Sharing the old home
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Feb 23/01) - Sylvie Boisclair feels people don't spend enough time together.
"It's almost as though another human being isn't an interesting subject anymore," she says.
Hoping to bring people together to share their home cultures, Boisclair has organized "around the world in a day," taking place at the museum this Sunday.
"I've always had an interest in multi-cultural activities. I find that in Yellowknife that there are a lot of ethnic groups, but I don't know how to meet them," says Boisclair.
Boisclair scoured the city.
"I looked for them. I put ads in the papers so they would call me."
Finally, 14 groups agreed to share their cultures with the rest of Yellowknife. Passport in hand, visitors to this "live exhibit" can travel to the Philippines, Australia, Portugal, Brazil and Scotland.
Besides watching Philippine music and dance, the pipe band and the Highland dancers, there will be ample opportunity to talk and mingle and learn more about the various cultures through displays.
Crossroads International will have a display.
"The idea is to have people meet and gather," emphasizes Boisclair.
"We go watch a movie, we go watch things, but we don't share. But the ones who are participating are really excited about it."
Boisclair has no problem visualizing a multi-cultural gathering of this kind becoming an annual event.
"Every big city has a big multi-cultural event. Because Canada, as we know, is built on multi-culturalism. It's the ideology of Canada. So it's in our culture."
One factor that impeded the participation of some ethnic groups is the no food rule at the museum.
A lot of people told Boisclair they could cook, but when she asked if they had non-food items the reply invariably was, "Oh, but I've been gone for so long."
Boisclair also notes if the event proves worthy of a repeat, then a longer planning period and more community input might prove fruitful.
