Words of passion and fury flew from poet’s tongues as they questioned Canadian identity at the I (Sl)am Canadian? event March 13 at Dunton Tower.
The event featured three Canadian slam poets in Mosha Folger, Festrall, and Carleton graduate Christopher Tse. Together, they questioned what it really means to be Canadian.
Organized by an ArtsOne cluster, the event supported the “I Am Canadian” theme. ArtsOne student Meredith Gallinger said slam poetry was their event of choice because of the personal variety of stories it can give in its own raw, emotional way.
The event gave “different views” of Canadian identity, said Heather White, another ArtsOne student.
The three poets each came from very different backgrounds, but shared what it meant to be Canadian from their perspectives. Despite their differences, their poems described very similar struggles in defining themselves as Canadian. All of them described coping with the darker side of being minorities in Canada.
“I remember the days this was a great nation,” said Tse, as he told the story of his life as the child of an immigrant.
Tse’s poetry revealed his father’s struggles with racism and the everyday battles of an immigrant.
Festrall, whose parents hail from the Philippines, discussed similar issues in her work. Her poems, filled with pop-culture references that displayed her self-proclaimed geek-hood, explored the pressure on immigrants to become like the majority.
Folger’s rhymes brewed a similar anger towards Canada. The half-Inuit, half-American rap artist had much to say about his ancestry in the land.
“You’ll see what you want me to be,” he said of his appearance.
He said he’s seen as Asian, Mexican, or anything besides Inuit, despite being native to this land.
Folger had a lot to say about Canadian ignorance of the Inuit. He said he believes Canada is putting too many of its resources into foreign nations that are already helping themselves. In doing so, Canada ignores the problems of the Inuit in its own backyard, he said.
Suicide rate among Inuit is 11 times higher than the Canadian average, according to Folger. Although the Canadian government treats suicide as the issue, it’s only a symptom of the larger problem: how Inuit people are treated, he said.
All three poets displayed Canadian pride in spite of their rage against the country. Whether it was Festrall’s Canadian flag tie or Folger’s statement that he “feels pride in a lot of things [about Canada].”
If there was one thing to take from the poems, it was that there is no unified Canadian identity. As Tse said, everybody has their own stories and their own idea of what it means to be Canadian.
