The Wrong Expectations: The Impacts of the Canadian Culture on the African Immigrants Families and Children

By: Percy Konadu Yiadom BSW, MSW

The notion and mentality that Africa is a land of multi-cultures still remains unadulterated. Africa as a continent has uncountable cultures and beliefs. Despite these uncountable and numerous cultures, how often one practices them depends on the location that one resides in a particular African country. People who reside in the capital and other commercial cities hardly practice the primitive and outdated cultures due to the advent of education and western civilizations. Africans used to practice their own cultures before their experiences with colonisations and foreign cultural assimilations, and still continue to practice these cultures either knowingly or unknowingly. Cultural influence has been part of the average African lifestyle since birth. African is divided into various individual sovereign countries with different political histories. However, irrespective of a country’s political history and colonial influences, the average African country has still maintained its rich heritage and cultural practices. It is worth noting that each African country is inhibited by people who have one nationality but heterogeneous and diverse cultures, the Ashanti, Ewes and Dagombas of western, southern and northern Ghana are all Ghanaians but practice totally different cultures. Likewise the Yorubas and Ibos of Nigeria are all Nigerians but practice totally different cultures with different beliefs. By implication, the notion that people of the same country have the same cultures and beliefs is nothing but a wrong mentality
The bottom line therefore rests on whether these numerous normal, primitive and adulterated cultures have any impact on the lives of the average African who was born and raised in them. The cultural impacts on these Africans can be both positive and negative depending on how these cultures have positively or negatively shaped the individual’s life and how the particular individual can safely practice his cultures alongside other cultures in a matured and humane way. African rich cultures like taking care of your neighbour by being each other’s keeper, checking each other’s health conditions, greeting each other, sharing farm products, disciplining children when doing something bad, avoiding premarital sex, not talking back to parents, respecting teachers, not calling older people by their raw names and many more have undoubtedly shaped and trained the average African to be able to adjust and survive in whichever environment they reside in. Nevertheless, other primitive and outmoded African cultures such as female circumcision, polygamy and women’s position in terms of power, status and equality in the society have degraded and trivialized the African culture in one way or the other. However, irrespective of how the average African has been positively or negatively impacted by his or her cultures, they all have positive expectations of better futures for themselves and their children when they migrate to Canada or any dream country. These positive expectations can be realized through better schools and the positive impacts of the Canadian cultures. Like every country the Canadian cultures has its own challenges on its people especially the immigrants. Immigrants like Africans have their own native cultures and therefore living in Canada means the blending of two worlds together. African immigrants in Canada are therefore compelled to practice their numerous cultures alongside the Canadian cultures in a civilized and accommodating way. The blending of these international cultures can be a positive accomplishment or a nightmare. Research studies have shown that the ability to blend these cultures depends on one’s age and willingness. Matured Africans who migrate to Canada in their adulthood usually succeed in their transitional processes, whilst the children who migrate with their parents or who were born in Canada usually struggle to blend these cultures. Especially children who migrate to Canada with their parents do not only struggle with these cultural transitions but face challenges in their integrations into the Canadian society as well (Baffoe, 2006) Canadian cultures like calling people by their first names irrespective of their ages, positions and status in the society, talking back to parents and teachers, challenging teachers and parents over their rights have done no good to these children of African descent and their families but have just offered them the opportunity to abuse the freedom they have never seen or dreamt of. Children challenging and talking back to their parents about knowing their rights have gained nothing but have created tensions, conflicts and altercations between themselves and their parents. These immigrant parents feel disrespected, belittled and useless before their children due to their inability to discipline and maintain their positions as figureheads. The distinction between parents as disciplinarians and models and their children as minors and care-receivers is gradually eroding, and children have gradually usurped their parents’ authorities and powers to become adults themselves. These positions and status enjoyed by some children in Canada have gone unrealized and unconcerned until they stumble against the laws due to lack of better supervision, discipline and care. Most immigrant children, who challenge, disrespect and abandon their parents to avoid discipline, training and parental care with supervision end up having conflicts and problems with the laws. The question which therefore erupts in people’s mind is: Are these children of African descents abusing the freedom enshrined in the Canadian cultures or are they struggling to blend their parental cultures with the Canadian cultures?
In conclusion, being an immigrant and an African for that matter, I personally believe that all cultures have both positive and negative elements, some elements of a particular culture can be normal and beneficial to the people who practice that particular culture but can very unbearable nuisance to other people. Therefore, it is not the popularity of a particular culture or the popularity of the people who practice that culture but the willingness and ability of people to practice their cultures, learn, accept and respect other people’s cultures so that the good elements of all cultures can be practiced to the betterment of all societies and the benefit of all children.