Adam: Got used to it. David: Made a few friends, had fun, learned the system, then became crazy. All: Laughter  Adam: So did you go to your school with your cousins then?  David: Umm no, I went to school with my brother and sister. We went to Vincent Massey Sierra: Okay David: Which was literally about, you know, 9 to 10 blocks from the house. There was a school bus that takes you there. But, when I got older, I said “ enough of that school bus”. They said I can't walk to school. But I said “what do you mean?” I walked to school anyways Sierra: Yeah. I mean, I guess you were used to it because you've walked to school your whole life.  David: I walked to school, but, yeah, I had to go across the stop line and so on. So I didn't bother, I just walked to school.  Sometimes when I was walking to school, and my gym teacher saw me, she’d pick me up and just keep on driving down. Sierra: Really? David: But you're supposed to take the school bus because you're under 13 Sierra: Like for safety David: It didn't mean anything to me. I break your rules when I can. All: Laughter David: Still do! All: Laughter  David: Oh no. It was good. I got used to the culture, so it was nice. People were nice. And got into track and field. I like to run. Sierra: I guess that's also like keeping up with like, culture, too.  David: Yeah. Oh yeah. Back then, I could do a mile in five minutes. That's my average. Sierra: Oh wow, and that carried out like throughout high school? David: Yup. I did a 3000 meter, I came in second every year. This one guy would always  beat me. He was taller than I am, but he'd done the marathon, but yeah, so came in second for that, and they wanted me to join the Athletic Club. There's one big Athletic Club thing there. They want me to join it, but initially, got to run all summer. And I go “no”  Adam: During the summer? No  All: Laughter David: It's training, right? So in the summertime is your training, so you're like, 24/7 training, running. And I'm going, “No”. So I joined the Navy and travel and then come back home and put myself to university. I love to run, but I wasn't gonna sit around every summer. Adam: Uh huh Sierra: Yeah.  David: Yeah, back then it wasn't a big thing to me to be an athlete, to run and get paid and get money, no. Adam: What do you do for work now? David: I'm an IT guy. I work for the department of national defense.   Adam: Now that you've moved to Ottawa, do you have much family here? And how often do you see them?  David: Yeah, we got a really big family here. I see them every day, really. My grandmother has 15 kids, so the family is here. Adam: Wow. David: Laughs* And each kid has four kids after that. So yeah, the whole family is here, just in Ottawa alone. We're probably right now over 60 or 70.  Adam: Oh, wow.  David: You had a great Uncle named Alfie, he had 101 grandkids.  Sierra: 101? David: 101. The family tree is crazy. I can't keep track of it. Sierra: But I guess that was just kind of like the norm. David: That was the norm back then. Sierra: In Jamaica, everyone had big families David: Everyone had big families. And back home, it was the grandparents that raised the kids. Like my mom had me, and she left, Aunt Ther had the four kids and they left. Mama was raising them all, plus her 15 kids that she had. So she had 15 kids, and she raised them, and they grow up and have kids. When she was pregnant, all her girls were pregnant with her.  Sierra: Huh, a lot has changed since then. Like, at least in Canadian culture, it's not as normalized  David: No, when you go to Jamaica, it's the same thing. In Jamaica when you have kids, they have the kids and the  grandparents raise the kids, and they go do their thing. Sierra: Interesting. David: That's what the culture was. It probably still is. Sierra: Yeah. Adam: Do you have people that you still keep in contact with?  David: I left when I was 10. I had a few friends there, but I haven't been back. I mean, I've only been back to Jamaica twice since I've left Sierra: Yeah David: In 76. But there was no need to go back. Sierra: Because everyone is here  David: The families are out here..  Adam: So now to get deeper into that community aspect, do you have individual celebrations that are more specific to the culture that you find the most important to you?  David: Well, the celebration we do most is Christmas as a family. We do a whole bunch of Christmas parties, get together, and then we do birthdays. There is also Jamaican independence day. Sometimes we go and celebrate that, if we have time to do that. But most of it is family related, as in Christmas and birthdays. Sierra: Okay. And then back home in Jamaica, I know you were only 10, but can you describe a typical day in your community? David: Yeah, a typical day would be like the kids would get up in the morning and go to school. I usually – our school there was no transportation. So, I would walk, you know, four or five miles to school, same thing, back for lunch, and then back again after and then we have a culture thing. Where I live, there was a big community center, and we play sports. There was cricket or we played soccer. So it was like a family run area.  Adam: So besides, like the whole community aspect, what about just your, you know, your personal family, what was the dynamic like there?  David: My grandfather slept, there was no room for him, so they took a door, put it on to a chair and that was his bed. Sierra: Really? David: Yeah, there was two beds in the house Sierra: And 15 of you? David: 15 kids, and you sleep head to foot. So whoever get to the bed First, grab the corner All: Laughter David: And if you're the edge, you get knocked off. **Laughs** Oh yeah, there were just two beds, and all the kids, they would sleep head to foot. My grandmother slept on the sofa. Sierra: Uh huh David: But I never see her sleep because she'll be up. We go to bed, wake up and she's still up. Sierra: Yeah. David: Oh yeah. It was great, because we thought we just live together, brothers and sisters. We had no idea Sierra: Wow, it sounds really different than, you know, life here in Canadian culture.  David: Yeah, it's a different lifestyle, yeah. But I said, you live after land. I mean, I know when I was younger, my grandma didn't have a lot of money and food. So now you get I get, you get a squarel meal. Like Sunday, you will get rice and peas and chicken, on Sunday. So that was your dinner. Every Sunday you would get that.  The rest of the week. You know, you may get soup. To go to school in the morning, you get a slice of bread with some butter and some green tea and you're off to school. You come back home for lunch, because then you get the same thing, bread with the butter. You go back to lunch. And you usually walk about, you know,  two to three kilometers to go to school and back. There's no transportation.  Sierra: So was your grandmother, like, working during the day, when you guys were at school? David: Mama didn't work much, but she uhhh, on the weekend, she would make balmy, which is like a bread on the stove, and she would sell those, and she had clients. So every Sunday, she makes those, and I would bring them to a client and sell and get money on the side. But while she was doing that,  there was my mom and my aunt. Since they're overseas, they would send her money, because she's raising the kids. Sierra: Ohh okay. So there were still, like, that transaction  David: They were still supporting her. A transaction going there. So she got all the kids, right. So they'll send her money to keep it going, because they're all having fun, and she's got, like, her kids, plus the grandkids she's raising.  Sierra: Yeah David: Yeah. And then, on the weekends my grandmother would go shopping every Saturday, but she have to walk five miles to town and five mile back. We had no vehicle. Then she put the basket on her head and no hand, and she just walked with all that stuff. But you had your duty on Saturdays. You have to clean the house. You got to clean the yard. You had to get ready before she came back.  So my job was to go get firewood. So we have a little wagon that Uncle John built for me, I would walk, get firewood. And if i cant, id bring it on my head. And the yard had to be swept.  You just know that. Mama says, do this. You just do it. Sierra: Yeah All: Laughter  David: You don't want to fight with her on whether you're gonna do it or not. No, she doesn't beat you.  Sierra: Yeah?  David: She called Uncle Roy to beat you. That's a different story. Uncle Roy  is coming. Everybody runs.  All: Laughter  Adam: And then how do you currently celebrate your heritage? David: Well, as I said, they do Independence Day, which the family get together, and we cook different foods and flavors, and then we play dominoes and songs, and then we just have entertainment there. Sierra: That sounds nice Adam: Just to add on to that, are there individual values that you think hold you most dear as a member of this community, or other members of this community also would hold the most dear?  David: Yeah, you just try to keep your Jamaican culture in the family and pass it into generations. So you teach your kids how to play dominoes, how to do Jamaican food, how to cook, and then celebrate that way, and then listen to reggae music. Adam: Perfect. And to add on to that, which foods particularly remind you the most of home and where would you go to purchase these groceries to prepare your traditional meals?  David: The big thing is we do Oxdale, so there's a Jamaican store in New Orleans called Mantego, It's on St Joseph. We go there and get some oxtails and a lot of Jamaican food. So there's oxtail, there's um, we do rice and peas. And then there is the national dish, which is called Aki and saltfish, and you can get them there as well, too, at the grocery stores. Walmart also sells aki, they come in a can. So, different places sell them. Same thing with Basics. Adam: Perfect. What would you particularly like to share about yourself or your community that you think would be most important for other people to know?  David: Other people should know you should try to keep your culture of your country going and pass it on to your family members and kids. Because a lot of them have never been to Jamaica. I mean, I've been here for over 50 some years, and i’ve only been back like twice since I've been here and traveled. So it'd be good to pass on heritage, pass on the culture, teach them how to cook and the music and just read up on it. I'd like to go back to Jamaica, but I have to plan that. But yeah, it's been a long time. It's changed. Jamaica has changed a lot, and since the last hurricane that's really wiped out Black River were we lived Sierra: Really? David: Oh yeah. Downtown. Black River was the city part, and you have hotels and bakery and so on right along the ocean. Well, they all just wash right up to the sea. They're all gone. So they gotta rebuild the whole place Sierra: Do you think –  are they able to rebuild it like? How was it like? So the neighborhood that you lived in, was it like, financially, like, was it stable or like, was it more like?  David: Well, it's in the country where we had homes like, we had brick homes. We had a decent sized home there. So that wasn't hit much as much was just a downtown core that was hit as much Sierra: Okay. So, as we've spoken about before, we are doing this to upload information to a website, just to kind of get a better idea of, you know, culture and where people are from. How likely would you say you are to use any of these websites just to get more knowledge on different cultures? David: I do once in a while, like, I mean, I browse a different culture, like Spain. I like the Spanish culture or the British culture, because half of our family is also in Britain. That's where they migrate to.  Sierra: And then do you have any other comments or concerns? David: No, it's nice that you guys are doing this, this way other people could see the different cultures and what goes on. Like Jamaica, as I said, its an Island in the Caribbean is very nice place to go and visit, and we have different cultures in different parts of the island that are celebrated. So all there the Caribbean islands, they have their own different cultures. It's a competition between Jamaica and Cuba. Sorry, Jamaica, Cuba and also um Barbados and Trinidad. But no, Jamaica always wins.  All: Laughter  David: Yeah, when they go to the family line, I try go to them, it's like, okay, this is getting confusing. Oh, just got confusing and messed up. But you know, everything starts somewhere, right? So now you're well educated.  Sierra / Adam: Now I know.  David: Yeah, the Jamaican culture is nice. Yeah, music is nice, food is nice. People are nice and friendly, just don't get in the bad side, because they hold grudges. Sierra: Yeah? David: Oh yeah, and never call a Jamaican a Barbadian or Trinidad. They hate that. Sierra: Really? David: Oh god, yeah  Sierra: I never understood that, because it's still like part of the same, like, Caribbean. David: Nooo  Sierra: No? David: No, don't tell them that. No, Jamaica, no. Don't tell them they're a  part of Barbados. No, they’ll shoot you, man All: Laughter  David: It's been a war from them. And also Cuba. Cuba is, yeah, Cuba was way back when I used to be there, when Fidel Castro used to run Cuba, because his son actually came to Jamaica to go school. I went to school with his son. Yeah, don't know why, but anyways, we always see a big black limousine pull up to school. Little kid comes out of it, and we go “ yeah, that's Castro's son”... Ok! All: Laughter  David: Different society, yeah, no. Jamaican Barbados and Trinidad is always an ongoing thing to see who's the best. It's all about reggae music. Sierra: Mhmm, but we have all the best ones. David: Exactly. That's how the rivalry goes on. All: Laughter  Adam: Well, that's all thanks so much for taking the time. This has been very informative, and we appreciate you taking the time to do this. David:  This has been fun. This was cool! Sierra / Adam: I'm glad you enjoyed it, I had fun too. David:  Yeah, get me to the next one. I'll be there! All: Laughter Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data In person Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 20:04 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with David King Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">This interview explores the life story of David King, beginning with his childhood in Black River, Jamaica, and continuing through his immigration to Ottawa, Ontario, in 1976. The interview highlights key themes, including migration, identity formation, intergenerational knowledge, and cultural preservation. David's interview is punctuated by his keen sense of humour, kind disposition and detailed description of his childhood in Jamaica and the life he has built in Canada. </div> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">David began his story by sharing details of his childhood in Jamaica, where he was raised by his grandmother, whom he believed was his mother until he was seven years old. He grew up in a small home with his Grandmother and fifteen of his cousins. During this time, his family struggled with food insecurity. They lived far from any stores, so his grandmother walked ten miles on Saturdays to shop for groceries and bring them home. Although there were many struggles, David looks back at this time fondly. He shared one story with a smile, stating, </div> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">“Yeah, there was two beds in the house. 15 kids, and you sleep head to foot. So whoever get to the bed first, grab the corner. And if you're the edge, you get knocked off. **Laughs** Oh yeah, there were just two beds, and all the kids, they would sleep head to foot. My grandmother slept on the sofa. But I never see her sleep because she'll be up. We go to bed, wake up and she's still up. Oh yeah. It was great, because we thought we just live together, brothers and sisters. We had no idea.” (David King). </div> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Throughout David’s life, family has been an interesting, ever-changing reality. He was five years old when he was first introduced to his biological siblings, and continued to meet other siblings as he got older. Most shocking was his introduction to his biological mother when he was seven years old, who would return to take him to Canada when he was ten. David explained that even his last name, “King,” was not a direct link to family. It was a false name given to his mother when he was born by his birth father to avoid legal responsibility. </div> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">When David was ten, his mother moved him far from his home to live with her and his siblings in Canada. He describes the event as being deeply traumatic, punctuated by his feeling of uncertainty and displacement. He described arriving in Canada in winter with nothing more than a backpack, the shoes on his feet and the clothing he wore. As he got to know the Canadian society, he found it strange and unfamiliar. He provided an example of this through a story of his first few weeks of school in Canada. </div> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">“I start in grade five, but I had to go back one grade because I was trying to keep up with the language. I speak Jamaican, they couldn't understand a word I was saying, so they moved me back one, which is fine. (…) But it was scary because my first teacher I met, she came in. And she was dressed in a green dress and a green scarf. And back home, we don't wear makeup, right? This lady had this big green thing above her eyes. (…). And she came to give me a hug and I went ‘whoa.’  I still remember, it scared the hell out of me because I've never seen a person with makeup on. But yeah.” (David King). </div> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Today, David has been living in Canada for around fifty years. He’s married and has a family of his own. But he still finds himself reflecting on his move to Canada in 1976 with grief. Regardless of his tumultuous transition from Jamaica to Canada, David maintains a strong connection to his family and culture. He states that it is vital to pass his culture down to the next generation of Canadian-born Jamaicans. He does so through introducing them to Jamaican foods such as oxtail and rice and peas, celebrating Jamaican Independence Day, teaching them dominoes, and listening to reggae music. In his closing statement of the interview, David reiterates the importance of passing down culture to the next generations, stating, </div> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">“the people should know, you should try to keep your culture of your country going and pass it on to your family members and kids. Because a lot of them have never been to Jamaica. I mean, I've been here for over 50 some years, and i’ve only been back like twice since I've been here and traveled. So it'd be good to pass on heritage, pass on the culture, teach them how to cook and the music and just read up on it. I'd like to go back to Jamaica, but I have to plan that. But yeah, it's been a long time.”</div> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">David’s story provides insight into the lived experiences of Caribbean immigrants and demonstrates how cultural traditions are maintained over time through community, food, music, and family practices.</div> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1st, 2026 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3, 19.3 mb Language A language of the resource English https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/0aff40848a50610e1d707cb84ccb2d6e.mp3 eca9ccfaa54f84416ba628278358a009 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Matthew Leclerc, Amy Biegler, and Adam Kallali Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Diego Martinez Location The location of the interview Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Matt Leclerc (00:00:00): Hello, my name is Matt Leclerc.  Amy Biegler (00:00:03): My name is Amy Biegler.  Adam Kallali (00:00:04): My name is Adam Kallali.  Matt Leclerc (00:00:06): And today we're going to be conducting an ethnographic interview of a person of Latin American descent for Dr.  Matt Leclerc (00:00:13): Weinstein's class, Anthropology 3340, the Anthropology of the Caribbean and Latin America, on behalf of the University of Ottawa's Department of Anthropology.  Amy Biegle (00:00:26): We are conducting this project for the Anthro Harvest website, which captures all the Latin American stories from Ottawa.  Matt Leclerc (00:00:34): Today, we are going to be interviewing a dear friend of mine, Diego Martinez.  Matt Leclerc (00:00:39): How are you, Diego?  Diego Martinez (00:00:40): Hey, good.  Diego Martinez (00:00:40): How are you?  Matt Leclerc (00:00:41): I'm great.  Adam Kallali (00:00:42): So Diego, you already signed a consent form, but we just wanted to let you know if there's any questions that you're uncomfortable with or anything you don't want to talk about, just let us know.  Diego Martinez (00:00:51): Okay, sounds good.  Diego Martinez (00:00:52): I'm good with everything.  Adam Kallali (00:00:54): Perfect.  Matt Leclerc (00:00:54): All right, I'll start with the first question then.  Matt Lecler (00:00:57): What is your country of origin?  Diego Martinez (00:01:00): I'm from Mexico.  Matt Leclerc (00:01:01): Where specifically?  Diego Martinez (00:01:02): Mexico City.  Matt Leclerc (00:01:03): Mexico City.  Matt Leclerc (00:01:04): All right.  Matt Leclerc (00:01:05): What brought you to Ottawa?  Diego Martinez (00:01:08): Well, I moved here when, well, I moved to Calgary when I was really young because my dad found a job in oil and gas.  Diego Martinez (00:01:15): And also it was a good choice because Canada is a much safer country.  Diego Martinez (00:01:20): But I came to Ottawa just to study in university and because I have family here too.  Diego Martinez (00:01:27): So I live with my uncle.  Matt Leclerc (00:01:30): What do you study?  Diego Martinez (00:01:31): Civil engineering.  Matt Leclerc (00:01:32): Civil engineering.  Matt Leclerc (00:01:33): All right.  Matt Leclerc (00:01:34): So as you already explained that you have your uncle here, but do you have any other family and how often do you see them frequently or?  Diego Martine (00:01:40): Yeah, well, my uncle and my cousin, they live here.  Diego Martinez (00:01:44): So I see them about every day.  Diego Martinez (00:01:46): Yeah.  Matt Leclerc (00:01:46): Do you live with them?  Diego Martinez (00:01:47): Yeah.  Diego Martinez (00:01:48): All right.  Diego Martinez (00:01:49): Yeah.  Amy Biegler (00:01:51): Nice.  Amy Biegler (00:01:51): So what part of Ottawa are you from then or even Gatineau?  Diego Martinez (00:01:55): Well, actually we live in Gatineau.  Diego Martinez (00:01:57): So we live in Chelsea.  Amy Biegler (00:01:59): Okay.  Diego Martinez (00:02:00): It's nice, area.  Diego Martinez (00:02:01): And yeah.  Amy Biegler (00:02:03): Is there a very big Latin community or neighborhood where people speak Spanish?  Amy Biegler (00:02:07): And do you, if yes, do you celebrate different occasions or?  Diego Martinez (00:02:12): Well, I have seen a few Latin American people at the cafe nearby.  Diego Martinez (00:02:19): but we there's I wouldn't say there's like a lot of big community there community there.  Amy Biegler (00:02:25): What about in Ottawa?  Amy Biegler (00:02:26): Do you find yourself like in a bigger community here or is it like kind of the same?  Diego Martinez (00:02:32): Well, I'd say I have met a lot of people at uni that were Latin American, but yeah, I'd say it's pretty big here.  Diego Martinez (00:02:41): Actually, I have met a lot of Spanish speakers, Latin American people in  Diego Martinez (00:02:48): my entire university time here.  Diego Martinez (00:02:51): So now that I'm in 4th year, I've met, I have a friend in my class.  Diego Martinez (00:02:57): He used to be my roommate, for example.  Diego Martinez (00:03:00): He's from Columbia.  Diego Martinez (00:03:01): And a lot of other friends that I've met in university.  Diego Martinez (00:03:06): So yes, I'd say it's very, it's definitely there at the community.  Diego Martinez (00:03:12): So yeah, it's great.  Amy Biegler (00:03:14): Awesome.  Amy Biegler (00:03:17): And what would you say  Amy Biegler (00:03:19): what are some important celebrations that you celebrate?  Diego Martinez (00:03:26): It's a big deal. You know, you get the whole family.  Diego Martinez (00:03:35): Like my family, my parents, they live in Calgary.  Diego Martinez (00:03:38): Like they'll fly here.  Diego Martinez (00:03:40): Maybe we'll all go to Mexico.  Diego Martinez (00:03:43): to see our other relatives like grandparents and stuff like that.  Diego Martinez (00:03:46): It's just to see them at least once a year, and share, a good time.  Amy Biegler (00:03:54): Nice.  Amy Biegler (00:03:55): Can you describe a typical day in your community in Gatineau?  Diego Martinez (00:04:00): Sure.  Diego Martinez (00:04:02): Well, a typical day is, well, it's a really nice neighborhood.  Diego Martinez (00:04:07): I'll say  Diego Martinez (00:04:09): If I'm not at uni, usually I'd go down to, go to the cafe or the gym nearby.  Diego Martinez (00:04:14): And there's a lot of French speakers there, but also, English speakers.  Diego Martinez (00:04:19): And like I mentioned before, I have met a few, like very few Latin American people.  Diego Martinez (00:04:24): So, yeah.  Amy Biegler (00:04:26): Do you yourself speak French?  Diego Martinez (00:04:28): Yes.  Amy Biegler (00:04:29): Okay, that's really nice then.  Diego Martinez (00:04:30): Yeah.  Amy Biegler (00:04:31): Awesome, thank you.  Adam Kallali (00:04:33): Cool.  Adam Kallali (00:04:36): So how do you celebrate your heritage?  Diego Martinez (00:04:37): I think that there's many ways that I celebrate my heritage.  Diego Martinez (00:04:40): It's one of the big ones is, well, I got to speak Spanish, right, at home with my uncle.  Diego Martinez (00:04:47): And I did learn through like my parents.  Diego Martinez (00:04:50): So I also speak Spanish with them.  Diego Martinez (00:04:52): So every day we just like, we speak Spanish or we will watch, you know, Mexican cinema or something like that, something to keep the  Diego Martinez (00:05:02): I guess the heritage, going.  Diego Martinez (00:05:05): And also another thing is like the food.  Diego Martinez (00:05:08): Also, we like to make a lot of Mexican food, every week.  Adam Kallali (00:05:13): Nice.  Adam Kallali (00:05:15): What are some values that you hold most near as a member of the Latin of the Latin American community?  Diego Martinez (00:05:23): The values I'd say that my community shares a lot would be  Diego Martinez (00:05:33): I think that we, really, we like to share, we like to spend time together as a family.  Diego Martinez (00:05:40): we like to stick together A lot.  Diego Martinez (00:05:42): But another thing is we really enjoy, just the culture, right?  Diego Martinez (00:05:50): Whether it be with cinema or with the food or history, we, like to, just like,  Diego Martinez (00:05:59): share also music and stuff like that.  Diego Martinez (00:06:01): So I think those are really the values that I grew up with.  Adam Kallali (00:06:06): That's interesting.  Adam Kallali (00:06:08): What would you like to share about yourself or your community that you think is important for people to know, people who may not be as familiar with the Latin American community?  Diego Martinez (00:06:16): Well, I'd say if you want to familiarize yourself, whether you are  Diego Martinez (00:06:23): Latin American or not, just go to a country in Latin America that interests you, that, okay, hey, maybe, I don't know, maybe not Mexico, or I want to go to Peru.  Diego Martinez (00:06:32): I heard they have this or that, the food or the landmarks or something.  Diego Martinez (00:06:37): And really just, I don't know, maybe you can do an exchange, like study there or spend a few weeks there and really get to know the language too, if you don't know Spanish or whatever it is.  Diego Martinez (00:06:49): Just go there and meet people.  Diego Martinez (00:06:52): or be with your family if you have any. So yeah.  Adam Kallali (00:06:55): Is there anything particular that you think is important for people to know?  Adam Kallali (00:06:58): Just in general that you feel like you'd want everyone to know about the community.  Diego Martinez (00:07:03): Okay, so I'd say that something people have to know is that, when  Diego Martinez (00:07:10): When we have moments like, what's going on in Mexico right now, right?  Diego Martinez (00:07:13): Pretty much the cartel, it's controlling everything.  Diego Martinez (00:07:16): The country's so corrupt that they're pretty much rebelling.  Diego Martinez (00:07:20): They're saying, hey, listen, we're the ones who are running things here.  Diego Martinez (00:07:24): It's really something that people from my community have been dealing with or trying to deal with right now, right?  Diego Martinez (00:07:32): So people just should know that  Diego Martinez (00:07:38): we have a lot of great things in our cultures, great, really interesting art and music and, contributions to humanity.  Diego Martinez (00:07:47): But we also have this side that we can't really, like ordinary people can't control really what's going on with all this corruption.  Diego Martinez (00:07:56): So it's just really disappointing to a lot of us.  Diego Martinez (00:08:01): But  Diego Martinez (00:08:02): just if you plan on visiting Mexico anytime soon, just be very careful.  Amy Biegler (00:08:07): Yeah, of course.  Amy Biegler (00:08:08): Just like anywhere you travel, there's always risks, right?  Diego Martinez (00:08:11): Yeah.  Amy Biegler (00:08:12): Do you have any family living in Mexico currently?  Diego Martinez (00:08:14): Yes, my grandparents.  Diego Martinez (00:08:17): They actually have witnessed a lot of destruction, actually.  Diego Martinez (00:08:21): So they see just, cars and stores being destroyed.  Diego Martinez (00:08:27): I was actually in one of the stores in Mexico that was one year ago, like it was perfectly normal, right?  Diego Martinez (00:08:34): I remember I was buying a donut or something like that.  Diego Martinez (00:08:37): We were on vacation.  Diego Martinez (00:08:38): And now, like I just found out that very same store, like someone threw Molotov cocktails in there and like, it just burned.  Diego Martinez (00:08:44): So yeah.  Diego Martinez (00:08:46): my God, it's not good.  Diego Martinez (00:08:47): It's like a convenience store.  Diego Martinez (00:08:49): Yeah, it's destroyed now.  Amy Biegler (00:08:50): The world is like falling apart.  Diego Martinez (00:08:52): Yep.  Matt Leclerc (00:08:52): What foods do you make that remind you of home?  Matt Leclerc (00:08:55): And where do you purchase your groceries to prepare your traditional meals?  Diego Martinez (00:09:01): Well, there's a few stores in Gatineau, like Adonis.  Diego Martinez (00:09:05): They have the good tortillas, you know what I'm saying?  Diego Martinez (00:09:07): So you can make good quesadillas.  Diego Martinez (00:09:10): What else?  Diego Martinez (00:09:12): Like a tortilla soup is always good.  Diego Martinez (00:09:16): Just tacos, birria, whatever, barbacoa.  Diego Martinez (00:09:23): That's good too.  Diego Martinez (00:09:24): But yeah, my uncle's been teaching me how to cook that.  Amy Biegler (00:09:28): Nice.  Amy Biegler (00:09:29): Next question.  Amy Biegler (00:09:31): How likely would you and your family be to use the website we are creating for uploading your stories?  Amy Biegler (00:09:36): So as I mentioned earlier, Anthro Harvest.  Diego Martinez (00:09:41): I think that they would be, they would, it would be likely that they use it, especially my dad.  Diego Martinez (00:09:48): He's really into, helping people in my community and in politics too.  Diego Martinez (00:09:56): So I think he would definitely participate in it.  Amy Biegler (00:10:00): Awesome.  Amy Biegler (00:10:00): That's good to hear.  Adam Kallali (00:10:02): Yeah, we want to know how we can better serve the community.  Adam Kallali (00:10:06): So any insight would be really helpful.  Adam Kallali (00:10:08): So thank you for that.  Adam Kallali (00:10:10): And finally, do you have any other comments or concerns that you'd like to voice?  Diego Martinez (00:10:14): I think that just know that we're just like any other like community really.  Diego Martinez (00:10:19): Like it's, we're really like a mixture of a lot of cultures and we're not really like just one thing.  Diego Martinez (00:10:29): Like we've been really kind of mixing for like hundreds of years, right?  Diego Martinez (00:10:35): So we can't really be labeled as much, I guess.  Diego Martinez (00:10:41): So yeah.  Diego Martinez (00:10:43): I think that I'd like to share, speaking from someone who's not very connected to that, the way of life in Mexico is to really get it.  Diego Martinez (00:11:00):  If you aren't like me, like if you're like me that you didn't grow up in Mexico, but your family is Mexican or wherever, Latin American, I'd say really try to connect with that side of you to really understand different ways of life, different, the way people live, the way people interact and try to go back to that country and just really soak it in because it's, you might find something really good there.  Adam Kallali (00:11:30): I think it's a really good insight. Thank you.  Diego Martinez (00:11:32): Know, I think it's great what you're doing. I really admire the effort you're putting into trying to create a platform for people to tell their stories.  Diego Martinez (00:11:42): And thank you for having me.  Matt Leclerc (00:11:45): All right.  Matt Leclerc (00:11:45): Well, thank you very much for your time, Diego.  Matt Leclerc (00:11:48): We appreciate it.  Matt Leclerc (00:11:49): And your answers were great.  Matt Leclerc (00:11:51): And have a nice one.  Diego Martinez (00:11:54): Awesome.  Diego Martinez (00:11:54): Thank you so much.  Diego Martinez (00:11:55): Thank you.  Adam Kallali (00:11:56): Take care.  Diego Martinez (00:11:56): Awesome.  Diego Martinez (00:11:57): You too.  Diego Martinez (00:11:57):  Bye.  Diego Martinez (00:11:58): Bye.  Amy Biegler (00:11:58): Bye.  Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data In person Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 12 minutes Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Diego Martinez Subject The topic of the resource Ethnographic Interview of a Mexican Immigrant, Diego Martinez Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Diego Martinez is a 22-year-old engineering undergraduate student studying at the University of Ottawa. Diego immigrated from Mexico City, Mexico, to Calgary when he was four years old because his father found a job in the oil and gas industry. Diego believes that his family’s decision to immigrate to Canada was a good choice because it is safer than Mexico. After graduating from high school, Diego moved from Calgary to Chelsea, QC, to live with his uncle and cousin and pursue his studies at the University of Ottawa. Diego describes Chelsea as having a small Latin American community. However, he found a larger community presence at uOttawa. Throughout the interview, Diego discusses the key aspects of his culture, namely language, celebrations, art, and family ties. He talks about how all aspects of his culture have family elements. For example, he mentions that Christmas is an important celebration in Mexico that gets the whole family together. Additionally, he talks about how the arts are used to connect the family. Diego and his family make sure to keep the culture and heritage alive by speaking Spanish daily. Diego also has a friend who is learning Spanish at the time of this interview, and he takes time to explain how fun it is to speak with him and how much he’s enjoyed getting the chance to use his language outside of his home. He also discusses how his family in Canada makes sure to travel to Mexico to visit their relatives. When asked about his favourite Mexican food, Diego highlighted tortilla soup as his first choice. He enjoys making a variety of traditional foods weekly. He described tortilla soup as a comforting staple food from his childhood, often prepared by his uncle while he was growing up in Mexico. One thing that Diego thinks is very important is travelling to countries in Latin America. He wants people to be curious when they travel by trying new foods or visiting different landmarks. Essentially, he wants people to really explore the culture as much as possible. He also mentions that an exchange is a great opportunity because you can learn the language and experience everyday life there. Although Mexico has an amazing culture and is a great place to visit, Diego stresses that there are still issues like cartel violence and corruption that people should be aware of. However, like travelling anywhere in the world, there is always some level of risk.</div> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 02/03/2026 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3 (17.3 MB), 12 min Language A language of the resource English Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Matt Leclerc, Amy Biegler, and Adam Kallali https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/e9d28cd49e58bb0cbc190d3d614c97fc.mp3 b5a0e38a24671a51ab1078e1b2619930 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Chloe Bonter, Sydney Brown, Sabrina Goriani, Annie Prionas Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Eduardo Location The location of the interview Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound SABRINA All right. My name is Sabrina Goriani, and I am here with a couple of my classmates doing an ethnographic interview. SYDNEY I'm Sydney Brown. CHLOE I'm Chloe Bonter. ANNIE I'm Annie Prionas. SABRINA And today, we will be interviewing Eduardo. EDUARDO My name is Eduardo. SABRINA So, the first question is, what is your country of origin? EDUARDO I'm from Cuba. Ummm [pause] I don't know. What do you want more or like? SABRINA No, that's okay. And then ummm… ANNIE Do you have a city or an area? EDUARDO Ahh okay, okay, okay, okay So I'm from Cuba. I'm from Santa Clara. Santa Clara is practically, divide the country, is in the middle of the country, center of the country. And you know, Cuba is an island. ANNIE So what do you mean by divided? SABRINA The city is. EDUARDO Is… No, No, No not divided. It's like a, it's in the middle … the country. It's okay right there in the middle the center.[Overlapping oh and yeah from Annie and Sabrina]  So from there you distance for everywhere, but everywhere. Oh, Santa Clara City, whatever, you know. SABRINA So it's in the middle, but do you have any beaches? EDUARDO Yeah, we have a beautiful ones. We have a ah all,[short pause] okay, it's a… Cayo Coco, the people in all of Cayo Coco. We have a Cayo Santa Maria, Cayo Las Bruja, a very big destination for Canadian and French people more of the time. SABRINA Yeah. [Laughter] EDUARDO And it's really one of the more beautiful, better right now than Varadero is the main center for the tourists. Because the distance is very short from the airport to the hotel in Varadero. But, what is Santa Clara is, 200 kilometres from all this island.[Overlapping oh wow from Sabrina] But it's beautiful because this island is like, it's connecting from the ocean with the stone, building a highway in the top of the ocean. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO So it's something really. If the people never been in Santa Clara or in Cayo Santa Maria, [they] should be go there just to enjoy. You're driving like you're driving at the top of the ocean because [it’s]? plus nothing in the side is water here and water in the other side. It's a really beautiful view.  SABRINA Oh, okay. Very nice, very nice. And what brought you to Ottawa? EDUARDO To Ottawa or to Canada? SABRINA Well, you can say, you can start with Canada and then narrow it down to why Ottawa specifically. EDUARDO Oh okay, yeah. Well, I come to Ottawa because I have a niece. She was already living here in Ottawa. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO And she always, when she was visiting me in Cuba, she always was talking to me about Ottawa. Better life, better quality of life, better everything. So, she mentioned to me. So, [she] says, you have the opportunity, they left the country, you can come to Ottawa. It's a very good place, very nice place to live in. So that's the reason I'm in Ottawa. SABRINA Very nice, very nice. And so you said you had a niece that lives in Ottawa. How often do you see them? EDUARDO Oh, I was living with her. SABRINA Oh, you were living with her? EDUARDO No more family, so she invited me to live with her for a year. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO So to the moment I decide, you know, independent myself to really build my life here. SABRINA Okay, very nice. And do you have other family here? EDUARDO Right now, yeah. I have my sister here with me. I just brought… bring from Cuba. I bring her from Cuba in 2024. SABRINA Oh, OK. Very nice. EDUARDO And now she live here in Ottawa, too. SABRINA Oh, Okay. EDUARDO Yeah. We don't live together, but she live[s] in Ottawa. SABRINA And where you live, is it a Latin community? Do a lot of people near you speak Spanish or Portuguese? EDUARDO What I live in right now? SABRINA Yes. EDUARDO No, I live in ah, uh I work in Ottawa, but actually I live in Gatineau. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO I live in Gatineau. I'm all my community is French. SABRINA They're all French.? EDUARDO And just a couple of week, he find I was from Cuba. Because he going to Cuba, come back and [I] say, where [you] come from? He said, oh from Cuba. I said, you know I'm from Cuba.He said, ahugh, I was thinking you are from Puerto Rico or something else. SABRINA Okay EDUARDO I said, no, I'm from Cuba. He said, well, okay, good to know.[laughter] But no, it's a French community, like it's a condominium, like similar like this. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO But all French. SABRINA Okay. ANNIE And sorry, do you speak French? EDUARDO Um ah, probably say I force myself, yes, because I actually was in the French school for three years. ANNIE Okay. EDUARDO But I always work in Ottawa. Always, always. Because I started here. I entered to Canada from Ottawa, to Ottawa. And after I-- well, I go to the English school here, to some public school. It's a school for English. And there, I do my English for three years. But by the price, the everything, you know, Ottawa price, everything, I decided to move to Gatineau because the price for the apartment house and rent, some food, it was-- Price is really low. ANNIE Okay. EDUARDO But it's a good place there. It's very quiet, at least where I am. SABRINA And so in your culture, what kind of celebrations do you find are most important to you? And what kind of celebrations do you celebrate with just yourself or your family? EDUARDO Well, we are celebrate, the more celebration is New Year. For my family, yeah, New Year. SABRINA Oh. EDUARDO Beside that, we not celebrate too many other ones, like Christmas. Just different people, different group of the people. Because I know religion, mean, so we never celebrate any like a Christmas or all this stuff. SABRINA Easter, you don't celebrate Easter. Okay. EDUARDO This Easter and Christmas start coming new. It's something [entirely] new to our culture. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO Because years ago in my time, imagine I left Cuba 26 years ago. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO It was totally different. Even [to] be part of the religion, it was a complicated. SABRINA Really? EDUARDO Yes. SABRINA How come? EDUARDO Yeah. The government always was follow[ing] the people. It was kind of religion or any kind of culture you want to be part.The government always follow these people, making it like really difficult. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO So that's just one of the reasons that my family never, I'm coming from the really poor family, farmers. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO We was living really far away in the city and the farm. So we moved to the city, years, many years after the revolution went in Cuba in 1958. So my grandpa, my grandparents moved to the city and bring my father and my mother. And we started, okay, you know, start living over there. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO So really, the more important, for us, really, really, the more important [celebration] it was a new year. And Christmas, but then Christmas, we [don’t call it] calling Christmas. We call the day for the king. SABRINA Oh, okay. EDUARDO So, it was today. So, it was the day your mother and your parents, it's the same time as Christmas, by the way … SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO …but with different name. I think [it was] the government, [that] changed that. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO So, you know, [its] not going to be Christmas, may go call like a political, or we go be today, [going to call it] the day for the kings, kings day. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO So you go to the store and you [are] allow[ed] to get a three different toys. One I[‘m] going to say A, B, and C. A, it was the best toy, medium toy, and really bad toy. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO So you [had] the opportunity, and your family had the money you can buy in the store.They give you a coupon, like in Cuba you use like a book for the food and  everything, [so it] be controlled. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO And you have a kid, how many kids or brothers, and you have it, they give you the amount, the store you can receive. Not free, you pay a little money that's [fine], but they control that. So that's the day, it take you on this day, but that’s the day your family can go to the store to buy the toy. So you go there and you select the toy you want. It [the coupon] give you all. You have three options here, A, B, C. A is the best toy, a little bit more expensive, B, medium toy, and C, the small, like a little bit nothing. So, most of the time, A would disappear because everybody wanted the best toy, or maybe not the toy you want to, but... at least it was something, to play in the street after. But that's the way it was. Everybody was happy in that moment because, you don't see too much, you just leave it in this bubble, [with this] the information. SABRINA Okay. All right. So back in Cuba, can you describe a typical day? EDUARDO Typical day in Cuba? [Overlapping yeah from SABRINA] A typical day in Cuba is fantastic. Cuban people love, love music. SABRINA Yeah. EDUARDO We love party. We like drink a lot. And play dominoes. SABRINA Dominoes? EDUARDO Yeah. You know dominoes? SABRINA Yeah. EDUARDO Yeah, like play not [like the] Chinese one, because Chinese [you play] with thousands, dominoes with 10 pieces, each one. And it's really, really, really very...very common. