SGH

2016/11/01

SGH　Study Tour in Canada 2016

　In order to deepen our understanding of many cultures and multiculturalism，we underwent a training program in Vancouver, Canada from October 19th to the 25th.

　Vancouver is the largest city in British Columbia, and it’s the third most populous country in Canada. However, roughly more than half of the population doesn’t speak English as their first language, and there are many people with different appearances. Even we, as Asian students, were able to walk around town without feeling out of place, and we were able to learn from experience about multiculturalism.

Below is our schedule:

　Each participating student had international experiences，and half of them also had experienced a homestay before. As a result, they were able to converse with their host families a lot, and ask them about their true opinions regarding multiculturalism. From the outside, we, as Japanese people, were able to see firsthand Canada’s multiculturalism. It seemed very special to us, but from their perspectives, the multiculturalism is just a normal part of their lives. We were especially shocked that the Canadian students didn’t think their multiculturalism was particularly special. While Canadian people might not parade around their multicultural society, we think it’s ideal that they live in a society where they embrace different cultures and bring everything together. Perhaps this is a hint to help us also think about what we ought to do to forge such a society in Japan.