Farshad
My interview with Farshad Masoomi took place in his apartment in early October, 2011. The interview began quite abruptly with Frashad expressing the need for Canadians to appreciate Canada’s immigrants and for there to be better communication and understanding between them.
Farshad, why do Canadians have to appreciate Canada’s immigrants? That’s my first question. My second question is where does this communication problem come from – how does it arise?
Newly arrived immigrants are not tourists. They are not here to visit buildings [tourist attractions]. They are here to have a life. That means that if we do not appreciate the differences and [if] there is no communication going on, we’ll have segregated communities in different parts of the city. So they [immigrants] won’t really feel integrated in Canadian society. They are there but not there at the same time. They won’t feel really appreciated and won’t feel that they belong to this country. They’re here because they just had to leave [their homeland] and now have they found a home? Not necessarily.
So whose responsibility is it to help make integration happen?
I think the public, people at large. People that you meet in cafés, in the shops and on the streets. People have the most responsibility.
You’ve been here only three months and you are clearly feeling something. But what you are feeling…is that something that you are picking up when you go out and feel from the way people are reacting to you. Can you give me some examples?
Yes. Well we don’t have a subway [metro] in Shiraz – the city from which I come – and here the subway is an important part of your life. When I [first] went on the metro, I think it was quite a phenomenon, because people are there, and as an Iranian, people [who are in public places] in bars or on the metro are supposed to be talking to each other, speaking loudly. But when I went there [on the metro train], I saw people listening to music on iPods, others checking something on laptops and another person reading something. Sometimes they spoke, but [often] they were very, very drowned in their own world. They were there but I was amazed that there was really no communication going on. So it was very different from what I had experienced before. Second, the things that are [seemingly] minute are sometimes very important.
Minute?
Things that are very intricate sometimes turn out to the most important things. The things that are not very eye-catching [noticeable] are very important. One important difference is that here [in Montreal] people do not look directly at people [in situations] when they are not talking (during a conversation) with another person. Now, in Iran, that’s okay you can look at people without [necessarily] gazing at them, you can look at people – look at them in the eye. But here, when I do that, people do not feel very comfortable with that. Sometimes people look back at me with an appearance [a face that says] “Why are you looking at me in this way? Is there something wrong with me? You’re still looking at me.” So I understood that here if you want to look at people, you have to look at them through the corner of your eye. You’re not supposed to turn your whole body round to look at people. You have to be very delicate otherwise people would be very uncomfortable.
We are in a cultural melting pot, so identifying that [behaviour] as purely Canadian would be…There are so many different cultures on that metro. It could be a Japanese person who would never look at you in the eye or someone from Jamaica who could become uncomfortable if you looked at him in the eye. If you looked at me in the eye, I’d probably smile back at you. I think a lot of what you are saying is [about] people in general, though. You are saying that in Iran, if you look at people, they’re quite comfortable with it.
Yes, they are quite comfortable with that. They may take it as a sign of interest; you want to talk to them, you want to get to know them. But here, let’s face it, immigrants are minorities.
Here in Canada? Here in Montreal?
Here in Canada, at large, immigrants are minorities. I mean the biggest [immigrant] communities you can find are in Toronto in which fifty percent are immigrants.
Well here [in Montreal] it’s about forty [percent].
But still, the ambiance and the culture that is here is not native to this country. It is not native to Iran, Jamaica or Russia, so people come here and after a while they pick up on the difference of the cultures that are here…I was Iranian when I was in Iran but I know that I am undergoing a transformation so I know that I will not be the same person that is talking to you right now in three or four years as I will have developed other characteristics. Those characteristics come from Quebecois and Canadian culture.
I don’t know you well, Farshad, but what is apparent is that your level of awareness is quite high, and the fact that you speak about transition and going through a metamorphosis from an Iranian who has recently arrived to one that is settling then to someone who will be different in the future [shows this awareness]. To be honest, I don’t know if many people do realize that we change significantly and that our environment [directly] influences the change. But [knowing this] will make your life both easier and harder.
Well…It’s very powerful fear. These things [I am experiencing now] come apart and I will not be experiencing the same problems in a year or two years [from now]. We all get accustomed to certain things but all immigrants have culture shock. But then again [the impact of it on their life] depends on their interaction with different cultures – foreign cultures. [Culture shock] could be something small to something completely overwhelming. Personally, I haven’t had much experience of day to day life with Europeans or the Western world. I have been to Syria, I have been to Dubai and that’s it. I had pen-friends all around the world and I studied English literature and was interested in that, but it’s different to live with that culture on a daily basis than to study [it]. So when I came here the culture shock was immense. It was just like being drowned in a tsunami. It [culture shock] comes and it comes every day.