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO Every day, doesn't matter what time, the day or the night, the people play domino. SABRINA Really? Okay. And what's, you mentioned drinking. What's the Cuban drink? EDUARDO Well, no, the Cuban drink, the [most] famous is Havana Club. SABRINA Oh, the rum. EDUARDO The rum, Havana Club. And beer, called Crystal. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO And...the other beer is like [what] we call it the people beer, like the population beer, because it was cheap. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO It don't have a name, just, beer. And that is very common because we celebrate, I'm sorry, we celebrate to carnival. SABRINA Yes. EDUARDO Once a year, we do carnival, big carnival. Every city celebrate carnival for four or five days. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO I mean, different cities even do a big competition. Like it's more the town is more in this carnival, big competition. Because if we, for example, my city… the city is divide[ed] by neighbors, okay? This, for example, here, some here, another one down, whatever. We divide like this and we fight it with, no fight, but in the carnival, you know, to try to be better building, better carnival, better dances… SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO …better music. And so you are possibly saying be in the street. So all the car or whatever you're building, you go there. And it's a group of the people [that] say like whatever is the best one. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO And to that neighborhood, it give a gift for like a helping more like a material thing like that to this neighborhood. Like [if its] select[ed], oh, you win. So, your neighbor, you got to have the, we got to offer more cement for helping in the competition, but it help the neighborhood, of fixing the neighborhood. So, the people [were] really into that. The carnival is very, really, really good. And my city is in, normally is in August. And…it's really very good. Carnival is something crazy [but] not like in Brazil. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO But it's something really like it, pick a day with eight, three days before they continue, the people bringing to that. And music, a lot of music is super loud, a lot of people in the street. Like you can even walk there. SABRINA Wow. EDUARDO And it's music and it's food too, a lot of food. The food is pork. Sandwich, the pork sandwich. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO A lot. And that's, and that’s so far. SABRINA Well, that's very, very interesting. ANNIE I have a side question. SABRINA Go ahead. ANNIE Do you celebrate Carnival here in Ottawa? Do you go back to Cuba to celebrate at all? EDUARDO No, no, I really am. I not do too much activity in really in Canada. I concentrate more in work. Because I [am] the first one I [to] get out, well, my niece was the first get out from Cuba. But practically when I come to here, I come by myself and I have my family over there, my father, my mother, my sister were there. And practically what I did was just more concentrating, helping over there. So I was more working and less party. So that's the way I can help in financially give a better life. And I did. I did to the end. My parents died some three years ago. And I decided to bring my sister because the situation in Cuba every day was worse and worse and worse. So I bring my sister and now she's doing very good here. We have started all this paper, immigration paper, everything go very good, everything [is going] the way you’re supposed to. And just, we're waiting for get approved. But she will have permit to work. So that's fantastic. SABRINA Oh, that's very exciting news. EDUARDO Very exciting news. ANNIE So you don't feel that much pressure anymore that you're now that your sister is here to work? EDUARDO Yes. Oh my God. ANNIE It's a big relief. EUDARDO It's a big relief for me because I'm very [a] family person. I'm family person. So even when I was going to eat a steak, I was thinking twice. I said, oh my God, I don't understand, my parents don't have it. So that's making me really very sad inside. That [we] cannot give you that opportunity today. So, I said, you know what? I'm working double hard… ANNIE Yeah. EDUARDO …send the money, and I did. And not just me, a lot of Cuban people, wherever in the world [they are] living, is doing that. It's helping the family. And even now, the only one I have is just a cousin there. Not every month, but around every two months, I send money to him, I send food. I send on website, I send the food from the website. So at least to have a little balance, make it a little bit better, because the situation in Cuba is worse and worse. So I try to make… it a little bit better SABRINA And so you mentioned family, but what are other values that you hold close? So you said family was very important, but what other values? EDUARDO Family value, you mean? SABRINA Just values in general, like loyalty or community. EDUARDO In the community? SABRINA Sure. EDUARDO Ah ugh, if you remember this, I'd be more than 26 years since [I left] the conflict, okay? In Cuba, the value is, loyalty is very important. SABRINA Loyalty? EDUARDO Loyalty is very, very important in the family.   SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO With the people around, not too much, because the government create this psychological scene, the everybody is spy [spies] everybody. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO So you need better be careful around with people, you know? So more it was family, keep everything in family, not too much friend. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO But we have a good friend. I have a good friend there… SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO …but I don't know. It's like this kind of value is just more loyalty to the family. And the friend close, you need to really be good friend. Because what I say, it was difficult, what I say, go do anything or even go out even. You need to be there to understand. It's like in this neighbor, we have two or three people, it's a spy to the police or to the government. So we need to be careful with everything.You cannot even say nothing bad because it could be controlled or be, you know. SABRINA Yeah, and you mentioned before about pork, ahh um, sandwiches. EDUARDO Yeah, the food, yep. SABRINA What other foods do you have in your culture, but also what you make here? Like, do you make the same type of foods or… EDUARDO Okay, so that's a big change for me, because, okay, in Cuba, a common food is rice and black bean. SABRINA Rice and black beans? Okay. EDUARDO Yeah, and pork as a meat, because it's the more easy. In Cuba, it was—you know, it was allowed to buy meat, like a beef, any kind of beef, was allowed to have it. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO But the common one was pork, fish, chicken. That was the common food. Everybody's eating food for everybody in Cuba. And that was, I grew up with this. And it's a plate called arroz congri, the combination of the rice and bean, but cook[ed] together. So, it give[s] it different… texture, different. In the plate, [it] look[s] even different. Because you cook the bean first, and after you cook the rice, and after you cook it again together. So, it give[s] it different really look and taste. It's a number one plate in Cuba. SABRINA Okay, and do you still make it here? EDUARDO I make it not too much. What happened to me, I come to this country, and I married to [an] Arabic woman. SABRINA Oh, okay. EDUARDO So I was eating Arabic food for 25 years. SABRINA Oh, wow, okay. EDUARDO Yeah, so I practically left behind my culture. I ended more in her culture. She wants to cook, so you need, you don't complain. SABRINA You don't complain, yeah. EDUARDO So you eat what she cook. EDUARDO Yeah, and all the time I go there. Before, I was traveling more to Cuba every year. Just the last two years, with all this situation, economic situation in Cuba, a lot of problems in Cuba, I stopped two years, [since] being in Cuba. The last two years, 20… in the '24 and the '25, and 2024, 2025, traveled to Cuba. But all the years before, I go to Cuba every two years, and take all my family, my cousin, his daughter, bring to the hotel, give them the best I can opportunity to enjoy a hotel. Because I can't-- I need to go with money from here, like the US dollar, most of the time, to give you a proper vacation. I enjoy that. I enjoy helping. And I'm helping my friends, too. I'm close friends every time I go, and we're coming together. And that's the reason I enjoy Cuba, because I still have a really, really good friend there. SABRINA Okay. EDUARDO I go there, and we're coming together for three days straight. And it's, you know, it's good. It's good talking. I have a story there, you know. I remember when I was younger. SABRINA Yeah, that's very, very nice. And yeah, so you find family is quite important to you, you hold that very close. EDUARDO For many Cuban, Cuban people, very family… SABRINA Yeah. EDUARDO …very, very family. But for me, I don't know. I'd be, I always a family person. SABRINA Okay, that's nice. It shows in your character. In your character, too, I find when you talk to me and other people, it's the way you talk. EDUARDO Yeah, no, I'm very family person. SABRINA Well, that concludes the questions that we have for you. For you. But do you have any comments or questions for us while we're here? EDUARDO Questions? SABRINA Related to the project. EDUARDO Related to the project. Okay. Really, I don't know what kind of… SABRINA You don't, you don't, you can say no. You can say you don't have any questions and that's fine. EDUARDO Well, really, I don't have right now my mind questions. SABRINA That's okay, yeah. EDUARDO Just say it's my life, be a good, person. SABRINA Well, we really appreciate your answers, and we want to thank you for, for discussing and talking to us about your culture. So thank you, Eduardo. EDUARDO Okay, I don't know. I know you know, I don't say too much about my culture, but. SABRINA No, no we got it. You did a great job. ANNIE Yeah.     Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data In person Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 23min 21s Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Eduardo Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">This interview features Eduardo, a Cuban immigrant living in the Ottawa-Gatineau region, whose experiences reflect the complexities of migration, shaped by strong family responsibility, cultural changes, and the lasting influence of life in Cuba. Eduardo spoke to us about growing up in Santa Clara, Cuba, and how he was raised in a rural farming family before later moving to the city. He describes life in Cuba as deeply shaped by both community and restriction. While daily life included music, dominoes, and large-scale carnival celebrations that brought people together, it was also influenced by government surveillance, which created a sense of caution and limited trust outside the family. Subsequently, he notes loyalty as a strong value in his life. </div> Another integral social value we learned from him was food. Back in Cuba, he mentions how important food becomes as it is heavily tied to crucial memories and traditions; it represents the social connections made. However, many of the Cuban dishes he lovingly detailed to us, such as <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/arroz-congri-21409786">arroz congri</a>, have been largely abandoned. Eduardo moved to Canada after being encouraged by his niece, who spoke of greater opportunities and a better quality of life. Migration did not mark a separation from his family, but rather an increased sense of responsibility toward them. For many years, he worked to support his parents and relatives in Cuba financially, often prioritizing their needs over his own. This sense of responsibility, “pressure” as he called it, shaped his daily decisions, often leading him to feel guilty about enjoying simple comforts. This sense of obligation shaped his daily decisions and motivated him to work consistently. Even after the passing of his parents, Eduardo continues to support extended family members, including a cousin who remains in Cuba. More recently, he was able to bring his sister to Canada, marking a significant shift in both his responsibilities and relief from the pressure he once carried.  Today, Eduardo’s life in Canada is more centred around work and stability than cultural celebration. He does not actively participate in Cuban traditions such as carnival, and instead has focused on building a secure life. Eduardo did not marry a Cuban woman, he does not live in a Cuban cultural diaspora. Although he previously visited Cuba regularly and remained closely connected to family and friends there, he has not returned in recent years due to worsening social conditions. Reflecting on this, Eduardo acknowledges that he has, in some ways, left parts of his Cuban identity behind, showing the complex nature of cultural adaptation through migration.  Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2026-03-10 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 21.9MB Language A language of the resource English https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/77ef3125329c72b1afccbc03c0e6a256.mp3 dcbe63f0d8d1e32388ce20dbad3dbeb9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Elvira Arteaga Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Alexandra Thompson; William Vermette Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data On Zoom Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Alexandra: All right, so thank you so much for joining us. I'm Alexandra. We have William here and Elvira. Would you like to give a short introduction to yourself? Elvira: my name is Elvira. I'm from Mexico, living in Canada for the past 10 years and living in Ottawa for the past five years. Alexandra: Excellent. What brought you to Ottawa? Elvira: my husband’s job. Alexandra: Okay. Do you have family here and do you see them often? Elvira: I don't have any family here. It's only me, my husband, and my kids. Alexandra: Perfect. Will, do you want to ask the next question? William: Of course. So, do you live in a Latin community or neighborhood or at least a place where people speak a lot more Spanish or Portuguese? I would assume Spanish, considering Mexican origins? Elvira: I live in Ottawa. To be specific, I live in Stittsville, so it's mostly English speakers. William: Okay. Yeah. Well, to kind of carry on that, despite the lack of at least language presence or overall, I'd say maybe community presence. Just to clear that. Would you say that there's a Latin American community around where you live? Elvira: I will say yes, but I don't know a lot of people around me in Stittsville. William: Fair enough. Well, that kind of follows up with, is there at least a lot of any occasions that are celebrated, various occasions or holidays or these moments that are important to you, perhaps culturally, perhaps more personally? Elvira: Yes, Actually, I'm the president of Mexican Cultural association, so I am very involved in the Mexican community. I collaborate a lot with the Mexican Embassy with cultural events throughout the year. So, yes, I get in contact with a lot of Latin American people in the city. Alexandra: Okay, because I saw in your emails that it said president and then there was an acronym, and I was wondering what that was standing for. It's very cool. Elvira: Yeah, the acronym stands for Association Cultural is the Mexican Canadian Cultural Association of Ottawa. Alexandra: Is there, like, a typical day in your community, whether it be the association you work with or anything back home, like, if there's a typical day for you? Elvira: I work, like, mostly every month celebrating, let's say, the Mexican Independence Day in September, Day of the Dead in November, Christmas in December. And in Mexico, we celebrate the King's Day in January. What else? In March, we celebrate the Women International Women's Day in April in Mexico, we celebrate the Day of the Kids, the Kids Day, Mother's Day in May, Father's Day in June. It's like a lot of activities throughout the year. So, we work together with the embassy and with the community to get together and yeah and represent our culture in Canada. Alexandra: Do you have a lot of members that are a part of this? Elvira: All Latin American people is invited and all Canadian and people from other countries are invited to these celebrations during the year. Alexandra: So that kind of ties into our next question of how do you celebrate your heritage? Elvira: Wow, that's a big question. Just a little bit of my, my family, I am from Mexico and my husband is from the Caribbean. So, we try to introduce our culture to our kids because we are a mixed couple. So, we try to introduce them with the music and folklore or dances just like that. And I try to speak my language are in our house. So, the kids are related with the with the language, with the Spanish. Alexandra: That’s very cool. That is a lot of celebrations. Elvira: It is. William: That actually ties perfectly into the next follow up. Are there any values that you hold very dearly as a member of the Latin American community, but also that are maybe shared with Caribbean communities? Elvira: When you say values, can you repeat that. William: Yeah, of course. What are some values that you hold most dear as a member of the Latin American and well, in your case, having experience with the Caribbean communities? Elvira: I don't know how to answer this question. William: I'm sorry. No, that's very fair. To be very honest. I wouldn't know how to answer that if I was asked that either. Elvira: I don't know, like. Like being kind, being kind with everyone in the community. That’s hard. I don't know. Alexandra Yeah, I think it was like values as in like stories or anything for heritage that you kind of hold closely to you here from back home? Elvira: No, I don't think that applies at the moment. Alexandra: No worries. What would you like to share about yourself or your community that you think is most important for people to know? Elvira: Like something that is important for me? Alexandra: Or just your community. Things that you think people from Canada or other cultures should know about Latin American communities. Elvira: we are like mostly all Latin American people are very friendly. I don't know, we like to party a lot and we, I think we welcome everyone. Like we welcome people from all over the world. So, yep, we like to make them part of our traditions and dances and music. Yep. William: In that it's a lot more like a, an inclusive community. One that wants to exchange stories basically, or at least exchange ideas and get people just working together. William: Onto something else. Oh, personally, I find this topic always fun, but are there any foods that you make that remind you of home or any like traditional meals or places where you procure like groceries or specific ingredients? Elvira: most of the ingredients I got them from an online store. But talking about dishes and food, I cook mostly Mexican in my house. So, it's like a lot of tacos and soups. What else? Tamales for the bread. Yeah, Tortillas. Like it's tortillas. Tortillas mostly every day. Alexandra: So, second, last question. How likely would you and your family be to use the website we were creating for uploading your stories and how would you use it? And it just says here we would like to better serve the community. So, any suggestions from you about access as well about what should be posted would be greatly appreciated. But yeah, how likely would you be to use it for kind of getting in touch with other stories? If not, it's totally okay. Elvira: when the website is not up, I would love to share it with my family, with friends and with the community, with the Latin American community and other friends from other countries so they can learn a little bit about the Latin American culture. Alexandra: People from all backgrounds on here. It's very interesting. William: But also, if there's any like suggestions that you might have about the site like whether it be more or made more accessible to people who speak perhaps not as much English or that I don't know how to frame that necessarily. Elvira: like my actual job is I'm a medical interpreter so I know how the bridge with the language is. So, for sure if you can post, if you can put the website in different languages that will help a lot. Like if your target is getting in touch with Latin American people, it's going to be good to have a Spanish, Spanish site or something like that or, or other, other languages like English, French, Portuguese, Italian. Like it all depends on what's your target. Alexandra: I believe now I'm not totally sure, but I do believe that there's going to be like a drop-down menu that will have the other languages in it. I think we're just hoping that it covers all if not most of the Latin American languages in the Caribbean as well. Elvira: That's good. Yeah. Alexandra: Do you have any other comments or concerns? Elvira: No, I don't have anything that I can think about right now. Alexandra: Perfect. That’s all of our questions. So, thank you so much for joining us. Elvira: You're welcome. Alexandra: Thank you. I'll stop the recording. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Elvira Arteaga Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-03-25 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 13 min 15 s Language A language of the resource English Description An account of the resource Elvira hails from Mexico, is a medical interpreter, and is the president of the Asociación Cultural Mexicano Canadiense Ottawa-Gatineau (ACMCOG). She has lived in Canada for the past 10 years and currently lives in Ottawa with her husband and children. Along with her work with ACMCOG, she regularly collaborates with the Mexican Embassy and takes part in cultural events throughout the year. Maintaining cultural values is very important to Elvira and her family, and she is consistently working to embrace the Latin American community in the capital region. https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/3d03963a77ac982d565f26f28ffe90a5.mp3 3d55ec414d123c457ce709cbaad9f0ed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Emmanuelle Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Sophia Soutyrine Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data In person Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound SOPHIA: Bonjour, je suis ici avec mon amie qui a accepté à faire cette interview qui porte sur les Latino-Américains à Ottawa, et je vais rentrer dans les questions. Tu veux te présenter ? EMMANUELLE: Donc oui, bonjour, mon nom c'est Emmanuel, je suis moitié Nicaragua, moitié Canada, ma mère vient du Nicaragua et mon père vient du Canada, mais je suis née ici au Canada. SOPHIA: Mhm, donc ton pays d'origine, c'est… EMMANUELLE: Le Canada. SOPHIA: Qu'est-ce qui t'a amené à Ottawa ? EMMANUELLE: En fait, ce qui m'a amenée à Ottawa – moi, je suis née à Gatineau, mais ce qui m' amenait à Ottawa c'est vraiment l'étude. Les études, donc du coup j'ai fait mon secondaire, spécialisation d'art plastique à Ottawa ici proche à De La Salle et là maintenant je fais d'autres études à U-Ottawa en développement international ce qui m’avait beaucoup intéressé. Donc les études. SOPHIA: Est-ce que tu as de la famille ici et est-ce que tu les vois souvent ? EMMANUELLE: Du Nicaragua ? SOPHIA: Oui EMMANUELLE: Donc, j'ai la famille du côté de mon papa, mais pas du côté de ma mère. J'ai aucun familier ici. Ils sont tous au Nicaragua, mais je vais quelquefois au Nicaragua au moins, je vais aller une fois par année, un mois. SOPHIA: Mhm, tu restes comme un mois? EMMANUELLE: Oui, c'est ça pour les visiter. SOPHIA: Et puis, est-ce que tu vis dans une communauté ou un quartier latino-américain ici où tu parles l'espagnol? Où l'on parle espagnol beaucoup? EMMANUELLE: Oui, donc avec ma famille, parce que je vis avec ma maman, c'est elle qui vient du Nicaragua, donc oui, on parle l’espagnol assez couramment à la maison, mais à l'extérieur de la maison, je pourrais dire à mon université non, mais j'ai beaucoup d'amis qui parlent espagnols ou des compagnons d'école. Voilà, c'est ça. Donc avec eux, je parle l'espagnol et puis avec ma mère à la maison quelques fois. SOPHIA: Quelles sont les célébrations les plus importantes pour toi? EMMANUELLE: Donc les célébrations, je pourrais dire Noël. C'est une célébration assez générale. Je pourrais dire, au Canada comme au Nicaragua, ces célébrations vraiment, mais j'adore. C’est comme ici, les célébrations au Canada, c'est plus tranquille de mon avis, de ce que j'ai vu. Quand au Nicaragua, ils font des grosses fêtes, ils font beaucoup de nourriture, ils invitent la famille de... un peu partout. Tu comprends? Quand t'a ici, c'est les familles qui sont plus proches. C'est ça que j'ai remarqué. En tout cas, c'est des grosses affaires, des grosses fêtes. SOPHIA: Est-ce que tu célèbres Noël avec, comme tu rassembles la famille? EMMANUELLE: Oui, oui. SOPHIA: C'est donc une grande fête. EMMANUELLE: C’est une grande fête, Oui, c'est une grande, grande célébration. SOPHIA: Est-ce que tu peux me décrire une journée typique dans ta communauté? EMMANUELLE: Donc oui, une journée typique dans ma communauté, normal, je me réveille et puis je fais ma journée avec mes amis, mais c'est pas vraiment différent au Nicaragua, c'est assez similaire. C'est deux communautés qui sont assez similaires. Oui. Mais sauf qu'ici, j'ai remarqué que les gens sont un peu plus froids avec les autres que dans un pays d’Amérique Latine. Un pays d'Amérique Latine je trouve que les gens sont plus, comment te dire, sont plus, entraident, ils entraident les autres, tu comprends, sont plus là pour les autres. Quand t'as ici, c'est plus chacun pour soi. C'est ça que j'ai remarqué. SOPHIA: Est-ce que tu trouves, quand tu es dans un groupe avec d'autres latino-américains, avec tes amis, ils sont plus chaleureux que si tu es avec des Canadiens, on va dire? EMMANUELLE: Oui, parce qu'ils sont très, t'sais, ils jugent pas autant. Je trouve que les Canadiens, ils se sont plus portés à juger ou à plus porter à chacun pour soi. Quant aux latinos, eux, ils vont dire « ah t'as besoin d'aide, viens, je vais t'aider à faire ci ou à faire ça » ou « viens, on va sortir, appelle ton ami, tout le monde en y va, tout l'monde ensemble ». Quant à ici, genre, tu peux pas, tu vas pas dire « oh viens, j'ai une amie de l'ami de l'amie », on va tous sortir ensemble, non. C'est plus, j’ai remarqué, c'est une assez grande différence. SOPHIA: Comment est-ce que tu célèbres ton héritage ? EMMANUELLE: Donc ben moi, je célèbre mon héritage en participant à des fêtes, des événements culturels, genre des fêtes et des festivals à Ottawa, genre à Lansdowne. Précisément, ils font souvent des événements latinos de plusieurs cultures aussi. De plus, comment aussi je célèbre, je pourrais dire en cuisinant des plats traditionnels avec ma mère comme le “Nacatamal” et surtout partager des histoires avec mes copines d'Amérique latine, des trucs arrivés, des places que je préfère, des photos. Voilà. SOPHIA:Et puis il y a beaucoup de, de festivals, c'est vrai. EMMANUELLE: Oui, oui. SOPHIA: Quelles sont les valeurs qui te sont les plus chères en tant que membre de la communauté latino-américaine? EMMANUELLE: Donc pour moi, c'est vraiment la famille, et puis tu pourrais demander à n'importe quel Latino, ils vont dire la famille c'est le plus important. Et puis aussi l'entraide. Exemple, on va toujours être là, présent pour entraider les autres, comme j'avais dit plutôt les Canadiens, je trouve que, comme je viens des 2 cultures, je me suis rendu compte que quand je suis avec des Latinos, je suis sûre que si j'ai besoin d'aide demain matin ils vont être, ils vont venir m'aider ils vont m'assister. Quant aux Canadiens, je me suis dit, bon, c’est, c'est différent, je vois une différence. Donc oui, définitivement, j'dirais la famille et l'entraide. SOPHIA: Qu'est-ce que tu aimerais partager sur toi-même ou de ta communauté? Et qu'est-ce que tu juges qui est plus important que les gens sachent de ta communauté, ta culture? EMMANUELLE: Okay, bin moi je dirais que j'aimerais plus que les gens voient la diversité, comme que la diversité culturelle, c'est une richesse. Et aussi être issu d'un mélange comme le Nicaragua et le Canada, bin ça m'a appris aussi à apprécier toutes les cultures, à être fière de ce métissage. SOPHIA: Um, ok, quel plat est-ce que tu cuisines qui te rappelles de ton pays d'origine? EMMANUELLE: Donc moi, au Nicaragua eux, ce qu'ils mangent c'est vraiment des “frijoles”, frijoles c’est like beans. SOPHIA: Les haricots. EMMANUELLE: Les haricots, les haricots noirs avec, aussi eux ils mangent avec du fromage, des plantains frits. Donc moi le matin je pourrais dire je donne un exemple, je mélange les 2, donc du coup des fois je sais pas, je mets des œufs comme ils font, je mets des haricots noirs, du riz, des plantains et je rajoute du bacon. Donc du coup tu as les 2, j'ai les 2, j’ai Canada et Nicaragua dedans et c'est vraiment le mélange. Des fois, c'est vraiment intéressant. SOPHIA: Oui. Est-ce que tu fais tes courses, ou, où est-ce que tu fais tes courses pour préparer les repas traditionnels? Est-ce qu’il y a des endroits. EMMANUELLE: Oui il y a des endroits oui, y’en a plusieurs à Ottawa, um, y a la Fiesta Latina, y a, y a aussi, d'autres y’en a d'autres, mais ils sont plus à Ottawa, y’en a pas à Gatineau. À Gatineau y’en a pas, mais à Ottawa, il y en avait certain que j'ai trouvé intéressant. Y’a pas autant de produits nicaraguayens, mais de produit salvadorien soit assez similaire à ceux de Nicaragua. Donc des fois il y a même des restaurants salvadoriens au latino, que je peux trouver de la nourriture que des fois on mange où on achète de de la place donc. SOPHIA: Donc tu trouves qu’il y pas trop de produits de ton pays spécifiquement EMMANUELLE:Non, non, non, non. SOPHIA: Mais ils sont similaires. EMMANUELLE: Plus Mexique, Colombie. Mais oui, ils sont assez similaires SOPHIA: Dans quelle mesure est-ce que tu, Ok donc tu sais le, cette interview va être mise sur un site web avec d'autres interviews avec d'autres gens de l'Amérique Latine. Um, Dans quelle mesure est-ce que tu es susceptible à utiliser le site web que nous avons créé? EMMANUELLE: C'est intéressant que tu me dis ça parce que, um, j'aimerais ça voir d'autres personnes comme moi, qui est moitié latino moitié canadiens. Parce que tu sais ici au Canada je vois beaucoup de latinos mais y a pas beaucoup de moitiés latinos canadiens autant, tu comprends, oui ils sont au Canada mais ils sont 100% latinos. Donc je trouve ça intéressant de pouvoir, je sais pas, pouvoir consulter le site web, pour écouter certains reportages de d'autres personnes, tu sais qui, qui est là, qui s'identifient comme moi, Moitié canadien, moitié latino, même nicaraguayen. Ça serait super intéressant si je pourrais trouver un reportage qui parle de ça, et m'identifier dans ces reportages. SOPHIA: Oui, puis voir les similarités. EMMANUELLE: Voila. SOPHIA: Est-ce que tu as d'autres commentaires que tu veux apporter ou des préoccupations? EMMANUELLE: Non, c'est c'est très intéressant ce que vous faites. Continuer comme à faire des reportages, c'est, c'est intéressant. J'aime bien SOPHIA: Merci, Emmanuelle. EMMANUELLE: Merci à toi. Bonne journée SOPHIA: Bye. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Emmanuelle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-03-13 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 8 min 51 s Language A language of the resource French Description An account of the resource I interviewed Emmanuelle, a close friend of mine since high school. She is half Nicaraguan and half Canadian, born in Canada and currently living in Gatineau. Emmanuelle comes to Ottawa for her studies and attends the University of Ottawa. Although she grew up in Canada, she stays closely connected to her Latin American roots through her family, Nicaraguan food, cultural festivals, and visits to Nicaragua. She also has many friends from across Latin America, where she recognizes shared values and experiences. Emmanuelle embraces a blend of both cultures in her daily life, balancing Canadian experiences with her Nicaraguan heritage. https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/9d587e2e9cc88c90e81570964eee0410.mp3 872e96fbf7aea11e420b3c3d0344fc5c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Gabo P Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Joshua Mascoll-Medeiros Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data In person Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Interviewer: Hello. I am Joshua Mascoll-Medeiros, a student at the University of Ottawa, and today, we are conducting an interview with the Department of Anthropology and the university to get a deeper understanding of Latin and Caribbean heritage in the City of Ottawa and Gatineau. We are creating a web page using the Omeka tool that shares the stories of members of the Latin Caribbean community here in Ottawa, Gatineau, and to help newcomers and the members of the current community to have resources to find connections and understand the rich, diverse nature of the region. Today, I am with Gabbo. Hi, Gabo, how are you? Interviewee: I'm good. Interviewer: I want to thank you for your participation here for the interview with the university, and I would love to learn more about you today. Okay, of course, the main thing we're going to try and do today is learn about your culture and find out how you found living here in Ottawa and got to know and how, as a member of the Latin community, how has it been easy or difficult for you as well. So, first, let's, let's get started. Gabo, what is your country of origin? Interviewee: So, I was born in Mexico, to be more specific, in Mexico City, I lived there until I was 13 years old, before migrating to Canada. Interviewer: And what brought you to Ottawa itself? Interviewee: So, we ended up moving to Canada because of my dad's work. So, my dad has always worked with the Mexican government, and at the time in 2001 he got offered a position here in the Embassy of Mexico in Ottawa, and we decided to move. Interviewer: Okay, um, do you currently still have family here in Ottawa? Interviewee: No, not anymore. My family that was here was basically my parents with my dad's job. They ended up posting him back in Mexico. So, they moved in 2013 I decided to stay, and I'm here by myself right now. Interviewer: You talked about how your family, some of your family, went back to Mexico as well. Do you see them frequently Interviewee: I actually do. It’s quite nice. My mom and my dad tend to visit basically every year. They come in every summer, and they'll stay here for a few months, spend some time with me and my family. I've also had the chance to have other family members that have visited recently, such as my sister and my brother and some friends as well. Interviewer: Oh, that sounds amazing. Do you live in a Latin community or neighborhood where Spanish is spoken often? Interviewee: It's hard to tell, I would say, yes. I live in the Gatineau side, about 10 minutes away from downtown. I would say, over the years, I've seen a bigger impact of the Atlanta community. When I moved to Canada, I went to high school here on the Gatineau side, and there was a huge Latin community within my high school. We had a lot of Spanish and actually Portuguese people as well. Growing up and not being in that environment anymore, I do often see people speaking Spanish or other languages around, like restaurants or even some of the like businesses that have opened as well. Interviewer: So, are there any kind of celebrations or kind of festivals in the Gatineau region that can reflect Latin American culture for you? Interviewee: So, I think one of the most popular ones that we see on a yearly basis here in Ottawa would be Latin Sparks. That is, like a, like a kind of like an event that's been kept up year to year, where it brings all of Latin people from every other country. So, you'll see Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina and everything like that. And they can tend to celebrate the culture a lot. I was more involved through the Mexican embassy with some of those events, as my dad was really involved. So, for the Me, the Mexican side of things, there is some that happened throughout the year that you know may vary, but you can often find them. Interviewer: And is this something that you participate still to this day, Interviewee: Occasionally, not as much as I used to. Generally, like, the biggest ones that we try to do is we celebrate our Mexican Independence Day in September. So, it is something that sometimes I'll attend to, if I have the opportunity to do so depending on when the event is held. Interviewer: So yeah, that kind of works great for the next question, because you talk about celebrating the Mexican Independence Day. Is there anything else that you do to celebrate your heritage here in Canada? Interviewee: So, I mean, we do the Mexican Independence Day, very well known to us in Mexico, we celebrate the day of the dead instead of Halloween. So that is something that culturally that I try to keep up every year as a parent with small children, I usually have been teaching my kids about it and can explain the differences. So, I would say that it's the second one that I celebrate quite regularly. Interviewer: Okay, now for myself. Of I don't really know much about the day of the dead. It's okay, if you kind of explain a little more about that. Interviewee: Yeah, so, the date of the death is kind of like a tradition that we hold in Mexico. It actually consists of two days, which is November 1 and November the second. It is a way for us to honor the tradition and in the past of our family members or friends or people that are no longer with us and that have passed away for us as part of our tradition. What we'll do is we'll create what we call an ofrenda, which is like an offering or a table where we can put pictures of those relatives or those persons that we want to honor, and we try to put things that they used to love, so whether it was like, you know, a shot of tequila, or like, their favorite dish, and we just kind of like put them overnight and celebrate their lives, like we try to not make it something that's sad, but more of, like a party, or, like, you know, something more festive Interviewer: that's wonderful, I guess we kind of talked about celebrations already, but is there one that is most important to you? Interviewee: I mean, culturally, the day of the dead is a really big one. I think it's also been really popular, you know, though, like, through the media and stuff like that. I feel like globally, it is a little bit more known now. And like I said, for me, the Independence Day is also a huge, huge one. As a Mexican, I think it's probably the biggest kind of holiday or celebration that we have in our country and in other countries. Interviewer: No, fair enough. The one thing I will also say from the next question is growing up in a neighborhood for myself where there were a lot of Latin communities as well as Caribbean communities, I understand that religion is one of the biggest aspects of culture itself. What are some of the values that you hold dear to yourself as a member of the Latin community? Interviewee: Well, I was going to say, I think I can definitely relate to your point growing up. My family and even Mexicans are known for being very, very religious. And basically, they're all Catholic, and they have a huge following. I wouldn't say, in my case, it's probably not as much like, like, I do consider myself like a religious person and whatnot, but if I come to think about it, for example, like my grandparents and my parents, that are people that tend to go to church like every Sunday and such. I do go occasionally, but I'm not there like all the time. Interviewer: Yeah, I understand, um, now again, I know you and I were talking beforehand, the part of food as a part of culture is enormous for myself, coming from a Caribbean background. I know when I grew up seeing my mom and my grandmother cook traditional food was always amazing. The house smelled amazing. It was always fun to be a part of and also learn that itself is there, like, a certain type of food that reminds you of home back in Mexico City? Interviewee: Oh, yes, 100% I think that's probably like my favorite part about my culture. Mexican food has a huge variety, and I feel like there are always so many dishes that remind me of home specifically, like if I were to tell you one of my favorite ones, obviously, like most people associate Mexicans and eating tacos and such. My favorite one, I love posole. It's kind of like a soup that has a lot of condiments and things like that. Very traditional to eat that when we celebrate Independence Day, for example. So, it kind of ties in with our celebrations and whatnot. But there is tons and tons of food that I like, but I would say those are probably like the two most common ones that I can always fall back to as my comfort food. And, you know, I can find any time. Interviewer: Fair enough now being in the Ottawa Gatineau area, do you find that it is easy to access these kinds of ingredients people make the food you talk about? Interviewee: I would say, yes, one of the things that I love about this area is that over the years, there's been more and more access to those resources. So when I originally moved to Canada, I found it was kind of a bit difficult to find some of those ingredients. But over the years, that has changed. You can often find a lot of like the vegetables, or like the peppers or whatever you may need, at local grocery stores or even some independent, like small businesses as well. I do find that there are a lot of Latin and Caribbean stores as well where you can actually go and get those ingredients from back home that are being imported and made accessible to you. There are definitely a few stores that are frequent, often to get those things for whenever my mom or I are cooking at home. So definitely very, very accessible. Interviewer: One of the last things, like one of the main. Things I want to talk about as well, is what would you like the community to know about this interview process? And I've understood that. We’ve worked together, we've played sports together as well in the local sporting community here for newcomers, or for anyone from the Latin community in the Caribbean community, they want to be able to kind of feel that sense of community itself. What do you think it's something important to know itself Interviewee: well. For me, I think, like coming to Canada, it was always a bit of an unknown. You don't know what to expect. What I love about Canada is that people are very embracing of other people's cultures, and, you know, they're always kind of like willing to learn. But you will also find a lot of people that you know have done the same, the same thing, and have immigrated. So I find it's a bit of a mixture of a huge Latin community that's present in Ottawa from all kinds of backgrounds, but at the same time, yes, like having Canadian people embracing it, it's always really nice, because they're always open to trying new things, you know, for you, to teach them and whatnot. So I think that's kind of like my favorite thing about the Latin community and the Canadian community, how they come together. Interviewer: Yeah, it's always great. The one thing I will say is the main reason why we're doing these interviews itself is to kind of make that resource for the Latin and Caribbean communities to understand that there is a lot of culture here. And not only that, but there's a sense, there's a way to create the sense of community in Ottawa itself. And so I think for the University of Ottawa, one of the main things we're trying to do is create this web page with Omeka to ensure that they have access to this. It's something that we do we hold very dear to ourselves, and we hope that this becomes a bigger, wider range of resources. So that kind of grows over the years. And I kind of talked to you about Omeka in this website they were creating. Is this something that you'd find that yourself or you would show to your family or friends? So, they can kind of get a better idea for people who maybe don't necessarily feel that connection right now in the auto Gatineau area? Interviewee: Yeah, I think it's, it's a great idea. Honestly, having those resources, kind of like all centers in one place, can be really helpful for someone that may be looking to come to Canada, or, I even think, through the university, someone that may be an international student. I definitely think it's a great resource. Sometimes, you know when, when you're looking into those big decisions, you have to look everywhere and kind of put the pieces together. So having it all centralized would be phenomenal, and I think it would be a good resource for everyone. Interviewer: Oh, perfect. I think the last thing I really want to talk about here is kind of getting your feedback or suggestions. And what I mean by that is using this resource like we're saying. It's very new. It's the first year that the university Auto has really done something like this, and we kind of want to know, what do you think would make this a more accessible resource for people of Latin and Caribbean descent, in the sense of, how do you think it should be portrayed, or how do you think it should be shared in a way to kind of outreach for the most amount of people itself? Interviewee: I mean, obviously, yes, I just mentioned, I think it's a great resource to have on the website, kind of, it's hard to think about it, but I would say, like shining a spotlight on it, especially for, as I mentioned, things like international students would be, I think would be a great idea for us itself, like it's just a way for us to understand how you as a lab member feel about kind of these kinds of resources itself. We know this is a great interview, and I learned a lot about you, and I hope that your listeners will be able to hear more about that as well and use this as kind of a way to understand that connection there is in Ottawa. Interviewer: I would like to thank you so much. Are there any last things you'd like to say at all? Interviewee: No, thank you for your time. I appreciate you. Know you're taking the time to learn the community. Like I said, the presence is huge, huge here in Ottawa, and I find that sometimes, like, you know, we have all those events, but there's never really a spotlight or something that kind of brings everything together. So, I can emphasize enough how good of an idea this is. Interviewer: Thank you so much. Okay, Gabbo, you have a great day. Thank you. