Juan, Nia, Maddy, Nadia and Monique

Throughout these last few months, we have participated in multicultural conversations within our own LICC group. Our group has a very diverse set of people all coming from different backgrounds from countries such as Colombia, Canada, Pakistan, Jamaica and Scotland. We all valued each of us being from such different countries and we appreciated how different we all looked and communicated amongst each other. We all took the time out in each group discussion to learn more about each other and learn to understand each other’s different views and values on our cultural backgrounds. Our group worked really well together, as we all were very friendly and based our conversations on our own personal experiences as they were all so different and diverse based on all our different cultural backgrounds, and our upbringings within our families.

This understanding of each member in the group and our country's backgrounds can also relate to when we go away and visit other countries where the culture and language may be different, we can now have the understanding and patience to get to know people from much different countries easier and learn how to effectively communicate and set a foundation for future friendships and relationships with others from different countries. We all believed that understanding people from different cultural backgrounds gives us more understanding and knowledge on how our different norms and values help form and shape the people we are today, which gives us more appreciation on how different we all are but we are still able to find shared characteristics and values which gives us a strong foundation for our group and our group work. We all took the time out in each group discussion to learn more about each other and learn to understand each other’s’ different views and values on our cultural backgrounds. Despite our differences with our cultures, we found commonalities through our communication styles such as practicing active listening and supporting each other when new ideas are being brought up. It enabled us to appreciate and learn from each other's unique viewpoints based on our experiences, which brought us closer together. For instance, our group agreed that using sarcasm is a common way of coping with sensitive and vulnerable topics. We learned that this is a shared trait that we all shared when it comes to being in situations where we might feel uncomfortable sharing details but we made sure that we all were open and accepting of each other's differences. Furthermore, we understand that understanding the difference in values of other cultures has now given us a tool to use in academic or day to day life to have a longer understanding of other points of the matter.

We feel that the graphic image that we created represents our groups’ collective diversity. We are all of various ethnicities, having unique experiences which have shaped our perspectives and views, and we were able to rely those personal experiences with one another. We all had a mutual ground as we were all either born and raised or immigrated to Canada at a young age, therefore, we were able to relate to many aspects of our lives yet still had our distinct differences. We embraced the lessons we have learnt from one another and were able to build an understanding of the multiple cultures, religions, and races. We also included in the Canadian Native flag that was created by a Kwakwaka’wakw artist, Curtis Wilson (Raeside, 2022). We felt this represented what the Canadian flag should look like and how Native artists should be more recognized and appreciated for their artwork, as many have their work stolen from them and fail to receive the recognition they deserve. As a group we sympathize with feeling left out and we like to recognize and appreciate all minorities and groups in society.

Overall, this semester, these conversations have demonstrated the different perspectives, various cultural distinctions, and advanced cross-cultural communication. Our group found that from our multiple in person interactions we became closer and more trusting with each other when sharing vulnerable information about our upbringings and cultural backgrounds. We also found that having this class in person helped us create a better emotional connection versus having discussions online where miscommunication is often at play and creates a larger challenge than what is necessary. We were able to have more in depth conversations and often got off topic but that is because we all get along and despite the fact we began this assignment as strangers we have now have made lifelong connections which have taught us how to be receptive to others culture and strengthen unity to further strengthen multiculturalism in Canada, as well as it taught us how to take multiculturalism into our workplaces in developing professional relationships and team building while also making Canada an even more diverse, inclusive and welcoming environment.

Monique Thompson, HR261, Human Rights and Human & Diversity, Brantford

Nadia Shaikh, HR261, Human Rights and Human Diversity, Brantford 

Nia Maidens, HR261, Human Rights and Human Diversity, Brantford

MadisonMcKay, HR261, Human Rights and Human Diversity, Brantford 

Juan Gomez, HR261, Human Rights and Human Diversity, Brantford