CIOFF Congress delegate from Canada told about his country in Ufa

UFA, 27 September 2018. /Bashinform News Agency, Rozaliya Valeeva/ translated by Tatiana Aksyutina/. The honorary delegate of the CIOFF Congress from Canada Guy Landry spoke about the activities of the Center for Tatar Culture "Miras" in Montreal and the cultural communities of Canada.

The Congress of CIOFF - the International Council for the Organization of Folklore Festivals and Folk Arts was held in Ufa from September 19 to 23. Delegations from 56 countries gathered at the forum, the Congress was focused on the discussion of the World Folklore Festival 2020, which will be held in the capital of Bashkortostan.

One of the honorary delegates of the Congress, Mr. Guy Landry, representing Canada, told Aigul Rashitova, the director of Ufa's Art Club, about the work of cultural communities in his country.

Immigrants receive assistance from the state: provincial and state authorities help with housing and food for the first time, pay for the language courses. Knowledge of the language (English or French) is very important because immigrants will have to pass a citizenship exam, without which they will not be able to obtain a Canadian passport.

Very often immigrants come together in ethnic groups or associations, such as Chinese, Filipino, and Russian. In Canada, there are many different ethnic associations. Over time, immigrants begin to get involved in cultural activities, because they begin to feel the need to preserve their heritage: they teach their children dances, songs, and their native language. In a new country, they feel the need to preserve the traditions of their homeland. In Canada, this is welcomed, because it enriches our society: they share with us their vision, their creativity, and technologies.

Canadians are open to immigrants; the country needs to increase the population. Only in the province of Quebec, we accept 50,000 (!) new immigrants every year. We know that in Canada there are many Poles, Ukrainians, and Kazakhs, who are close in culture to the Russians.

In Montreal, you can count more than one hundred different ethnic groups, and across Canada, there are more than 50 thousand. One of such collectives is the Center of Tatar culture "Miras". For the first time, the participants of the center joined the organization "Heritage of Quebec" last spring: they took part in the children's festival organized by our organization.

In October, Montreal will host a large exhibition of tourism products - the International Exhibition of Tourism and Travel (Salon Internationale de Tourisme et Voyages). "Miras", like some other groups, will present an 18-minute cultural program on each day of the exhibition.

“I will go back home taking with me wonderful impressions and memories of Bashkortostan,” Guy Landry added in conclusion.