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Gabo P. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-03-26 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 14 min 00 s Language A language of the resource English Description An account of the resource Gabo, a Mexican immigrant who arrived in Ottawa at the age of 13, recounts his journey and the vibrant cultural tapestry he has embraced. His father’s employment with the Mexican Embassy facilitated their relocation to Ottawa, where Gabo has grown up immersed in a diverse society. Despite the distance, he maintains a strong connection to his roots by visiting Mexico City regularly and sharing his cultural heritage with his children. Gabo emphasizes the significance of celebrating Mexican Independence Day and the importance of honouring the traditions of the Day of the Dead within his family. He also highlights the traditional foods that continue to evoke a sense of belonging and foster his Mexican identity. https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/4a431214ca6192c9d53c3fd7dd54b342.mp3 796524cb32ad9e8798650fc367f1a353 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Haoming Xiao, Thomas Armstrong, Souleymane Camara. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Hakim Marquez. Location The location of the interview Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Thomas Armstrong: Welcome everyone. Today we are joined by Hakim Marquez. Hakim is an educational development and digital learning specialist from the University of Ottawa, and we are very happy to have him participate in our interview today. So thank you very much for joining us today Hakim. Haoming Xiao: Alright, so thank you for having the time to talk with us today. So, could you tell me about where you were born, and where your family is originally from? Hakim Marquez: Okay, I was born in, actually, I was born in France. My mother is from France, and my father was Venezuelan. So they met in France, and when I was 3 years old, they went back to Venezuela, my father and my mother. And I lived in Venezuela all my life before coming here. Like, I was when I migrated here, I was 51 was when I came here, so I lived all my life in Venezuela. Haoming Xiao: Yeah, alright, yeah, that's very nice. Yeah, so, what led you to come to Ottawa, and what was that move like for you? Hakim Marquez: It was because I found this job working at the university. When I came here, when I came to Canada, I first lived with my sister back in Oakville. That's near Toronto. I don't know if you know the city. She actually bought a big, she was living in a house and she bought a bigger one with a walk-in basement for us to live with her while we were establishing ourselves. And during that first 3 years, I was working in whatever kind of jobs that I found at the moment. It was particularly jobs that required to be bilingual. Those are the easy ones. And the easy ones to find, I mean. It's more when you're coming to the country, if you are bilingual, you kind of have more chances to find a job, so I was working in that kind of jobs, but I was looking for something that was more close to what I was doing in Venezuela. I was a professor there in a university that my university was for teachers, they gave only teaching training for teachers. And I was looking for something at least related with education. I was always looking for like professor kind of jobs, and those are very difficult to find. And at some point, I thought, okay, let me try with because my other specialty was technology, and I said to myself, let me try combining the two things, like education and technology, and I immediately found like 3 different jobs in 3 different cities in Canada. And the best offer was this one, was Ottawa, and it was hard, because it was nice to live close by my sister. And here we knew no one, we didn't even know Ottawa, never been here before. And the change was it was a big change. We love Ottawa as a city. But it was colder, so we were, like, kind of, it was a whole process of getting used to the cold. When I was living with my sister, and then we came here, it was cold that we had to buy new things, new boots, new jackets, new sweaters to live here. But besides that, it was a nice change. We loved the city, we love the. My daughter was still little when we came. She was 7, so it's a city that is good for family to have family, and there's a lot of nature, there's a lot of, I love, like, kind of cultural things, I love to go to concerts and things, even those things which you have it close by, so it was a nice change. Haoming Xiao: Alright, yeah, so you kind of answered our third question. So on to the next one. Do you spend time in any Latin American or Caribbean communities in Ottawa, for example, like places where you could speak Spanish or Portuguese, and celebrate your holidays? Hakim Marquez: No, not actually, we don't. We don't. At the beginning, we didn't. The first year, we didn't even know no person that spoke Spanish at the beginning. And then after our first year, somebody from my daughter's school was from Latin America, and we started having a friendship. And we started, like, hanging out all the time together. But we don't go, like, to places where we can celebrate things, like go to events or things like that, we don't. Actually, I'm lying. My wife, but that started, like, the third year here. My wife started working for the Spanish embassy, Spain, the Embassy of Spain. And that's kind of our contact with the language. Because she works all the time there, and she has a lot of events that happen related with her work. And sometimes we meet people from the embassy, and so that's kind of what we do, but that's pretty recent, like, that started in our third year here. Haoming Xiao: All right, so, what celebrations or holidays are the most important for you? Hakim Marquez: In my country, maybe the most important one is Christmas. It is a big, big one. And also, New Year's. But our celebration is the day before. It's not, it's Christmas, in this case, it will be Christmas Eve, or New Year's Eve. The day before is a big celebration, and we try to start. You start at 7, and you try to get the party going after midnight. And for Christmas Eve, we cook, we, I don't know, we dance, we drink, we do a lot of things together, and we wait for midnight for the kids to open the gifts. We don't wait for the next year for the next day. We do that at midnight, and then we continue with the party. The kids start using their toys if they have anything to share, or to, they start playing with those, and the adults keep on the party. And with New Year's Eve, it's the same thing. We go, we start having, like, dinner together, we wait until midnight, celebrate the new year, and then we continue with the party. Sometimes it depends on the families. Sometimes you wait for New Year's, you wait until midnight, and then you go out with your friends. That depends on the families, but those are the two big, big, big celebrations. I don't think there is another holiday that is as important as those two. Haoming Xiao: Alright, so, what does a typical day look like for you here in Ottawa? Either in your own life or in your community? Hakim Marquez: Typical day is we start very early in the morning, we get up at 5:30, because we have to, in my case, I have to walk the dog. Very early in the morning, and my wife starts preparing breakfast and preparing the, we take our lunch, my wife, my daughter, and me, we take our lunch from home. We have this, for us, lunch is the most important meal in the day. We don't eat that much for dinner. The big one is lunch, so we take it from, we cook, like, sometimes on weekends, especially on weekends, we cook for all the week. And if we don't have all the meals, we, sometimes Monday or Tuesday, we finish the job. So, my wife stays at home while I'm walking the dog, she stays, like, warming my daughter's food, and putting hours, because we have microwaves, so we don't need to warm it. And then we have breakfast together, and we come. She goes to the embassy, I come here. I work all day long, I stop at noon to exercise, sometimes I go to the twice a week, I go to the pool. And then I finish my day, I take the train back home. Because my wife goes out to the office earlier than me, so I have to take the train back. The days I don't swim, I go to the gym close to home. When I get back, I walk my dog again. And then we have dinner, family, we are together for dinner. We try to stay together for dinner to, like, talk a little bit and see how the day went. And then we go to bed, like, early, because we get up early. And for weekends, I already told you part of it. We need to work for the meals, but we try always to visit Ottawa, or towns close to Ottawa, or maybe things we notice that, for example, this week, we noticed something in the papers, they were talking about some caves nearby, like, two hours using the car, and we try to do those kind of things when we know, oh, this is something, there is something nice to visit, we go and do that, or if we have the opportunity, we see our friends, or we repair things at home, my wife and I would love to do manual jobs at home. We like the handy jobs and we like that you save a lot of money doing those. So, if we have something to do, we do that on weekends. And that's mostly it. Souleymane Camara: Okay, perfect. So, how do you stay connected to and celebrate your heritage while living in Ottawa? Hakim Marquez: I think the main, main way we stay connected is we are very close to people we still have back home, like friends and family, and we connect with them on a regular basis using social media. We call each other. We're using WhatsApp or we send messages and we try to see what is happening. And for celebrations, we try, we do, especially we're very foodie people. We love food and we try to prepare dishes that are typical of our country. And we try to do that in normal days, but also for celebrations. And we try to share that with our friends. And maybe the main, main moment where we try to reproduce everything that we do that we did back home is on Christmas Eve and as I was telling you, those are the important festivities. So we have dishes and rituals that we try to reproduce, and sometimes it's not easy, but we try to do those on those celebrations. And we try to, I don't know, we keep track of what is happening with the news in the country. We read books about our country if we have the opportunity and, yeah, my wife, I don't have family back in Venezuela, but my wife has her mother, her sister. Everyone is there. So we talk with them like every day and we are always asking them what is happening. And we are in close contact with what is happening right now there. And we try to establish some connection between them and our daughter because she grew up here and we tried to interest her on what is happening there and talking to her about the country and the good things and also the bad things of what she has there. Sometimes we insist a lot on the good things because, due to the situation, sometimes she's scared. And when we tell her, "okay, next year we're going to visit the family," she's like a little bit scared, like, is that safe? So we try to, yeah, okay. There are risks, there are dangers, but you are going to enjoy this, enjoy that. Souleymane Camara: Yes, you did. Thank you. And as someone who's connected to Latin America or Caribbean community, which values or ways of life feel most important to you? Hakim Marquez: I think one of the values that I cherish more is a certain happy way of seeing life, you know, we try to concentrate on the good side of life. And we are very in that sense, we sing a lot, we dance a lot, and we try to have that every day. Like I didn't mention that before, but we hear Latin American and Korean music all the time, every day. And if we have the opportunity, my wife and I dance, and now it's not that difficult because you have in the gym, you have classes where you can dance, but if not, we do it at home and we are always singing, always. So this side of our culture that is very in contact with, I don't know about you guys, but for me, music is happiness, and I have this contact with music that puts me, it can be snowing, minus 30 degrees, and I am walking outside and I'm hearing some salsa and I'm singing. Sometimes I find myself, this is so weird, singing while the snow is falling, minus 30. And I imagine if people watch me, like singing and maybe I do a little step on the street, people must say, "this he lost it because it's snowing. There is no reason to be happy right now." But we have this, I think we have this part of a culture, like it's a way to not avoid sadness, but to be able to enjoy every little thing in your day, even when sad things are happening. It's not that you avoid thinking on that. Sometimes, even when you are thinking about that, you say, okay, no, I'm going to dance it or I'm going to sing it because I'm going to feel a little better if I do that. So I think that's the part I cherish more. Souleymane Camara: Perfect, and is there anything about your community or you that you wish people in Ottawa had a better understanding or appreciated more? Hakim Marquez: No, that's a good question. I haven't, I don't think I have this sensation that our culture is not appreciated by Ottawa, by our community. I think I have this feeling that we are, that Latin American culture is an important part of Canadian and Ottawa culture. People appreciate Latin American culture: food, music, even the language. I have met a lot of people learning Spanish because they love the language and want to go to Latin America. And so I don't have that regret, like something, "oh, I would love for people to see this," or, I think people here in Ottawa show interest in our culture and try to enjoy things about our culture. Souleymane Camara: Perfect, and are there any particular foods or dishes that remind you of home? If so, where do you usually go in Ottawa to find the ingredients or a restaurant to eat these dishes? Hakim Marquez: We love to cook, so we don't go that much to restaurants because to have meals as good as we cook ourselves, you have to pay a lot. So we don't do that that much. And we are lucky that we find a lot of our most important ingredients easily here. For example, our main dish, like the most important thing we eat, is arepas. I don't know if you know arepas. They are kind of a round bread, but it's made with corn flour. They are round and you can cut it in the middle and do kind of a sandwich with whatever you want. The most basic one is cheese, and then you can go from there and do whatever you want: put meat, put, if you are, for example, gluten-free or vegetarian, you have a perfect arepa because you can put pasta or gluten-free and beans inside, and you find, we combine arepas with everything, so you have a lot of ingredients you can use. The basic one I was telling you is with cheese; we love our arepa with white cheese. And we have a very special white cheese in our country made in very basic conditions. You don't find that here, but this Greek cheese, oh, I have a brain fart, we have here everywhere this Greek cheese that is hard and white that comes in, I don't remember the name right now. Sorry about that. But you find it everywhere, so it's pretty easy to make like our white cheese. And our culture has a lot of common elements with some African countries' culture. So, the fact that the two communities here are big and strong, you find everything like corn flour. Now you find in Walmart, for example, plantain, sweet plantains already cooked, a very important part of our meals. Some things you don't find, we love this fruit called papaya. I don't know if you know it. And it's not that easy to find. It's especially a summer fruit. Back in the country, you find it all year long. Here, it's more of a summer fruit. But those are a few exceptions of food that you cannot find here. I don't remember the original question, but I hope I answered it. Souleymane Camara: I see. Yeah, perfect. Thank you so much. So we're creating a project website to share community stories, and we would like to know how you or your family would use a site like that. What would make it most useful or accessible for you, for example, the language or the content on the site? Or how would it need to be organised? Hakim Marquez: It would be wonderful if you had the possibility of changing the language, but it's always nice to have your native language in the app and site. And if you can make it so we can see it on our phones nowadays, which is what we use the most, that would be wonderful too. And if you can share, like you were talking about, places where you can go and be more in contact with the community, if you can include that kind of thing, that's wonderful because that always helps. That is the way you'll say, okay, oh, let me try this, and let's see what happens. That will be very nice. Souleymane Camara: So, last question, is there anything else you'd like to add, an experience, concerns or suggestions that we haven't talked about in this interview? Hakim Marquez: No, not that I think of. I think your interview was very nice, very thoughtful. Souleymane Camara: Perfect. Well, that was our last question. Thank you for your time. Hakim Marquez: No problem, it was a pleasure, guys. Souleymane Camara: We appreciate you taking the time to do this interview with us. Hakim Marquez: It was a pleasure. I hope you have a good mark on your work, and that you have good results in all your courses with Laurie. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data On Zoom Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 28:00 min. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Hakim Marquez. Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">This interview features Hakim, a Venezuelan migrant living in Canada. Hakim spent the majority of his life in Venezuela, but Canada was not the first place he had lived abroad. In truth, Hakin was born in France and returned to Venezuela soon after. He later moved to Canada at the age of fifty-one, seeking opportunities in education and technology. Since then, he’s found success working at the University of Ottawa in Teaching Learning Support Services. Initially, Hakim's family had limited access to Latin American culture, let alone Venezuelan culture, and the Spanish language while living in Ottawa. However, they have been able to find a connection through an introduction to another Latin American family at their daughter’s school, and Hakim’s wife has since begun working at the Spanish Embassy. Beyond the social connections they have formed with other Latin Americans in Ottawa, Hakim and his family also prioritize maintaining their culture at home. He notes in the interview that social media has been one avenue that has helped them stay connected to Venezuela. Other ways they celebrate their family heritage are by making traditional foods, like Arepas, and by celebrating major Latin holidays. They listen to Latin music and dance, keeping their cultural heritage alive! </div> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Thursday, March 12th, 2026, 1:30 pm EST Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 20 MB. Language A language of the resource English https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/b1bd2eea3f88adfe5d64003bfd71fb17.mp3 dd4bb3049ea0fc2cb6f5510c95b965aa Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Mila Shull, Kielyn Gatensby Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Irene Robalino Location The location of the interview Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Irene Robalino 0:04 Okay, well, my name is Irene Robalino, and I'm a fourth year student at uOttawa. I'm in my last semester, and I'm in the International Studies and Modern Languages program. Mila Shull 0:19 Great, okay, so our first question for you is going to be, what is your country of origin? Irene Robalino 0:23 My country of origin is Ecuador. Kielyn Gatensby 0:27 Okay, the second question is, what brought you to Ottawa? Irene Robalino 0:32 So I came to Ottawa for university. I'm originally based in Toronto. I grew up there, but I came here four years ago for school. Mila Shull 0:44 Do you have family here, and do you see them frequently? Irene Robalino 0:49 I do not have family in Ottawa. My parents and my siblings live in Toronto. Kielyn Gatensby 0:56 Do you live in a Latin community or neighborhood where people speak Spanish and or Portuguese and celebrate various occasions? Irene Robalino 1:07 I live-well in Ottawa, here in my apartment, I have three roommates that are Latinas, so one of them is Colombian. One of them is half Colombian, one's Venezuelan, and so that's my community in Ottawa. But back home in Toronto, where I grew up with my family, we did have a big community, or I do have a big community of Latin American, like a Latin American community. I have a lot of family friends that I grew up with that were Ecuadorian and Colombian, Venezuelan, and we go to a Spanish mass. Well, we go to church every Sunday, so we go to Spanish mass. And, yeah, I definitely have a community back home in Toronto. Mila Shull 1:52 What celebrations are most important to you? Irene Robalino 1:55 Um, there's a lot of celebrations that are very important to me, but my favorite that is an Ecuadorian celebration, but more specifically, a celebration in Quito, the city where I'm from, it's this... it's a holiday called Dia de los Difuntos, and it's called, it's, it means the day of all souls. So it takes place on November first and November second, and it's a celebration of- it's an all-celebration of the dead. Basically, it's our version in Ecuador. And it's really fun, because we get together with our family and our friends, and we just, like, celebrate our, you know, deceased family members in a happy way, and we make these, like little bread shaped baby dolls, I guess you would call them. They're called Wawa Zipan, which means in, like the Indigenous language, Quechua, it means like, child. And then, we make this thing called Colada Morada, which is like a big warm Berry, like warm drink that we make. And we just all like drink. And we decorate our like bread dolls, and we just like celebrate. And, yeah, I think that's one of my favorites. And always Christmas. Of course, Christmas is really big in Ecuador, so, yeah. Kielyn Gatensby 3:13 Could you describe a typical day in your community? Irene Robalino 3:18 Um, I don't know about a typical day. I think the most important day in my community growing up was Sunday, because everybody in my community goes to Mass, and we all see each other at Church. And then a lot of times there's, like, a lunch or a dinner after and we all get together and we have food and there's music, and we stay up late dancing, or, you know, eating and drinking. So day to day, I feel like it's just confined to my family and I, but weekends, specifically, Sundays, are a big community day. Mila Shull 3:58 How do you celebrate your heritage? Irene Robalino 4:02 Um, I think there's lots of ways that I celebrate my heritage. Mostly, I think just practicing a lot of like the things I'm used to that I grew up with. For instance, like cooking meals that my mom-Ecuadorian meals that my mom grew up with, like, learning, intentionally learning. I used to not really care about it when I was young, but like, now I've, like, kind of focused on learning, like, a lot of recipes and, like family recipes that I grew up eating. As well as, just like, you know, speaking Spanish, making sure I'm practicing the language with my parents or my friends or my siblings, and listening to music and just everything. I think just keeping up with everything that I grew up with, that I'm not really surrounded with anymore, is often. Kielyn Gatensby 5:05 What are some values that you hold most dear as a member of the Latin Caribbean community? Irene Robalino 5:11 I would say the value of family. I think family's huge in the Latin American, Caribbean, community, you know, there's a huge emphasis on, like, you know, taking care of every family member, like your grandparents, your cousins, your aunt, your uncle. Like, we're all very close-and every-there's so many gatherings that are just centered around, like, eating and just dancing and-and just being happy. And I think that's really important to me. Like, I love being surrounded by people, and I love just, like, it's weird to say, but like, I think, feel like food is such a big thing, and music, those are, like, the two main things, but because we just take that as an opportunity to, you know, get together with your all your family members, like, we see each other all the time, and, yeah, so I would say probably, like, the value of community and family are, like, the most important to me. Mila Shull 6:07 What would you like to share about yourself or your community that you think is important for people to know? Irene Robalino 6:13 Um, I think one thing at least, particularly about the Ecuadorian community, is that I think a lot of people don't know about our culture as much as maybe other Latin American cultures. I think I haven't met a lot of people that have tried our food, but I think it's one of the most delicious foods ever, and like cuisines, but that's just my opinion. And yeah, there's just, like, there's so many things to learn about us, and we have a, like, a great country with so many places to see. And I think people just don't hear about Ecuador as much as they hear about Colombia or maybe Mexico. And like, yeah, I think if anyone gets the opportunity to try our cuisine, it would be amazing. Kielyn Gatensby 7:00 That's actually a really good answer, because the next question is, what foods do you make that remind you of home, and where do you purchase your groceries to prepare your traditional meals? Irene Robalino 7:09 I love to talk about this. I can't make that many dishes, but my favorite that I've learned to make is the Ecuadorian ceviche. So it's like a, it's a cold, shrimp or fish soup, essentially. So it's like, just a combination of shrimp, and fish, and lime, and cilantro, and tomato, and you eat it with plant fried plantain chips. And it's different than like a Peruvian ceviche, or a Colombian or Mexican ceviche, and it's really good. Also, I think one of my favorites that I recently learned is the classic Quiteno dish. So like, from the city I'm from, Quito, and it's just like, like a pork with white corn and these, like potato cakes called Llapingachos and empanadas. And just like...anything with plantain is huge where I'm from, and one of my favorite things to make is fried plantain, or plantain dishes. And in terms of groceries...well, I feel like a lot of ingredients you can only find at Latin markets or Latin grocery stores, and thankfully, there is a lot in Ottawa, actually. So I go to one on Montreal road that's right by my house, and they have like, the white corn that you can only get in Latin America, and they have like, seasonings and plantains that are like green because you can't usually find, like, the fully green plantain at a regular grocery store sometimes, and they just have, like treats and like just random food items that are, like, very nostalgic to where I'm from, yeah. Mila Shull 8:59 How likely would you and your family be to use the website we are creating for uploading your stories, and how would you use it? Irene Robalino 9:20 I think my family would probably be likely to use it. I think I grew up with my parents telling me, like, a lot of stories from back home and, like, just like the historical context of my family in Ecuador and everything like that. And I mean, yeah, my dad's a huge storyteller, so I'm sure he would love the opportunity to just talk about his whole history and the culture, and he loves telling people that. So, I think my dad especially would really use a website like that. Kielyn Gatensby 9:55 Do you have any other comments, and/or concerns? Irene Robalino 10:00 Religion in Latin America is deeply ingrained into our culture. Most of Latin America is predominantly Catholic, and I think it plays a huge role in our culture and our community and the way we interact with each other, and how everything, like gatherings and get togethers revolve around religious holidays and that culture of religion. For instance, in...for Latinos in Latin America, all religious sacraments are huge moments and like milestones in a community and family. For instance, a baby's baptism, a first communion, or a Catholic wedding. Like, even though a lot of people aren't practicing Catholics, there is still a sense of connection to the religion, just because of how important it is to the culture, how many churches there are all over our countries and our cities, and how it's so important to see your family after Sunday Mass and to see people from your community at Mass like not everybody is practicing, but it is-does play a huge role in the culture and how we interact. Like, you know, Easter is huge, Christmas is huge. All these religious holidays are huge. And I feel like a lot of people feel a connection to the Catholic religion just because of the cultural aspect of it. And yeah, I think that I grew up with that. And, you know, I just feel that connection to it. Like, if I think of religion, my religion, I feel more connected to it just through the memories that I had growing up with my family, going to baptisms, going to weddings, going to celebrations, going to mass, and seeing my family. And, you know, you learn all these like songs that are like Christmas carols when you're young, and like the tradition that it's baby Jesus that brings your gifts on Christmas. And just those things are very like ingrained in us. And it's just like the same with food, and music, and religion. I feel like those are very big factors in the Latin American community that kind of all brings us together and creates like that sense of community. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data In person Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 11 minutes and 51 seconds Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Irene Robalino Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;"> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">This interview features Irene Robalino, a fourth-year student in the International Studies and Modern Language program at the University of Ottawa. She was born in Ecuador but grew up outside Toronto in a strong Latin American community of friends and family. Since moving to Ottawa, Irene has built a small Latin American community here and lives with three other Latin American roommates, two of whom have family connections to Colombia and one from Venezuela. In this interview, Irene discusses different ways she stays connected to her culture, such as speaking Spanish with family and friends, listening to Ecuadorian music and especially cooking. Irene wishes more people knew about Ecuador’s cultural dishes, especially since shared meals are a big part of not just Latin American culture but also family connection. Her favourite dish that she has recently learned to make is Ecuadorian Ceviche, a combination of shrimp, fish, lime, cilantro, and tomato, traditionally served with Plantain chips. Throughout our conversation, Irene emphasized childhood and community when celebrating her Ecuadorian culture and her heritage. She articulates this, stating,</div> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">“there's a huge emphasis on, like, you know, taking care of every family member [...] we're all very close-and every-there's so many gatherings that are just centered around, like, eating and just dancing and-and just being happy.” (Irene Robalino 5:11).</div> </div> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource February 28th, 2026 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3 File Language A language of the resource English https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/15cf9584193ac708541457edfb60cf01.mp3 8d9d494b6216e54a74371a511acd4211 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Ivana Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Linda;Iganze Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data In person Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Linda:  0:00 Hi, my name is Linda, and I am a student at the University of Ottawa in anthropology. I am doing an interview about the experience of Latin American and Caribbean communities in Ottawa. Your thoughts are important and will help us understand culture, migration, community. We just get to start by introducing yourself. Ivana: 0:27 Hi Linda, I'm Ivana. I am a Peruvian that came here to Canada at nine years old. Linda 0:34 I have a list of questions that I'm going to ask you. But you don't have to answer all the questions. Just answer the questions that you are comfortable with. And I would love to start with what brought you here in Ottawa. Ivana:  0:50 So I came to Ottawa because I was planning to study in the University of Ottawa. I studied communications and I decided I finally to stay because I was living in Montreal before. So then I, as I say, like I came here to study and ended up like choosing another career which is event management. So that's what I've been doing up to today. Linda: 1:22 Do you have a family here or do you see them frequently? Ivana: 1:27 Yes, I do have my mom and my dad here in Canada and I do see them frequently. We, me and my mom, we spend a lot of time going on little trips. Every two weekends we decide to go to little to other places like Manotec or maybe Cornwall or then go to Toronto. Sometimes go to Quebec and visit other places in Canada. Linda: 2:07 Thank you. Do you live in Latino neighborhood where people speak Spanish or Portuguese and celebrate various occasions? Ivana 2:18 I feel now I don't live in a Latin community. I surround myself by Latin people. Yes, but mostly they live in Ottawa. I live in Gatineau. So I do see myself with a lot of Latin people to go dancing, have meals together But it's more distant. I used to live, when I was living in Montreal longeuil I was surrounded, all my neighbors were Latinos. And as I just first arrived, those were my support, my first friends. But now it's really hard to get involved with the Latin community.I feel it is not easy as it was. Linda: Are there the celebrations that are most important to you? Ivana: 3:13 I feel. Well, can I say birthdays? Linda: 3:16 Yes, feel free to say what you want. Ivana: 3:19 I feel birthdays are very special because you get to celebrate the person who you love that is here another day with you. So I feel that's the most beautiful celebration you can have. But I do celebrate also as in my culture, I do still celebrate Christmas and New Year's and those are the celebrations that I do still celebrate. Linda: 3:50 So do you have like a specific way that you celebrate New Year, Christmas, based on your culture ? Ivana: Yeah. So Christmas, actually we do. For us, Christmas is like on, on the 24th that we celebrate. So we do, we do wait until midnight of the 24th and then we say Merry Christmas. Yes. And we eat at night.We, we eat at 12 after, after celebrating. Linda: 4:24 Is there any specific meal that you eat? Ivana: 4:27 We do a buffet actually. We try to make a huge like 3 turkey and then we can put like rice and salad and like, we try to gather as much like family as we can and also friends. We try to be in accompanying but by a lot of people that we love, we love to do that, you know. And New Year's for me it's. Well, yeah, in Peru when I go back there, you celebrate with family and friends, but that mostly New Year's is celebrated more with your friends. And over there they used to do this tradition where they put, they put a. Like not a person, but they put with, with clothes, they make it with clothes and they put like a balloon as a face, you know, and then they put like fireworks on it. And then they make it explode. Yeah, you see a bunch, a bunch of fireworks everywhere. But that's something I really miss because here you cannot really do fireworks. I've seen some fireworks though. But yeah, you're not allowed. It's just like in the parliament and that's it. Linda: 5:53 Can you describe a typical day in your community? Ivana: 5:58 Typical day in my community, I think mostly we do like to, when we go out, we just like to say hi to each other. But it's not just, just be polite here as in Canada over there. It's more like, hey, like they knock your door and they ask you for sugar, you know, that kind of stuff that you don't see here. And you can call a friend, just tell them, hey, like I want to hang out with you in like a few minutes I'll be at your house. And then you present yourself to their house and like nobody's gonna tell you, no, I'm busy, or they're just gonna accept you over there. So. Typical day. I think it's the same thing as here, you know. Yeah. In my country, the last time I visited, actually it was in December last year. I saw that Everybody works until 7:00, so that's like minimum. And they usually work until Saturday and like Sunday they rest. It depends. But mostly they work a lot compared to here. Here you have more like Saturday and Sunday and a little bit more free time at night, you know. So, yeah, It's different. Linda: 7:29 What are some values that you hold most dear as, like a member of a Latin community? Ivana: 7:37 So many values. I feel unity, the warmness, everybody. It feels beautiful. Like how you see the people supporting each other and enjoying life and having fun. I feel if we bring this to Canada, this would be amazing.Yeah, that's what I really love about Peru. It's like everybody is welcoming and they're really nice, but not nice. Hi, nice, but, you know, really nice. So, yeah, I. I really miss that. Ivana: 8:21 Every single time I go there, it's like, it's like a party. Even with your family, we do. I remember, like, for dia de la cancion creolla, we tended to just celebrate. It's like for us, it's like instead of like doing Halloween, we do like the day of the Creole song. I don't know, it's not cruel, but Creolia.everybody's dancing. Ivana: 8:48 I don't know how to say it, but anyways, yeah, so we did celebrate that and we put. Everybody's playing an instrument Linda: 8:58 Would you like to share something about yourself or your community that you think is important for people, like, for instance, me to know or other people to know? Ivana: 9:09 I think it's mostly what I said.We Peruvians tend to be very heartwarming and also very hard workers. You can see a lot of Peruvians succeed here because they want to put their best and do their best and always. We're always like supporting of each other. We're never gonna leave you outside the door. We're also.We're always going to be welcoming and we're also going to be really happy. Linda: 9:41 What food do you make that remind you of home and where do you purchase your groceries from? Ivana: 9:51 Okay, well, so this year I said to myself that I would make more perine food, which I'm really proud because it tastes really good. Yeah, so I've been doing aji de gallina, which something I love is with chicken. And it's like I'm using a lot of spices that I brought lately from Peru. Ivana: 10:17 It's because, like, the spices over there and the, like the hot they become, that it has flavor. That's what I like about that. So I like to add like different condiments so it has different tastes. And yeah, so I do that.I do like to cook. I like to cook. And yeah, like, I purchase my groceries in super, say, like Walmart,Loblaws. Ivana: 10:50 Like where. Wherever I find. But like, mostly if I want to Purchase, like, Peruvian food. You cannot find a lot, but you can find, like, some frozen fruits in Latin market. There's one in Gatineau.There's really small also. And it's. They have, like, some good stuff, like lucuma, which is, like, frozen fruits. They do have, like, ginka cola, which is like a pop drink, and they have frijoles and some spices. Ivana: 11:37 And. Yeah, you can cook a really good meal with that. It's not gonna taste the same, obviously, as if you have, like, all the ingredients that you were supposed to have in your country. Ivana: 11:51 Yeah. Back home. But, here, it brings me home just by doing something, you know, Like, I feel good, and I love bringing my people, my friends, like, home and just, like, making them taste like a part of my culture, a part of my country, it makes me happy. Linda: 12:12 Our last question. You know, like, there's a website that has been created, and these stories are going to be uploaded. So my question is, how likely would you or your family be to use the website? Ivana: 12:28 I think it would be a really nice way to represent everybody, and it'll be nice to see that there's more people like us and Latinos, and then we can, like, share our cultures. And I think, yes, we can. We can use it for that. Ivana: 12:50 And actually, there's a lot of, like, groups in. In Facebook where we post about, like, somebody that's making some food and, like, businesses and try to support each other, but there's no, like, special website for that. So I think that'll be a really nice idea if you can implement that to. Inside the website and. Yeah, it would be nice to see. Linda: 13:16 So we are at the end of our interview. Do you have any comment or concerns that you would like to share? Ivana: 13:26 I'm just very happy to have had the chance to do this because I feel having the word to express about my culture is very enriching and I'm grateful for this experience. So thank you so much. Linda: 13:42 Thank you. