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● The
First Canadians
● The
Settlers
● French
Canadians
● The
Story of a Canadian
The
Story of a Canadian
 My
name is Kenji Abram Dyck. I was born in Canada. If you look at my
name, you can see that I belong to two different cultural groups
that live in Canada. Being a Canadian often means being a mix of
different cultures and heritages.
My
first name, Kenji, is a Japanese name. My mother is Japanese Canadian.
Her family came to Canada four generations ago. My great great grandfather
was a fisherman who came from Japan and settled in British Columbia.
He eventually became a farmer, but during the Second World War,
when Canada was at war with Japan, people with Japanese connections
were considered a national security threat. People feared that if
Japanese invaders came to the coast of the country, the Japanese
who had settled in Canada might help the enemy. The Canadian government
forced Japanese people to move east of the Rocky Mountains, where
they could do little harm, or, if they preferred, they could return
to Japan. My great great grandfather's family chose Japan, but my
grandfather eventually came back to Canada and we've been here ever
since.
My
middle name, Abram, and my last name, Dyck, are Mennonite
names. The Mennonites are members of a Protestant
religious group that was formed during the
Reformation
in Europe. The Mennonites spread all over Europe to escape religious
persecution. On my father's side of the family, my paternal
great great grandfather settled in Russia when Catherine
the Great invited the Mennonites to come from Germany to
farm the plains of the Ukraine. When things became difficult in
Russia, my great great grandfather settled in Manitoba, a prairie
province. His name was Abram.
As
you can see, even though Canada as a country is still very young—only
130 years old—being a Canadian means having a lot of history.
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