Thangachi’s Corner: What is your background?

Where am I from?

That’s the question I posed my grade four’s last week when one of the girls walked in at the beginning of the period, readily prepared to burst into tears.

And it’s certainly a problematic question, isn’t it? After all, by “from”, I could be referring to the geographical location from which I arrived to Canada. Or perhaps I mean the country from which my parents immigrated here. It’s an altogether tricky question, especially when taking into consideration a rather diverse community made up of various cultures, languages and religious beliefs.