Click here to read selected quotes and highlights from the interview
My interview with Farshad Masoomi took place in his apartment in early October, 2011. The interview began quite abruptly with Frashad expressing the need for Canadians to appreciate Canada’s immigrants and for there to be better communication and understanding between them.
Farshad, why do Canadians have to appreciate Canada’s immigrants? That’s my first question. My second question is where does this communication problem come from – how does it arise?
Newly arrived immigrants are not tourists. They are not here to visit buildings [tourist attractions]. They are here to have a life. That means that if we do not appreciate the differences and [if] there is no communication going on, we’ll have segregated communities in different parts of the city. So they [immigrants] won’t really feel integrated in Canadian society. They are there but not there at the same time. They won’t feel really appreciated and won’t feel that they belong to this country. They’re here because they just had to leave [their homeland] and now have they found a home? Not necessarily.
So whose responsibility is it to help make integration happen?
I think the public, people at large. People that you meet in cafés, in the shops and on the streets. People have the most responsibility.
You’ve been here only three months and you are clearly feeling something. But what you are feeling…is that something that you are picking up when you go out and feel from the way people are reacting to you. Can you give me some examples?
Yes. Well we don’t have a subway [metro] in Shiraz – the city from which I come – and here the subway is an important part of your life. When I [first] went on the metro, I think it was quite a phenomenon, because people are there, and as an Iranian, people [who are in public places] in bars or on the metro are supposed to be talking to each other, speaking loudly. But when I went there [on the metro train], I saw people listening to music on iPods, others checking something on laptops and another person reading something. Sometimes they spoke, but [often] they were very, very drowned in their own world. They were there but I was amazed that there was really no communication going on. So it was very different from what I had experienced before. Second, the things that are [seemingly] minute are sometimes very important.
Minute?
Things that are very intricate sometimes turn out to the most important things. The things that are not very eye-catching [noticeable] are very important. One important difference is that here [in Montreal] people do not look directly at people [in situations] when they are not talking (during a conversation) with another person. Now, in Iran, that’s okay you can look at people without [necessarily] gazing at them, you can look at people – look at them in the eye. But here, when I do that, people do not feel very comfortable with that. Sometimes people look back at me with an appearance [a face that says] “Why are you looking at me in this way? Is there something wrong with me? You’re still looking at me.” So I understood that here if you want to look at people, you have to look at them through the corner of your eye. You’re not supposed to turn your whole body round to look at people. You have to be very delicate otherwise people would be very uncomfortable.
We are in a cultural melting pot, so identifying that [behaviour] as purely Canadian would be…There are so many different cultures on that metro. It could be a Japanese person who would never look at you in the eye or someone from Jamaica who could become uncomfortable if you looked at him in the eye. If you looked at me in the eye, I’d probably smile back at you. I think a lot of what you are saying is [about] people in general, though. You are saying that in Iran, if you look at people, they’re quite comfortable with it.
Yes, they are quite comfortable with that. They may take it as a sign of interest; you want to talk to them, you want to get to know them. But here, let’s face it, immigrants are minorities.
Here in Canada? Here in Montreal?
Here in Canada, at large, immigrants are minorities. I mean the biggest [immigrant] communities you can find are in Toronto in which fifty percent are immigrants.
Well here [in Montreal] it’s about forty [percent].
But still, the ambiance and the culture that is here is not native to this country. It is not native to Iran, Jamaica or Russia, so people come here and after a while they pick up on the difference of the cultures that are here…I was Iranian when I was in Iran but I know that I am undergoing a transformation so I know that I will not be the same person that is talking to you right now in three or four years as I will have developed other characteristics. Those characteristics come from Quebecois and Canadian culture.
I don’t know you well, Farshad, but what is apparent is that your level of awareness is quite high, and the fact that you speak about transition and going through a metamorphosis from an Iranian who has recently arrived to one that is settling then to someone who will be different in the future [shows this awareness]. To be honest, I don’t know if many people do realize that we change significantly and that our environment [directly] influences the change. But [knowing this] will make your life both easier and harder.
Well…It’s very powerful fear. These things [I am experiencing now] come apart and I will not be experiencing the same problems in a year or two years [from now]. We all get accustomed to certain things but all immigrants have culture shock. But then again [the impact of it on their life] depends on their interaction with different cultures – foreign cultures. [Culture shock] could be something small to something completely overwhelming. Personally, I haven’t had much experience of day to day life with Europeans or the Western world. I have been to Syria, I have been to Dubai and that’s it. I had pen-friends all around the world and I studied English literature and was interested in that, but it’s different to live with that culture on a daily basis than to study [it]. So when I came here the culture shock was immense. It was just like being drowned in a tsunami. It [culture shock] comes and it comes every day.
Click here to read selected quotes and highlights from the interview