CNN Travel-Toronto

[Ed007Toronto]

My background is Italian and term used is usually cakers or mangia cakes.

Definition:
A derogitory name for Canadian people originating from Italian immigrants, who called them "mangia cakes", meaning they eat cake and not real food.

 

[Darkstar416]

To clarify, I think the origin of the "caker" term came from the fact that the first Italo-Canadians thought that the Wonderbread-ish stuff most of the non-Italians ate here looked like cake.

 

[SD2]

My Italian relatives constantly do this, even the younger generations. It's quite weird. They even call filtered coffee "Canadian coffee." I always have to tell them that there's no such thing as Canadian coffee!

I have some Greek friends who do this to. One was dating someone new, and when the question of his background came up she said "he's Canadian". I was like that could mean anything! But she meant Scottish or whatever.

It's pretty common among many groups and I think it often goes to a divide that exists but that people may not be consciously aware of.

 

[tudararms]

I do the opposite: If somebody with a clear Canadian accent tells me they're from Hong Kong or Scotland or something, I'll usually indicate to them that they sound 'Canadian' to me. The response is usually, 'oh well I was born here' or something like that.

 

[Bogtrotter]

I'm proudly 100% Canadian :smokin

 

[Degnaw]

I get asked about my race as a matter of conversation here in Toronto constantly because I am mixed. How people approach the subject depends on who they are. Immigrants and members of ethnic minorities always ask "where are you from?" or "what are you?", people who self-identify as Canadian alway ask "what is your background?" or "what is your heritage?".

I guess I count as an ethnic minority (chinese), but I don't always say "Where are you from" because they usually just say "the US" or something because thats where they were born.

And both my parents are chinese, but technically i'm (un)proudly American born.

 

[caecilius001]

wrong?

What's necessarily wrong with asking people what their background is??? If I hear an accent I do tend to ask people this question. It's certainly not disrespect--I'm genuinely interested. People of many different cultures live here, and I've learned many customs, words, and phrases in foreign languages that I sometimes use to break the ice. People are generally flattered I'd say.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Between someone's physical appearance and their name, it's usually really easy to pin down someone's ethnic extraction almost any region. Many white people used to get away with taking pride in (and sometimes assuming a position of racial superiority via) their Canadian-born status but this is rapidly becoming universal since there are now many non-white native-born Canadians that can claim the same. I find it's really common for people in this city to ask "where are you from?" or "where were you born?" and most of the time ethnicity or racism has nothing to do with it...they simply want to know where you're from. So many people in Toronto were not born in Toronto that you're almost always guaranteed an interesting migration story, whether it be from another city or another continent.

 

[Bogtrotter]

"I get asked about my race as a matter of conversation here in Toronto constantly because I am mixed."

I do to, and 9 times out of 10 when they guess they're wrong.

 

[heckles2]

They even call filtered coffee "Canadian coffee." I always have to tell them that there's no such thing as Canadian coffee!

Oh! C'mon! Don't you know Orwell 101?

Repeat untruths and they become truth.

Ignorance is strength!

Err, now that I've explained not only Orwellian but also modern American political thought I feel exhausted. :rollin

 

[afransen TO]

I always respond Canadian... I think if you're born here, you're Canadian. I tell people that my family is Dutch, though. I don't think that's unreasonable, as my dad and my mother's parents are immigrants.

 

[tudararms]

"Many white people used to get away with taking pride in (and sometimes assuming a position of racial superiority via) their Canadian-born status but this is rapidly becoming universal since there are now many non-white native-born Canadians that can claim the same."

Exactly, so maybe it wasn't 'racism' but 'nationalism'.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Oh, for some people it used to be at least partially just about racism...even if was purportedly about nationalism or immigration, race was always there. I think it's just less of an issue now that there's a whole generation of Canadian-born non-whites.

It would be interesting to see how quickly, or if at all, members of various groups/ethnicities begin to call themselves ethnically "Canadian," like how many generations it takes, etc.

 

[tudararms]

"Oh, for some people it used to be at least partially just about racism...even if was purportedly about nationalism or immigration, race was always there. I think it's just less of an issue now that there's a whole generation of Canadian-born non-whites."

Not to split hairs Scarberian, but in the interest of discussion, I think we should be careful about the term 'racism' and should reserve it for when it is really clear. For instance, the way I see it a remote African village that reacts warily to a group of non-black newcomers isn't being 'racist'. Similarly a post-war and pre-global, predominantly 'white' Canada wasn't being 'racist' towards newcomers in quite the way that the term would imply. Wary of change, yes. Ignorant of difference, yes. Culturally insensitive and politically incorrect, yes; but Canada was not unique in this, nor are white people. So to categorize or essentially vilify those people as 'racist' in the way that we would think about that term now seems wrong to me. That said, at such a time of social and demographic change I'm sure there were incidents of racism pure and simple too.

"It would be interesting to see how quickly, or if at all, members of various groups/ethnicities begin to call themselves ethnically "Canadian," like how many generations it takes, etc."

Multiculturalism doesn't seem to encourage this.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

"Not to split hairs Scarberian, but in the interest of discussion, I think we should be careful about the term 'racism' and should reserve it for when it is really clear."

Not to split hairs tudararms, but in the interest of discussion, I think we should be careful about the term 'some people' and should reserve it for when it is really clear, as, for example, it is in my last post. There are 'some' white people that like to call themselves ethnically Canadian simply because the term excludes most visible minorities/immigrants (since these people also often see visible minorities and immigrants as one and the same set of people), but I find it's increasingly rare. I have self-proclaimed 'Canadian' relatives that like calling themselves that if only because it excludes Eyetalians, let alone blacks, Asians, etc. "Ignorant of difference," "culturally insensitive," blah blah blah...they are racist and won't deny it.

"Multiculturalism doesn't seem to encourage this."

But there's bound to be variations/patterns already apparent regardless of Multiculturalism's influence. I bet 2nd generation Canadians who drop their parents' language would be more likely, etc.