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Dear reader,
HuffPost Canada’s Charmaine Noronha got an intimate look this week at the conversations immigrant mothers have with their Canadian-born daughters. The talks took place around a dinner table under a spotlight at a Toronto theater, but they were wholly authentic.
“Like Mother, Like Daughter” is an unscripted play that casts real mother-daughter duos from Canada where 1 in 5 people is an immigrant.
Charmaine, whose family arrived in Canada from Kenya when she was 8 months old, said the play resonated with her. “My parents and I had never had open conversations growing up,” she said. “While my mom and I have become closer, mostly just over the course of this past year due to a health-related issue, we didn’t always talk as frequently or openly as we do now. I think often with immigrant parents, you’ll always be ‘their child’ in their eyes so it can be difficult to have ‘real’ convos at times.”
In some immigrant families, she added, girls face additional barriers. “Boys are given free rein to some degree, whereas girls are more ‘protected’ and their behavior may be monitored more closely,” she said. “Boys are sometimes valued in a different way and are therefore granted more independence, but some parents think that their daughters need to be reared more closely, are given more direction and might be not be granted as much freedom and independence as their male counterparts.”
These are some of the issues highlighted in HuffPost Canada’s Born And Raised series, where Charmaine’s story appeared. “It explores how [second-generation Canadians] define our identities (Canadian and otherwise), how we navigate the multiple cultures we grow up with, and how we connect with our family and loved ones,” said Lisa Yeung, HuffPost Canada’s managing editor of lifestyle and blogs. “It’s one that’s dear to our hearts because we have many children of immigrants in the Canada newsroom, myself and Charmaine included.”
The series, which launched in 2016, includes a number of stories about the unique challenges some immigrant women face—from pressure to marry early to insecurities about their appearances.
With migration increasing worldwide and more people living outside of the country of their birth than ever before, it’s a timely series of sweetly told stories.
Until next time,
Emily
For more on second generation Canadians: Check out the “Born And Raised” podcast. This Sunday’s episode: “Mom’s Cooking.”
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