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Ivana by Linda Iganze Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-03-16 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3,13 min 43 s Language A language of the resource English Description An account of the resource Ivana is a self-assured Peruvian woman who has preserved her brilliant heritage after emigrating to Montreal, Canada, at the tender age of nine. She later moved to Ottawa to pursue higher studies before finally settling into a thriving career in event management while continually reaffirming the traditions and cultural practices that constitute her heritage. Ivana now resides in Gatineau but remains intimately connected to her heritage through family gatherings, cherished culinary traditions, and continuous community participation. https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/a849762adc3793441a752fcab45ecde2.mp3 e708133dfb8fd1f0d34831980d13dea7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Jaime Bustamante Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Alida Madinger; Emily Young; Katya Romanenko Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data In person Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Jaime: My name is Jaime Bustamante Salazar. I was born in Mexico, in the state of Sonora in the city of Hermosillo, May 3rd 1976. I moved to Mexico city when I was 18 years old and studied industrial engineering and also international commerce. After graduating, I started working for a Canadian company, which recently opened operations in Mexico and headquarters are in Ottawa. And after working for them for 3 years in Mexico, they offered me to come and work for them here in Canada. So I moved to Canada in June of 2005. Excellent month to move into Ottawa, and I've been living here since then. Katya; We are 3 students from the University of Ottawa, all are studying anthropology and we are here, interviewing Jaime: today for our Caribbean and Latin American anthropology class. So you talked a bit about your country of origin, what brought you here, and we just want to ask you: do you have any family here in Ottawa specifically, and do you keep contact with them? Do you see them frequently? Jaime; Yes, when I moved to Ottawa. I moved with my wife and 1 kid at the time that we had a second kid. Then got divorced in 2014, and got remarried 3 years later to another Mexican lady. Katya; As you mentioned earlier, we don't have any Mexican neighborhoods in Ottawa. Do you find yourself living in an area where there are other Mexicans or other Spanish speaking people? So People can celebrate various occasions with or meet up with? Jaime; I think Mexicans are scattered around Ottawa in different neighborhoods. There's no Latin neighborhood like other big cities such as Toronto or Montreal, or Vancouver. I don't see that in Ottawa. There are different grocery stores here and there where you can find Latin products and obviously Mexican products. I think a big part of my group of friends, most of them are from Latin America, either Mexico, Central America or South America. And we get together in different parts to do things together. But I don't see the Latin community here, unless there is an event by one of the embassies of the different countries, such as Mexico, Colombia or Peru, or which they organize now and then celebrating either they're independence day or something cultural. It's important for me, for example, Mexico, the day of the dead which, is something that you don't see anywhere else. As far as I know, every Latin community gets together and celebrates that as part of an event organized by either the consulates for the embassy of the country and yeah. Emily; Speaking of celebrations, what celebrations are most important to you? Jaime; Well, since I became Canadian. Obviously I celebrate Canadian holidays like Canada day, but if I’m talking about Mexican days that we celebrate or events it would be, dependence day, which is September 16 and day of the dead. Which is October 2nd and then there's one that its celebration that is done everywhere else in the world, but Mexico, which is the La Batalla de Puebla which is the biggest avocado sale in the history and in the year for Mexicans which is February 5th, sorry Cinco de Mayo. And it's a celebration, I don't know why it's so big everywhere else, especially in North America like the United States and Canada. In Mexico, not so much, and the reason why we celebrate that or I don't know why it is celebrated more everywhere else, then Mexico because it's been the only war or battle fought on Mexican soil where Mexico has defeated the country trying to invade Mexico, and that was against the French. Mind you that was only one battle we lost just like every other war we’ve been invaded by other countries, but in the end we maintain our country. Another one would be the revolution, which is November 20th. Not that big, but obviously the embassy and consulates of Mexico do celebrate and try to get people from Mexico. I did find this year there was a celebration by the Mexican embassy based on the state where I grew up, which was I mentioned earlier, which is Sonora. So they have a lot of people from sonora. They had booths with different food from my state and city and different regional dancers. It was cool seeing my hometown celebrated and my home state being celebrated Katya; I have a question based on that, how do celebrations here like Christmas, New Years compare? If you have anything similar? Jaime; Mexico is a big country, it is divided between three regions, the north, center and the south. We all speak different, with different accents, from the north, that from the center and from the south. And obviously because of the north being so close to the United states, we have adapted some of their celebrations. In a way that is, it's the same celebration, but instead celebrated the Mexican way it is celebrated in North America way, which is just like Christmas. Even Thanksgiving is celebrated in Mexico right now in the north part of Mexico. So even though it is, a completely different process of colonization and independence. From the north part of Mexico because of its closeness to the United states, we celebrate similar to what they celebrate in the center Mexico has its own traditions. Obviously it’s the most densely populated area of Mexico just between the center states. I would say, sixty to seventy percent of the population is located there and they've had their own traditions also in Mexico. In the center part of Mexico we celebrate Christmas. So you celebrate the three wise men coming on January 6, and the way we celebrate in central Mexico is the reverse. So the food we eat is completely different to, again, the northern part of Mexico, when we're celebrating similar holidays, just like Christmas, we have adapted the way they do in American cities, whereas in Mexico it's more traditional. Obviously we have the piñadas, we have la posadas, which is we organize parties to get together to celebrate religion, in a religious way. As well because of our big religion, specifically the Catholic religion that we have in Mexico, we also celebrate a lot of things based on the Virgin Mary, not just Jesus Christ. So December 12th is also a big celebration, because the day is la Virgen de Guadalupe. Alida; Can you describe a typical day in your community, or the differences? Jaime; Well, again, depending on where you live. I lived in the North part of Mexico. In the center of Mexico. I was an exchange student when I was fifteen years old and I went to study for a year in Columbus, Ohio. So I've learned the culture within North America of how they celebrate things and the day-to-day things. Especially Sonora, Baja california, Chihuahua and all those states. The weather is very warm, it's very hot because it's a desert, so sometimes temperatures can reach temperatures of above forty degrees Celsius. You wake up early, you work most of the morning, then you quit around one or two and you take the siesta or a nap then you sleep for a little bit and you wake up until 5, because then by then the sun passed so the temperature has dropped, and we don't sit with sombrero right below a saguaro, we don't do that now. That was back many years. That's an enormous part of Mexico. However, Center of Mexico, the weather's so nice all the time. You don't have those inconveniences. A typical day in Mexico City, working hours would be from 9 in the morning till 8 o'clock the night 9 in the morning until 8 o'clock. Not in Mexico, like in the center part of Mexico you are expected to work, not regular hours you are not paid by the hour you are paid salary. So it's different, and you leave until you finish tasks or work you have to do. Traffic wise, Mexico city it's one of the most dense populations in the world. So traffic takes a long time to get from one point to the other. So in my case, when I used to work in Mexico city, it would take me an hour and a half to get from my house to work. Another hour and a half from work to the house, back to the house, so you lose three hours of your day, which is just driving straight, and you're actually not that far. I was only about ten to twelve km away from my home to the actual place alone because the traffic was bad. And to be honest, about the south of Mexico, where you see a lot more, not the Aztecs side of Mexico. More of the Mayans, which have all the pyramids like all that of the forest, the beautiful Caribbean sea and stuff like that is a different lifestyle completely compared to the center of Mexico and the North of Mexico. My day-to-day here’s pretty awesome. Get here at eight thirty am and I'm only half an hour away from work, although I'm almost 20 kilometres away. You have your one hour lunch twelve to one and then you're off at five. and there's no real expectations. Particularly, in my job, there's no expectation of you staying, extra hours unless it is completely necessary, working on a project or something that you need to deliver in the following day. Then yeah, of course, but you're not expected to do more than what you have to do during today. I think it's more laid back here in Canada. Compared to the pressure that you may feel working in Latin America. In countries, specifically Mexico, because that's my experience. I don't think it's much different South of Mexico. I think, is very similar to the stories I've heard from my friends. Emily; How do you celebrate your heritage? Jaime; Well, now that I live here, mostly when there's an event organised by the embassy celebrating some kind of holiday or festive day for Mexico. In terms of me doing specifically things that I would normally do, I would go back to Mexico or where I was born. I think more would have to do more with cooking. There's always tortillas at my house. There's always avocados in my house. You know, there are certain things like spicy sauces, like real spice. Another 1 you find here at the grocery store. Like I try to make my own and bring my own spices and chillies from Mexico to make my own salsas and stuff like any of those, even when they say spicy here, maybe that vietnamese cuisine. Similar to some Indians but it's not the same spice, and I think that's a way of celebrating or just keeping in touch with that part of your world back then. Because other than that, once you're here you’ll rarely find anything like on the tv or anywhere else where they would be doing anything. That has to do with where you came from, especially Mexico. I don't know, for other cultures it's different, but in terms of Mexico unless the embassy or consulate is doing some kind of celebration and we get together with other people that go and celebrate that. I think at home it would have to be celebrating my heritage and has to do more with that cooking. The grocery part. Emily; What are some values that you hold most dear as a member of the Latino American community? Jaime; Specifically in my case I would say the family values. I grew up in a religious, I wouldn't say strict, but I would say yeah, religious and strong sense of respect for other people, like my elders. Yeah, I tried to convey that to my daughters to always be like that. Always say, please, thank you. Respect other people, especially those older than you. Make sure that at least you eat together once a day, whether it's during breakfast time or dinner. You know, have that time to spend with the family. I find this more strict. I was raised more strictly as it's also, my friends and other cousins and my brother and we were all raised very strict. You don't raise your voice to your parents, you listen when the first instruction they give you is not, it's not I will do it later that doesn't work. It's only one time, and you do it specific, like at that moment, otherwise you would have been in trouble. That kind of culture and I believe that's how my parents were raised too, so I'd see the same with like. I still keep in touch with all my friends from Mexico and I think they're the way they were raised. It's pretty similar to mine. We all have very similar backgrounds and values and habits. Alida; What would you like to share about yourself or your community that you think is important for people in Canada or just whoever is going to look at this website to know? Jaime; About me, I'm a very adaptable person, because of the way I was raised and the fact that I was able to leave the house from an early age. I was fifteen like I mentioned. I went to study for one year as an exchange student. I lived with people that I never met that I didn't speak the language. Which one hundred percent, even though I spoke English a little because of the closeness of my hometown in the United states. Yeah, we used to go there when I was little and it was a very common school to teach English, but that opened the door for me. To always think about adapting to whatever environment you're in. I think that helped me a lot while I was there in Ohio for a year. Then when I came back, I came with a different view, whereas I wanted to work and go to school at the same time then. As soon as they finished high school I wanted to leave the house, so I went to Mexico city to live on my own. I only had one cousin living there, no family, no friends and I started from scratch there. Went to school, made friends and the first opportunity I had to move. I consider myself very lucky. That ended after finishing university working for a Canadian company, and so when I got the job offer after three years of working. The first thing I thought was yeah, I don't have a problem adapting to Canada. I lived in the United states. Yeah, it's already, won't be that different, but it is anyway, especially the weather. That's something that there's a lot of meanings. There's a lot of videos, when Latin Americans and other cultures shoveling snow, a snowplow passes and you have to continue. You know what you thought you would do. Those kinds of things I think we all share as immigrants. But I think rather than complain, I see it as a fun exercise because there's nothing you can do about it. It's gonna happen, so you might as well go through it, and I adapted very well to the society here in Canada. Diversity here, that I've seen since I arrived in 2015, inclusiveness. I think most of the Latin community here, especially Mexicans. I don't know other cultures again but I think in terms of Mexicans were pretty adaptable to migrate to other places and adapt. Alida; Back to the food traditions the question is, what food do you like? Remind yourself from Mexico and like the tradition of that kind of preparation in the groceries you pick and if it's harder to find spices, specific things in grocery stores that you wouldn't see, but there would be in Mexico? Jaime; So I'm mostly fine with everything I need, the different grocery stores here, some have things that others don't have and when I don't find what I try to go to those Latin small grocery stores. Yeah, around Ottawa there's one in the east, another one, very close here, Mirabell. So in terms of what I look like well cooking Mexican food, I think it's very easy, because all you need is corn tortillas, corn or flour tortilla. And you can make a lot of things. So from a simple quesadilla, to a taco with different things that you can put on it, but it's mostly based on tortillas. Everything has in one way or another, you're using the tortilla to push the food into your fork. So there's a lot of chiles from Mexico that you can find here, the jalapeno or serrano. Mexico when you are grocery buying for them. Terms of fruits, I would say papaya, another fruit that it's normally typically either from central America or Mexico that you find here. Mangos, avocados, obviously those things that are there most of the time, especially avocados. It is always in my house, so you make the guacamole. Not the typical guacamole you find here in any restaurant we make it a little bit different. So the cilantro, I don't remember what's called english, but that's another spicy spice that you put on most of the mexican cuisine.One thing that I do buy that I don't find here are saber powder backs that have different flavors like, for example, pineapple, orange or chop bow or miko Tamaqua, hibiscus. Those kinds of things that you won't find here. Liquor too, you can find those Mexican liquors here in Canada. Not all of them, some are very specific to Mexico. As a Mexican, you start drinking, you develop certain tastes for certain and sometimes those brands that they sell there for different liquors. You don’t find them here. Alida; How likely would you or your family or whoever you want to show this work be to use the website that we are creating for uploading your stories, and how would you use it and like, would you suggest anything to make sure that, like we tell your story the way that you want to be told. Jaime; My daughters will see it and don't forget where they are from, even though my second child was born here. Her real culture, I think, is given by parents. Was raised in an American house or Mexican house in a Latin way, and so I think for them not to forget where they came from. Some of the things because they take it for granted. They don't ask the question, they just like if i'm cooking, they don’t experience that process of knowing. This brings me back to memories. So hopefully this kind of interview will help them remember their background. My wife always gets excited when I get an interview. I kind of like it because of the job that I do, the work that I do. I do give a lot of presentations, conferences and interviews. I'm invited to the podcast, I don't do podcasts. Alida; Any comments or concerns that you want to just ask us or anything? Jaime; No, I don't have any concerns at all. I think it’s good to be reminded where you are from where you are from and relive those moments when you talk about them. I do wish there was a Latin American community, or neighborhoods more identifiable that would be one thing I think a lot of culture have their own and specifically in Ottawa we are missing that part even though we do get together. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Jaime Bustamante Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-02-25 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 24 min 32 s Language A language of the resource English Description An account of the resource Jaime Bustamante Salazar was born in Sonora, Mexico on March 3rd, 1976. He lived with his family until age fifteen, when he got an opportunity to go abroad as an exchange student in Columbus, Ohio, for a year. When he turned eighteen, Jaime moved to Mexico City, where he studied Industrial Engineering and International Commerce. Following University, he went on to work in Mexico City for a Canadian company that had recently started to operate there. After working for them for 3 years, the company offered him a position in Ottawa. Jaime moved to Ottawa in June of 2005 and has been here ever since. Jaime also celebrates his heritage by cooking, spending time with family, and sharing values such as respect for others, especially elders. Jaime strives to never forget his history and culture. https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/d60352c40360d9d96b87b63e984bdd7a.mp3 6032d1e78cebd9c024389ad3dcdf82a1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Jonathan Griffith Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Noha Kandar: Ganaaboute Gagne: Rana Babiker Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data In person Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Ganaaboute 0:01 Good afternoon or good whatever time of day you're joining us at. My name is Ganaaboute Gagne, and I'm a fourth year student at the University of Ottawa. Today, some colleagues and I are going to be doing an anthropology interview. Hello. Noha 0:14 My name is Noha Kandar, and I'm a fifth year student at the University of Ottawa. Rana 0:18 I'm Rana and I'm also a fourth year student at the University of Ottawa. Today we're going to be interviewing Jonathan who is going to be introducing himself Jonathan 0:28 Hi, my name is Jonathan Griffith. I'm a second year student at the University of Ottawa, and I'm in the nursing program. Rana 0:34 And what is your country of origin? Jonathan 0:38 I'm from Barbados. Noha 0:42 So what brought you to Ottawa? Jonathan 0:45 I came to Ottawa when I was eight years old with my family, so my mom, my dad, my older brother and my younger sister, and we came because my mother had been posted to Ottawa as a diplomat for Barbados. Rana 0:57 And do you have any other family here? And do you see them frequently? Jonathan G 1:01 No, I don't have any other family in Ottawa or Canada, and I see my family in Barbados every few years. Rana 1:09 So then, do you like live in a Caribbean community or neighborhood? Jonathan 1:15 I wouldn't say so, no, Ganaaboute 1:19 Do you or your family speak any Caribbean dialects or languages that you'd like to share with us today? Jonathan 1:26 Yeah, so my father and my mother both speak Bajan dialect fluently. That's the dialect we have in Barbados. It's just a it's a mix of English and whatever the African languages that the slaves spoke, I guess, mixed with the British English. And me and my brother and sister, we all speak it. We just choose not to, because it doesn't sound very nice with a Canadian accent. Ganaaboute 1:51 I mean, that sounds really interesting. And I want to ask, are there any like community spaces where you do find yourself speaking it while living here in Ottawa? Jonathan 2:00 Yeah, when I go to, like the Barbadian functions and stuff, I'll speak more of it, but, you know, very little bit, just whatever people will allow me to speak without clowning me. Ganaaboute 2:10 Of course, of course. And you mentioned yourself, there community celebrations and occasions. What sort of celebrations are most important to you and your family, especially being removed from the country. Jonathan 2:24 I would say independent celebrations, because that's when they get all of the bar medians living in Ottawa together. So we just have a big ceremony, and there's food, music, activities, and yeah, so I would say that's the most important. Ganaaboute 2:37 Well, I'll be really curious to hear a little bit more about that food a little later in the interview, but sticking to the community theme. Could you describe a typical day in your community if you feel like there's anything different or a lack thereof that you want to share? Jonathan 2:54 I don't think there's anything too different on a daily basis in my community, my community in Ottawa, or back in Barbados? Ganaaboute 2:59 you could share about both, that would be great Jonathan G 3:04 I would say it's very much the same as regular Canadians. Ganaaboute 3:10 So if a typical day looks pretty similar to other Canadians, how do you find yourself celebrating and remembering your heritage as you go through your life? Jonathan 3:21 I wouldn't say that there's a straightforward way that I celebrate my community here in Ottawa, because there's not a very large Barbadian community here, or at least not a large Barbadian community of people around my age. So I would say that I mostly try to just promote Barbados as much as possible. You know, I like to talk about it a lot back at school, whenever we would have any type of culture days or things where we got to, you know, choose a specific topic, or we had to bring in food for whatever reason, I would always talk about our readers. I would bring in food from our readers. We would have black history assemblies that we get to talk about Barbados there too. So yeah, so that's just what I like to do. Ganaaboute 4:05 That is great. And now this next question, it might be a different answer for both the Caribbean community back home for you, and your own experience living here in Ottawa. But what are some of the values or beliefs, things like that that you hold most dear, and that you think your community holds most dear. Jonathan 4:26 So back in Barbados, there's a very high expectation of education and just respect and honesty. I would say that's like the foundation of the country. And those are things that I believe are important to be like a productive member of society. And those are like values I try to live by so and values that my parents want me to live by, which is why, like, I've always had like, such a high push on education my whole life, and just respect, respecting others, elders, the environment, all of that. Barbados is also very like, environmentally friendly, because we are an island, and climate change affects islands in particular, like, harsher than a lot of other places. So yeah, environmental sustainability is important to me because of that, um, and then just respecting everyone. Ganaaboute 5:19 Well, thank you for that answer. That was great. I'm going to pass the microphone over to my colleague, Noha now for some more questions. Noha K 5:27 All right, so what would you like to share about yourself or your community that you think is important for people to know? Jonathan 5:34 That's a hard question. Let me think. Take your time. No problem. Okay, yeah, so something that I think is important for people to know is that just because Islands are a part of the category Caribbean, they're not the same at all, and oftentimes they're very, very different. I think people have a tendency to group them together, but a large difference is that many of the countries in the Caribbean were colonized by different countries. So some were colonized by brands, some were colonized by Spain and some were colonized by England, which is why some speak Spanish, some speak French and some speak English. Barbados is one of the ones that was colonized by England, and when you have islands that were colonized by England, sometimes have accents or words that are this, that are similar or sound the same have similar meaning. But for Barbados in particular, our accent is usually thought of as very different from the rest of the English speaking Caribbean islands, because Barbadians were taught how to speak English while the original African slaves were taught how to speak English by the Irish indentured servants that were living in Barbados at the time. So the Barbadian accent is usually thought to sound very Irish to people who don't speak it. So that's one of the ways that the islands are different. One of the other one is food. So in Canada, like you could go to like any restaurant, and it'll be labeled like a Caribbean restaurant, but most likely it's going to be a Jamaican or a Haitian restaurant, and that's because, like, there's not the population of the other Caribbean countries isn't too big in Ottawa, specifically, except for Haiti and Jamaica but the food that Jamaicans eat is usually not the food that we would eat in Barbados. There's some similarities, but overall, like their core meals that are thought of like their island dishes aren't really things that we would eat in Barbados as like our we would eat them, but they aren't like our Island's core meals. So that's another thing that I would say people often lump us in together with and our culture is also very different from the other Caribbean islands. Barbados is one of the more conservative, more religious islands, and I would say some of the islands, they're a bit more like free they the music is different, a little more vulgar. They have more freedom when it comes to like substances. Barbados is, like, pretty big on drinking, but everything else is a big no. Jamaica would be more into like cannabis use. But overall, I would say Barbados is a very conservative Island compared to the others. Noha 8:23 Yeah. Okay, great. I didn't know a lot of that actually, but you did mention food. So I'd like to circle back to that. What foods do you make that remind you of home, and where do you purchase your grocery, your your groceries and things to prepare your traditional meals? Jonathan 8:41 So there are some Caribbean stores in Ottawa where you can buy groceries that are that are for making specific Caribbean foods. There's one right next to South keys. It's called Savannah. That's mainly where I will go. There's also another one in elmville, but usually the foods that I would make from my culture at home, there's breakfast foods and then there's lunch foods that I like to make. One of the breakfast foods is called bakes. And it's kind of like it's a it's a dough that you make, kind of from flour baking powder and just some cinnamon and nutmeg and sugar, and then you fry it surprisingly instead of baking it. And they're called bakes, and you'll just eat that as like a little snack or a breakfast type meal. Then the other one I mainly like to make is macaroni pie. It's a bit similar to mac and cheese, but it's just assembled differently, and then the cooking is different. So you you get long macaroni instead of the elbow macaroni, so it's long, hollow, like tubes. And then you would boil that, and then you would put some cheese and some milk and egg, and then spices and ketchup and mustard and. And then you would put that in addition, you would bake that. That's my favorite food from arbitus, so I like to make that a lot. Noha 10:06 Would you say that it's easy to find the supplies that you need to make these things? Jonathan 10:11 The long macaroni was actually the thing that took me the longest to find, which was really upsetting, because it was, it is my favorite food from arbitus, but I I wasn't looking for the right name. Just call it macaroni and Barbados. And here it's labeled as Bucha tiny. So when I finally found that, other than that, yeah, it was. It's pretty easy to find the ingredients. Noha 10:33 Okay, well, thank you for sharing that and moving on a little bit. How likely would you and your family be to using the website that we're preparing where we're creating and uploading stories from Latin and Caribbean communities. Jonathan 10:49 I think it could be interesting. Could you tell me a little more? Yeah, sure. Noha 10:53 So we're using a site called Omeka, and pretty much, we're just interviewing people of different Latin and Caribbean backgrounds, and kind of compiling the data into that website so that it's easily accessible, so that people can learn more about Latin and Caribbean communities in Canada, what it's like coming from those countries to Canada, and like the sort of barriers that they face and those things. So it's more like educational than anything, but you could find people from your community and build communities that way as well. So it's kind of got more than one purpose. But yeah, well, then Jonathan 11:34 definitely it sounds interesting. Yeah, my parents would enjoy that. Noha 11:38 All right. Speaking of the website, is there anything that you would like to see added onto there? Jonathan 11:46 Yeah, maybe, um, some maps about different Caribbean stores in Ottawa, or maybe some resources for where I could connect to other Latin or Caribbean folks in Ottawa around my age. Ganaaboute 12:00 Well, thank you, Jonathan, so much for everything you've shared with us today in the interview so far. Before we wrap up, I wanted to ask one more sort of open ended question, so feel free to share as much as you want or as little as you want. The floor is entirely yours. But I was curious, did you experience any big culture shocks coming to Canada, like, what's, what's the biggest difference that's really stuck with you or affected you? Jonathan 12:28 I would have to say it would be coming from a building that was like 90 to 95% black to moving to Ottawa and then going straight to a almost 100% white private school. And from that moment on, as soon as I came here, like suddenly I was aware of what it meant to be black and growing up in Barbados, like we knew, we knew we were black, but it just was not something that was it wasn't something that was a topic of conversation. It was just, it was just life. It was normal. It was nothing that we thought about to coming here and then suddenly realizing like that that defined me in a way that it had never before, and then having to navigate, like, still being like a Barbadian, and then suddenly, like being thrust into this environment, like, where no one was like me. People didn't understand when I talked. They made fun of my accent, and then having to, like, change the way I spoke so people could understand me. And then one of the things that I really regret to this day is just how much of my like, accent and language is gone because of the fact that, like, I purposely stopped speaking like in my dialect, or speaking like with a Bayesian accent, because I wanted people to understand me, or because people would make fun of me. And, like, now that I'm older and like, that doesn't matter to me anymore. Like, I wish I still had that aspect of my culture. Ganaaboute 14:01 And I actually do want to cap some of one final question, because you've said some very interesting, deep and serious things in there. If you could give a message to your younger self when you came here, Does anything come to mind that you wish you could tell that? Tell that boy, Jonathan 14:18 yeah, if I could go back, I would tell myself to hold on to my culture, because years from now, when you're going through an identity crisis or realizing that you don't relate to any of your extended family anymore, you're going to wish that you had held on to the parts of yourself that were truest. Ganaaboute 14:37 Thank you so much for that. I appreciate the vulnerability and I respect you for everything you've said to us today. And on that note, I think that actually concludes our interview for today. So on behalf of the three of us, I thank you again, Jonathan for taking the time out of your busy schedule, and we'll make sure to send you the appropriate links so that you can access this on Omeka one. It gets published later next month. Thank you again, and I hope everyone listening has a great rest of their day. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Jonathan Griffith Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-03-25 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 15 min 7 s Language A language of the resource English Description An account of the resource Jonathan Griffth is a twenty-year-old second-year Nursing student at the University of Ottawa. Jon is originally from Barbados. He came to Canada in 2013 with his parents and siblings. His mother was posted to Ottawa as a Diplomat. Jon was eight when he moved to Ottawa, so most of his life was spent in Canada. However, Jon made it a point to honour his country while living in Canada. He discussed that when he was in high school, and there were culture days or black history assemblies, he would ensure that his heritage was honoured, whether through food or general facts regarding Barbados. Although not mentioned within the podcast, Jon also told us that he wears a Barbados Flag Pin at his place of employment to honour his hometown. Near the end of the interview, Jonathan also takes a few minutes to reflect on his experience and offer any valuable advice. https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/afd3081a741ec6e8e250d41a7c552c5e.mp3 52ae581cd616670ca68a83b55a1bdf8c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Kevin Dong, Julie Hajjar, Tristan Ouellet, Tomas Kroeger, Ralph Mbanzabugabo Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Mr. Garcia Location The location of the interview Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound KEVIN (0:00): Hello, my name is Kevin and joining me today for this interview are Julie, Ralph, Thomas and Tristan and we're all very excited to do this interview with you and get to know a little bit about yourself and kind of your experiences as a Latin American living in Ottawa and thank you for being here and taking time out of your day especially on such short notice.  Mr. GARCIA (0:21): No, no, that's okay.  KEVIN (0:25): Yeah, to start off, what is your country of origin?  Mr. GARCIA (0:33): Country-wise or ethnicity? KEVIN (0:35): I guess where you were born, like country of origin. Mr. GARCIA (0:38): Well, I was born in El Salvador. Okay. That's in Central America. KEVIN (0:46): Yeah. Next question, what brought you to Ottawa?  Mr. GARCIA (0:51): Well, at the time when I moved to Canada was because our country was at war so we had to flee the country.  KEVIN (1:06): And do you have family here and do you see them frequently?  Mr. GARCIA (1:13): Yes, my mom lives here. I see my mom almost every day. I have a son too, that he lives here. Actually, he doesn't live with me. We are divorced so but I can see him anytime we desire. It's not a problem with that.  KEVIN (1:40): And for my last question, do you live in a Latin community or neighborhood where people speak Spanish or Portuguese and celebrate various occasions?  Mr. GARCIA (1:53): Not really because like Ottawa has grown a lot. Before, when I got to Ottawa, yes. Now, I don't. I live in a different environment. It's more multicultural. Basically, I live in a French-Franco-Ontarian neighborhood.  KEVIN (2:20): Yeah.That's all the questions I have. TRISTAN (2:24): All right. So, hello. I'm going to be continuing with the next three questions. So, you mentioned the community that you live in. Would you be able to describe just like a typical day in your community? Is there anything special about it? Mr. GARCIA (2:38): Not really. I believe it's just like any other community. When people wake up, they have to go to work. There are lots of kids because they have to go to school. Construction, renovations, just a typical daily day, I believe. TRISTAN (3:00): Okay. So, off of that, are you able to describe, if you do at least, any ways that you celebrate or kind of maintain your cultural heritage throughout your daily life? Mr. GARCIA (3:15): Daily life? TRISTAN (3:16): Yeah. Mr. GARCIA (3:17): Well, basically, we try food-wise. We try to eat more of our Latin communities' meals, especially from El Salvador, like rice, beans, and specialty food. Because now, with technology, you're allowed to watch channels from other countries. So, you can just download or get an application that will allow you to see the channels of your country. That is a big difference, especially for elderly people that don't get acquainted with the language. So, yeah. TRISTAN (4:04): So, with food, also, is that the only kind of tradition, or are there holidays or other traditions that are kind of more meaningful to you?  Mr. GARCIA (4:20): As a Latin community or directly based on my country? TRISTAN (4:25): Both as a person and as a community, I guess.  Mr. GARCIA (4:29): Well, here in Ottawa, we celebrate the Latin community with the Latin Festival in September, in which all the Latin communities participate. Okay. And there is a very different environment because you get to know different communities from all around Latin America. And you see the diversity that is in Ottawa, a thing that you don't see on a regular basis now. And the Government of Canada declared the month of October, I believe, the month of the Latin heritage. So, all the month of October is being celebrated the Latin American heritage here in Canada.  TRISTAN (5:19): Awesome. Thank you very much. Those are the questions that I had. Mr. GARCIA (5:22): No problem.  JULIE (5:24): All right. So, I'll go ahead and pick up off there. So, I just wanted to ask, as a member of the Latin Caribbean community, what values are most important to you?  Mr. GARCIA (5:38): From the point of view of the Latino community or personal ones?  JULIE (5:45): You can do both.  Mr. GARCIA (5:45):  Okay. Personal ones are the ones that we try to merge in the Canadian society, learn as much as we can to be part of the Canadian society, independently in which area you are. Because here in Canada, you have, or in Ottawa, I must say, you have the French Canadian heritage area where most of the people speak French, like Quebec province and things like that. So, it all depends where you are. We try to merge in that environment so we can learn why and where and things that we can do to be part and help the community and be helpful for society, ourselves. And that teaches us to grow as a Latino community here in Canada. That's one of the things that I see. Personally, I try to keep myself merging in not forgetting my roots, even though I'm in Canada. I'm part of the Canadian society now. Now, I have learned a lot about the Canadian society. What's the French? What's the English side? Why is it so important for the French constitution when they say that this is a country that is bilingual? When in certain parts of Canada, that bilingualism doesn't apply. I don't know if I understand myself when I say that.  JULIE (7:47): I understand. Mr. GARCIA (7:50): Okay. So, that's one of the things that I personally try to understand. Since I would love to learn French, but sometimes things of life doesn't give you the time or the laziness of me doesn't let me do it. But yeah, it's nice to know all that and where are the roots of Canadian society. All like that.  JULIE (8:20): Yeah, of course. And then my next question kind of branches off that as well. It's just, what would you like people to better understand about yourself or your community?  Mr. Garcia (8:36): About the Latin community, it's very interesting because when I said the French Canadians and I said the English-speaking peoples, French Canadians are more not friendly, but they want to know more about other cultures. The English Canadians, they are very reserved. They want their space. So, even though they are opening more because the multiculturalism in Canada is so big across the country and the majority of immigrants who speak Spanish, we are in this English-speaking section, not in Quebec. But even then, you can see the difference between the communities. But in the last 10 years, I believe there is more opening from the community, from the Canadian society in the way of how they see the Latin American peoples. They are starting to understand the reasons why we came here. Some came for work, other ones came because their life was at risk in our countries, so we had to flee. So, there are different environments now. And that's one of the things that make us, sometimes we deal with those demons when we come here, and we confront a different society, different way of seeing life, from the point of view of how we see it and why we came to this country. So, I would like them to understand that even though we have years of living here, we have to deal with those problems that we carry on because of why we are here. JULIE (10:58): Perfect, that was amazing. I'll go ahead and pass it on to the next person.  RALPH (11:03): Hi George, my name is Ralph and I'll be picking up from where Judy left. Mr. GARCIA (11:07): Okay Ralph, nice to meet you.  RALPH (11:08): Nice to meet you. So, just like yourself, I also migrated here with my family about 10 years ago. And one of the things I like the most about back home is the food. So, my question for you is, what foods do you make that remind you of home and where do you purchase the groceries to prepare the meals? Mr. GARCIA (11:34): Like I said before, there is rice, beans, we prepare it in different ways. There is the specialty food like pupusas, tamales, and cow tongue, other kind of food that we do. And you couldn't find them before. 10-15 years ago, you couldn't find them at the store. Now, like I said to Julie, now that societies, Canadian society and a lot of immigrants here are seeing that there is a market for it. Now, we start to find all that kind of food in different stores, like Chinese store, Indian stores. There is some Latin stores now opening in Ottawa and across Canada. So, the market is getting bigger because they see there is a market for it. And that's where we get our stuff. Like we try to keep, in the daily basis, we try to keep our food just reminding us our roots. And don't take me wrong, it doesn't mean that we don't eat Canadian food or American food. We always do that. But it's a thing that we try to keep our meals back to our roots.  RALPH (13:03): Yeah, thank you very much for your answer. Mr. GARCIA (13:05): Okay.  RALPH (13:07): I'll pass it to my teammate. TOMAS (13:11): Hi, so I'm Tomas and I'd like to ask you a question about the interview transcript. So, if you consent to it, the interview will be uploaded. The transcript for the interview will be uploaded to an online database where people can look through it and read it. And what I wanted to ask is, how likely would you or people you know, be to use such a database and read through the stories that are uploaded there?  Mr. GARCIA (13:44): Well, if you make it to the public and you publish in your Ottawa U website that these studies are being done, and people like from El Salvador, United States, or any other parts of the world are allowed to go and see how the specifically, let's say, Latin community is developing here in Canada, and how we feel and how we are grateful of this nation to give us the chance to keep living, finding a better life like we're going to have in our countries. I think so it's a good work that you guys are doing, because it helps not just Canadians, but other countries to realize that maybe mistakes or maybe mistakes that we as an immigrants did when we came to this country. The way we see society, the way we mentality that we took with us here, now make us a life. So, that especially right now with the world that we are having all across the world, you know, so for these refugees, that will make a difference in making decisions of how they can prepare better and try to realize that there is big difference when you come to a country that when you don't speak the language, you know. So, that's a very helpful tool as long people know how to use it.  TOMAS (15:39): Yeah, okay. Thank you. That's very helpful. Yeah, it is publicly accessible. I think you asked that near the beginning of your answer, but so as a final just note, do you have any other comments or concerns or something you'd like to talk about?  Mr. GARCIA (15:54): Well, basically, I just would like to say thanks to the team that put all this together and you guys that are doing it. So, I don't know if I will be more helpful to you like later on with more other questions or that will be the end or how this is going to proceed. So, I'm here to try to help you and I really appreciate what you're doing and if I can help you with anything, answering more questions, I'm here to do that.  TOMAS and JULIE (16:35): Okay, thank you so much. Mr. GARCIA (16:37): No problem.  KEVIN (16:40): Thank you. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data On Zoom Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Jorge Garcia Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">This interview shared the story of Jorge Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant living in Canada. Jorge immigrated to Canada after fleeing the Civil War in El Salvador. Throughout this interview, he reflects on memories from his move to Ottawa, the ways he has seen the city transform, his broader experience engaging with Canadian culture as a Latin American man, and how he stays connected to his Salvadoran culture. <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Upon his arrival in Canada, Jorge stated that he prioritized learning about and integrating into Canadian society. He noted that the longer he’s lived in Canada, the more he's come to understand its diversity, particularly between anglophone and francophone communities. Jorge speaks of his efforts to assimilate into Canadian society while not forgetting his roots, and discusses his perspective on Canada’s bilingualism and questions he has had about French culture in Canada, stating,</div> </div> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">“Personally, I try to keep myself merging in not forgetting my roots, even though I'm in Canada. I'm part of the Canadian society now. Now, I have learned a lot about the Canadian society. What's the French? What's the English side? Why is it so important for the French constitution when they say that this is a country that is bilingual? When in certain parts of Canada, that bilingualism doesn't apply.” </div> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Jorge considers his efforts to connect with and learn about the different communities in Canada to sit at the core of his belief system, and described how, as someone living in a predominantly French neighbourhood, he’s enjoyed getting the chance to learn about French Canadian culture and their language. Building on this, Jorge describes how he feels it is his responsibility and pleasure to work towards improving and contributing to Canadian society as a Canadian; his goal is to be there to support not only the Latin American communities in Canada but society at large. Jorge celebrates his Salvadoran roots through maintaining connections to family.  He also prepares and eats Salvadoran food, including rice and bean dishes, and ‘specialty foods' like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupusa">pupusas</a>, tamales, and cow tongue. Jorge explains that in previous decades it was hard to find ingredients for such dishes, but as Canada’s Latin American community grows, so does the market for such foods, and supply has risen to meet demand. Another means with which he maintains his connection to his culture is through Latin American mass media, such as television, which is now accessible online. Jorge attends festivals and cultural events, such as the Latin American community festival in September, and he proudly notes that October is Canada’s designated Latin American Heritage Month. Finally, Jorge concluded our interview, stating that many Latin American immigrants arrive in Canada after being forced to flee their home countries because of traumatic events such as warfare. He articulates this, stating, “Sometimes we deal with those demons when we come here, and we confront a different society.”  With this knowledge, Jorge hopes that his story, as well as those preserved on Anthroharvest, will provide insight and education to Canadians, Latin American immigrants, and those considering immigrating to Canada, helping them adapt to life in Canada.