By Hamdi IssawiStar Edmonton
Monday July 1, 2019
EDMONTON—Canada Day offers chance to relax or revel, but for the city’s Somali community, the holiday always comes with a second helping of celebration
July 1, explained Ahmed Abdulkadir, executive director of the Ogaden Somali Community of Alberta Residents, also marks Somalia’s Independence Day — a national holiday for the African country, and a time when Edmonton’s Somali community gathers to celebrate with family and friends.
Spending the Sunday afternoon before with his daughter Hannah in central Edmonton’s Giovanni Caboto Park, relatives are already pouring into his home preparing for the day.
But he doesn’t see the coincidence as a clash of calenders or cultures. Rather, he explained, it’s the perfect pairing, offering Somali-Canadians an opportunity to reconnect with or learn about their roots and celebrate their dual identity.
“Everybody comes together and celebrates Canada, where we’ve felt welcome,” he said. “But, at the same time, we don’t want to forget where we came from. To Somali youth, or the first generation who were born here, the Somali flag is like something that’s exotic to them.”
Remembering festivities as a youth in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, Abdulkadir said he would get up before sunrise to attend parades, music shows and dance displays, followed by games of soccer and volleyball at the park.
But in 1991, at 16 years old, Abdulkadir moved to Canada. And while he was missing the holiday of his homeland, racked by civil war, Canada Day celebration in the country’s capital offered comfort.
He still remembers the painted faces and fireworks he witnessed on Parliament Hill at his first celebration in 1992.
“Knowing that where I came from, there was no peace and stability, I was worried about my family members being killed,” he said. “But at the same time, enjoying this adopted home, where people were welcoming me with open arms and didn’t care what colour I am or where I came from … it was very, very joyful.”
After settling in the following year, Abdulkadir said his Independence Day celebration with the Somali community in Canada, which he’s seen grow from potluck dinners to festivities closer to what he encountered back home.
This year, he plans to attend an annual barbecue hosted by the Somali Canadian Education and Rural Development Organization in Edmonton’s Rundle Park, celebrating both national holidays and set to feature traditional Somali dance, music and food.
But, Abdulkadir notes, he’s also seen his new homeland rub off on Independence Day events, gatherings and even the menus.
“You will see the organizers putting up the Canadian flag and Somali flag on side by side,” he said. “And even though we have a rice and goat on one side, on the other side you have burgers and hot dogs, so it is appreciating both culture at the same time.”
Born in Canada, Aisha Ali isn’t as familiar with the July 1 celebrations of her community’s homeland. A self-taught cook and baker, she uses food to both learn about her heritage and bridge it with Canadian culture.
As a child watching her mother cook traditional meals at home, Ali recalled that dishes were never prepared with measured ingredients. Eager to learn, she asked questions, took notes and put numbers to her mother’s instincts.
“She cooked out of passion,” Ali said. “I really wanted to preserve that aspect of our culture.”
As the creator of Kitchen Konfessions, a food blog showcasing dishes influenced by her identity as a Somali-Canadian, she crafts and shares recipes intended to bridge the two cultures.
“I grew up with a lot of strange foods,” she said. “So being able to use those, bring the spices from our homeland — like cumin, coriander, cinnamon — and then infuse it into the western food that we see today … that’s more like a fusion of both cultures that everybody will be able to enjoy.”
In her own family, Ali said, Independence Day celebrations often happen at home, in the presence of a Somali flag, where family members gather to sing songs and share traditional foods and desserts, like an orange and chocolate bundt cake that has been in her family for generations. Just in time for both holidays, she recently featured the recipe on her blog, hoping to serve a slice of her heritage to a broader palate.
“Canada really is like a melting pot where we highlights our strengths — things that are good in one culture — and infuse it to make this great culture that is Canada,” Ali added.
But it’s not the kind of melting pot that pushes new Canadians and their families to forget where they came from, Abdulkadir said. From his experience, Canada’s culture is rooted in tolerance — a hallmark that has always made him feel welcome.
“You can give your own,” he said, “something that you bring to the table and share with the rest of Canadians. That makes a sense of home for us.”
Hamdi Issawi is an Edmonton-based reporter covering the environment and energy. Follow him on Twitter: @hamdiissawi