Blog written by Qazi Ahmed Ayan, Youth Community Animator – TERT, BCS.
Immigrating to Canada is often seen as a means to achieve success and greater equality than what is available in other countries. Canada takes pride in its reputation as a progressive and equal nation. However, while its policies may illegalize discrimination, remnants of past discriminatory systems still exist. One example of this is linguicism, which refers to discrimination based on language, accents, and other linguistic factors. This form of prejudice is often overlooked because it is seen as a niche issue, despite being just as harmful as other forms of discrimination, such as racism.
When I came to Canada for the first time, I had to learn how to speak English fluently. Although I had attended an English private school in Bangladesh, I never had to speak the language until I was five years old when I began attending school in Canada. Without any additional help from programs such as ESL, I began making friends slowly and avoided being ostracized for my inability to speak the language that everyone else spoke. Although I spoke with a heavy accent and occasionally used my native language, I tried to keep it to a minimum. However, as I grew older, my ability to speak and write English became equal to or even better than that of my peers. However, losing my accent was one of the consequences that came with it.
In high school, I coincidentally bumped into my kindergarten teacher while she was giving school tours. Feeling excited, I approached her and we started chatting to catch up on events from the years after I graduated kindergarten. During the conversation, she complimented me by saying, “Your English has improved significantly! I used to be scared to put you into activities because I thought your accent would hinder your participation, but I’m glad to see we’re past that”. It was at that moment that I realized that my fond memories of kindergarten were also marked by systematic exclusion due to my accent. Instead of debating her on whether her actions were right or wrong, I felt it would be more appropriate to educate her such that this never happens again. As such, I asked her: Do you know what Linguicism is?
Image Source: The New European
If you have any feedback about this blog or would like to contact the TERT campaign, please email us at YouthResilient@bangladeshi.ca. Thank you!
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