Yesterday I overheard a fascinating conversation on the streetcar. It was about a restaurant and the part where my ears perked up went something like this:

"It's a cool restaurant. You can get white food and Asian food."

White food? I didn't see who was speaking, and since the streetcar was nearly empty, I wasn't going to turn around to look. But I was extremely curious to know what "white food" was. Did he mean a bizarre menu of rice, mashed potatoes, mozzarella cheese, egg whites, milk and vanilla ice cream? I was fairly sure he didn't, but it was a funny thought nevertheless.

It didn't take long for me to get my answer, since he explained to his friend that the menu choices ranged from chicken wings and sausages & eggs to green curry.

So, did "white food" mean "Canadian food". I'm not at all sure if sausages and eggs, or wings are typically Canadian food (plus, rice is white and doesn't grow here). If I extrapolate, it could suggest that anyone that is white, is Canadian.

Which we know is not the case - but sadly the premise is alive and well in our subconscious.  White Canadians are not asked where they are from as frequently as Canadians of colour.

This all reminds me of a comment made at a workshop I delivered recently at the Professional Administrators of Volunteer Resources of Ontario conference (PAVR-O). I had engaged the participants in a conversation about the word "diversity", and a woman had said how it bothers her when people used the word diversity only to mean people who are not white.

So then I guess the restaurant was serving white and diverse food. And the diverse food would have to be from countries where the people are not white.

We have come so far, and then again, maybe not so much....

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copyright 2011 Annemarie Shrouder
www.beeing.ca

So the Conservatives invited multicultural groups to come to a photo op in Ethnic Costumes!
Wow. I'm speechless...but not really.

Besides the flap about being used for political gain, the question on my mind is "Ethnic costumes? Really people? Are we still using words like this?!"

I would love to see the list of multicultural community groups the Conservative Party chose to send this email to. Who, in their opinion, would bring some "ethnic flair" to their photo op? And how ethnic would the costume have to be, to be considered the right "op" for the photo?

Smells like an  obvious attempt at appearing tolerant (I use the word on purpose) and embracing of multiculturalism during an election campaign to get more votes  - after cutting funding to settlement services!

So troubling...

Which brings me to another question:  Why do people have to dress up? Isn't it obvious we are in a multicultural country? If the word went out to community groups, and they just showed up in their everyday work clothes, wouldn't that make a point?

Oh Conservatives...it scares me that it seems you have so much to learn....still.

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(c) Annemarie Shrouder 2011