</div> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 9, 2026 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 16 min 40s Language A language of the resource English https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/552dad6bde536c293a59d82c3aa8f7f2.mp3 f8404a332e6786751201c848ebde5919 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Juan Pablo Higuera Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Charlotte Roy; Juliana Higuera; Deian Assadi Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data On Zoom Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound The following interview was conducted by Charlotte Roy, Juliana Higuera, and Deian Assadi. The interview participant, Juan Pablo, is Juliana’s father and is originally from Colombia. Charlotte [13:36:20]: Okay, so I'll just give a very brief introduction to the study. I'm sure Juli said that you had read the consent form. Charlotte [13:36:29]: I'm just going to go over the purpose of the study super quickly. Juan Pablo [13:36:29]: Yes. Charlotte [13:36:33]: So the study has three different goals. The first one was to teach us students ethnographic interviewing skills. Charlotte [13:36:41]: The second one was to learn about the cultural vibrancy of the Latin and Caribbean people here in Ottawa. Charlotte [13:36:48]: And the third one was to create an archive for the Latin American and Caribbean community so they can access it as a tool. Charlotte [13:36:56]: For keeping their cultures alive. So the interview itself has 12 questions and we'll each take our turns asking you four questions. Charlotte [13:37:05]: And so on. And really quickly, before we begin, did you have any questions at all about the interview? Juan Pablo [13:37:13]: Well, everything is okay. If you can hear me, perfect. It's okay, better. So I'm ready. Charlotte [13:37:19]: Okay, perfect. So I'll start with the first one. What is your country of origin? Juan Pablo [13:37:27]: Colombia in South America. Charlotte [13:37:30]: Perfect. And what brought you to Ottawa? Juan Pablo [13:37:35]: Love. Charlotte [13:37:39]: Okay. Do you… Juan Pablo [13:37:39]: Yes, yes. I met a beautiful Canadian native woman living in Colombia And… Yeah, that was the hook to attract me and that's why Yeah, that's the reason. Charlotte [13:37:59]: And do you have family here and do you see them frequently? Juan Pablo [13:38:04]: Not at all. Just myself and my wife and my kids, but there is no relatives in Canada at all. Charlotte [13:38:12]: And do you live in a Latin community or a neighborhood where people speak Spanish? Charlotte [13:38:18]: And or Portuguese and celebrate various occasions. Juan Pablo [13:38:24]: Yeah, there is some people around. I know they speak some Spanish. Juan Pablo [13:38:30]: Also, I'm quite involved in some way with the community because I work with closely with our Canadian embassy sorry our Colombian embassy in Ottawa, so also have some friends working in different embassies from different latin american countries So… Also, I have a friend who owns a newspaper specialized for the Latin American community. Juan Pablo [13:39:01]: Because my work related with different Latino people So yeah, that's why I have a a lot of connections with uh with latin america but there is no special community around my house or my place maybe in the past used to be in the past Juan Pablo [13:39:25]: Spanish class. As part of the international language training whatever that Ottawa carleton district board of education offer So we used to bring the kids to every Saturday, I think, or Sunday. Juan Pablo [13:39:41]: And that was the closest maybe Latino community Charlotte [13:39:47]: Okay. Juli [13:39:48]: Yeah, we also, what celebrations are most important to you? Juan Pablo [13:39:54]: Like Latino celebrations? Oh. Juli [13:39:57]: Yes. Juan Pablo [13:40:00]: Yeah, maybe… Maybe the last day of the year. Juan Pablo [13:40:06]: Is quite important for us as a Latino American culture. The Colombian national day which is in July. Juan Pablo [13:40:15]: 20, July 20? So I think those are the Yeah, Christmas time as well but maybe those two first that I just mentioned are the more representative i think of Juli [13:40:29]: And could you describe a typical day in your community? Juan Pablo [13:40:30]: My sorry? Juli [13:40:31]: a typical day in your community Juan Pablo [13:40:32]: When I'm… with people from Colombia. Juan Pablo [13:40:45]: Maybe number one. Theme that I want to highlight is Laughing. Juan Pablo [13:40:51]: So every time I'm with the community, with Latino community we are smiling we are laughing, we are having fun. Juan Pablo [13:40:59]: I don't know if that's related with our culture But it's always there you know that that desire to talk to to have fun uh music and sometimes you know, enjoying a special I don't know this or this from from our countries Juan Pablo [13:41:23]: I think those are very particular things that happens with Latinos are together. Juli [13:41:30]: And how do you celebrate your heritage? Juan Pablo [13:41:34]: Yes, again, every July 20th. The Canadian, because I have a very strong relationship with I work here at Colombian embassy in Canada with the ambassadors and people working there uh they organize every year the Colombian national party day so we go there and celebrate Juan Pablo [13:41:58]: There is soccer games, there is different activities, people get together. They bring different foods or different products from Colombia, we spend the day. Juan Pablo [13:42:12]: Celebrating there is people who also in ottawa and getting all these Colombian association which is quite strong so they celebrate, they organize this day, they bring groups of people that the dance and show our work culture and folklore So it's a party and maybe that's the main activity. And from time to time, our Colombian embassy organize different activities during the years. Juan Pablo [13:42:43]: They invite an artist or a folklore or a musician or a movie so there is a movie that invite us to to be together and to share experience and Yeah, maybe that's the best way. Juli [13:43:05]: And building off of that, what are some values that you hold most dear to you as a member? Juli [13:43:10]: Of the community. Juan Pablo [13:43:12]: The values uh Yeah, as I mentioned, you know, like, I don't know how you do translate to english like joyful to be together, you know, like celebrating and happiness maybe Juan Pablo [13:43:34]: Yeah, maybe… Juan Pablo [13:43:39]: Work together in some way, try to help each other because we are not in Colombia we are outside so there is always you know this desire to help you, to give you information or to assist you if you need something Juan Pablo [13:43:57]: So maybe that's, you know, cooperation and that's something that uh I can highlight. Deian [13:44:07]: Okay. So what would you like to share about yourself or your community that you think is important for people to know? Juan Pablo [13:44:17]: Uh… I was talking with our Colombian ambassador recently a couple of weeks ago And he mentioned to me that there is a study that prove or show that people coming from Colombia are very hard workers. There is a lot of people coming from Colombia. Juan Pablo [13:44:43]: With a high standard of education level different to the other ones And… And for us, it's very important to see our community uh working in industries with different companies with a very representative or very important roles in the society. Juan Pablo [13:45:10]: That's very important for us because that show us that as an immigrant we can immigrants contribute we can contribute come to this country with our brains, not only our hands, but our brains and you know thinking and be part of this Juan Pablo [13:45:29]: Society. So that's one of the things that I found with our colombian community. Juan Pablo [13:45:36]: Yeah, for sure, there is possible. To find people that are not very maybe align with the values we have in Canada that could happen but after 20 years living in Canada. Juan Pablo [13:45:54]: Every Colombian that I met are very committed uh you know, working hard for our Canadian values and giving everything for our economy and our community. Juan Pablo [13:46:09]: So I'm really proud to be Colombian there's a lot of Colombians working and giving everything to this country. Deian [13:46:20]: Very nice. So what foods do you make that remind you of home and where do you purchase your groceries to prepare traditional meals? Juan Pablo [13:46:28]: Oh, that's good. That's a good question. Now there is a couple of uh places that you can find some places tropical fruits, tropical vegetables you know that are very uh strong It's a strong part of our culture Juan Pablo [13:46:52] You can find… in all the grocery stores you know you can find a lot of our tropical fruits Our roots that were, you know, like cassava or a space that kind of sweet potatoes we use. Juan Pablo [13:47:08]: There is a lot of… things that remind us our heritage our culture So it's very easy. It's very simple. Juan Pablo [13:47:17]: Maybe 20 years ago, it was a little bit difficult at that time but right now We have a nice trade relationship with Colombia we have a a free trade agreement. Juan Pablo [13:47:31]: For last 10 years. So it's easy to find some of our There is a couple of restaurants in Ottawa as well. Not too much, not too many. Maybe Montreal is more rich. There's more flavor of Latino American, Montreal. Juan Pablo [13:47:49]: Even Toronto. But in Ottawa has been growing for the last decade. Juan Pablo [13:47:57]: We eat a lot of one of those things is corn bread we we name we call arepa it's a kind of cornbread that we use for breakfast so that's very very typical from our our country and also we eat a lot of plantain which is a kind of banana Juan Pablo [13:48:20]: But we use a lot of plantains. Mango, avocado, that kind of fruits really it's good for us to be close to our not your home, you know? Deian [13:48:37]: Okay. And so how likely would you and your family be to use the website we are creating for uploading your stories? Deian [13:48:45]: And how would you use it? So we'd like to better serve the community. So any suggestions from you about access as well as what should be posted would be greatly appreciated. Juan Pablo [13:48:56]: Yeah, as I mentioned before, Colombia has a very strong community of Colombians, auto work Colombian Association or something like that. Juan Pablo [13:49:11]: So… this tool would be nice, would be very useful for our community. Juan Pablo [13:49:19]: And, you know, to share experience or to would be okay for us maybe also maybe approaching every embassy that would help to you also to help promote this website or the tool that you just mentioned So it would be nice to have that Juan Pablo [13:49:44]: Website to find a place to meet each other maybe to meet to talk about our history our what we are doing in Canada perhaps create a networking of people helping each other. When you are an immigrant and you calling for the first time to a country Juan Pablo [13:50:05]: You have so many questions. And it's good to know there is people outside that can help you. Juan Pablo [13:50:13]: To answer those questions or simple things you know like to open a bank account. Juan Pablo [13:50:19]: Or whatever so many times you just gain a new world everything is new So if you have a website or a place or tool that you can communicate or give you contacts with other Latin American people living in your city Juan Pablo [13:50:37]: That would be nice. That would be very helpful. Deian [13:50:40]: Okay, great. And then last question, just do you have any other comments or concerns for us? Juan Pablo [13:50:48]: No, actually, I'm very happy that you as a student and as a faculty in the university helping Latin American and Caribbean community We are close. We have a lot of things that are in common even though the weather is totally different Juan Pablo [13:51:12]: We have several, as I mentioned before, free trade agreements not only with Colombia but we have Honduras costa rica peru recently ecuador. So trade is especially right now with this problems that we are facing with the United States. Juan Pablo [13:51:30]: It's very important to key is strengthen our relationship with Canada. Juan Pablo [13:51:39]: When I came to Canada for the first time, I was able to write a book. Juan Pablo [13:51:45]: For trade as a consultant and one of the themes that I realized 20 years ago it was like uh united states is like a wall and that dan And because that, as Canadians, we are not allowed to see the Latin American culture Juan Pablo [13:52:06]: Latino America is more than Mexico. And also the Latin American people thinks that Canada is like another extension of United States. And no, Canada is totally different, totally different values So I think right now there is an opportunity to strengthen our relationship to Juan Pablo [13:52:28]: Meet each other's. And that will be helpful for every country in Latin America and for us in Canada for trade So it's a very special momentum does what I think is happening right now. Juan Pablo [13:52:43] So yeah, I'm very glad that the university is helping in some way to strengthen that relationship. Deian [13:52:53]: All right. Thank you. Juan Pablo [13:52:55]: Oh, thank you guys. That was easy. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Juan Pablo Higuera Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-03-17 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 16 min 48 s Language A language of the resource English Description An account of the resource Juan Pablo was born in Colombia and moved to Canada after meeting and falling in love with a Canadian woman. Juan Pablo now lives in Ottawa with his wife and children. Although far from his home country, he remains connected to his Colombian roots through his work and community engagement. Although Juan Pablo does not live in a distinctly Latin neighbourhood, he still plays an active role in the local Latin American community. Through work, he collaborates closely with the Colombian embassy in Ottawa and has built strong connections with various Latin American embassies. For Juan Pablo, crucial aspects of his Colombian identity and community are celebration, togetherness, community values, and food. He additionally places immense value on the friendships and professional relationships he has established in Ottawa, and he recognizes the importance of maintaining cultural ties while integrating into Canadian society. https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/b200c3f526d294f240a3908043dc620c.mp3 4685dc835364d99bb9135e9738c5387e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Kelmys S. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Amy Lam Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data On Riverside Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Amy: Yeah, so my name is Amy, and I'll be interviewing you today for my, I guess, my little assignment. Why don't we start off with a little introduction of yourself? Kelmys: For sure. Hello, my name is Kelmys. I am an advertising and marketing communication management student at Algonquin College. I'm from Colombia. Amy: Yeah, so as you mentioned, your country is, your country of origin is from Colombia. What brought you to Ottawa? Kelmys: It was mostly studies. I always wanted to travel and like if I had the opportunity to live somewhere where I could speak English, as I've been studying it for a while, I would have loved to do so. So this was an insane opportunity for me in Ottawa specifically, but because not many colleges offer a program like the one I'm taking right now it's either marketing or advertising and I wanted to get into both because I'm into strategy and creative so it was just like the perfect choice I'd say. Amy: How do you like Ottawa so far? Kelmys: Uh it's fun. I really like downtown. I think it's a very beautiful city and the canal was such a culture shock for me. I feel like there's so many things that have definitely been a huge culture shock. But overall, it's a very pretty city. And I like living here, yeah. Amy: Yeah, do you- were you the only one who moved here? Or do you have family here? And how often do you see them? Kelmys: No, I'm on my own. I moved on my own when I was 17, yeah. Amy: Do you live in a Latin community or neighborhood where you speak Spanish or Portuguese and celebrate various celebrations? Kelmys: I don't live with Latin American people. All my roommates are from various parts of the world, but I do have many close friends with whom I basically spend my whole week, like from school, who speak Spanish. So I guess I mostly celebrate with them. Most of them are from different parts of Latin America. There's not many Colombians per se, but like they do help me like remember the importance of my culture because I feel like for a while when I was living, I lived on campus for a while and it was with a girl who's from Canada. I felt like I was getting separated from my culture in a way. So now that I have closer friends, it's definitely helped a lot. Amy: Do you still live on campus? Kelmys: No, I live in a different accommodation. Very far away from Algonquin. Amy: Yeah. What celebrations are most important to you? Kelmys: From Colombia? Amy: Yeah, from Colombia or just in your everyday life? . Kelmys: I guess…I mean, I don't know, I feel like we have so many things that I can't think of something specific right now, but there is one celebration that I have been, I haven't been able to celebrate this past year, so it's been really sad, which is called El Dia de las Velitas or the Day of the Candles, which is an event we do every 7th of September- December, I'm sorry, where we just like light up some candles and the city will look very pretty and I haven't been doing that since I got here so that's like the one celebration I really miss that I would like to start doing again although my roommate kind of did it for me last year but like still um but yeah overall there's so many things in the culture that I guess I just implement in my daily life but not a lot just because it's very different I feel like many things from my culture are down like outside or the weather is like a very important part of it so it's kind of hard to do so being in Ottawa in the winter but apart from that it's fine, yeah. Amy: What kind of things that you still do to implement your culture in your everyday life? Kelmys: Umm, I feel like I, the main thing I will say I do is that I really talk about it a lot. I feel like I'm known as the Colombian girl everywhere I go just because I talk about my culture a lot and I talk about like Colombia a lot just because I really don't want to forget anything about the culture that I'm not being able to like experience on my daily life. But there's not many specific things I managed to do also because of like time limitations, I guess Amy: Right, because you’re still a student. Kelmys: Yeah, I feel like it's mostly just like talking about it very regularly and trying to get people to know more about my culture and my country. Amy: Yeah, I love how you're still, even though you're not at home, you're still trying to connect with your culture and your heritage and backgrounds. And it's, to me, it's always so interesting, I guess, like, to hear different culture shapes, like the way that culture shapes the way we approach things. Can you describe a typical day in your community, or like a typical day at school? Kelmys: Um, I guess it's just like a normal college day. But when I try to implement like the culture part, I have a very close friend who's from Peru. So I feel like my typical day would be like just going on about like the Canadian culture and trying to get used to it. But at the same time, we're always having conversations in Spanish. And we I feel like the main thing we do is like reminisce a lot being like, Oh, back home, we do this and this and this. So I guess every single day is just like that trying to remember stuff I did back home. But at the same time, it's just like a normal thing in the life of a college student, just being stressed and talking to my family back home, but I can't. Amy: Yeah, going along with that, what are some values that you hold most dear to you and or your community that you think is important? Kelmys: I feel like all of my ethics just com like from my hometown, I guess. I don't know how to explain it, but I guess I really value a sense of community. I really value…Honestly, I'd say I don't know it's just back home we have a way of like being with people. And I feel like it was another culture shock when I got here, just because I feel like people are not as close with one another. I don't know how to explain it or word it, but it feels like back home, there's a very, very strong sense of community amongst people you don't even know, just like your neighborhood or stuff. Whereas here, it's like everyone's kind of on their own. So I feel like I've always tried to implement that sense of community with people in my life here to try and remember the way I did it back home. So I feel like I've become a very social and extroverted person that I wasn't when I was back home, because I've tried to remember how it was in Colombia. Amy: I totally get that. Like when I first moved here too I felt so I guess like, dissociate with the community, because we're not really social in that kind of sense. Kelmys: Yeah, everyone's kind of awkward and they're nice, but you have to approach people first. Amy: Yeah, exactly. Is there anything you would like to share about yourself and the community that you think is important for people to know? Kelmys: I don't know if it's about myself, but I feel like about Colombia, there's just so many things in the culture that I feel like people just overlook, in a way. I feel like when people think of Colombia, they sometimes think of very specific things that do not represent the country at all. And one thing I've always wanted to do, and that I feel like I've been doing since I got here, is trying to show people that Colombia has so many things within itself. There's a culture in every single part of the country, like it's different in every single city basically. And there's so many things, like it's such an artsy country, it's just like everyone loves dancing, everyone's a very like happy, I don't know, they're very happy individuals and I feel like there's a stigma around Colombians and Latin Americans in general that I have been trying to get like people to change their mindset on just from like talking about it all over and over and over again, but yeah. Amy: Yeah, no, I totally understand. Relating back to food, what kind of food do you make or do you try to eat that reminds you of home and where do you purchase these groceries or how do you prepare your traditional meals? Kelmys: I am very bad at cooking, so although I've tried, it's been unsuccessful. But when I'm very sad or when I just need, like, something from home, there is this one Colombian restaurant called Toasty Arepas that I sometimes order from. And there's also a restaurant called La Fiesta Latina in Chinatown. So I usually order from them. I've tried cooking. I'm not good at it at all. But if I were to cook, I'd probably just make some arepas or, like, I don't know, empanadas. Those are like things that are in many countries in Latin America that we have a very specific way of cooking. And I've always wanted to cook it myself, but I'm really bad at cooking, so I gave up on that. But I still try to eat like Colombian food as much as I can, or just Latin American food in general, because I like food from all over, like, I don't know, all over the world, really. But like Latin America specifically, I feel like has a very specific taste that I really like. Amy: Right. What would you say is your most favorite food? Kelmys: There's something called papas locas. I don't know how to explain it, but it's just like, it's like a poutine if it had way more things. So a lot of cheese and a lot of, I don't know, it's a mix of so many things that's yummy. It's delicious. Amy: It sounds delicious, yeah. Kelmys: We have a lot of specific way of doing it in my hometown because I feel like every single city of the country, as I mentioned, just has different ways of doing things. I really like how it's done in my city. So yeah. Amy: So throughout class, we have this website called Omeka, and it's basically to create digital exhibitions, allowing individuals to share their cultural heritage. So how likely would you and your family be able to use the website we are creating to upload any of your stories? How will you use it so that we can better serve the community? So any suggestions from you about the access as well as what we should be posting would be greatly appreciated. Kelmys:I feel like I'd be very likely just because I really try to find ways to, as I mentioned, just talk about the culture. And I like connecting with other Latin Americans and just in general people from all over the world, which is something really cool about Canada now that you can find people from everywhere all over the world. I guess just like having people utter stories is a really good way of doing it and getting people to maybe respond to those stories with like, I don't know, like a conversation forum or something. I think that would be very cool because it's a way to like simplify connecting with people from your culture and other cultures that can be hard from I don't know introverts or people who haven't been able to find. Like those with whom they can connect, so I think it will be very useful and there will be many, many ways of just like. I don't know how to word it. Amy: Yeah, no worries. I was talking to another one of my friends about it, and she also mentioned that we could change the language of the website itself too, so it's not only English. What do you think about that idea? Kelmys: I think that would be great. The thing is, Latin America has so many languages, so it could be complicated, but I feel like English, Spanish, Portuguese, like French because Canada is a bilingual language, a bilingual country, I'm sorry, would be perfect just for people to feel like better when they're writing it down because many people just, it's like hard for them to get their words out in a different language. And it's totally understandable because it's their first language. So being able to just do it in your own language or feeling more comfortable about what you're saying, it's definitely going to be something they will appreciate. I will appreciate it myself too. Although I like speaking English, I miss Spanish all the time. So it's like, yeah. Amy: Yeah, do you have any other questions, comments or concerns? Kelmys: Um, no questions, but I think it's just a really interesting assignment. I was very interested when you mentioned interviewing, and I really appreciate getting the time to just talk about like a culture because I feel like just with all the college stuff and just being so busy you kind of start forgetting about those things that are really important just for like your own personal I don't know like who you are I don't know how to word it again but like just who you are you start forgetting how to approach that so it's just Amy: At first, I think I mentioned this before when we were texting, but at first, this assignment, the whole course in general, to me, was just an easy bird course. But then the more the professor talked about it, I got so interested in like the community and the heritage and the backgrounds of different people, and even though Ottawa is so like I guess multicultural, it still feels so disconnected. Even though we celebrate all these events, all these cultures, the people themselves don't communicate with one another. We don't have a specific community for this culture or that culture. I feel like people who come here who originally aren't from Ottawa or Canada in general, I feel like, at least for me, even though I was born here, I still feel a little bit left out. Kelmys: No, it feels like there's a connection with the culture. It's all very surface level, also because of the amount of cultures there are. It's very difficult to get into every single one, so it can be surface level and it can be hard to connect with people, as we've mentioned. But yeah, it's just a really good opportunity just to be able to feel more integrated with Ottawa. Amy: Yeah, thank you for the interview. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Kelmys S. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-02-07 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 13 mins 37 s Language A language of the resource English Description An account of the resource Kelmys is an international student at Algonquin College. She is currently in her second year, studying advertising and marketing communications. Although she is very busy with school, in her free time, she loves to try new food and eat at different restaurants. She also loves going to jazz lounges with her friends. https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/cc742c7c679701012821440bea3797d9.mp3 8346a1eef61ffb4931621f044c7a1b85 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Kevin Parra Duque Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Sabrina Shah; Carlos Gnecco Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data On MS Teams Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound 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! Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Kevin Parre Duque Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-03-16 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 17 min 33 s Language A language of the resource English Spanish Description An account of the resource 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. https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/29f028306ccc2966acca98cb30e98f17.mp3 1e9ca03e7e47e54689e20fcb5bde4bc9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Abby Covert, Isabella Eccleston & Ryo Koike Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Lance Monice Location The location of the interview Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Abby 00:00:00: - Okay, so hello everyone and welcome to our interview.  Abby 00:00:03:- My name's Abby and I'm here with my colleagues Ryo and Isabella, and we're here today to conduct an interview to understand the experiences of Latin American communities in Ottawa.  Abby 00:00:14: - Allow me to introduce our interviewee, Lance. Welcome, Lance, and thank you for being here today.  Lance 00:00:20: - Hello, hello. How are you guys doing?  Abby 00:00:22: - Good, good.  Abby 00:00:22: - So the first question we have for you today is, what is your country of origin?  Lance 00:00:27: - So my country of origin, I was born and raised in Haiti.  Abby 00:00:31: - Okay, And what brought you to Ottawa?  Lance 00:00:33: - So what brought me in Ottawa in 2011. Lance 00:00:36: - There was an earthquake that happened around January, February.  Lance 00:00:40: - And after that event happened, my family decided to move here, to immigrate here because the status and the economical state of the country started going down.  Lance 00:00:54: - And my dad used to be a judge back in Haiti. So he had a lot of ties to the political system back here. So he decided to take us and move to Canada from that.  Isabella 00:01:08: - That's cool.  Abby 00:01:09: - Very interesting.  Abby 00:01:10: - So I guess, yeah, do you have any family here and do you see them frequently? Lance 00:01:15: - So I have my mom, my dad, and recently my grandmother came a couple years ago. And I also live with my older sister.  Abby 00:01:23: - Okay.  Abby 00:01:24: - That's cool.  Abby 00:01:25: - And the next question we just have for you is what celebrations are most important to you?  Lance 00:01:30: - In my community, there's a prevalence of celebrations that we do. Mostly we celebrate Christmas.  Lance 00:01:38: - We also celebrate Gide. So that's a voodoo type of celebration. It happens around Halloween.  Lance 00:01:49: - And also one of the favorite ones is 1st of January, which is the independence of Haiti that we like to celebrate too.  Abby 00:01:58: - Very cool.  Ryo 00:02:00: - Okay, move on to the next question. Can you describe a typical day in your community?  Lance 00:02:08: - In my community, of course, as soon as we wake up, it's very, very loud. So how can I say it?  Lance 00:02:14: - We wake up, we usually get some coffee with some bread, like a typical breakfast.  Lance 00:02:20: - But usually in my community, the breakfast is pretty heavy. So we start off always either with some rice or with some type of carbs or pasta. And then of course, accompanied with some juice with there.  Lance 00:02:36: - Moving on to the later date, because it's so hot over there, we usually always stay hydrated, go to the beach.  Lance 00:02:43: - If we have to go to school, we go to school.  Lance 00:02:46: - And then because it's a tropical country, the sun stays up all day.  Lance 00:02:51: - So after school, we either play some soccer or go back to the beach. And then from then, we call it a day.  Ryo 00:02:59: - Nice.  Ryo 00:02:59: - And how do you celebrate your heritage?  Lance 00:03:02: - Like I said, the biggest part of our heritage in Haiti is we were the first independent black country. So that was in 1804.  Lance 00:03:12: - So every January 1st, we eat something named soup jumu, which was the significance of it is the French used to eat it every single day, but didn't allow the slaves to eat it.  Lance 00:03:28: - So as soon as we got our independence, it was a sign that we are allowed to eat the soup jumu too. So every 1st of January, we decide to eat the soup jumu, it still gives that significance.  Ryo 00:03:41: - And what are some values that you hold most here as a member of the Latin or Caribbean community?  Lance 00:03:49:  - So the biggest value we hold is family and also helping one another. As soon as we know either you're Caribbean or you're Latin or you have descendants from the Caribbeans, it's mainly helping each other out either with life situations or support from them.  Ryo 00:04:12: - And what would you like to share about yourself or your community that you think is important for people to know?  Lance 00:04:20: - What I would like to share about my community is we're a community that's very strong and sometimes we're very wrongly represented in the media of today. But I just want to let everyone know that whatever is happening in the media is not really what's happening in the country itself. So that's what I would like to say today.  Isabella 00:04:44: - All right. The next question I have for you is what foods do you make that remind you of home and where do you purchase your groceries to prepare your meals?  Lance 00:04:56: - Perfect. So I'm a big foodie.  Lance 00:04:59: - So the food that I like the most is griot. So griot is basically fried pork.  Lance 00:05:07: - So basically how we prepare it, by a pork, you kill it from then and then you skin it. You only, you cut up the meat. Of course, you wash the meat. And then from then you cook it. And then from then you fry it from then.  Lance 00:05:24: - And you can always eat it with some plantains. So it's basically bananas, but not the regular bananas, but like the green ones. From then you cut it, and then you boil it, and then from then you crush it, and then you fry it from then.  Lance 00:05:40: - So it's basically deep fried.  Lance 00:05:41: - And we usually get it from the African store because that's where most of the imports come from, either African countries or Caribbean countries, and then it's easier to prepare from then.  Isabella 00:05:54: - How likely would you and your family be, sorry, how likely would you be to use the website that we're creating to upload your stories and how would you use it?  Lance 00:06:06: - Very likely because it shows exposure and it brings exposure to our country and what's really happening from a perspective from someone that is, that lived through the country and not from a third party perspective, which really shows what's going on and what happened instead of just media attention from them.  Ryo 00:06:29: - Cool.  Isabella 00:06:32: - And then last question, do you have any other comments, other things to talk about?  Lance 00:06:36: - From Haiti?  Isabella 00:06:37: - Yeah.  Lance 00:06:38: - For sure. I would just like to say that even though the political situation that's happening, I do wish one day that it gets better and so that the reputation that we do have gets better along the years from then. Yeah.  Ryo 00:06:59: - Okay, thank you so much, Lance. Thank you for your time and answering all the questions.  Abby 00:07:03: - Thank you.  Lance 00:07:04: - Perfect. Thank you.  Lance 00:07:05: - Thank you for having me, guys.  Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data In person Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 7 mins & 10 secs Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Lance Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;"> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">This interview features Lance, a Haitian man in his early 20s, who immigrated to Canada with his mother, father, and older sister in 2011. He and his family came to Canada due to a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti, which occurred in 2010, and caused the Haitian economy to crash due to the high death toll and extensive damage to the country’s infrastructure (Pallardy 2026). He explained that his father was a judge in Haiti and already had professional connections to Canada, which is why they chose to come here. During our interview, he recounted what a day in his life was like when he lived in Haiti, sharing anecdotes about the heat, the loud bustling noises around him, the intense heat in the afternoons and playing soccer. Now living in Canada, Lance’s life is different. However, he has found ways to celebrate his Haitian heritage, such as by observing all the major holidays from back home. He provided examples of a few of his favourites, such as Christmas, January 1st/Haitian independence day, and a holiday in Canada usually celebrated around Halloween called Gide. He also works hard to cook traditional food such as a fried pork dish called <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/dining/haitian-griot-is-a-postcard-from-the-caribbean.html">griot</a>. Overall, he wishes that Canadians could see Haiti for what it is, rather than believe all they see in the media about Haiti and its people. It is important to him that Canadians see past the politics of Haiti and see the people of the country for who they are.</div> </div> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/2010-Haiti-earthquake">Resource on the 2010 Haiti earthquake</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2026-02-24 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 7 mins, 10s Language A language of the resource English https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/8d658162a230ef5c00843e565f8ad305.mp3 23ce739e4d9927a605071130cd422733 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Rosha Zolfaghari and Mia Beijer Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Lauren Keshvari Leyva Location The location of the interview Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Rosha 00:00:01: Hi, I'm Rosha. Mia 00:00:02: Hi, I'm Mia. Rosha 00:00:03: And today we'll be chatting with our friend Lauren about her experience as a Cuban-Canadian. Rosha 00:00:07: Hi, Lauren, how are you? Lauren 00:00:08: Hi, Rosha, I'm good. How are you? Rosha 00:00:10: Good. Okay, so starting off, what is your connection to Latin America and the Caribbean? Lauren 00:00:17: So I was actually born in Holguín, Cuba. That's where my mom was born and my grandma was born. My great-grandma is still there. And I actually moved away when I was quite young. I was only five months old and my mom was 21. Rosha 00:00:30: Okay. What brought you to Ottawa? What brought your family here? Lauren 00:00:33: So, we didn't initially move to Ottawa. So, we initially moved to the GTA area, Toronto, moved around a bit to Richmond Hill, Brampton. But I ultimately ended up coming to Ottawa to pursue my education. I wanted to further my education, become the first gen in my family to go to university. And I just thought there was something special and unique about doing it in the country's capital. Rosha 00:00:57: That's really cool. Mia 00:00:59: So, following up on that, you said that you still have a great-grandmother in Cuba. Do you have any family here? Did you move with, you know, some extended family or was it really just with your mom? Lauren 00:01:13: So, I moved with my mom. My dad is not Cuban, so he actually already lived in Canada. But all my extended family on my mom's side, for the most part, still is in Cuba. So, I have some family in Holguín, where I'm from, and I also have some family in Havana, the capital. I have like some limited extended family. And by that, I mean like my, some like … some of my grandma's cousins that live in London [Ontario]. Lauren 00:01:37: So, it's not a lot. So, when I do get to see my mom's side, it's when I go back to Cuba. Mia 00:01:45: Okay, that's really interesting. And so do you live in a predominantly Latin community, like Latin community or neighbourhood, or has it really been more of a living in a diverse neighbourhood or a predominant culture other than Latin American. Lauren 00:02:04: I'd say pretty diverse. I feel like having lived in Toronto and Brampton, there is a lot of diversity. I wouldn't say that there is a large Latin population per se. I will say that I was usually part of the minority in the schools that I attended. But the nice thing about it was that everyone was kind of unique in that sense. And there were diverse cultures that kind of aligned with my own, so I didn't really feel too alienated. Mia 00:02:34: Okay, and just to kind of follow up on that, did you, because it was a minority, did you have many opportunities to either speak Spanish with peers or celebrate Latin American and Caribbean culture with them, or was it more of something that you did within your family or, you know, at a community centre that was more geared to Latin American and Caribbean culture? Lauren 00:02:56: That's a really good question. I feel like, not really, like… It was pretty limited to my household. Like because it wasn't a dominant culture and I was part of the minority, those weren't really like culture days that people really celebrated a lot at the schools that I attended. So, when I got the opportunity to celebrate my culture and my heritage, it was more so within my household, or I would go to a community event somewhere else with my family. Lauren 00:03:22: I know Toronto has like a lot of Latin cultural fests and stuff like that. So those are the ones that we would go to if we wanted to do something to celebrate. Rosha 00:03:29: That's nice. What celebrations are most important to you? Lauren 00:03:35: So, for me, I would have to say Christmas. So, something unique for Latin culture, I know generally speaking, from like speaking with my Latin friends, is that like we always celebrate on the 24th. Like Christmas Day is the 24th for us. And it's a party. Like, it's a party. Everyone's invited. There's a lot of food. We don't do like the traditional like turkey, or at least I think like the Canadian traditions do like turkey, right? We like roast pork. Lauren 00:04:06: Like we roast pork. And that's usually what we have. Like pork is really big in Cuban culture. Like that's like the primary meat that they consume back home, just because a lot of the other options are limited. So especially like beef in Cuba, like really hard to get. Rosha 00:04:23: And would you say that's your favourite holiday or is there another that's? Lauren 00:04:29: I would say that's my favourite holiday. I feel like we do celebrate Easter in my household, but it's also nothing super big. And it's actually something that my mom didn't celebrate in Cuba. So, it's just a lot of the celebrations that I currently partake in aren't celebrations that my mom had celebrated back home. So, they're not necessarily Cuban. But Christmas is like that one celebration that like the Cuban comes out. Rosha 00:04:56: Can you describe a typical day in your community? Lauren 00:05:00: A typical day in my community, I think it kind of varies for everyone. So, I'll kind of just like speak for myself as to what like a typical day looks like for me that might reflect Cuban culture. So, for me, I just love listening to Latin music as I do my day-to-day tasks. Lauren 00:05:16: Like I'm a huge Bad Bunny fan. So, I love listening to music while I'm doing like laundry, washing dishes, doing my homework. Growing up, my house was always full of music, and my grandma and mom would always be singing to some Cuban classics. I think I definitely listen to some more modern Latin pop than my mom and my grandma, but it still kind of helps me feel connected to my culture and connected to them, given that I am also living away from them as they are still in Toronto. Rosha 00:05:47: Okay. And I think you've kind of answered our follow-up question, but is there anything else that you think, like, anything else of importance that you think really defines a typical day in your household that might reflect specifically like Cuban culture? Lauren 00:06:05: I don't think so, besides the fact that we always do try to make time for family at some point throughout the day, whether that be throughout dinner, for dinner, or late night, just having like a little family session. We're just going to talk about our day. Family is very important in the Cuban culture as well. So just making time for family. Mia 00:06:26: Okay. So, it's a little, this next question is a little bit of a pivot, but still kind of within the same stream. How would you say that you celebrate your heritage, whether it's like a special occasion or a day-to-day activity? Lauren 00:06:44: So, as I mentioned, there weren't a lot of community events where I would live. So, we would usually move around to go to Latin Fests whenever possible. So, Salsa on St. Clair is like a really good one. That's the one like my family loves to go to over the summer. I think it usually happens in July. It's like a two-day Latin-themed street festival that happens on like St. Clair Avenue West. I think it's between Winona Drive and Christie Street. Yeah, and it's free, it's family friendly, there's a lot of dancing, live music, and some good food as well. Mia 00:07:22: You know, when you grew up in your household, you kind of, you've been talking about how it's been like very close-knit, very family-centred. Mia 00:07:33: Did you recognize any values that your mom and your grandmother kind of taught you or instilled just in your day-to-day that you hold kind of most dear as like a Latin American and Caribbean diaspora member. Lauren 00:07:53: I think the two core values would have to be family and hard work. Like family is just so important for us. And I think moving to Canada kind of just emphasized that for us, given that we lost access to our extended family. And it was really just us and like, my grandma now immigrated to Canada, but at the beginning, it was just my mom that she, and she was alone. So, family became really important. We became, we are really close because of that, I like to say. Lauren 00:08:26: And also, just hard work. Cubans are very hard working, and that's something that has not... not stopped, not changed. It's something that my mom carries in her. I remember growing up, my mom had to learn how to speak English. She had to learn how to adapt to a Canadian workforce. And she really worked hard to make her way up. and to get to where she is today. Lauren 00:08:53: And you can see that in people back home as well, despite different economic circumstances. And that's something that I continue to value in my day-to-day life, especially as a student, I continue wanting to work hard for my family. So I feel like they're very interconnected values. Mia 00:09:11: That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing. Rosha 00:09:14: What would you like to share about yourself or your community that you think is important for people to know? Lauren 00:09:21: I think Cuba can get a bad rep sometimes, but Cubans are some of the most hardworking, caring, and empathetic people you'll ever meet. When you go, they will welcome you with open arms. They are so open-minded and so friendly. I think just like sometimes the political climate of the world can sometimes affect how people perceive a culture. And I think it's very important to distinguish politics from the culture of a people sometimes. I know there's overlap that sometimes is inevitable, but I do think it's very crucial to kind of see between the lines. Rosha 00:10:05: No, I totally agree with you. What foods do you make that remind you of home? And is there a specific place that you go to buy these ingredients? Lauren 00:10:17: Okay, so I don't tend to make food myself that remind me of home. I'm grateful enough to have my grandma who loves to cook for me. So, when I go back home, she'll always make some, she'll make me some fried plantain. It's so good. Like she'll have to like cut up like one just for me when I go back home. And she's always like slapping my hand away from the plate because I'm like, I'm eating them all. And also pulled pork sandwiches. So those in Cuba are called like Cubanos. And as I mentioned, like pork is like the main source of protein in back home. So, you'll see that incorporated into like a lot of like our national dishes and such. Lauren 00:10:56: And like every time we go back to Cuba, we go to my great grandmother's home and on the rooftop, she has like a rooftop, nothing fancy. It's like a cement rooftop, but we'll always host like family gatherings there. And at least once we will like roast a pig and invite everyone and invite our neighbours. And that's something that we continue to do here, although a lot less often, but sometimes when we do have family gatherings with the extended family that we have in London, for example, we'll roast a pig, we'll make some Congrí, which is like rice and beans. Lauren 00:11:30: Fried plantain and it's just like a really good time. I think we also make yuca. I'm not the biggest fan, don't hate me, but that is also something traditionally made. Rosha 00:11:40: That's making me hungry. It's very wholesome too. Mia 00:11:45: Thank you for sharing that. So, a bit more of another kind of pivot question, but … How likely would you and or your family be to use the website we're creating to upload your stories? So as like accessing oral histories and different experiences of Latin American and Caribbean immigrants. Lauren 00:12:10: I would say very likely, just given how spread out the Latin community is in Canada, I feel like the website would be a great way to contribute to creating a greater sense of community amongst Latin immigrants. Yeah, for sure. Mia 00:12:25: Okay. And so, you're like the way that you're talking about using it would be more like a connection thing. Would you like use it as a kind of reaching out to people? How would you see yourself using it? Lauren 00:12:38: Maybe not so much reaching out to people for myself at least. I could maybe see some of my relatives doing that. But I think sometimes it's easy to feel isolated, especially when you're not amongst people from the same culture. So I think just even an online space where you can see that there are people with similar backgrounds, similar experiences, living in Canada, kind of gives an inner sense of peace, even though you're not maybe necessarily directly interacting with them, you know they're there, you know you're not alone, and you know there is a community there that you can fall back on. Mia 00:13:14: Thank you so much. And so, we're kind of coming to the close of our interview and discussion right now, but I'm just wondering if there's anything else that we've discussed or haven't touched on that you'd like to expand on or introduce or just kind of have as a closing remark. Lauren 00:13:36: I think I would just want to say that every Latin immigrant has a different story, and every Latin culture and country is not the same. And I think that's also important to keep in mind when meeting Latin immigrants and interacting with Latin immigrants, because we all have different experiences and you want to be very careful not to overgeneralize as well, just to maintain a certain level of respect for everyone's unique culture. But yeah, I think that's it. Thank you so much for having me. Rosha 00:14:07: Thank you for being a part of this project and sharing your experience. It was so much fun chatting with you about Cuba. Lauren 00:14:13: Thank you. Mia 00:14:14: Thank you. