What is Canada Series
By: Kat Cadungog
The Transformation Storytelling Fellowship program is supported by Canada Life.
Introduction
Over the past six years, I have had the privilege of travelling from coast to coast to coast and peak to peak. I’ve visited ranchers, participated in ceremonies in sweat lodges, stayed in rural bed and breakfasts, and spoke in numerous conferences in urban hubs. With every encounter, my understanding of Canada, and being Canadian, has deepened just as much as it has been challenged.
I am grateful to live within the rich cultural mosaic that is known as Canada. We are shaped, as people, by vast landscapes, diverse peoples, and countless histories. But with gratitude comes reflection. Who gets to define a national identity? Do we need one? And when does unity blur exclusion and collective identity turn into blind nationalism?
This video poetry series offers fragments from the moments that affirmed, complicated, and sometimes unsettled my perceptions of what it means to live here. What is Canada? How do we find ourselves in community, in history, and in the shape of our own becoming? Whose stories shape the identity we claim?
