Indo-Caribbean voices challenge Canada’s changing identity narrative

What does it mean to be Canadian in a country that looks dramatically different from the Canada celebrated at its centennial?

That question was at the centre of the first major conference of Interrogating Canadian Identities, held at York University’s Keele campus.

The conference, supported through a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council partnership grant, brought together researchers examining how ideas about Canadian identity formed around the 1967 Centennial continue to influence the country’s understanding of itself.

The organizers argue that many familiar ideas about Canada remain rooted in the experiences and perspectives of earlier settler communities, despite five decades of immigration, the adoption of multiculturalism in 1971, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and growing attention to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Among the conference presentations was research by York University Professor Emeritus Roberto Perin examining the experiences of Indo-Caribbean Canadians. His paper, “The Tangled Web of Immigrant Identity,” explores what he describes as a “double diaspora” — the migration of people from India to the Caribbean through indentureship and, later, migration from the Caribbean to Canada.

Perin, himself a second-generation Canadian from Trinidad, argues that Indo-Caribbean Canadians occupy a complicated position between African, Caribbean and Indian diasporas. He describes the community as existing in a “liminal space” between racial identities, while emphasizing its importance to understanding Canada’s multicultural development

Other presentations similarly questioned whether Canada’s celebrated multicultural identity adequately reflects the experiences of contemporary communities.

Research on post-2019 Hong Kong immigrants examined how newer arrivals are reshaping established Chinese-Canadian neighbourhoods in Markham. Another presentation explored the experiences of Muslim Pakistani immigrants and the institutional processes through which multiculturalism, education and public services shape belonging.

Researchers also examined Canadian identity through food, fashion, film, media, environmental access and cultural symbols. One presentation questioned the continued prominence of symbols such as hockey and the maple leaf, while another examined how clothing and textiles have been used to construct narratives of Canadian identity.

The conference also looked beyond major metropolitan centres. Research based on focus groups with students at Cape Breton University found that hockey, the maple leaf and Canadian politeness remain important markers of national identity, while students also recognized that identity is actively shaped by media, advertising, policy and digital platforms.

For the ICI project, that tension is central. Canada has changed considerably since 1967, but the stories, symbols and institutional practices through which Canadians understand their country have not always changed with it.

The conference therefore posed a question with implications well beyond academia: if Canadian society has changed, should Canadians also rethink the story they tell about who belongs here?

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