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data In person Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:14:16 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Lauren Keshvari Leyva Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;"> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">This interview features Lauren Keshvari Leyva. We had the honour of discussing Cuban culture with Lauren, a first-generation Cuban-Canadian. Lauren highlighted that Cubans pride themselves on hard work and family. Upon immigrating with her mother, she was immersed in Canadian culture and society, which she had to learn and adapt to quickly. A struggle that brought her family closer and really ingrained the importance of family within her household. Lauren mentioned that growing up in Canada, she and her family would attend Latin Fests. These festivals showcased Latin American and Spanish culture through live music, dance, and food. Her greatest source of connection to her roots came from her family. Throughout the interview, Lauren shared some of her favourite foods and music that help her feel connected to her heritage and culture, especially fried plantains and Cubanos, which are sandwiches made with seasoned pork and placed between soft, slightly sweet bread. An important point that Lauren highlights at the end of our interview needs to be repeated: "... every Latin immigrant has a different story, and every Latin culture and country is not the same. And I think that's also important to keep in mind when meeting Latin immigrants and interacting with Latin immigrants, because we all have different experiences and you want to be very careful not to overgeneralize as well, just to maintain a certain level of respect for everyone's unique culture."</div> </div> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2026-03-04 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3; 33.442 mb Language A language of the resource English https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/2288309d0776590db7ccd93eebe780a3.mp3 6de0dc5de5b3a62846308833651b2ee1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Laurine Beau de Rochars Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Lucille Nkunzimana Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data In person Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound LUCILLE NKUNZIMANA: So, my name is Lucille Nkunzimana and I’m doing and ethnographic interview for Doctor Weinstein’s class in Anthropology of Latin America and the Caribbean and my interviewee… LAURINE BEAU DE ROCHARS: My name is Laurine Beau de Rochars and I’m the interviewee. LUCILLE: Okay so, we’ll just hop right into the questions. What is your country of origin? LAURINE: The country is Haiti. LUCILLE: Okay, and what brough you to Ottawa? Was it school? Was it… LAURINE: So, I came here, so I was raised in Haiti until the age of 11 so I came here at 11 with my mom and my sister. SO, we came here in 2010 after the earthquake that happened in Haiti. After the earthquake we moved to the states for three months and then we moved to Toronto for like a year and then to Ottawa and I’ve been here ever since. LUCILLE: So, I also grew up in Haiti. I don’t know if this should be part of the interview (laughter). But, yeah, so I also grew up in Haiti. SO, my parents aren’t Haitian, but my mom was raised there so... LAURINE: Okay, nice! LUCILLE: …yeah, we also lived through the earthquake… LAURINE: Oh, you also? LUCILLE: Yeah! SU, but a lot of people did move to the US and Canada after that so...you mentioned that you moved here with your mom… LAURINE: And my sister as well but my dad stayed back because both my parents are doctors. So my dad, He moved to the states with us but then when we moved to Canada, he went back to Haiti to continue his practice because you can’t be a doctor in Canada so he had to stay there. LUCILLE: What kind of medicine does he practice? LAURINE: Ortho…uh… LUCILLE: Like bones and stuff? Ok, cool! So, in Ottawa, do you live in a Latin community or neighbourhood where people speak Spanish or Portuguese and celebrate various Latin American occasions? LAURINE: No, I would say no. I live in Finley Creek so it’s like a newer area it’s like, uh, no I wouldn’t say that. LUCILLE: Would you say it’s a diverse area? LAURINE: Yeah. LUCILLE: Ok! So, there’s a lot of diversity but it’s not necessarily… LAURINE: Like a community? No. LUCILLE: And do you have any celebrations that are most important to you? LAURINE: To me? No, but I know my mom likes two of them. She likes Christmas and Easter. LUCILLE: Mhm. LAURINE: Oh! I do like Carnaval! Yeah... LUCILLE: Yeah, that’s fun! LAURINE: That’s the one that I enjoy. LUCILLE: Yeah. Ok! And then, could you describe to me a typical day in your community, even though it’s not a Latin American concentration, what does it look like? LAURINE: Well, for my mom all her friends live either in Haiti or in the States or like in Montreal so she’s always on the phone with them so I wouldn’t say that I have a Haitian community here so a typical day would honestly be overhearing my mom talk on the phone or when she watches news about Haiti either on her phone or the TV. But also, at work there are some Haitians but it’s like Haitians that were born here so it’s not the same. LUCILLE: The experience is a little bit different, yeah. LUCILLE: And do you have any specific way that you celebrate your heritage, like I know you said your mom obviously keeps up with the news and everything but are there any people here that you celebrate certain holidays with, or do you do something special with your family? LAURINE: Um, I would say... Oh! One thing that I do do is on the first of January, well on the 31st of December we would go to church and stay until like 2 am and then the next day January first we eat like a soup. LUCILLE: SO, I’ll skip to one of the next questions, but would you say that that’s one of the foods that reminds you of home? LAURINE: Yeah, for sure. LUCILLE: And then, do you have like a specific grocery store that you guys go to to get stuff, or could you just get it anywhere? LAURINE: Uh, we get stuff at this, I don’t remember the name but it’s a store on Walkley, I don’t know if you know it. It has like a lot of, I think it’s named Caribbean store or something so yeah that’s where we… and then for, um, like, meat and stuff, we go to the Asian grocery store. LUCILLE: Mm okay so that’s one of the ways that you celebrate heritage so it’s like for the New year but also Independence Day and then do you have any values associated with that? So, like, you did mention your tradition where you go to church, like, would you say that that’s a value that you hold close to you as a member of the Haitian/Caribbean community? LAURINE: So, I personally, am not a Christian but I still go to church because my mom wants me to go to church. I don’t think we share the same values, which is fine. Um but I do like one thing that I like is how the independence day is a symbol for, uh, the liberation. LUCILLE: Yeah, and like unity and… LAURINE: Yeah, yeah. LUCILLE: Um, okay and was there anything that you want to share about yourself or your community that you think people should know? LAURINE: Um, maybe language. Because one aspect with us is like the language because in Haiti, it was colonized by the French so there’s still very much this remnant of like French is the superior language, right? So then when I grew up there even at school creole was not allowed to speak even though everyone speaks creole. SO then like my parents enforced that rule at home so everyone only spoke French, and the reasoning was that us kids we need to focus on French hand then creole is so easy to learn if you’re in the environment that we would later on catch on but then we ended up moving to Canada so then like I didn’t. Because I honestly feel like my grandma, for instance, that joined us in 2014. She helped raise us, like, me and my sister, so she would only speak creole and her French was not good so we would answer her in French and I understand Creole but it’s still like a language loss because it’s not natural [to me] to speak creole. And Haitians have a strong pride about the language and it’s like they, not everyone, but they will mock you if you don’t speak creole and stuff like that. And also, like another aspect of the language part is that a lot of the Haitians stutter because it’s in the genetic pool but it’s so prevalent in the speech that even people who don’t have a stutter will stutter but it’s just in the speech. I don’t know if I’m explaining it well, but I don’t know the term in linguistics but it’s a thing because language is so easy to pick up and stuff so they also all stutter but they don’t have the… because it’s like genetics, right? But it’s interesting to see how it’s like intertwined in the language. LUCILLE: Yeah, it’s also um it’s like part of its genetic and part of it’s like that’s just the culture because most people have a stutter um you start to talk like that just because it’s your environment. LAURINE: Yes! Exactly, yeah, so they both feed off of each other. It’s just interesting! LUCILLE: Mmhmm! Do you think, like, um, do you think it’s difficult to put together, or to reconcile the fact that parents don’t want their kids to learn creole because it’s the “inferior language” or it’s “shameful” but when you don’t know creole it’s also “shameful”? [LAUGHTER] LAURINE: Yeah! LUCILLE: It’s weird because you’ll be at home and nobody wants you to speak in Creole, like that was a thing for my mom, she wanted us to learn… LAURINE: Creole? LUCILLE: Yeah, and we did but everyone around her was telling her not to do it because it was, especially for girls, for little girls it was not “proper”. But how do you, yourself, like is that something that bother you? LAURINE: It does bother me, yeah, for sure. And anytime I’ll, because now I’m old enough to understand how wrong it was and then anytime I bring it up to her [Laurine’s mom] she’ll just like ignore it, she doesn’t understand how it’s actually bad. And then, she’ll say, “oh no” and that I speak Creole fine. And like, yes but I like I don’t because it doesn’t come off natural. I have to overthink so hard so it’s really not. So, yes, it’s definitely hard to reconcile that and yeah, it’s like… LUCILLE: Yeah, it’s just one of those things that like you can, I don’t know, people probably tell you all the time like “oh well if you just keep practicing, you’ll get better” but… LAURINE: It’s like if I was still in the environment then like yes like I would actually absolutely be fluent, right? But then, I’m not like I moved here when I was eleven like that’s a young age to have a language loss. And also, it’s really more shameful that it’s like a status thing. Like the reason [not learning creole] was status. But guy would just, like boys, would be allowed to speak creole and then it’s weird because um like it’s so ingrained din my head to not speak creole that when I hear kids talk to their parents in creole it takes me aback because my reflex is to think it’s rude. But it’s not impolite, it’s a language, right? But it’s like it’s so ingrained in your head so it’s hard to like uncode your brain. LUCILLE: To unlearn like the hierarchy and then the status rules and everything and people--yeah, you’re right. I think it’s going to be useful for people to hear that because I think it’s difficult to explain when-- because everyone’s experience is different, too, so even if you do come from a country that you have a local language that you weren’t allowed to speak for whatever reason, I think that reason is always going to be different and in Haiti it’s like, it’s exactly like you said, there’s, like, a discrimination but it’s, like, it goes back so far in, like, the history of Haiti’s colonization that it’s still a thing today like I’m sure there’s little kids right now being told off for speaking creole at home when they—when it’s not proper. LAURINE: I’m sure now English is more pushed on them than French. LUCILLE: Mhm, yeah, for sure. [LAUGHTER] LUCILLE: Yeah, well thank you for sharing! Um, and then I’ll just ask you like two more questions and the first one’s going to be: how likely you think you would be to use the website to upload stories? So, like if it were to become more of a public forum do you think you and your family would use it to share? LAURINE: Yeah, I would, yeah. Um, I would if it’s like a prompt or something, I would but I can’t think of stories just like that but if there’s like a question or something. LUCILLE: Like if it became a discussion sort of forum? Kind of like Reddit? LAURINE: Yeah! Yeah, sort of. LUCILLE: Yeah, okay, yeah! Cool! Um, and then, yeah, so you already answered the second part so how you would use it would be more for like answering questions that people had that came up on the forum. Did you have any other comments or concerns about it? LAURINE: No, I can’t think of anything, did you have any questions outside of this? [LAUGHTER] LUCILLE: I don’t have any more questions outside of what was provided for us in the document but if you think of anything that's worrying you or anything you said that you’re double thinking and I will figure it out with Taylor and the professor to see if we can cut the recording. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Laurine Beau de Rochars Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-02-27 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 19 min 33 s Language A language of the resource English Description An account of the resource Laurine is a student at the University of Ottawa. She is currently studying in the graduate program in Anthropology. She mentioned being recruited to participate in the study through Taylor Paterson, our T.A., for this course in the Anthropology of Latin America and the Caribbean. Laurine is originally from Haiti. She was born in Port-au-Prince and grew up there until age eleven, when the 2010 earthquake hit, and she and her family moved to the United States. Later, they moved to Toronto and then to Ottawa, where they have been living ever since. In this conversation, Laurine shared how it can be difficult to feel fully accepted by the Haitian community on and off campus as someone who doesn’t speak and, for the longest time, was not allowed to speak the native language. https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/fc006926d96a39310a2e2d5b0340722d.mp3 25b48aa1c83550139cc8e866c71183fb Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Emma Croucher and Jorja Champagne Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Lucia Rios Location The location of the interview Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Jorja (00:00:03): Hi Lucia, so first things first, we would love to thank you for participating in this interview with us. First question: would you mind giving us a brief introduction about your life and yourself, please? Lucia Rios (00:00:15): Yeah, so my name is Lucia, I'm Brazilian and moved to Canada 7 years ago. When I first got here, I moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and in fall 2024, I moved to Ottawa because of my PhD. I'm a psychologist in Brazil, a psychotherapist here in Ottawa, and I'm starting a PhD in psychology; however, I'm switching to a new program in anthropology. Is there anything else I can say? Yeah, my bachelor's and master's degrees are from Brazil. Bachelor's in psychology and master's in public health and science, yeah. Emma (00:01:03): You came from Brazil to Ottawa for school purposes, correct? Lucia Rios (00:01:10): I came to Ottawa for school purposes but I came to Canada, I went to Winnipeg first right so yeah i didnt come from Brazil to Ottawa. Emma (00:01:24): Perfect. Do you have family down here in Ottawa? Lucia Rios (00:01:30): Not at all, my family is pretty much my community and my friends. Emma (00:01:37): Do you live in a Latin community or neighbourhood where there are people who speak Portuguese? I'm assuming it's yours. Would you say it is a community that speaks Portuguese frequently or not really? Lucia Rios (00:01:59):  So the place that I live in is very close to the university, I just need to cross the bridge, and I'm here on campus. So the reason I chose to live here is because I live close to the university for commuting. But in this, there are some communities here in Ottawa with more Brazilians. I do have a good social community group here. But I would say that maybe we have a bigger concentration of Brazilians or in Orleans. Emma (00:02:43): Do you celebrate various occasions with the community that you just discussed? Lucia Rios (00:02:49): I am a volunteer in two organizations here in the non-profit. One is Saravade, and the other is Acher; they are both named after Brazil's African religion. The first one is like the oldest one here. I think Acher was founded 10 years ago or more, and Saravade is a new one. It's been like three years since they put it together. And Acher is more focused on Latin music, not only Brazilian in Ottawa and Saravade, but also on Brazilian cultures and traditions. I volunteer for both; I usually take part in Brazilian festivals like " Culture of the Nights”. Or for example, we have the carnival party in February, like at the club 27 in Byward, and it was really nice cuz we had bands, the drummer, we have two different drummer groups here in Ottawa. One is Samba Ottawa.  We have drummers there playing for us. We have typical foods and samba during the party. Yeah, it was pretty neat. What else do we do? We have a Brazilian festival in June, where you can see some<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhgot9H7vZw"> Capoeira.</a> circles playing. You can see drummers there too, and a lot of typical food. And yeah. And for Acher, we bring a lot of singers and bands from Latin America to Ottawa, in general, not only from Brazil. Emma (00:05:00): So, on the topic of celebration. Which celebrations are most important to you? Lucia Rios (00:05:08): I miss carnival a lot. I think we are very warm and touchy people. And I think carnival for us is not only a party; it's also a celebration of how resilient we are despite all the oppression and colonization we have been through. So it's really like our open party on the streets, where anyone can take part. So it doesn't matter your class, your income. You can have a lot of fun and celebrate with people in different ways. I do miss it a lot. Emma (00:05:57): Would you mind describing to us a typical day in your community? Lucia Rios (00:06:02): We recommend different services to each other for example, when we go to a family doctor or massage, therapist chiropractor, someone like that we feel that is more sensitive and welcoming the way like these they can treat immigrants and the way they can you know leave the treatment so we probably are gonna like refer to each other as different professional service but also different service for example like Internet bundle, I found this offer so we're gonna send in the group we have like a general group of  Brazilians in Ottawa and people are always like donating stuff asking for help, but I have also like my little social bubble only friends in that group. We are always checking in and seeing how we are doing. Someone is getting bad news from Brazil, when someone needs someone to pack it for you right they gonna ask. Here in ottawa to be honest my friends they don't have kids, but when I was in Winnipeg, I used to see a lot for my friends For my friends so that's the kind of support of my community is able to provide Emma (00:07:32): Thank you. How do you celebrate your heritage? Lucia Rios (00:07:35):  Interesting question. We have so many ways. I'm very proud of my accent, I know a lot of Brazilians try their best to just risk it off. They want to try to pronounce it in a way that they can escape their identity. I don't know what is wrong with them. I am honest when I'm talking with someone, and I know sometimes it's hard to understand people's accents. But there is a difference when you talk to someone who is open and used to being with immigrants and being in a way that is not only. Sometimes I understand there is a commercial way, or like work-related stuff. But it's also used to have immigrants in your life. So they can understand better, or maybe they put in extra effort to understand. But when I am talking to someone, they are always like “what”. And we were not doing this. I can't take it. I'm proud of my accent. Even some spiritual practices I still do here in Canada. Sometimes it's hard for friends to hold herb baths. Like when I have to buy some plants to do my bath. Some plants that I easily find in a tropical country, I cannot spot here. But others I can place and find and its. But keeping this tradition is a way of celebrating my heritage. And we do have specific groups following this African religious tradition. I mean, we have many religions in Brazil. This is very relevant to Brazil. It's hard to find places that practice that. Of course, I can do my herb baths at home, but I like to do it as a group and to play the drums and sing and to see the manifestation. We don't have it everywhere in Canada. We do have a big group in Montreal. I've been there, I think, 5 times since I moved to Ottawa. I consider that a high number of attendances. It is not easy to go there all the time. Also, we have a group that is Canada-wide for this really spiritual practice. We use water. We use a lot of water in Latin America.  And we always exchange things there, like yeah. Emma (00:10:45): Thank you, would you mind telling us some values that you hold most dear as a member of the Latin American community? Lucia Rios (00:10:56): Yeah, I think we were more community-oriented. Cuz one thing that I feel here in the relationships in North America is. There's a lot of focus on boundaries, and I understand I need to be more assertive with my boundaries, but sometimes I think there is a lot of focus on boundaries here, and people are so concerned to set up boundaries that they end up isolated. And in brazil we value the community life for example there was one day when i lived in winnipeg and I was in a work meeting and I got a guy from nigeria and he was sharing that in nigeria he used to like show up unannounced to his uncle's house and that was done that was something they were used to but then he moved both of them and when he showed up unannounced his uncle was like what are you doing he and he was like oh i come to say and he was like no its canada you cannot do that here. That's not how we do it here, you're gonna tell me before, so of course we're gonna text where available for you. I think there are so many rules and things are so strict that it doesn't meet the spontaneity or the flow of life that we need to. I don't know if I answered your question. Emma (00:12:53): Perfect. No, no, no, you did, it was perfect, thank you. We just have a couple more questions, if that's alright. We're just wondering what you would like to share about yourself or a community that you are a part of that people should know. Lucia Rios (00:13:17): About my community. We are very alike. We are touchy people. So we hug a lot, and sometimes I know this can make people misread us. We are very warm people. What else… sharing food is a way that we have to. It is a very valid way to show love and respect for others, so we like to have our meals with others, as I cook for my friends, and to have Brazilian food as much as I can when I can. What else, so when I moved here seven years ago, there was a political background context in Brazil that a very far-right president was winning the elections, and there was a weight shift for more conservative people, like taking over the country. So I'm a queer person. I moved here because I felt at risk right now, and now we are seeing the same shift, like the same wave coming back. Here in Canada, as a queer person, I feel safer, right? Then I feel in Brazil. And I believe that I can speak on behalf of my queer community, like the Brazilian community specifically. I think that is it. Emma (00:15:22): yeah, that was perfect. I know you touched one food, so what foods remind you of home? Lucia Rios (00:15:32): “Feijoada” Which is a Brazilian stew, it's pork meat, and we have as a side, and we have like kale and flour, even orange on the plate. We have “O’Shea’s”, which is chicken croquettes. And the way we do the barbecue. I don't think it's the way we do it, but maybe it is different meat cuts. Picaya is the top sirloin cap. It's very common in our barbecue, and I do. Here, when we say barbecue, we are referring to hot dogs and burgers, but we are talking about steaks when we say, " Let's have a barbecue. Ummm yeah. Emma (00:16:41): Where do you purchase in order to prepare any traditional meals? Is there a specific place? Lucia Rios (00:16:51): Super store supermarket that they like to sell our brands, for example, No Frills is one. We also have some small grocery shops there, one in Vanier. We have “Damas” foods, it's a Portuguese guy actually, but he sells a lot of Brazilian brands. We have some Brazilian restaurants in Byward. We have coffee. I don't remember the coffee shop name. But we do have a new bakery. Recently, a bakery opened in Nepean. That's bananas, and I know that they sell not only the ingredients but also make food there too. I don't think we have many Brazilian restaurants in Ottawa, in Canada, we do, but not in Ottawa. We have some acai shops too, acai is more like a berry ice cream that we have. And I do  know we have one in Gatineau and one in the same store but different locations, and the other at the St. Laurent Mall. And sometimes, depending on what I need, I go to an African market to get to know, for example, “hasava flower” or corn flower, depending exactly on what I want, I know that I will find it there. Emma (00:18:49): We have one question left. So you're aware we are posting this interview on a website for our class, so we're just wondering how likely you and your family would be to use this website that we are creating to share stories Lucia Rios (00:19:07): How likely is my family to access the website? Emma (00:19:11): Yeah, like, would you use this website? We were creating a bunch of interviews about Latin American and Caribbean lives. Lucia Rios (00:19:24): Well, I can definitely share with my friends, but my family, honestly, they don't speak English, so as I said, my family is all home in Brazil. My brother does, but I think he's the only one I'm not sure he would be curious enough to check on the interviews. But my friends here in Ottawa, Canada, I do think they would access and use it. Emma (00:19:50): on that, we would like to better serve the community, so we're wondering if there are any suggestions you have about accessing the website and making it more accessible for people who want to learn or understand about an immigrant experience. Do you have any advice about that? Lucia Rios (00:20:15): I think language is right, like probably how we measure accessibility for different services here in Canada. That's all. I don't know. I know there is a cost for it if you have to shift the website language, there is a cost for it, and I don't know if it's feasible for the labs Emma (00:20:44): What a great recommendation, we really appreciate that. So that is all your question. Do you have any comments or concerns for us, or anything extra you'd like to share Lucia Rios (00:21:02): I would add you know what I made you on the website as I mention the nonprofit or organizations some of the events if people wanna like our heroes about the culture of traditions and they wanna like go see at least go the carnival party was awesome so yeah, maybe share some events with him both say hey there is just going on in town this weekend or you know like this. Emma (00:21:29): Oh, I completely agree with that, so good, that's everything we have. Thank you very much. We really appreciated this. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data On Zoom Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 21 minutes 36 seconds Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Lucia Rios Description An account of the resource Lucia Rio is a Brazilian-born psychotherapist and doctoral student currently living in Ottawa, Canada. She moved to Canada several years ago, initially to Winnipeg, and later to Ottawa to pursue her studies. She currently holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master's in public health. She recently decided to pursue her PhD in anthropology. Since moving to Ottawa, a place where Lucia has no family, she has built a strong community through new friends and participation in Latin American organizations, including Saravade and Acher, both named after Brazil's African religion. In the interview, she explained that a strong value in the Brazilian community is prioritizing community and connection over individualism. Lucia is very involved in Ottawa’s Latin American culture. She participates in this through volunteering with organizations that promote music, tradition, and important values rooted in Latin American and Brazilian history. Her favourite event in Ottawa is the Carnival. She describes this event as a symbol of resilience, unity and cultural expression. To maintain her heritage, she takes great pride in her Brazilian accent. She believes her accent is a proud representation of her past and should never be hidden. Finally, she shows pride in her heritage through her food. Dishes like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feijoada">feijoada,</a> which is a Brazilian stew, and large barbecues help her share her heritage with her new Ottawa friends. As a queer individual, Lucia explained the political shift in Brazil, which contributed largely to her decision to move to Canada. She expressed in her interview that she felt much safer in Canada. Overall, Lucia highlighted how important community and culture are to her and how they affect everyone. Lastly, Lucia is proud to share her story on this website and hopes that, in the future, it will be more language-accessible so that more immigrants can use it and connect with stories similar to theirs. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Tuesday March 10th, 2026 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Mp3, 41.9 MB Language A language of the resource English Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Emma Croucher, Jorja Champagne, Faith Mackay https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/4999149e33ea81a26fe015301d3c0458.mp3 b433c915b2154d05a4abaeb5180550ca Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Luis Abanto Rojas Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Roxane; Semon; Danielle Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data On MS Teams Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound <div data-ogsc="rgb(0, 0, 0)" style="caret-color: #000000; color: #000000 !important; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; direction: ltr; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Roxane: Esta bien. Luis: Perfecto. Perfecto. Muchas gracias. Oh, Roxane. Danielle. Ustedes viven en la misma casa. Roxane: Sorry, we don't speak that much Spanish. Danielle: I don't speak that much Spanish. Roxane: I understood house. Luis: I got excited when you say all that. Roxane: Yeah, I took a class first year, that's why. Luis: Oh, okay. No, I was saying you are at the same house. Oh. Danielle: Yeah. Luis: I have the same house. Roxane: Nice. Luis: Okay. So thank you for your invitation. I know it's been kind of tough to get organized, but. Okay. Finally. Okay, here we are. Danielle: Sounds good. Sounds good. Um, so. Hello, professor. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today. My name is Danielle. Um, and our group will be conducting an ethnographic interview to learn more about the experiences, traditions, and cultural heritage of the Latin Caribbean community in Ottawa. Your insights and personal stories will help us better understand and appreciate the diverse perspectives within the community. This interview will take approximately 20 minutes, so please be mindful of your time. Feel free to share as much or as little as you are comfortable with, and remember that you do not have to answer any questions that make you feel uncomfortable. This is an open and respectful space and your voice is valuable to us. Luis: Thank you very much. Danielle: No problem Roxane. Roxane: I'm Roxane, and for a little introduction, I'm taking this anthropology class as well. It's actually my first anthropology class, but I'm a fourth-year student in conflict studies and human rights in my last semester, so almost done. And I also have a minor in sociology. And just before we start, I'm going to start recording whenever Simone has done her introduction so that we can start. Simone: Hi, my name is Simone and I'm in the same program as Roxane. I'm in human rights and conflict studies. I'm also in my last semester. I'm very excited to be done. This is my intro. This is it is my first anthropology class, and it's very interesting. Like it's very interesting learning about different cultures. And I really appreciate you for being here. Luis: Oh, thank you very much. And again, you're doing a hard work. Uh, very professional. So I'm here to make any contribution you like me to do. Danielle: Thank you. Sounds good. So first question is, what is your country of origin, professor? Luis: Country of origin is Peru. Danielle: Perfect, perfect. What brought you to Ottawa, by any chance? Luis: Oh, to Ottawa particularly. It was a master's degree. So I, I migrate actually, I did a kind of detour. I, I left my country in back in 1985. Maybe your parents were not born at that age. And then I lived, um, six years in France, where I was a refugee. And, um, and so at university, I met a Canadian girl and my girlfriend, and that brought me to Canada, but not to Ottawa. We went to Kitchener, Waterloo, where we lived two years, and I attended, uh, I mean, the continuation of the undergraduate studies at Waterloo. And for the Masters, we decided to come to Ottawa, to U of Ottawa because French. So French was the I think the connection with Ottawa is we didn't have any family here. Luis: Yeah. Danielle: Okay, great. You actually did answer my third question. Do you have family here? And do you see them frequently? And you? I think you said no. Um, so I'm just going to skip to the last question. Do you live in a Latin community or neighborhood where people speak Spanish or Portuguese and celebrate various occasions? Luis: Um, in fact, no, no. And I've been living in, in Ottawa for the past 30 years now, and I found that quite interesting because there is not a Latin American neighborhood. Luis: There are corners like plazas. Luis: I was, um, so impressed, actually, when I came to Canada. How the multicultural visual. If you want to say something, you can see it in the mall plazas, especially in the small mall plazas. So where you can find like a Latino store or African store or Arabic store or a Caribbean. So that combination. Yeah, it was kind of wow. Oh, wow. That's that's good. But in terms of neighborhoods, no, not really or otherwise. Luis: It's not I mean, our population is not big to start. It's not it's not huge. Just Toronto maybe Toronto. Yeah. Yeah. I notice a very old Hispanic neighborhood like the Ecuadorian is very interesting back in the 70s. But here. No. When I came here, the. I lived in Vanier. Vanier for 13, 13 years, actually. Luis: So my closest community in terms of culture was the Portuguese. And together with the Portuguese, there used to be, um, Portuguese language Spanish people who were actually closer to the Portuguese than to the Hispanic. But that was in my closest, maybe in Vanier. But that's all the generations now. I mean, they are gone. They are gone to other neighborhoods. And so. Yeah. So yeah, no, no, I haven't lived in a Hispanic community or neighborhood here. Hopefully there's one that can develop with time. Yes. I'll be I'll be asking a few next questions, and it's starting with your most important celebration from your culture to you. Luis: Mhm. Luis: The most important celebrations. That's a kind of existential question. Luis: As a Peruvian we have an official celebration which is July 28th. Luis: Okay. July 28th. So the Embassy of Peru will organize something for local Peruvians. A kind of picnic, sometimes something at their embassy. But I have to tell you that my biggest celebration has been the festival. The soccer festival organized by a national club, Sporting Peru. Luis: And that's funny for me because you don't expect that from a soccer club. But I think in anthropology it makes sense because I know this is more a male thing, but if I can say that for 30 years, probably 3 or 4 guys, they've been organizing this festival every year. So it's a summer festival and they call the other teams the Mexican Colombians and whoever would like to play soccer. And it goes from a different generation young guys, juniors and also adults and grandpas like me. Luis: And when we talk about a soccer player, that person will come with the family. So I have children and we'll have the food like, um, yeah, an international Latino fair, summer Some affair, and that's been going on for 30 years. And that's when I've seen lots and lots of people at the same time, same place. Fantastic. I think for me, that's probably my biggest community. I would say the soccer teams. Roxane: That sounds very fun and very I feel like festive. Definitely in the summertime. The next question is, could you describe a typical day in your community in whichever context? Luis: Um, well, um, I'm kind of absorbed by my job, but I have the pleasure of working with my language. Luis: So, um, my job is to serve, uh, people here at the Faculty of Arts, and I am in the language training for all students. So I see people every day, like all origins. And while I was only a Spanish teacher, I used to have more contact with the Spanish language countries. I used to send. Luis: Students to Mexico or Chile, Argentina and Spain to organizing groups like going going there. And so my typical will be teaching versus having some administration today and also contacting community institutions like embassies or omgs. Yeah, I mean typically. Roxane: Thank you. And the next question is how do you celebrate your heritage? Luis: Um. Luis: Well, I have to tell that my Hispanic heritage is already quite celebrated by Canadians. That helps a lot. So. And we have different, uh, activities during the year, like, for example, the Latin American Film Festival in May. It's a two-week, two-week festival. And, and where we have, uh, movies from all 20 countries. So every country invites their, their locals and we have new new movies, new new filmmakers this year. Ah, I co-organize it here at the University of Ottawa. That was interesting. But that that that celebration has been there for probably 20 years because the Ottawa Film Festival used to organize it. So that's one of them. Um, 2 or 3 years ago, the saw the Parliament of Canada. Luis: Uh, created this, uh, Hispanic, uh, Hispanic month celebration in October. Luis: And, uh, yeah, that's a Canadian celebration. Not of countries, but I mean Canadian with, uh, Latin American origins roots. So that's a big, a big celebration. October. There are many things going on in October. I think those are the two main celebration communities and the MyHeritage. Roxane: Thank you so much. And the last question for me will be, what are some values that you hold most dear as a member of the Latin community? Oh. Luis: Wow. That's another existential question. Luis: And. Luis: I would say, you know, being born there, educated there. So I migrate already when I was 17. Luis: So I can say that, um. Luis: We are used to, to deal with trouble all the time. And we are okay with that. Okay. I mean. Luis: Probably we have more patience in that case. Luis: We don't panic. Luis: We we have kind of more hope. that maybe. Luis: Um, so you're more resilient to any adversity. And I and I like that. But at the same time as being migrant and combining this migration with Canada, when I match together, I say no. But this country has fantastic things too. Like I feel respected. Luis: I. Luis: I mean, my inclusion is much, much way bigger than my inclusion in Peru. Peru is we have a system of kind of colonial castes. You know, I'm not allowed in certain urban neighborhoods, things like that. A lot of corruption too. So I don't like that. I'm not proud, actually, about those. Luis Abanto Rojas: Chase. Wow, that's another existential question. Luis Abanto Rojas: Eh, I would say, you know, being born there, educated there. Luis Abanto Rojas: So I migrated already when I was 17. Roxane Akakpo: Yeah, the big story is like closest seller market and like the little, yeah, they have a lot of stuff there. Luis Abanto Rojas: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the place for. Yeah. Semon Jama: OK. Semon Jama: That's good. Semon Jama: The third question goes how likely would you and your family be to use the website we're creating for uploading your stories? Luis Abanto Rojas: This could be something in the sun. Luis Abanto Rojas: Would you repeat the question please? Semon Jama: How likely would you and your family be to use the website we're creating for uploading your stories? Luis Abanto Rojas: Oh. Luis Abanto Rojas: A site you're creating. Luis Abanto Rojas: I haven't checked that site, but I find that fantastic. I mean to have. Luis Abanto Rojas: A non-alternative for those stories to share. Luis Abanto Rojas: I mean to connect people. Luis Abanto Rojas: Oh, no, thank you very much for your work. Semon Jama: No problem. Semon Jama: Thank you very much for sharing your stories. Luis Abanto Rojas: And. Luis Abanto Rojas: Yeah. Semon Jama: And yeah, sorry. Semon Jama: And then it goes. Semon Jama: And how would you use it? Semon Jama: It would be better to serve the community to any suggestions from you about access as well as what should be posted would be greatly appreciated. Luis Abanto Rojas: Yeah, I think so. Luis Abanto Rojas: I think so. Luis Abanto Rojas: I mean the big differences between, you know, the time I came to Canada and now is that you can give a voice to people. Luis Abanto Rojas: I mean the good use of social media, I think, is very, very positive. Luis Abanto Rojas: And then the interesting part is the micro story, you know, the micro story, people's stories, those micro narrations, they in fact give us more information than, you know, the big discourses when we see them testimonials or people of all ages. Luis Abanto Rojas: So we can have a better understanding of this history of migration, so giving the voice today, you know, all the communities, the best you can do. Luis Abanto Rojas: And to have a digital archive of that, you know, together with my, my team, linguistic team in Spanish. That's what we plan to do, to do interviews with people from the community. Luis Abanto Rojas: And our goal is just linguistic, just to hear the narrations, you know, so students can understand. Luis Abanto Rojas: So it's to develop the oral and listening comprehension story, but the content can serve to other areas. Luis Abanto Rojas: Or areas of like sociology and anthropology, yes. So I mean, we are in the same frequency. Luis Abanto Rojas: I think this is a necessary work to do while the communities are still very, very active. Semon Jama: Thank you very much. Semon Jama: And last but not least, do you have any comments or concerns you would like to share with us? Luis Abanto Rojas: Well, I have to congratulate you for this initiative and please come and see me anytime. We are here at. Luis Abanto Rojas: Laurier St. This is Department of Modern Languages. Luis Abanto Rojas: We work with the other linguistic profiles. Luis Abanto Rojas: We are basically international communities and happy to help with other communities too, like the Arabic Community, Chinese, Japanese, and so on. Semon Jama: Thank you so much. Semon Jama: I really appreciate you coming here and sharing your stories, and thank you for giving us your time. Luis Abanto Rojas: Oh, thank you very much. Luis Abanto Rojas: Thank you, Roxanne. Roxane Akakpo: Yeah. Thank you so much. Luis Abanto Rojas: And yeah, and Simon, OK. Roxane Akakpo: Thank you. Roxane Akakpo: Enjoy your day. Luis Abanto Rojas: Thank you. Danielle Muceros: Thank you so much. Luis Abanto Rojas: You too. Thank you. Luis Abanto Rojas: Bye bye. Gracias. Danielle Muceros: Gracias</div> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Luis Abanto Rojas Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-03-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 29 min 08 s Language A language of the resource English Description An account of the resource Luis Abanto left his home country in 1985 when he was 17 from Peru and lived in France for six years as a refugee. Due to corruption and ongoing conflicts in his country, he moved for a better life. During his time at university, he met a Canadian girlfriend, which eventually led him to move to Kitchener-Waterloo, Canada, where he lived for two years. Motivated by his connection to the French language, Abanto chose to move to Ottawa to pursue his master's degree. His experiences across different countries have shaped his academic and personal journey. He feels like Ottawa is not big when it comes to the Latin population compared to Toronto. When came to Ottawa he lived in Vanier for 13 years. He enjoyed spending time with Portuguese who lived in his neighborhood. https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/6a15435cf1e65f1a9a3cdc99e3be851e.mp3 cd6b243937d6eeba5c26227076544ee0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Sola Dupain and Finesse Lunsky Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Maria Location The location of the interview Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Finesse (00:00:00): Thank you so much for joining us and for participating in AnthroHarvest's interview. So we're going to ask you 12 questions, but if anything makes you uncomfortable, please feel free to not answer that question and we'll just skip to the next.  