UNBC student Mark Dhillon has been singing in Punjabi ever since he was little. Born in Canada, but having spent time in India as a young child, Dhillon recalls, “I would sing [songs] to people in my village... I would sing for them and they’d find it funny because I had a lot of confidence in myself even if I forgot lines.” Recently, Dhillon has taken his passion one step further and created an Instagram account to post his videos.
Dhillon’s passion for his culture is echoed by many other Punjabi’s living in Prince George. According to the 2016 census, Prince George is home to 1,405 residents who count Punjabi as their mother tongue, the largest group after English and French speakers. Additionally, 900 people listed Punjabi as a language most often spoken at home. Sharing his music via Instagram has helped Dhillon connect with others in the Prince George Punjabi community. The community in Prince George has had a prominent presence in Northern BC dating back years. In fact, the Punjabi Canadian Legacy Project cites Prince George as one of the earliest hubs of BC’s Punjabi communities.
While Dhillon acknowledges that English-speaking listeners might not understand the words he sings, they can still enjoy his music. “You can understand the passion and the emotion in someone's voice”, he says. “I just want to show how invested I am in my culture that when I sing these songs of pain, sorrow, happiness, family, and of cultural heritage, that people understand how deeply rooted this is in our culture.”
Looking back on his time as a youth in Prince George, Dhillon realized that trying too hard to fit with his predominantly white peers in was not serving him well. “In elementary school and high school, I felt like I was conforming too much.” He remembers times when he was discouraged from speaking Punjabi with his friends at school by peers and teachers who didn’t understand the language.
“I realized I love music, I love my language, and I need to sing in my language [and] I need to share something that I have a lot of passion for”, explains Dhillon about the turning point in his life which helped him gain the confidence to be comfortable sharing his culture. For Dhillon, singing and starting an Instagram page to share with others also contributed to his confidence and has played a huge role filling the void left by trying to conform as a younger person.
Dhillon explains how he was able embrace his Punjabi culture without compromising feeling 'Canadian'. “There were times when [I] just want[ed] to fit in”. Dhillon expresses how it felt growing up. “I [didn’t] want to be Punjabi… I want[ed] to be Canadian. Eventually you realize, what is Canadian? How do you define what is Canadian and what isn’t Canadian?”. Himani Bannerji, Sociology professor at York University, explores this tension of assuming a Canadian identity as a non-white person and the challenges that arise as a of being excluded along the lines of race, ethnicity, language, and other factors. As a young person, Dhillon recounts being told to learn English or being assumed to need ESL schooling as a result of his racialized identity. Bannerji writes that, “the “Canadian” core community is defined through the same process that others us”, through a set of expectations and assumptions about what a 'Canadian' looks like.
Despite challenges growing up and finding his place, Dhillon says he realized, “in Canada we are allowed to show our multiculturalism...our cultural differences make us strong in this country and no one is going to hold me back from sharing mine.”
Citation:
Bannerji, Himani. The Dark Side of the Nation: Essays on Multiculturalism, Nationalism and Gender. Toronto. Canadian Scholars Press. 2000.
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