The name is Penny O'Hara, and I'm a construction manager with Renard Engineering, a general contractor that does a lot of business in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. You don't see a lot of women working in construction, and you see even fewer in construction management. I was born in the town of Perth, Ontario, to a provincial police officer, Winston O'Hara, and a...
A year ago, when Jacob Dorval moved to the City of Montreal, Quebec, to attend the University of Montreal, he felt sorely out of place. Born in the town of Quartier Morin, northern Haiti, Jacob came of age in a rather turbulent era. A decade after the Quake which devastated the City of Port-Au-Prince, Capital of Haiti, the island was still struggling. The...
My name is Catherine Aisha Cailloux, and I'm a young Frenchwoman living in the City of Ottawa, Province of Ontario. I was born in the Camargue region of France, to a French father and Lebanese-Canadian mother. My mother, Elisabeth Abdul-Hamid, often spoke of her life in the Confederation of Canada, where her family moved during the Lebanese Civil War. She ca...
Sometimes, the toughest obstacle in the black man's path to success isn't the white man, it's a negative black female. How else would you explain my situation at work? My name is Alexandre Vincent. All my life, I've been the good brother. The hard-working, law-abiding and church-going on you seldom hear about. I'm a firm believer in higher education as perha...
I met Ayaan Aden, the six-foot-tall, curvaceous and downright majestic Somali MILF who changed my life completely by chance at Canada's Capital University. I was sitting at the campus library one Saturday morning, typing up a paper on a computer on the quiet floor, and that's when I noticed her walking by, pushing a cleaning tray. Now, mind you, while typing...
XVII Faith and Charity Tamara 2093 Tamara studied the framed picture on the wall. It showed the image of a slightly tubby middle-aged woman which had been made to resemble a mediaeval Christian saint. She even had a halo around her forehead. "Who's this?" Tamara asked. "It's Saint Diane," said Dahab. "She was the founder of the Reigate centre." "Is...
The world's oldest profession. Now there's something I never thought I'd fall into. Not a pious, Hijab-wearing Somali Muslim sister like I once was. Life, it sure can kick you in the teeth, can't it? Considering what it ultimately led me to, I shouldn't complain, though. Life has a way of working out. My name is Saada Hawiye and I'm a young Somali woman livi...
Everybody got three selves, I think. First, there's the public self, secondly there's the private self and finally, the true self. My name is Stephanie Aminata Villeneuve, and I'm a young French Canadian woman living in the City of Ottawa, Province of Ontario. I was born in the town of Moncton, Province of New Brunswick, to a French Canadian father and Leban...
Please lay off my faith, I thought angrily as I sat on the toilet seat inside the ladies room on the second floor of the university library. A couple of white chicks were talking trash about some Hijabi friend of theirs, her style of dress and Islamic faith apparently the focal point of their mockery. That's Canada for you. People up here smile to your face...
"You'll never guess where I come from," Rachel Van Boeijen said, smiling faintly. Sitting opposite her inside The Page Break, the Starbucks located inside the Carleton University library, Kinuthia "Ken" Makenga stroked his goateed chin thoughtfully. The international student from Kenya was one of the special mentors and tutors assigned to the International S...