Maria (00:00:15): Okay.  Finesse (00:00:16): Okay. So we're going to start off with what is your country of origin?  Maria (00:00:21): Mexico.  Finesse (00:00:22): Perfect. And what brought you to Ottawa?  Maria (00:00:25): I came here to study university to do my undergraduate degree.  Finesse (00:00:29): And what do you study?  Maria (00:00:30): I'm doing political, joint honors, political science and history.  Finesse (00:00:35): Can you tell us a bit more about why you chose to study in Canada?  Maria (00:00:38):  So I won't say that I chose to be here in Canada by myself. It was like a decision that was heavily influenced by my parents, especially my dad. So my dad wanted me to go to study abroad. He wanted me to experience a different culture, learn a different mindset, have a more diverse experience in my life and give me opportunities he didn't never had. However, he didn't want me to go all the way to Europe or Asia because that's way too far, far away from home. It will require definitely more than two or three airplanes. It's like flights are over 10 hours. So he wanted me to have the possibility to visit home frequently or if whatever, because if there was like homesickness or actual sickness or whatever, just to be able to get back to Mexico fast. So he decided that something will be, that the best pick will be something here in America. So the other option was Canada in the US. Neither me nor my dad are thrilled about the US culture, then like instability. There's also like insecurity, the prices. So we chose Canada. Plus Canada has always been marketized in Mexico, like the great utopia, you know, where like there's free healthcare, there's security, people are happy, people are nice, people are friendly, people are not rude. So yeah, I ended up here coming to Canada. I was first at a boarding school in Victoria in BC, and then I moved here to Ontario to do my university at Ottawa.  Finesse (00:02:18): Do you have family here and do you see them frequently if you do?  Maria (00:02:22): I, currently, I don't. When I came here, like a year after, one of my brothers moved here, too, to study. He was an Algonquin, but he didn't like living in Canada, so he went back to Mexico. So currently, not otherwise, it's just me.  Finesse (00:02:37): Okay. Do you think you would eventually go back to Mexico and live there permanently?  Maria (00:02:45):  Honestly, again, I don't know. That's, I'm a decision that is not 100% for me to take. My dads, my parents have influenced a lot of my decisions. I would love to maybe eventually go back to Mexico. However, the political situation, the social situation, there's a lot of crime, there's a lot of insecurity. So I don't know if it will be in my best interest or my best fit to me to go back home. I'd like to visit often. I'd like to stay long times, be like there a couple months. However, for settling, I think. I will try either to move somewhere else I I've been in Canada a couple years now so I definitely don't see myself sticking here for too long but I will I would like to go maybe to Europe maybe go to France try to learn French or Italy something new something different and maybe once I'm done traveling done experimenting and living life I would like to go on back home and settle.  Finesse (00:03:45): And do you live in a Latin community or neighborhood where people speak Spanish and celebrate various occasions?  Maria (00:03:53): No, not really. I don't think I've found that here in Ottawa. I know there's like Latin communities in Vancouver and Toronto, like really Latin neighborhoods. I haven't found that here in Ottawa.  Finesse (00:04:06): I know you mentioned that you don't live in a Latin community or neighborhood where people speak Spanish. But do you know if there is a neighborhood in Ottawa that exists where you can do so?  Maria (00:04:17):  As a matter of fact, I know it doesn't exist. I know there's like places in Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, where they're like literally just like you go to the Chinese neighborhood, like there's like Latin neighborhoods, you know, like there's a lot of Mexican businesses or like Latin, whatever, like mixed with Colombian and Swell and whatever. And there's like a lot of apartments and rent to people that have migrated from Latin communities.I know we don't have that here in Ottawa. The closest thing I've found so far is like Facebook groups, like Latin Facebook groups, where people will like spend their business, will like just share and like, oh, their businesses, their ideas, they will like look for advice, like, hey, I'm looking to rent an apartment or hey, I'm looking for a job, like, what can you, how can you help me? And that's like the closest thing I've found, to have a community or neighborhood of people that speak Spanish in Ottawa. I think it would be great if there eventually becomes one, maybe as more people come here to Ottawa, as more people settle they will eventually be one be created. I know one of the big issues right now is that we're all like scattered throughout the city. A lot of like live all live like in Gatino, others like live in Nepean, others like live like an hour away from downtown. And the reason is like, I know they're looking for like places that are not that high on rent. So that is definitely a challenge.  Finesse (00:05:46): And what celebrations are most important to you?  Maria (00:05:50): As like holidays I'll say that in Mexico the most popular ones are there's actually one that's coming like this next week which is like in English I think it's called no it's like a Catholic event um in Spanish is Semana Santa I remember the name in English like two weeks of like the Holy Week like one from like when like Christa and like the whole thing that was really common um Christmas. And I'll say after that, we have Day of the Dead. Personally, myself don't really care about it. I have family members that do.  Finesse (00:06:24): Do you have strong contact with your community and family back home while you are living in Ottawa? And if so, does that help you stay connected?  Maria (00:06:34):  I'll say that it's a 50-50. I do try to stay connected. I think the most common thing that I use is that I text them a lot. I text a lot of my family, I text a lot of my friends. I try to do FaceTime with like as many with them as they can. I would send them like you change stuff through social media. It does become a bit hard because, well, sometimes life gets busy. You know, you have school, you have work, you have your personal issues. So it's not like you can be in the phone 24/7. But I do try to have them involved in my life, let them like give them updates like, hey, have you been? I've been doing this, what you're up to? I also try to visit as much as possible. Sometimes that's an issue because well, plane tickets are pricey and well, I have school and stuff like that. I have like my own personal commitments. But I do try to keep a strong contact with my community and my family, my friends. I think if I don't keep in contact with them, if I like stop reaching out to them, I start to feel like lonely and isolated. So I like for them, I have like group chats with my friends and family and we keep each other updated like, hey, I'm doing this. Like we're all living our different plots. We're all trying to keep each other like updated and involved just so we don't feel like we're not part of each other's life anymore.  Finesse (00:08:02):Okay. Um, and can you describe a typical day in your community?  Maria (00:08:07): Like living here, living back home. Finesse (00:08:10): Maybe both?  Maria (00:08:11):  So I think it changes a lot. Living here, my typical day will be waking up, doing like my self-care routine. Taking care of my pets, going either to work or going to school, going back home, feeding myself. That's pretty much, I'm pretty by myself. I'll say that back home is more different. People tend to mingle more. I think here if you want to meet with your friends, you need to schedule it way in advance. In Mexico, the culture is really common like, Hey, what are you doing right now? Let's meet up right now to go have breakfast. So it will be something like that, I will wake up, have breakfast by myself, with my siblings, or with a friend go do either whatever errands I have to do for the day, whatever work, and I'll always meet up with someone. Like it's a more social life.  Sola (00:08:57): Would you want to be part of one of these communities?  Maria (00:09:02): I think I will love it. It's nice to have... to socialize with other people that have experienced the same things that you have, that get the same feelings of being away from home and missing it and sometimes wanting to go back but also wanting to push forward with the decisions because at the end of the day you move away from home because you're looking for better opportunities, for better stability, for better life conditions. So it will be nice to be part of a big group that gets that feeling. And not only that, but also help newcomers here to Canada to go to navigate like the whole migration thing and the adoption.  Sola (00:09:42): How do you celebrate your heritage, whether in Canada or back home?  Maria (00:09:49):  I don't think I really do nothing here in Canada, like to celebrate, oh, I'm Mexican. Yeah, I've never done anything. Sometimes with my friends, we will cook for ourselves just to not lose my culture. I will cook my own food at home. I don't really go to the Mexican restaurants here because I don't find them good. They're not bad, but if you have had the real deal that I need. As a back home, we do have a lot of the days, like Independence Day, the Revolution Day. It says that in Mexico we tend to celebrate them. We tend to have the day off from school or the day off from work. We tend to go out to eat. Even if we don't really care about the whole celebration, it's a time where you do socialize and spend time with friends and family.  Sola (00:10:33): Okay, that makes sense. What are some values that you hold most dear as a member of the Latin community?  Maria (00:10:41): I'll say it would be the connection to family. I think Latin families we do care a lot about. No matter what your family is, it's like blood is blood. You need to hold each other and be together. I think that's something I try to keep, especially right now that I'm by myself. I try to have connection and keep connection with my brothers that are somewhere else, with my family, not get too distant.  Sola (00:11:03): Can you tell us more about the family values from your community and how that compares to what values you see in Canada?  Maria (00:11:10): You really care. And it's expected for you to be to those that are like your family, your blood related and everything, and your close friends, no matter what. You always try your best, like it's really normal to do a favor and do it and not without expecting anything in return. Also expected for your parents and to be for your family, no matter what. And I think the biggest example for that can be how here in Canada, once you turn 18, 19, it's expected for a lot of the kids to move out of the parents' house. That's not the norm. Unless you're going away to another city, like going abroad to another country to study, you're not, your parents are expected to stay at your house with them. And even if you leave, let's say, I want to go study to another state, but inside Mexico, or I want to study in another country, your parents are still socially expected to help you as much as they can, obviously taking into account their possibilities. But yeah, it's like what's socially expected is what's socially from like fomented. And yeah, I'd say like that's it. I think that I've seen that in Mexico. People will always try to have your back, no matter what, and he and I think people are more, it's not selfish, the world say they're more individualistic, like... Okay, this is my issue. My things are my things. And if I can, or maybe you care about the person, then you will try to reach out or help other ones. If not, it's like whatever, you know, like not my issue, not my problem.  Sola (00:12:49): And you talked about food. What foods do you make that remind you of home and where do you purchase your groceries to prepare your traditional meals?  Maria (00:12:57): So the groceries, I tend to buy most of the stuff at like places like Blah Blahs or Food Basics. I do bring a lot of stuff from home. Like if I wanna make los chilaquiles, which is like a dish with tortillas and like a chili sauce, that's like tomato chili sauce. Sometimes there's like little Mexican stores, like Latin markets that do sell them here. I don't try to buy them here as often because they tend to be way overpriced. So when I go back home, I bring the stuff that I know like I can bring. And I'll cook it here. And I found to buy like certain replacements. Like I know here in Canada, it's not really common to eat like soft cheese on pasta or cheese. So I found like something, I found like a Greek cheese that is like pretty similar in flavor and texture that I can find like at Costco. So I've done like a lot of substitutions. I've done like a lot of like Mexican soups, like tortilla soup, which is called tortilla. uh uh lalpeno soup which is like similar to like a chicken soup but with like a spicy chili twist um chilaquiles and chiladas which a lot of things involve tortilla and tomato and chili just in different presentation and cheese.  Sola (00:14:08): Okay that sounds really yum. What would you like to share about yourself or your community that you think is important for people to know?  Maria (00:14:15): I don't know I think I think a lot of people have the misconception that All Mexicans have to be short, brown, and fat. We're not like that. We were a colonized country. There's a lot of people that are mixed, a lot. It's pretty normal to see white Mexicans, really tall Mexicans, or like ginger Mexicans, even black Mexicans. So I think it's important to people to not try to pinpoint us just to like a basic physical stereotype. And what was the second part of the question, sorry.  Sola (00:14:48): What do you think is important for people to know, whether about yourself or your community?  Maria (00:14:52): Well, I would say that's mostly it also. Yeah, I would say that mostly that plus Mexican cultures tend to vibrate a lot from like, just like how Canada is really diverse between the its own like provinces, just like that is in Mexico too. The culture from the north is really different from the people in the south. You're not going to have the same experience and. I don't know, I think that we must lead.  Sola (00:15:14): Do you think people in Canada stereotype a lot?  Maria (00:15:17): Yes, I have a lot of people ask me, and I swear to God, if you're Mexican, why are you what? And I'm like, okay. I'm like, I'm a mixed, like it's a mixed country, we were colonized.  Sola (00:15:30): Right, okay. This question is related more about our project that we're doing. What would be like the probability for you to use the website and to look into, you know, different stories or different cultures that people have.  Maria (00:15:47): I think it depends on what I'm looking for. I don't know if the website will have stuff like Latin events coming up that people can look into it. I will maybe look into like the website if there's like a way to join or like link up with other Latin, other Mexicans. I will also give it like a try to like check the website out. Or maybe if I need it for a project, I'll also need to check it out. Besides, I don't really see myself trying to Google it.  Sola (00:16:11): Yeah, that's fair. Do you have any other comments or questions for us?  Maria (00:16:15): No, I think that's mostly it. I don't know if that's enough.  Sola (00:16:19): Yeah, no, it was great. It was great to hear your insights and what you think about your community and hear it from you. So thanks so much for joining and for letting us have the space to ask you questions. So thank you.  Maria (00:16:35): No problem. Okay.  Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data In person Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 16:39 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Maria Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Maria is a Mexican immigrant studying Joint Honours in Political Science and History at the University of Ottawa. She first arrived in Victoria, British Columbia, as a boarding student, then moved to Ottawa for post-secondary education, and returned home in the summer to reconnect with her family and Mexican community. As a young adult, Maria looks forward to continuing her exploration and travelling the world, with the possibility of returning home afterward.</div> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Her decision to come to Canada was not her own; it was made by her parents, who saw Canada as a welcoming and open country for immigrants. None of her family members moved with her, except for her brother, who came one year after her arrival for a short time but left soon after because he was not enjoying his experience. This reality contextualizes her early experience of settlement, exhibiting the nuance and varied responses involved with being immersed in a new country and culture.</div> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Maria highlights that long-term integration has not always been easy for her and that this challenge persists long after one’s arrival in a new country. Maria mentioned that she has yet to find a Latin American community in Ottawa, stating she was unaware of its existence. She notes that Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal are hubs for Latin American communities, with organized cultural celebrations and events. She articulated an uneven nature of immigrant integration across different cities and urban contexts. </div> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Maria still holds her cultural identity and the traditions she values very closely, as this helps her stay connected to her Mexican community. She expressed that a significant cultural holiday she celebrates is Semana Santa, a Catholic holy event popular in Mexico. She also appreciates foods such as Chilaquiles, a dish made with tortillas and tomato-chilli sauce, and she buys most of her ingredients at grocery stores like Loblaws and Food Basics. Her incorporation of Mexican culture into her Canadian life has helped Maria maintain her connection to home.</div> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Though Maria details her positive experience in Canada, she also describes her encounters with stereotypes and external perceptions of her identity. She highlighted the colourist and prejudiced assertions people have made, assuming she was not Mexican because of her appearance. Maria emphasized the microaggressions she has experienced through these stereotypes, being questioned for her Mexican identity because she did not fit the image often associated with Mexicans in Western society. </div> <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Throughout her interview, Maria expressed optimism about the future and the new explorations and pathways it might hold for her.</div> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 10, 2026 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3 Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Ethnographic Interview with a Mexican Immigrant https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/724663a1875a83f04e27d757142e218e.mp3 c7b945dbd615de733e737843578b5e8a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Annalise Carson, Malaika Mwabila Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Miguel Gonzalez Location The location of the interview Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Annalise:Perfect, we are ready to start the interview. Welcome Miguel to our interview for our anthropology and hispanic and caribbean class. Okay, so we're starting it off pretty simple. Our first question is what is your country of origin because we are addressing like your past of being an immigrant to Canada so they're all deriving around that. Miguel: Yes, well I am originally from Venezuela. From Venezuela and what brought you to Ottawa? Well basically the situation was really difficult in Venezuela so I have to take care of my family and we have to move back to here in Canada and specifically from Ottawa because the options were like in Montreal where I have family members they're going to speak French so in terms of integration for me to be more easier because in Venezuela we learn some English but not French so okay it's like in terms of getting started into the working field as soon as possible it's going to be a short period of time for me if I just polish my English instead of going to start a new language from zero so basically Ottawa was the best city for my family at the time. Annalise: Okay, perfect, so that was pretty much a little bit of our next question. So if you do in fact have family here, do you see them frequently? So you have family here with you and you have family in Montreal is what I'm gathering. Do you see them pretty frequently? Miguel: Well some of them yes, I visit them a few times a year because of my job I also have to go a lot to Montreal so sometimes I get a couple of days here you know what let's have a coffee I will visit other place but yes I have my wife and my two babies here in Ottawa and also my cousins and my aunt is in Montreal. Annalise: Okay, our next question is do you live in a Latin community or neighborhood where people speak Spanish in your case not so much Portuguese and celebrate various occasions so like any holidays that attribute to Venezuelan culture? Miguel: Being honest there are not that many Venezuelans I mean I know there are some of them sometimes they coordinate some Venezuelan activities because of the situation that is currently happening over there they meet together and that's it but actually I don't know that many I don't know that many Venezuelans and I would like to know more if there are more of them anytime I speak with someone they say oh I'm from Venezuela oh I have a friend I have a you know the the girlfriend of my friend the boyfriend of my friend say oh introduce them to me because I am interested in getting more involved with more Venezuelan people but there are not that many and also nothing related to Venezuelan culture. And so that would mean but Latin community in general would you say that you have more of a Yes Latin community 100% I mean in Mexican communities there is a festival like the Dia de los Muertos for example the Day of the Dead in November there is also a Latin festival how do they call it in English it's like we call it in Spanish desfile it's a paradise parade sorry no paradise parade so there is a Latin parade in September but where all the communities get involved but obviously Colombia, Mexico are bigger communities than Venezuela. Annalise: And what celebrations are most important to you? Miguel: Okay that's important and this one is because the city where I came from we are very we have our own celebration so for example in November there is a celebration a Catholic celebration and also we commemorate the we commemorate like a Catholic celebration so we have our own celebration in November 18 because that's the city where I came from but as Venezuela basically we don't celebrate that much I mean we have like a Semana Santa which is I don't know how to call it in English is because in Venezuela we talk the whole week but it's like here in Canada it's just Thursday and Friday for the Catholic celebration around May or June how do you call it I don't remember in June in May April or May it's like 40 days oh my god I am so bad with this May or June let me see let me let me just translate the Semana Santa in English because the holy week we call it the holy week is you have it here in Canada it's just two days on Friday but that happens sometimes here but over there in Venezuela we do celebrate the whole week and also we have carnivals we call it carnival carnivals it's like you know Brazilian carnivals in Venezuela are kind of the same but it's just two days it's not that big as in Brazil but we do celebrate that and also Christmas, Christmas is like the best celebration that have as a family and Latinos we love to celebrate Christmas it's a little bit different in Canada how do you call it when you eat like the pavo one well I will Easter you know Eastern time yeah that's that's for us it's a whole week you have like two days okay Easter Friday and Easter Easter Sunday Thursday or something like that well we have the whole week for that and we celebrate that a lot and also Christmas in Christmas we do celebrate a lot okay Annalise: Perfect, okay, so could you describe a typical day in your community so your community potentially here that you have with people or your community back home? Miguel: Okay, okay, well back home I left Venezuela 10 years ago so I would describe a day a typical day in my countries it's like okay you get up and then you took your breakfast go to work then I was able because of my job to get back home for lunch and then going back to work and then finish around five and then I have the rest of the day for myself that was after finishing my university studies and it was pretty much amazing being honest then when you move here you say oh my goodness you have you need to have two jobs sometimes three and there is no time to do anything and but no back home was amazing but here here in Canada I am independent so basically I have my own schedule I have my appointment because I am in the customer service field I am a financial advisor so basically what I do is I just schedule my appointment I don't do like anything related to my culture here it's just you know I am working I am focusing right now on my business so if there is a Latin event I would like to go because I like to show up and I want to people know me what I do oh it's a Latin guy having an office in a finance office in downtown Ottawa that's great I want to be there but I just try to go to those to these events to to have presence in the Latin communities but different than that I do not coordinate anything like that so so basically that's my day-to-day it's like having work have to work a lot of hours for my business Annalise: Perfect, okay, and then our next question is how do you celebrate your heritage? Miguel: Okay, well basically in Venezuela we have a the the independence day is in July it's July 5th yes July 5th Canada is July 1st July 1st Venezuela is July 5th we have that independence day but I don't know why but we are not that patriotic yeah I mean it's like yeah it's a holiday it's just like any it's like any other holiday in Venezuela we have so many holidays so basically every single month there is at least one or two every single month and carnival is like two days then for the Easter Easter week it's like the whole week then we have a July in June basically every single month that it has celebration but we do not do that we in my city specifically I am from Maracaibo people used to call us like we are the Quebecois we are the Quebec guys of you know why Canada and Quebec wants to be independent so we basically thinks about the same in our city so we are more it's like okay our culture here in Maracaibo this is what we do we have our own traditional music for festivities we have our own food we have our own celebration and we do that a lot in November yeah Annalise: Okay, cool, what are some values that you hold most dear as a member of the Latin community or as a member of your Venezuelan community? So values that you would hold dear to your heart? Miguel: Okay, well I will just talk obviously about myself, but basically I like helping a lot of people so before coming to Canada I went to Chile and Chile also I was able to help a lot of Venezuelans that they were coming from Venezuela to Chile and that for me is important they always I don't know why my wife always say oh you always say yes and sometimes I say yes even before thinking oh my god imagine all the things I have to do just to do a favor but well you know it's because my instinct is to help others so basically I would be like I am always trying to look for the best for the people in any areas that I can help with for example when I came here I have two degrees I have a bachelor in accounting and also a diploma in insurance so I was able to get a way into the accounting industry getting hired for a big accounting firm and then when you see there is a lot of people looking for information hey how do you how were you able to make it how how was that possible because for me I don't find any information so basically I was sharing that information with them because if for me was that easy I think everybody should have access to that information as well but sometimes other Latin Latino people who are here they are not that friendly to share that information I don't know why sometimes like if for me it wasn't easy so for you it's not gonna be that easy as well so I don't think that way I think if for me it was easy I want this information to be shared with everyone so everybody every other everybody's life would be easier if I share this so that's the way how I think I think we should be more involved as a community even some people say that we are like we think that we are a great community because we help each other from inside I think we should be doing better because we we are not like like for example Jewish or Arabic communities they are very African communities they help each other a lot we are not like them but hopefully we can get better into that okay cool um what would you like to share about yourself or your community that you think is important for people to know well um is that it's an interesting question um well here's to all in sometimes uh you are gonna find you're gonna find people with a lot of knowledge with a lot of a lot of experience but sometimes they don't speak English or they don't speak French so I have to face it by myself I have knowledge I know how to do this stuff but sometimes I am not able to communicate that that doesn't mean I don't have the knowledge so for example you are going to see a lot of people like if you have the patience enough to to listen to to get the way how to understand what they is what they are saying you are going to find a lot of talent that is not being taken advantage by the city because they are they have that barrier the the language barrier is so difficult for them and I can see that with my wife for example my wife has a bachelor in human resources so in HR so basically uh sometimes we say if if you would know how smart I am it's just because I am not able to communicate you know so so people who is raised and born here in Canada is fortunate because they can learn English from scratch and French from scratch or both and that's great but you are going to find a lot of time outside in Latin community there's a lot of professionals willing to do the effort but sometimes the the language barrier is is something that you know for example in my field is accounting that's okay I can handle the numbers I will find a way to get the message across but in the health in the health field for example if you're a doctor if you're a nurse you should be able to communicate very well what what what you are seeing what you know so well if you're like not because you don't speak English or French perfectly that doesn't mean you are not somebody with the knowledge enough to do anything here because you have a lot we have people with a lot of experience in their fields it's just about the language which is okay but that doesn't mean we need to let them on the side because if if we can find a way as a country to take advantage of those people we would be in a you know even better position Annalise: I think that's super relevant, like I've just I've thought about this a lot so I think that's super cool that you bring it up um what foods do you do what foods do you make that remind you of home and where do you purchase your groceries to prepare these traditional meals? Miguel: Okay, well in Venezuela we have arepas yeah so have you tried arepas before um I don't think I've tried them but I've heard about them so there's that place in Ottawa I haven't gone there yet but everybody said you have to go you should go it's amazing called Gunis it's in downtown Ottawa okay and I don't remember the streets but this is in downtown Ottawa nice place I have heard a lot of good reviews about that place you can go there and try it but so we have arepas and also we have a traditional dish called it pavijón in spanish pavijón I don't know how to translate it's like a regular you don't need to translate so it's like shred beef with rice with a yellow plantain and also a cheese and black beans of black beans it's a strong dish for for the lunch time you're gonna love it and also the arepas it's something like it's like I don't know how to describe it it's not like bread but it's a kind of bread so you can put inside whatever you want it's like amazing you know you want to put tuna you want to put cheese you want to put chicken beef pork whatever eggs whatever you want it's amazing it's a good mix with everything so that's something that we do and also we get it from the Walmart from the grocery store than the Super C, Maxi all of them sold those those products that to make arepas and it's really really nice and great to have the chance because when I get when I get out of Venezuela in 2015 I went to Chile first and they were there were not that many places I remember my my dad coming to visit me in Chile and I have to ask them hey bring me some condiments you know some spices because there is nothing so basically I'm eating food from here like Venezuelan style but the taste is not the same because the spices are way way different so so yes here at least here in Canada all the groceries store has a section for latin food or something like that yeah for latin food Annalise: Do you feel like it got better over the years the amount of um like produce that you guys have in the grocery stores? Miguel: Yeah, anytime it's it's it's more it's a piece of oh now they are bringing this product now they are bringing this product now they are bringing this product it's amazing amazing I am just missing the cheese the cheese a traditional cheese at home so this is because of the weather is the weather here in Canada doesn't help to rest the cheese appropriately so we have an amazing cheese back home but it's about the weather Annalise: Okay and uh wait, this is our 11th question, so um pretty much our interview is going to be shared on our website that's produced by our professor so it's been like accumulating interviews over the past years so the question. Is how likely would you and your family be uh how likely would you and your family be to use the website uh that we are creating for uploading your stories and how would you use it um we would like to better serve the community so any suggestions from you about access as well as what should be posted would be greatly appreciated so right now our interview our website I don't know if you've ever gotten a chance or if the link was shared with you by my professor but it's pretty much just you open a blank page and then you select a in a file and then you have all of these different interviews um from different immigrants from different parts of the latin and caribbean parts of the world. So, um, the question pretty much remains as what what could we do to make it better? Miguel: Yes, um, well, first of all we have to share it with as many people as possible so if you can find people even the the same interviewers interview for example if you share the link with me I can share the link in the group in the facebook group for example in my social media hey guys you know what this is a link where these people are interviewing a latin latin entrepreneur or latin professional or whatever so so they can take a look and because being honest I didn't know the website that website existed so would be interesting and also because talking about exactly the same what I mentioned before if I if I see if I can see an interview with someone who has my profile and I can hear he say here his or her experience to all so there is a way to do probably in a short period of time what I want to do so I will contact him or her to get the information to see how he he or her or she is doing it so basically if we can spread the word is is we are going to have we are going to reach more people and more talented people are going to have access to it so that means okay so look at this there are other ways to do the things that you are trying to accomplish but probably that will save you time and money sometimes depending on what you want to achieve you know I think if we can spread that would be would be great Annalise: Perfect, well I'll send it to you by email after this so that you'll have access to your interview eventually once it comes out and to any other interviews that are available on the website and then our last question is do you have any comments or concerns about our whole process? Miguel: No, not really. No worries at all. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data On Zoom Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 21:45 minutes Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Miguel Gonzalez Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">This interview features Miguel Gonzalez, who immigrated from Venezuela to Canada to escape what he describes as a “difficult situation” unfolding there. Miguel had family in Ottawa and Montreal prior to moving to Canada, and selected Ottawa as his home base because of his family's prior experince with English, which he believed would allow them to better integrate into the community. Family is central to Miguel’s identity and experince in Canada. He has many family members who immigrated to Montreal, and he sees them frequently. As a husband and father of two, he is motivated to provide stability and opportunity for his children. He believes success is measured not only by professional achievements but also by the ability to support loved ones and remain grounded in one’s values. Maintaining strong relationships is important to him, whether within his household or his broader social circle.  Miguel has a passion for helping others with mobility and supporting them. He finds it deeply important to have mutual support and information-sharing, particularly within immigrant and Latin communities. He believes collaboration and empathy are essential for overcoming challenges, especially in unfamiliar systems. Having seen how easily people’s skills can be overlooked, he strongly believes in recognizing the knowledge and experience individuals bring. Overall, Miguel is guided by respect, hard work, and a strong sense of responsibility toward others. These beliefs carry over into how he celebrates and shares his Venezuelan culture, as he prioritizes seeing his loved ones share knowledge and supporting the broader Latin American community. </div> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2026-03-10 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 21:45 minutes Language A language of the resource English https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/2cdeb06f5020dbe606d15418ae7ba07f.mp3 fd2d0b653015db5242d93a9d75012bf1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Teagan Logie, Emma Rhéaume, Joshua Foreshew Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Monica Fosado Location The location of the interview Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Teagan: [0:00] Hello AnthroHarvest listeners, my name is Teagan Logie, and I'm here with my colleagues… Joshua: [0:04] Joshua. Emma: [0:05] And Emma. Teagan: [0:06] As part of our anthropology course on Latin America and the Caribbean, with Professor Laurie Weinstein, we're conducting an ethnographic interview to highlight the diversity of Latin culture in the Ottawa region. So let's get right to it. Today, we're thrilled to be joined by Monica Fosado. Monica, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us! To start us off, would you like to introduce yourself? Monica: [0:24] Sure! My name is Monica Fosado, and I have been in Canada and in Ottawa for almost 20 years. I came in 2006. Teagan: [0:34] That's great. Well, it's very nice to meet you. Before we begin, please know that you're free to share as much or as little information as you feel comfortable. And with that being said, let's start off with an easy one. What is your country of origin? Monica: [0:45] I am from Mexico. Teagan: [0:47] And what brought you originally to Ottawa? Monica: [0:50] I came to Ottawa because I really, really wanted to live in Canada more than a full year. So no exchanges, no trips, no backpackings. I wanted to live here. And the second reason is I got into a master's in journalism at Carleton University. Teagan: [1:04] Do you have family here, and do you see them frequently? Monica: [1:08] I do not have family here. I see them frequently online: WhatsApp, Facebook, video calls. Uh, we talk pretty regularly. We're close, and I try to visit once a year, sometimes, if I'm lucky, twice a year. Teagan: [1:19] What celebrations would you say are most important to you? Monica: [1:23] I like decorating my house all through September. It's Mexican Independence Day. I find it quite annoying that people think Cinco de Mayo is such a big deal. It is a holiday, I guess, but it's not big in Mexico. So in May, I make fun of people celebrating here Cinco de Mayo, but in my house, I celebrate September 16, which is Independence Day, which was versus Spaniards. And then another big holiday in Mexico is November 1, the Day of the Dead, uh, because we all have somebody that we wish hadn't left so soon. So it gives us a time to, um, look at photos, send a prayer and make crafts if we want, including the person's photo. Emma: [2:07] So like, when you, uh, when you celebrate the day of the dead or the uh... during the month of September, what specifically do you like to... to do to celebrate? Monica: [2:15] That's a good question, because it's not like I have, like, the army here or… Emma: [2:20] Right. Monica: [2:20] You know, I don't go singing the anthem all day. Um, we have something called papel picado, which is… paper is papel, and picado is like, like poking paper. And you might have seen in some photos of travelers in Latin America that there's, like, tissue paper of different colors, and it has like, little holes and stuff. (...)  [2:39] So like, you bend, you fold it, and you cut figures, and then you open it, and it's like, like, figures and stuff. So what they do in Mexico is they... they cover everything with it in the streets and schools, etc. They have a picado that's green, white and red as the colors of the flag. And so I went home, and at some point I found it in the store back home, and I grabbed some and I folded and I packed it in my bag. And then this September, I just put it everywhere inside my house, in the kitchen. I took a photo, and I told my family, “look, I'm celebrating!” It's very silly, it's just for me, but when I came to the house, I was like, oh, it looks different! I think it's the equivalent of what people... they like to decorate their house for Christmas. It's like, oh, it's Christmas. I thought, oh, it's September in my house. And I didn't toss it. I saved it for next September. Yeah, those little rituals, right? Teagan: [3:28] Is there anything else that you do, I guess, besides those individual celebrations to celebrate your heritage? Monica: [3:36] Sure! I play soccer. That is part of my culture. Many countries, I would say. But in Mexico, you can find people playing bare feet with a bottle. You know, in the street, you don't even need a ball. So that's something I grew up doing, and I still do here, and I love it, because I don't even need to speak the language of the people I'm playing with, but it still makes me feel connected to my heritage. Emma: [3:58] This is just something that I know about you, is that you… you teach salsa, right? Would you say that connects you a little more? Monica: [4:04] I was just thinking about that just now. Emma: [4:08] Did you do salsa in your childhood, or is it something you got into later in life? Monica: [4:10] No, so... no, but I'm milking that cow really well, because people think, "Oh, you must have been born dancing salsa." (...)  [4:19] No, so salsa, some of the musical elements of salsa came from Africa through the slave trade. They made it into Caribbean and through the American Dream, a lot of those Latin American immigrants went to the US when rock and roll was on, and they didn't kick anybody out of the states, they just added themselves. So that's why a salsa band will have all the rock instruments, and then some, the congas and the clave and all these other things. So, all this to say, salsa is from the United States of America, um, but because the music is in Spanish, now, you know it's, it's big in Latin America. [5:00] There's two big dance styles, the LA style and the New York style. So people tend to obviously associate it more with Latin America, because music tends to be mostly in Spanish, now. All this to say one of the cousins of salsa, like the uglier and simpler poor cousin of salsa, is cumbia, and that's what we dance in Mexico. They have cumbia Mexicana, cumbia Peruana, cumbia Tejana, from Texas. So there's a little bit of overlap between both dances. But to be honest, what I was dancing when I was in Mexico was cumbia, you know, at parties and, you know, like every little girl, I had my flamenco in ballet classes, etc. And when I came here, that's all I had. And I got really curious through a roommate at Carleton University, there was a huge salsero, and he got me into salsa. So actually, salsa I took up here. [5:47] Has it been convenient that I speak Spanish and then my business partner is from Havana and etc for our dance studio? It's super convenient. It somehow gives people that have this stereotype that it's all Latin American, you know, I don't have to change the color of my skin or something with listening, "Oh, the Spanish. Oh yeah, she must have been more dancing." It wasn't like that. But I don't hide it either, because this is exactly my point as a dance teacher. Anybody can learn to dance. [6:14] It does bring me closer to my culture, however, because we are, in Latin America, we are touchy feely. We talk with our hands. We tell people, we "uh-huh", we nod, we rub some skin. And in this culture, it's not so well promoted, but when you're dancing, you touch people. So it helps me get that and get people around me to be okay with shrinking slightly their bubble for a good cause, which is, you know, mental health and being social, etc. Teagan: [6:42] Can you describe for us a typical day in your community? Monica: [6:46] Well, back home, it was different. I was living with my parents because I knew I was going to move to Canada and I didn't want to move out and waste time that I knew I would miss my parents like I do truthfully today, so I would study, or eventually, when I graduated, go to work, hang out with my parents, play lots of stuff with my parents. They're big card players and dominoes, and when I go visit, that's still the routine, we always play stuff. Here, of course, I have to adult some more. So go to work, take care of yourself, go to the gym. And I do think the distance makes the heart grow fonder, because I get to talk to my parents on the phone, adult to adult. What you did for your health, what I did for mine, how you paid for bills, how I paid for mine. And some advice that is different when you live under the same roof. [7:27] I should say I am not super connected to other things that would be part of Mexican tradition, by choice. Mexico is ultra Catholic country. Never loved that. So here I don't go to church. [7:38] So I think you create a different community, when you leave your country, and you get to kind of edit your culture and really go hard on the things that make me Mexican, for example, but also renege on the things that I never liked about my culture. I have a tattoo in my back, which is the symbol of the Mexican flag. It's what's in the back of every coin. It's an eagle eating a snake standing on a cactus, and I'm very proud of my heritage. But of course, the things I didn't like, I get to edit it again. [8:07] I've shared with Emma before an example of I try to be really punctual whenever I can, because there's this expectation that Latin Americans and Mexicans are always late. So I always think for some people, for a few people, I will be maybe the only Mexican person they know. I don't want them to have that stereotype. I guess my community is something that I constantly get to create, in some ways with the distance. [8:27] Actually connecting with this, it's... those things make me feel Mexican. I don't speak Spanish most of the day, so I could go days without mentioning I'm Mexican. When I initially came and I was bartending at Carleton, because that's where I was studying. You know, everybody likes to, you know, talk to the bartender and where are you from? And I would make people guess, and they would not guess Mexico right away. I have an accent, but still, people would be like Afghanistan, or like Iran or whatever. So that's why, on one of my first trips home, I got my tattoo, and I also wanted to make sure it was made in Mexico, you know, because it's normal here. Everybody's from somewhere else. We don't necessarily look or act the part, you know, like when I go home, I have certain expectations of humankind that my best friend is, like, "You're too Canadian, we don't do that here" or "You cannot expect people to be respectful like that, these are Mexicans" you know? So part of me feels like I have one foot there and here. So these little rituals are what I do to remind myself that I still want some parts, not all of that culture, you know. So depending, it's kind of utilitarian. When I'm here, I'm Mexican, and when I'm there, I'm Canadian. And it's kind of having two identities or none. But ultimately, it helps you connect with the people who you happen to be around. Teagan: [9:41] That's fantastic. And actually, our next question ties to that a bit. What are some values that you hold most dear as a member of the Latin community? Monica: [9:50] Um, I would say an obsession with justice. I again, think that might be for other countries too. But every country has their own problems and situations they deal with. It's not that Canada doesn't, but I don't miss a lot of cases of, you know, corruption, not being able to trust the police, etc. So in some ways, I shy away from those and try to, I guess, create or adopt new habits. The other one is loyalty. I don't hang out with a lot of Mexican people here, but I do have a few very close to me Mexican friends. I'm not sure how to describe this value other than loyalty, but there's this thing called encargos. I don't know if there's a translation to English, but it's knowing that somebody's going somewhere that you would want to go and offering to get something for them. [10:37] So for example, if I'm going to Mexico, I'll reach out to my guy or girlfriends from Mexico and tell them, Hey, do you need I don't know, this Mexican candy or medication or whatever. Sure, sure. I'll pay you back and I go and get it. Or if they go, it's not such a transgression as it would be in Canadian culture to ask them, "Hey, would you mind if I give you this, if you can get me a box of, you know, chocolates" or whatever. I could find it annoying if I'm not Mexican or endearing if I'm Mexican. This value that we have is this respect for other people's attachment to a place that you're from as well and wanting to bring a little piece of the culture back to them, since it's not around the corner, you know. Teagan: [11:12] Yeah. So maybe I'll skip to one of our other questions just because it might be a good segue. So what foods do you make that remind you of home, and where do you purchase your groceries to prepare your traditional meals? If you do. Monica: [11:27] Sure, yes, I do every day. I'm a big fan of quesadillas. I'll use this opportunity for anybody that's listening: they're called tortillas, not tortilla shells, just tortillas, okay? I always laugh at this. I think this an American thing, which is some sort of actual shell, and then whatever you put inside, you bite and it breaks. And I always tell people, Mexicans are not that stupid. We would never waste food. Our tortillas are made of corn, and they bend, and then they hold your food in place. So I love to make at home, just tacos with whatever, or quesadillas if you put cheese inside. I make them almost daily. They're easier to handle than bread. [12:10] I, uh, make two things that might sound a little bit weird for you. They're my favorite dishes. One is called rajas. They are basically slices of pepper, but this is a poblano pepper, which looks like a jalapeno in color, but it's way bigger, kind of like a bell pepper, and it has a very specific taste. It's not necessarily spicy. So those slices, they're called rajas, and you cook them with slices of onion and cheese and corn, and you can put them in tacos and make rajas tacos or just eat them by themselves. And the other thing is nopales. Nopales are, um, cactus, actually, and they're quite delicious. [12:50] The easy things like tortillas and salsa I can find in the international aisle of any grocery store, but, uh, for nopales and rajas, I have to go to a Latin food market. And there's not many, but there's a cute one in Vanier called Mercado Latino. And the lady that works there is amazing, shout out to Fernanda! There's very few places because they're very nichey. There used to be one in Somerset, and it closed, unfortunately. But, um, yeah, I have to go for quite the drive. It's still easier than go to Mexico to get my cans of things. Teagan: [13:22] That's great. What would you like to share about yourself or your community that you think is important for people to know? Monica: [13:30] There's a huge diversity in culture of Hispanics. You know when people say, are you Spanish? No, I'm... I'm not from Spain. That's European, but I am Hispanic. I speak Spanish. So I do have friends here from Argentina, from Colombia. I love, I love engaging in conversation with them, because we automatically tune out slang and try to discuss in a version of what we think is going to be universal Spanish, and then when we start getting close to each other, we'll be like, "Oh, in Mexico, we say this, how do you guys say that?" "Oh, we say this like this." "Oh, in Peru, we say it this way." So I do want people to know that we have certainly a lot of commonalities, because we're Latin Americans, but we are not all the same, so I still find it very respectful when people hear Spanish and ask, "Hey, where are you from?" Not just assume I'm A, B or C. [14:25] I just found out way later, embarrassingly, in my life, that I just assumed all Latin Americans ate spicy, and I used to be working with a Venezuelan family, and they're like, "No, it's just you." And I was like, what? They're like, "No, we don't eat that stuff." Like I thought all Latin America. So even I had some misconceptions. [14:44] So yeah, I think that our language is a very beautiful one, that we're always super happy to help other people practice, but that we're not all the same, and that if we're living here, there's usually some sort of pain in not being able to be where we were born. So it's always a shame when you have to go really far, because it's better to live here, you know? Teagan: [15:07] How likely would you and your family be to use the website that we are 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 access as well as what should be posted, would be greatly appreciated. Monica: [15:25] I would have to look at it first to make an informed feedback about that. Teagan: [15:29] That makes so much sense. Do you have any other comments or concerns, or anything else you'd like to talk about? Monica: [15:39] No, I'm not familiar enough with the project so that I could give an input. So I appreciate your time. Teagan: [15:44] Yeah. Monica: [15:44] Great question. Emma: [15:45] Well, thank you for answering! Teagan: [15:47] That's it on our list. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data In person Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 15:50 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Monica Fosado Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">This interview features Monicaa Fosado, a vibrant member of Ottawa’s cultural landscape, sharing her personal passions, cultural identity, and community engagement rooted in her Mexican heritage. She pursued her academic journey in Canada at Carleton University, where she completed a master’s degree in journalism. In her free time, she is highly active and engaged in personal hobbies that bring her joy and connection. She teaches salsa dancing at least once a week, and plays soccer regularly. She emphasized both physical activity and social connection as important parts of her routine. Food also plays a central role in how she maintains her connection to her Mexican heritage, regularly preparing traditional dishes such as tacos and quesadillas not only as meals but also as meaningful cultural practices. She also celebrates culturally significant traditions, such as the Day of the Dead, honouring the celebration's importance in Mexican culture. However, what stands out most is how she chooses to engage with her culture on her own terms. She maintains her cultural identity through food, language, and personal traditions, while also contributing to the community in her own way. She teaches Spanish one-on-one, helping others learn the language while sharing aspects of her culture in an informal setting. Her story offers an important insight into the diversity of immigrant experiences. While some individuals seek out strong cultural communities abroad, she demonstrates that cultural identity can also be maintained in more private, self-defined ways. Her life in Ottawa is a blend of independence, cultural pride, and active engagement, showing that belonging does not always require a formal community hub, but can instead be created through everyday practices and personal choices.</div> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Teagan Logie, Emma Rhéaume, Joshua Foreshew Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 3rd, 2026 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 112 MB Language A language of the resource English https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/41542f5d8518536058cf12b7859b5483.mp3 4ede4c5aead7a3968e9f164b18851ec3 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Alberto Camacho-Mallaganes Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Camille Paillat; Sophie Renaud Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data On Zoom Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: Hello! Camille: Hello! Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: How is it going? Camille: It’s good, thank you. Hello again, my name is Camille, and this is Sophie. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today. Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes Camile: Nice to meet you. Of course, no problem. Camille: We appreciate your participation in this interview. So, we only have 15 minutes, and this Zoom is being recorded. Is it okay with you? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: Yes, that is totally fine. Camile: Alright, thank you. We are now going to start with the questions. Sophie: The first question we have is: Could you kindly share your country of origin? And what do you like the most about your country, such as the cities, environment, people, etc.? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: Yeah, so, mine is a little more complicated, I guess. I was born in Mexico, so that would be my country of origin. I moved to California when I was three years old, but I sort of went back and forth between California and Mexico. But as far as my experience with Mexico, I mean, the people are very welcoming and friendly. It is definitely, I don't know... a much slower type of people, I would say. Sophie: Also, what city are you from in Mexico? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: I am from Morelia, Michoacán, which is like, if you know where Mexico City is, about three hours northwest of Mexico City. Sophie: Next question, for moving to Ottawa: What made you move here? And what are those specific reasons? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: I moved to Ottawa because of a PhD. I got the opportunity to join a lab that was doing work that I was very interested in. So, I made the move to Ottawa! Sophie: Is it at uOttawa, Carleton, or another college? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: uOttawa, yes. Sophie: Do you have any family members residing in Ottawa, and how do you maintain connections with them if so? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: I don’t have any family members in Ottawa. All my family is back in California or Mexico. Sophie: For the fourth question: Which cultural celebration is the most significant for you, and how do you participate in it? This can either be in Ottawa, in California, or Mexico. Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: I would say, as far as Mexican holidays, that I still follow them since I moved to Canada. It would be El Día de los Muertos, which is supposed to be a week to a month where you remember people in your family that have passed away. Sophie: In what month is that holiday? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: It is in October, but I always forget. I will have to double-check. Don’t call me out on it, but I think it’s the end of October or the beginning of November. I think that’s when it falls. Sophie: So next question is about your heritage. How do you usually celebrate your cultural heritage? How do you honor it to this day? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: That’s a tough question... I mean, I guess whenever I have the opportunity, I tell people where I’m from. I don’t know if I do anything specific to honor my heritage other than sort of telling people where I’m from, how I grew up, and maybe sharing food. Sophie: What is your favorite food if I can ask? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: It kind of depends... I would say that my favorite is what we call mole, which is like a Mexican curry. That’s the best way to describe it. Sophie: Alright, thank you! Camille: Alright, from what you shared so far, is there anything important that you believe people should know and understand about your culture or community? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: You know what, I think and feel like there is a lot of stereotypes associated with Mexicans. There are certain holidays that are associated with Mexico, such as Cinco de Mayo and stuff like that, but it isn’t really a thing. We don’t all sip tequila and eat tacos all day long. Although we love tequila! Tacos are a huge part of our culture, but the cuisine is like extremely diverse, and there is stuff outside of tequila and tacos too that are associated with culture. There is a rich history there! Camille: And, also, what values do you hold most dearly? Are there any specific traditions, beliefs or practices that are especially meaningful to you? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: Since my mom passed away, I would say the Dia del Muerto is the big one, where it is like when you lose a loved one, after a couple of years you kind of start to forget. It becomes less present in your life that this person is gone. It almost builds a little alter to them, such as you put up their pictures, you buy their favorite snacks, make their favorite foods, or like if they have a specific type of trinket and you put it up next to the picture. It makes you remember a lot of the things that you care for about this person. Camille: To go back to the food, can you share three of your favorite traditional dishes? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: I would say, like mole is probably my favorite one. I know I just said that there is more to the cuisine that tacos, but I love tacos, and to be specific, I love el pastor tacos. They are call it “Mexican shawarma”, and it is basically cooked in the exact same way that shawarma is. But instead of it being chicken and beef, it is pork. So, it’s pork base and it is marinated in a chili paste sauce. It is super tasty. For my third one, it is called a torta, which is a Mexican street sandwich. Camille: If you prepare them, where do you usually go find the ingredients, if you know? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: It’s a struggle to find ingredients here. I mean there is a few little Latin markets. But often times, if you want to make a mole, you have to go to three or four different little Latin markets because they each carry one or two things that you need to make it. It is kind of rough... But, I will say though that I have seen salsa verde. Also, when I moved here five years ago, tomatillos which is a type of green tomato were impossible to find. Now, Loblaws, Metro, and Whole food carry them. So, it is like hey!.. There must be enough Mexicans that they start to carry this specific product. Camille: We are currently working on a website to help share this community's stories. The name of this website is Omeka. It is an open-source attachment system designed to create digital archives. And, how likely are you to engage with it? Do you have any suggestions for how we can make it more accessible and engaging? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: I’ve never heard of the website, so I can’t say that I have engaged with it. So I would say that maybe making people more aware of the website would be my biggest suggestion. If people know about it, they are more likely to engage with it. Camille: Before we wrap up the interview, is there anything else you would like to share, or any thoughts or suggestions? Or even personal stories? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: Not on the top of my head that I can think of. If you guys have any more questions or would like to know more, I know you said you only had 15 minutes, you have 5 minutes if you wanna ask more questions, I am open to share whatever you want to know. Camille: Sophie, do you have any questions? Sophie: I was wondering if your family came to Ottawa? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: My family came to visit me I would say it was like 6 months after I moved here. Other than that, they have not come up to Canada because of the whole pandemic thing, and then after it been like “well I should be done with my PhD soon, come when I finish my PhD”. Sophie: And how did they find it here? Just wondering how you and your family like Ottawa? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: I actually really like Ottawa; I was really surprised. You know, I feel like when I was moving here, I knew it was the capital of Canada, and then I had seen the video of the guy that pulled a raccoon in a McDonald's. That was the two things that I knew about Ottawa, and I was like “yeah alright”. But then I got here, and I don’t know ... it is a really nice city: it has a nice balance of big city stuff, and I like how easy it is to get on the bike path and Gatineau Park. It is something that I really appreciate. Sophie: Now, my last question for you: Are you planning to stay in Ottawa for longer? Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: That is to be determined. For my PhD, I work in cancer research and my goal is to move in biotech or work in the private sector. Ottawa doesn't have a lot of industries for that. I was potentially thinking to apply to the federal government to work in research labs but there are hiring freezes. Ottawa might not be where I end up, but I like it here, and if I end up staying, I would be very happy with that. Sophie: Alright, thank you! I think this is all for us. Camille, do you have any questions? Camille: No, that was all the questions I had. Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: I feel like you were shocked about the raccoon. Camille: YES! Everyone has heard of it. Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: Yes, it was a funny moment that was caught on video. You should feel proud of being a native from Ottawa for that video and that’s what you’re known for. It gives you guys an edge. Camille: Thank you so much for your time and hearing your experiences. Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: Of course! Camille: Your contribution is very important to us. Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes: Happy to assist! Camille: Thank you so much and have a great night! Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Mr. Alberto Camacho-Magallanes Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-03-18 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 13 min 42 s Language A language of the resource English Description An account of the resource Alberto Camacho-Mallaganes was born in Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico which is a city located approximately three hours northwest of Mexico City. At the age of three, the interviewee moved to California but frequently traveled back and forth between Mexico and the United States. Later the interviewee relocated to Ottawa for a PhD after receiving to participate in a research lab that was aligning with their academic interest. https://omeka.uottawa.ca/anthroharvest/files/original/6c065821d5da72f5d7e590a757b77aa3.mp3 9785bf187d7dcca84229d4626e917769 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Latin American stories from Ottawa Description An account of the resource <div style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Beginning in Winter 2025, Professor Laurie Weinstein in ANT3340: Latin American and the Caribbean created Anthroharvest with the goal of inspiring students to explore the diversity of our city through ethnographic interviews. This collection stands as a pillar of students' ongoing efforts to interview friends, family, and members of Ottawa's Latin American and Caribbean communities in surrounding areas. Our ultimate goal is to create an archive of stories for those who identify with the Latin American and Caribbean community, accessible at any time, that preserves knowledge and promotes their cultures. Our project remains ongoing as we learn and connect with new students and people across Ottawa and eastern Canada. We invite you to browse the stories collected by our students, listen to the audio recording, and read transcripts and biographies of those interviewed. </div> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Natalia Proano Gallegos Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Maria Proano Gallegos; Perlene Tshibaj Kawen Karumb; Maya Norgaard Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data In person Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Maya: Hello to our listeners. Today, we're going to be conducting an interview with Natalia as our interviewee. My name is Maya, and I'm going to be interviewing along with Perlene and Maria. Maya: Natalia is from Ecuador, and we're going to be asking her about her culture and her Ecuadorian identity. This is for the anthropology of Latin America and Caribbean in ANT 3340 at the University of Ottawa. Today is March 13th, 2025. This interview is going to be in English. Maya: And… All right. I think we're good to begin. We're going to be rotating the questions between the three of us. Maya: So, I'll go ahead with the first question. Natalia, what's your country of origin? Natalia: My country of origin is Ecuador. I was born there and I stayed there till I was 12 years old. Then, I moved to Canada. Perlene: So, I will go with the second question. What brought you to Ottawa? Natalia: What brought me to Ottawa was mostly my family, my brother. I was living in Winnipeg, and my brother wanted to study in the uOttawa, so then we thought that we could all move into Ottawa so that we can be closer to my brother and also to my sister. She was also going to study in uOttawa. Maria: What brought you to Canada then more specifically? Natalia: We brought me to Canada was the situation of my country as well as my family financial situation. My brother was 17 at the time, and so he was about to start university, but my family coudn’t afford university, so we thought of kind of Canada because the school is has really good schools and it's and it's free as well as there's more help with studying in university. Maya: Do you have family here and do you see them frequently?  Natalia: I have my whole like nuclear family here, my, my siblings and my parents. And I also have an uncle that he came after us moving in Canada. And, um, I also have another uncle that he came here, but he's in Quebec, so I don't see him frequently as I see my other uncle that he came to Winnipeg with us and then later on to Ottawa. Perlene: Do you live in a Latin community or neighborhoods where people speak Spanish and/or Portuguese and celebrate various occasions? Natalia: I don't live in a neighborhood where there's a lot of Spanish … Spanish people. Although I do have some neighbors that are Latin. And I… I don't have a community as much as like in my in my neighborhood. But I do go to a Spanish church where everybody is a Spanish, so I… I live there more. The community of Latin. Maria: What celebrations are more important to you? Natalia: I'll say Christmas… ‘Cause it's really important to me as, as well with the religious aspect to it. I'm Catholic and it also has a really good memories, especially with my, in my family. We used to do really, like, big parties and we used to stay up till like 3:00 AM and it was, like, the whole day. So it's definitely no, I definitely say, Christmas. Maya: Can you describe a typical day in your community? Natalia: I… I think a typical day. Well, I… I wouldn't sure of that question because I think yes, I have a, have a, background of like Latin America, but at the end of the day it is a normal culture, and like I guess like a typical day for, for me is also a typical day for any Canadian. So… I'll say maybe like. Like, reframe the, like the question, because we are all human and, and we all like do typical day stuff like eating and buying food and then going to school and then working, and taking a shower, so yeah. Perlene: How do you celebrate your heritage? Natalia: I’ll say I celebrate… I’ll celebrate my heritage mostly with other people, like sharing my, my culture and, and like teaching other people my culture as well. And, also especially with like dances, or with history facts, or with food. I think a way of celebrating my my culture is when I, and I cook meals that are from, from my, my culture or when I speak Spanish with other people. I think that's a way that I can celebrate in Canada, my culture. Maria: And Speaking of culture, what would you say are some values that you hold the most dear as a member of the Latin American community? Natalia: I think some values I don't… I don't see my values being related as my, my origins, but I do see my values more related to religion. And it is true that most Latin Americans are Catholics. So, I'll say I can see the link there in like Catholicism, but my values are really… I think, I think I think one of the Latin American values actually is really that I've seen a difference here in Canada is like family. In Latin family from my culture, family is very important and we are very united in family rather than here. I feel like I see more separation, like it's normal to… for kids to eat alone or for parents to not, like, do their thing. But in in Ecuador it was all very like… Very related, very united. And it was like it was like “I” don't have a problem. It's not like my mom's problem, but it's like my problem as well. So yeah, I think that that can be considered as a value. Maya: And what would you like to share about yourself or your community that you think is important for people to know? Natalia]: I would like to share that… That the way… That the way that you know there's, there's so much there's there is violence in in my country, it's not it's not necessarily for like a cultural thing but it's more because people they don't have accessibility to food or to do work, and so they they're more, like desperate, and then they start like robbing. But the culture itself, it is a very beautiful and very like has good values of like… Love and like respect, but it is hard to, to live all of that in a country where it's so hard to, to afford basic things and to have a normal life like with work and in school. Perlene: So what food do you make that reminds you of home, and where do you purchase your grocery to prepare your traditional meals? Natalia]: One food that I make that reminds me of home is this thing called Majado, is mostly with plantain. And I think like any superstore, have, has plaintain, luckily. And so I always I, I have no problem with finding mostly, my, like, the food. There's also some Latin markets in Gatineau that I've, I've gone to, where like, I can purchase also, like, corn because here the corn is very, like, more sweet. But in my country we have like… Corn that's more salty, I guess. And so, I love that corn. And so I, yeah, I go to Latin stores too to… To have that. Maria: Awesome. Thank you so much. How likely would you now say you or be to use the website we are creating for uploading your stories? And how would you use it? We would like to serve better the community, so any suggestions from you about access, as well as what should be posted, would be greatly appreciated. Natalia: I think you can post… Yeah, I think it's really good to post something related to culture so that people can know more about other cultures. I think we live in Canada and it's a very cultural country where there's a lot of countries, and, and it's, it's very important to to learn each other's history and, and cultures to grow more. Maria: Are you likely to use the website then? Natalia: Yes, I think I'll be likely to use the website to learn more. Maria: Okay, awesome. Maya: Okay, and I think just for our final question here, um, are there any extra, like, comments or concerns that you have? Natalia: No, I think I'm good. But if you guys have any other questions, feel free to ask. Maya: I think earlier you mentioned, okay, so we're actually at 10 minutes, so plenty of time. But, I think earlier you mentioned at the values question that there was, like, dances that you do. Could you talk more about that? Natalia: Yes. In my, in my country is very, is the dance aspect to… It's very related to festivals, and the aspect of festivals is like again very related to religion, to religion. So when there's like, for example, we have the day of La Mama Negra, which means it's the day of, firstly, the Virgin Mary. And so for those festivals, there's a lot of dances, and, the, the different dances they also have different like, like persons, like there's dances where… It's like a man dressed up as like this, like, like the devil. It's called like the Diablo Huma. And it's very colorful, and they do specific dances and they also have, like, a whip. They say whip? Yeah, they have a whip. And so they, they do dances. It's mostly like jumping. And there's also we have also like the we call them like the clowns and they have, they’re like dressed-up like clowns. And they also like, go around and dancing, and people also like dance there. And it's like a whole, like, festival with, like, a bunch of dances are, are happening and also people there are like celebrating and dancing as well. Natalia: And yeah, I think it's, I think music also is, is very related to… To culture. Sure. Maria: And I wanted to ask you more about you, a little bit when you arrived to Canada. What were some of those cultural shocks that you lived through? How was that transition from coming from Latin America to Canada? Natalia: I think, I think there was definitely very like, cultural shocks. I'll say the the most like impactful one for me, was just how people used to socialize in Ecuador. When we say hi, we mostly like give like a hug or like. Kind of like, yeah, it's we're very like close to one another, right. In Canada, people don't leave themselves with hugs or people don't really like, talk too much, with like, strangers, but they make whether, like, if there was a new kid, everybody would come up to the new kid and, like, talk to them and try to include them in, like, any group. And also like in Ecuador, you know my school like nobody was alone. But when I came to Canada, I found out that, the culture was like, more of like an alone culture. People were doing their thing and they were not like talking to others as much like they have their little like group of friends. They will not go to talk to other kids, and it was, it was just very like, more like closed up and more like cold. Natalia: And so that really shocked me because, like I was, I came to my school and I was new and like, nobody came to talk to me. So I like it was just, it was really very shocking because I wasn't used to that. And I also wasn't used to how people… For example, like in Ecuador, it's really easy to make friends that you talk to someone once and then like, that's your friend. And then you, you hang out with that person, right? In Canada, like, you can talk to someone once, like in school, I will talk to someone and then the other day it was like we didn't even know each other. Natalia: So it was all very hard. It was also really hard for, for me, because I… I didn't know, I didn't know English coming here, so I had to learn English and also like, how to behave in, like, this new culture, so that was definitely a hard time for me. Maria: So, in, in these times, would you say that it was kind of key to find people from your same culture. How, where, did you find that support and how do you manage that? Natalia: Yes, I tried that in my school, though I didn't. There weren't many kids that, they weren't Latin. But I did find kids that they were immigrants as well, like me, and they were mostly from African countries. And I found that their culture was very more similar to mine because they were like, more open to talk or they were like, more like they were like, I don't know, more loud like… And yeah, more more. Natalia: It was for me at the time it was, it was much easier to make Africans friends, than, than the other kids cause, I don't know, at the time it was hard now, no. For me it's like it's the same, I can… I know how to… Make friends in all cultures, but at the time I also wanted someone to relate to that, it was… It was, yeah. I definitely had friends that were more like immigrants. Maria: That's very understandable. I can imagine that it's extremely important to find that community to rely on. Where is that community now and how do you find that, kind of like, community, where you fit in, where you can relate to that Latin American culture? Natalia: I have. I've made friends that were Latin and my best friend, she's Colombian. And so I talk to her, I, I found a lot of like support just like she, she understands my culture and then we can go to, like, dances together. And she knows my music and she knows how to dance like in my country. And also like we cook the same food. But I've also found community in other cultures here in in Canada. Natalia: Yeah. Like, like I've said, now that I speak English and I'm I'm like familiar to… To more like the Canadian culture and to other cultures, and I have friends from here that are also, like, very Canadian and I'm experiencing that now that it’s easier for me to socialize and I also have friends, yeah, from all over. Maria: That's wonderful. Thank you, Natalia. Natalia: You're welcome. Maya: All right. Just one more question, just to end us off. You mentioned that Christmas was your favorite holiday. Are there any, like, stark differences between, like, Ecuadorian Christmas in Ecuador versus like Canadian Christmas?  Natalia: Yes, I think, I think it's hard for me to really tell the difference ‘cause, in Christmas, even now that we're in Canada, we still like celebrate in an Ecuadorian way with my family. But I think still like, main, is like in, in Ecuador, we stay… It's a very, very late Christmas rather here. I think people go home and like, go to sleep after Christmas. Natalia: But yeah, in Ecuador is like the whole day, the whole night. It's like we party a lot and we do dances, there's like, a lot of food, especially, like, supper. And even in the morning, like, it starts from the morning and it ends, like, really, really late. Maria: Right. And we're talking about the 24th, right? Just to be specific, you celebrate Christmas on the 24th? 00:17:50 Natalia: Yes, yes, that too. I celebrate Christmas on the 24th from the morning. And then at 12:00PM we, everybody would give a hug because we're, like, now it's like kind of like Christmas, but it was already Christmas in the morning. But we give a hug at 12:00PM and then we stay up, till like the night of the, or like the day, during the night of the 24th. And then the 25th, we're like super tired because like… We partied all night on the 24th. So the 25 you were mostly like in bed. Like, really tired. Like opening gifts. But yeah, it's mostly that the 24th, it's like really big. Maria: And also you, you were mentioning that Latin American countries being mostly Catholic, would you see the difference in the Christmas back in Ecuador being concentrated more in their religious aspects rather than here, where it has been taken out of the religious aspect? Natalia: Yeah, I see it, especially in like, the city in Ecuador. Everything is also decorated with, like, the, how we say, “pesebre”, the Nativity. And there's like, a big like Mountain in Ecuador, El Panecillo, and at the top they used to have really big… Like silhouettes of the Nativity and like, was like, with the Virgin Mary, Jesus. And they're like, they also, the three kings. And it was like really, really big. You could see, like, from really far. And like, like in all the streets, also like, nativities and like little angels and like also the songs related to Christmas in Ecuador there is a very religious aspect to it. I will hear like songs are… It's, it's more like… Like, um, like Christmas. Different Christmas. Natalia: So yeah, I, I definitely saw the change because back home everything was like we will sing songs, they will like, celebrate like the Nativity and here the Christmas it was more like different. Also more, like, stronger like, with Santa Claus and everything. Maria: Well, thank you so much, Natalia, for this wonderful interview. It's been great chatting with you. Natalia: Thank you. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversation with Natalia Proano Gallegos Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-03-13 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 20 min 4 s Language A language of the resource English Description An account of the resource Natalia is a nineteen-year-old student originally from Ecuador. She arrived in Canada when she was around twelve years old. Natalia first arrived in Winnipeg and then, later on, moved to Ottawa. Due to growing up in Ecuador, she feels very close to her Latin American culture. During this interview, Natalia will talk to us about the process of coming to Canada and telling us about her culture and identity.