“I’m Right Here:” Cultural Clubs on Campus and the Importance of Celebrating Cultural Pride
Sitting down to have cordial conversations with several culturally-focused clubs at UTM.
Consisting of around 15 000 full-time undergraduate students with roughly 25-30% having international enrolled each year at the University of Toronto Mississauga from 2019-2024, the UTM student body raves about its wide range of cultures and traditions. This is further exemplified through the significant assortment of UTM clubs focused on “culture and identity” listed in the Student Organization Portal, each founded and maintained by an ethnic group significantly represented on campus.
For that reason, it is critical to hear from these clubs to get a sense of the community on campus and why we gravitate towards each other into these places. A primary mission of cultural clubs like Caribbean Connections (CC), the Egyptian Students’ Association (ESA), the Filipino Student Association (FSA), the Latin American Students’ Association (LASA), and the Pakistan Student Association (PSA) is to create a space where students can connect with their own culture or learn more about another through their events and initiatives. PSA’s vice president internal Shalrah Sultana emphasizes that clubs like these bring “People to enjoy their culture even when they’re far away from home.” FSA’s vice president communications Hero Banares stresses the importance of also bringing in outsiders: “We always try to include other people who are not Filipino. A lot of people come up to me during our events and ask if they’re allowed to go in and I’m like, of course. Just come inside. You can come. We just want to spread the joy of our club and our culture”.
Events are the best way for clubs to reach or educate both their membership as well as the wider community at UTM. Sierra O’Brien, vice president of community outreach and Engagement for CC, highlights events such as the “Caribbean Heritage Expo,” held annually in the Blind Duck Pub during the fall semester, that are able “To allow students—not only Caribbean students, but students at UTM—to come in and learn about Caribbean culture, hear talks, hear different types of music, poetry, and just eat the food that we have, and so kind of build a community that way”. Education is a large focus of cultural clubs at UTM, not only teaching about their respective cultures but also valuable life skills. LASA’s vice president finance Max Hernandez-Garcia explains that one of their biggest goals is “to have a panel discussion with Latin American professionals—as [well] as with Caribbean professionals, for example, people part of BSA and the African Student Association, as well as Caribbean Student Association—to have these individuals share their experiences with being a marginalized group and how they were able to work through the workforce, the kind of things they had to struggle with to get their job.” Our culturally-focused clubs also tend to build connections with cognate groups on other campuses. ESA’s annual gala, held last year on February 1 at the Grand Victorian Convention Centre, “Is a collaboration between all of the Egyptian student associations across Ontario”, according to ESA president Malak Elassiuty. “It’s basically just a gala with food and music and in a banquet hall; it’s a nice kind of event for Egyptians to come together.”
This sense of collaboration is a key function in how cultural communities operate on campus. Elassuity states that “Collaborations are important, even if it’s not Egyptian clubs, because it allows for a space for different communities to come together.” It is just as important to show compassion and consideration for the cultures on campus outside of our own. PSA’s team “Want to show that [they] can get along with everyone, and [they] love to get along with everyone, so having that collaboration shows that to the UTM student community.”
Social awareness is also a crucial part of these clubs’ DNA as well. Sultana reveals that PSA donates most of their proceeds to charities in Pakistan at the end of the year. LASA particularly expresses that “[they] want to not only celebrate Latin American culture but [they] also have the mission to help a lot of these marginalized people- marginalized communities. [They] know that the Spanish community is not the only marginalized group, but [they’re] working together with other clubs, [they’re] going to strive to support these students academically, socially, and just make a welcoming environment”.
Primarily, cultural clubs on campus strive to celebrate their respective communities and demonstrate what makes them special. O’Brien expresses that cultural pride is a “Really high priority for [them] because one of [their] mottos is ‘One Caribbean,’ so being Caribbean or being West Indian is very, very important to every single one of [them] just because it’s such a unique culture, and the Caribbean population in Canada, even in UTM, it’s not the biggest”. It is important to amplify this pride to cultivate the feeling of belonging on campus. For FSA, cultural pride is “Very important because, when [Banares] was tabling for FSA during the beginning of the year, so many people that came up to [him] during tabling were just like, ‘I never knew there was a Filipino club. I felt like I was the only Filipino at UTM,” to which Banares would respond “Come here, I’m right here.”
In such a vibrant and diverse campus, having places for individual cultures is imperative; it is a crucial part of having people together, bringing people together, and celebrating what makes us similar as well as unique. Building these connections and developing that cultural pride is crucial especially for first-year students, a sentiment that is shared amongst the personal experiences of some of the club executives above. “I feel like everyone should be proud of where they’re from and who they are”, says Hernandez-Garcia. “It’s a big part of their identity and how you do day-to-day stuff. One of the biggest things that we strive for is making sure everyone’s proud of their culture, having a good space for them to show that, and also welcoming other individuals to see how we live our life and how we have different events, how we celebrate stuff”.
