His name is Ndejuru
Émilie Ndejuru, 43, was born in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade to Rwandan parents. She is a second generation immigrant.
Does she define herself as Quebecois?
It doesn’t matter how I define myself because, ultimately, it’s others who define us. And others define me as an immigrant. People don’t know I was born here. My name is Ndejuru.
Émilie Ndejuru, 43 years old
Émilie spent the first five years of her life in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade. Then, from the age of 7 to 15, she lived with her family in Niger and Burkina Faso, where her father had accepted international cooperation contracts.
“Then it was as if I re-immigrated to Quebec,” she explains. I went to finish high school at Saint-Luc school. I had an accent, a bit West African, and different expressions. I didn’t have the same cultural references. I really stood out! It was extremely difficult. »
New start in 2004, alone this time. She spent almost three years in Rwanda. “I came back in 2007,” she explains. I decided to put down roots because this is where I feel good. It’s at my house. It’s too weird to say, but when I’m in Montreal, I know what to do. I can do it on my own. I know how to navigate. »
An idea to promote integration
“People learn much faster when they feel confident. When you make language too political, people are afraid. Learning French has to be fun. »
Identity simplicity
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Akos Verboczy arrived in Quebec as a child.
Author, Akos Verboczy, 48 years old, is a child of law 101. His first book, Quebec Rhapsody, published in 2016, tells the story of how he became a Quebecois. And his first novel, My father’s housepublished this year, shows how he remained Hungarian despite everything.
For me, it was never a conflict. I don’t see it as such, that is to say that I am a Quebecer of Hungarian origin. I am a fan of identity simplicity.
Akos Verboczy, 48 years old
Akos was 11 years old when he arrived in Quebec. “I grew up in an immigrant environment, where there were not many original Quebecers, if at all, and where, generally speaking, Quebec culture was rather looked down upon, if not at all. not despised, he says. So, it took me a while to discover and appreciate the culture here. »
The turning point happened at CEGEP: “I chose CEGEP in French, against the advice of my mother and against the advice of several of my classmates, because at that time, I spoke a little better in French than in English. I found that I had a better chance of succeeding in my studies in French. At CEGEP, I discovered literature, sociology and history courses. That’s where I met a lot more people from Quebec. I found that they were very friendly, ultimately, and I even made friends! »
An idea to promote integration
“A reading list of Quebec works should accompany each student throughout their primary and secondary schooling, to provide Quebecers with a common foundation of literary culture. »
French above all
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Author, Philippe Yong teaches at Stanislas College.
In Montreal for around ten years, Philippe Yong was born in France to Korean parents. He is a “second generation Korean immigrant, French immigrant to Quebec”! With the publication last year of his first novel, Aboveground, he became a Quebec author. But he calls himself “French above all”.
” The book is a form of roots because it was born from my experience as an immigrant, he testifies. I had the feeling of having a kind of very, very strong identity uncertainty, which was born from the fact that I had settled here. »
The book was a kind of magical object and allowed me to meet a plethora of authors, participate in conferences, go to talks, cross all of Quebec. So, it’s very strange because writing a novel in a Quebec publishing house is anchoring me in a truly Quebec identity.
Philippe Yong, 50 years old
He adds, a little disappointed: “I live in the Plateau, I work in the teaching sector. But I sometimes have the impression that Quebecers’ gaze stops at my ethnic origin. You see me in the street, I’m Asian. I was no longer used to people reducing my identity to my origins. I rediscovered it in a relatively unpleasant way, let’s say it, with small manifestations of ordinary racism here. »
An idea to promote integration
“We need to make francization attractive, and give people time to become francicized. This must not be experienced as an additional burden, at impossible times. »
Heartbreak
PHOTO SIMON SÉGUIN-BERTRAND, THE LAW
Mensah Hemedzo works in Ontario.
Mensah Hemedzo, 46, was “madly in love with Quebec” when he settled in Gatineau in 2009 to do a bachelor’s degree in teaching at the University of Quebec in Outaouais, after studying literature in Togo and a doctorate. In France.
“I had no problem starting over in Quebec,” he assures. I like studying. Studying at the University of Quebec in Outaouais, for me, was a way of integrating into the system. So, build relationships, a good network, do my internships in Gatineau to get to know the environment. »
I really wanted to stay here, live here, work here. But the education system in Gatineau did not welcome me. I spent three years searching. Finally, it was in Ontario that I found a job.
Mensah Hemedzo, 46 years old
“I still call myself Quebecois, despite my disappointment, even if I am indebted to the Franco-Ontarians. I always say it, the Franco-Ontarians saved my life because at one point, I had dark thoughts. So, the feeling of being Quebecois is there, but I no longer have the pride that I had. Being Quebecois, for me, is a fact. So. »
An idea to promote integration
“We must give everyone the same opportunity in the job market. »
To be neither
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Diana Chumbe and her partner, Leylo Herrera
Nurse, Diana Chumbe, 29, was born in Quebec to parents of Peruvian origin and grew up with her mother, a “nanny” in a very wealthy Montreal family.
“My mother came alone, with a work permit, when she was 24,” she says. Today she is 70 years old. She was the first to leave Peru in our family. All the money she collected, she sent to Peru to feed her brothers and sisters, and to pay for university for all my aunts and uncles. »
Does she feel Quebecois, Peruvian or both?
My mother is totally Peruvian. But I am neither. And that’s the difficulty, because if I return to Peru, I feel good, I feel at home, but I feel Quebecois. I come here, I feel good, I know that I am at home, but I am Peruvian.
Diana Chumbe, 29 years old
“I am sometimes made to feel like a foreigner,” adds Diana, whose partner, Leylo Herrera, is also a second-generation immigrant. “If someone asks me what I do for a living, for example, and I answer “nurse”, people will say: “Ah yes, Latinas are nurses or housekeepers, they are someone who takes care of care of someone else.” Because that’s the stereotype of a Latina woman. »
An idea to promote integration
“To integrate well, I think it’s important to know where you come from. We, as children of immigrants, are looking for our identity. »