This is our Canada

I wrote this after listening to Childish Gambino's new song: This is America. I was inspired to dismantle the image of Canada being a perfect and friendly and racism free country that they try to narrate us as. To provide that narrative is a way to silence our problems and without acknowledging the problems we will never have to own up to them or fix them. I am proud to live in a country that does provide privileges and I am not saying I hate being Canadian or hate my country, all I am saying is that we are not immune to the same problems that plague our world and we should talk about them, circulate and educate ourselves on our own issues so that we can become a better country and people, collectively. Anyways, while you are reading, keep in mind I had the song playing on repeat in the background, so if you listen to the song, (the instrumental perhaps), the flow of my words kind of match up with that..

This is our Canada

This is our Canada,

they think that were perfect

but we got our problems, yeah

Racism has swallowed us

nazi’s are coming out,

right on my campus, yeah

This is our Canada

This is our Canada

Indigenous suffer, yeah

living in rotting conditions

that we pretend don’t exist

This is our Canada,

where Indigenous women

are disappearing, murdered

abused at an alarming rate,

but that doesn’t make the news.

This is our Canada

This is our Canada,

where we are known for

Hockey, Tim Horton’s (bad) coffee

and for always saying ‘I’m sorry,’

but we can’t even apologize to the ones

who founded this country,

can’t even make sure

they have clean water to drink

but we’re so damn polite, right?

what do you think?

This is our Canada

This is our Canada,

racism has swallowed us

Black lives still not treated

equally, naw.

restaurants ain’t serving us

the police, they stay targeting us

carding us, caging us, killing us.

This is our Canada

This is our Canada

the price to live is going up,

condo’s back to back to back

where the homeless sit on the

same streets, luxury right at their feet.

prime example that only some

lives matter. The rich, the elite.

This is our Canada

only country with the

multicultural act,

Oh an “act”, it is.

where immigrants can be locked up

in maximum security prison,

till a hearing.

detention to prison,

with no time limitations.

Welcome to the Canada we live in,

where the ghetto’s are filling up,

right up the street from big houses,

smooth driveways, expensive cars in

two car garages, with bright white smiles

blinding the reality that,

This is our Canada.

Racism has swallowed us,

Americas neighbour, yeah

but we got more in common

than is narrated.

This is our Canada

This is our Canada

Oh Canada, just a reminder

that we are not perfect,

we got a lot of work to put in

don’t forget about that.