Mehul Prajapati, an international student in Canada, made a video about using a food bank at school. The vitriol he received was intense
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It’s been my experience that international students are more at risk of insecurity due to outdated regulations on the amount of money they must have, increasing costs all around, and restrictions on their ability to work and for their spouse to work.
Combine that with social media culture and communication challenges and we get situations like this, I work with a number of students from India and they speak English well, but differently from a long term Canadian. Often, the english is more direct in word choice and more… bombastic or sales oriented. Combine that with social media presence and you are bound to get culture clash.
So instead of using a more Canadian culturally appropriate phrase, like “here is where to turn when in need” or “this helps me afford rent”, many will just be less cautious and might say “here is how I save hundreds of bucks” or “here is how I get free food”.
That it turns out this guy was struggling like many others, and trying to help people like him is honestly no surprise to me.
This is true. As an immigrant myself, I have struggled with expressing my thoughts for the longest time. Different cultures and different ways of learning English. Trying to translate my thoughts from my own language to English often comes out either rude, or just wrong. I’ve learned to take moments before expressing my thoughts and then also explain just in case. I also throw in a disclaimer when I meet new people, especially at work. I’m getting better. It gets better with time. I feel bad for him. People on the internet are just brutal.
I’m an immigrant from Australia and I remember having to change my word choices even though Canada and Australia are nearly culturally identical. It must be a lot more work coming from less culturally similar places.
This is interesting to me. Do you have any examples of how you would word something differently in Australia compared to Canada?
Well, they really don’t like it when you call them a cunt here.
Yeah, righto cunt, I’m heading to the bottle-o to grab some grog, I reckon I can drop by after for a bit of a chinwag.
So instead of using a more Canadian culturally appropriate phrase, like “here is where to turn when in need” or “this helps me afford rent”, many will just be less cautious and might say “here is how I save hundreds of bucks” or “here is how I get free food”.
“Bigots HATE this one weird trick!”
It soon emerged that he had only worked there as an intern last fall, a 17-week contract that ended in December and didn’t pay $98,000 a year. The website Moneycontrol also reported that he is on a student visa and can’t even work full-time in Canada.
People will believe anything online. They just want to get riled up.
I think the bigger story here though is that food banks are necessary in Canada.
It’s a school program, not a food bank.
Meanwhile, the “food bank” to which the student was referring was revealed to be a university program and not a public food bank. And it echoed much of what he was saying in the video that got people so riled up.
On the website for the program, which is run by the Laurier Students’ Public Interest Research Group and Martin Luther University College, it notes: “If you are experiencing marginal, moderate or severe food insecurity, our program is for you to come and take what you need.”
It adds: “Take as much as you need. We do not limit how much students take because we don’t know how much you need. However, please keep in mind that the supplies we have must be shared amongst many.”
It’s a food bank by the uni for uni students. Regardless, students shouldn’t even require something like that in Canada. There’s a deeper problem.
Not only are they necessary, they can now barely keep up with demand. Prices have soared, leaving many people behind not able to make a living anymore.
How about getting to know and talk to any foreigners especially students you might interact with in public. I go to my local grocery store and see the same international Indian students every week and I’ve gotten to know their names and where they’re from. I’m best friends with them nor do I want to be, I just want them to know that I want to get to know them a bit and be friendly.
This morning I got my groceries and talked to a young man … a Sikh with a turban … I know he is from Punjab and I greet him with Namaste every time we meet. Really nice guy and we get to have a bit of laugh when we talk. I knew he was in college but today I learned that is working three jobs and covering about 70 hours of work a week to cover his expenses. He looked tired and he said so.
The university has responded to backlash as well. “The online abuse directed at our student is malicious and harmful,” it said in a statement to the Record. “We are providing the student with the necessary support.”
Prajapati confirmed as much, telling the Star that help from the school, including counselling, is what’s getting him through this. He called it a “strong pillar” of support for him.
Good on the school for defending him. Unfortunate that they’d need to.