♪ Whatever it takes ♪
♪ Be the best that I can be ♪
♪ I know I can make it through ♪
How about Lola?
Huh?
That means, "She's reading, but what is she reading?"
Care to share with the rest of the class?
Uh, no. No, no, no, that... that's okay.
That means, "I insist."
Go on.
"Masturbation is a stimulation or the manipulation of the genitals."
♪ Y'all in the wrong world ♪
♪ So look here, man ♪
♪ Welcome to "Huang's World" ♪
♪ World traveler ♪
♪ The food, whoo, good and delicious ♪
♪ Shanghai, Moscow, check out the pictures ♪
♪ L.A., New York, M-I-A, oh, London ♪
♪ The schedule's vicious ♪
♪ Welcome to "Huang's World"! ♪
- Ouch. - I'm sorry.
So we go to a lot of exotic places on the show... Jamaica,
Mongolia, Istanbul. We did that.
Toronto doesn't exactly conjure images of an exotic wonderland
that you would take a food travel show to.
But we're here because Toronto has one of the most interesting
multicultural food scenes in the world, and I wanted to show you not only the food,
but the policy, the mind-set, and the people that make this diverse society
and food possible.
Oh, it's... cold.
It feels like Canada.
Feels like a friendly, multicultural state.
And we're going to meet Jeffington Dvorkington,
who is the former vippington of NPR.
And we're going to throw axes at wood.
Welcome to Toronto.
Thank you! I'm excited.
- Well, so am I. - I'm also cold.
Well, that's part of being in Toronto.
Have you ever thrown axes?
No, it's not part of my original Canadian-ness.
But I'm prepared to learn from the best.
Oh, okay, me, too. Would that be him?
Probably.
All right. Let's learn.
All right. I'll get you guys to sign a waiver first, before we get going. - Okay.
- All right. - Okay, cool.
I'll give each one of you an ax.
Can I do something... up before you do it the right way?
- No. - Okay.
Hold the ax in your right hand, your left hand directly over top just like that.
Bring the ax back overhead, and then, when you bring it forward,
you want to let go about your eye level.
Follow through and lean in.
California maki!
That's kind of our thing on this show.
When we throw things, we yell, "California roll."
- California roll? - Yeah.
- What's your favorite sushi? - Dragon roll.
Dragon maki!
Oh, that was pretty good.
The inventor of General Tso's just died today, 98 years old.
Peng Chang-Kuel, this is for you.
For General Tso.
Soup dumplings!
Ha gow siumaai!
For great Canadians, Justin Bieber!
Hey, watch out!
Ooh, no, wow. Bieber, no good.
So, Jeffrey, I noticed, from my two to three visits in Toronto,
that it's like one giant city of Queens.
Different colors, different shapes, different opinions, and I feel like
it's a much more tolerant city.
In America, you have the melting pot.
Here, they call it the mosaic because every little tile creates a larger picture.
And that is a kind of idealized version of what multiculturalism is.
At the same time, there have been moments of serious discrimination.
The Chinese were brought in in the 19th century to build the railroads.
They had to pay a head tax in order to stay here, so not only were they working,
but then they had to pay the government.
We interned Japanese Canadians in World War II.
When Jews tried to flee Europe before the war,
there was a deputy Minister of Immigration
who, when asked, "How many Jews should we allow in?"
he said, "None is too many."
So with that history, how is it that Canada has become
this more tolerant, multicultural society?
Part of it is the law.
The Multiculturalism Act?
Exactly that.
Justin Trudeau's father, Pierre Trudeau, when he became Prime Minister of Canada,
passed as a piece of legislation that all ethnicities have the right
to express themselves both legally, culturally, and politically.
One of the reasons he did this was to kind of try
to stem the tide of rising French Canadian nationalism.
For a generation, we were obsessed with the possibility
that Quebec would become independent and break away and destroy the country.
You see today, history repeats itself.
These nationalist feelings and attitudes always resurface every 30 to 35 years.
- Yes. - And now you see it.
In London, there's Brexit, and in America, there's Trump.
Yeah.
And what we need is more ax throwing.
Ohh!
Watch this.
Whoa! Holy shit! He did it too.
We just had to threaten you with rising nationalism.
That's it. You know, you threaten to take us over, - and we... - Yeah.
- We have to fight back. - Yeah.
Thank you. Thank you so much... You're welcome. Any time.
For your generosity.
Any time.
- So this is Kadbanu? - Kadbanu, and it's one of my favorite restaurants.
And this is a Persian restaurant?
This is a Persian restaurant.
Cool, thank you.
The Persian community here is the second largest Iranian diaspora community
in the world after Los Angeles.
- Eddie, nice to meet you. - Hi, Jeff.
Hi, nice to see you, dear.
- Oh, my. - Oh.
I won't have to eat for a week.
This one is hard to pronounce.
Ghormeh Sabzi.
Are you a journalist, too?
I write for VICE Canada.
Oh, no way! What do you write about?
Mainly immigration issues, LGBTQ issues... - Mm-hmm. - You know, we came here
Right after the Iranian revolution.
It was very difficult back then.
Like, things have gotten a lot better in this city.
My sister and I, we were actually tied up
and taken hostage by a bunch of Greek boys saying,
"You took them hostage, so we're taking you hostage,"
until my uncle saw us from the top of the balcony
- and came down... - This is in Toronto?
- Yep. Yeah.
It was a difficult time to be an immigrant back then here.
What do you think it is that has made it better?
I think the communities themselves.
We have really made a place for ourselves in this mosaic.
Yeah. Appreciate it.
Also, just to let you know, this is a sour lime.
- Oh, nice. - So approach it with... - Care. - ...a little bit of caution
- and care... - Okay.
And mix it with other things.
Very good.
It looks like saag paneer.
- For sure. Yep. - And you go to it thinking It's going to taste like saag paneer,
but what I love is, instead of playing up - the element of dairy... - Mm-hmm.
That gives it that texture and that cream,
it's playing on acid, so it's a brighter... Yeah.
Acidic version as opposed to going the dairy route.
- Yeah. - So super interesting.
Our food is very similar, I would say.
It's between sort of Mediterranean - and Indian, if you like to... - Yeah, mm-hmm.
If you had to compare it.
Very good.
Good, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
So many teen shows, especially when I was growing up,
you never saw that many people of color, people of different backgrounds.
But "Degrassi," since its beginning, has always been very multicultural.
So we're going to meet Linda Schuyler, the creator of "Degrassi."
Hi, Linda! Thanks for having me.
I'm very excited.
Well, I'm very excited to have you here.
- Yeah, definitely. - Welcome to Degrassi.
I'm a new student at Degrassi Community School.
I didn't realize, until we came to Toronto and started doing this episode,
that it actually is an accurate reflection of Canada's multiculturalism.
I like to think that "Degrassi"
is kind of like a microcosm of Canadian politics.
It's not that I designed it that way, but it was very ingrained
in what my background was as a teacher
and what my particular politics are all about.
When Pierre Trudeau passed the Multiculturalism Act,
how did it affect you teaching in school?
I was teaching in an inner city school in Toronto,
so my classroom was a living, breathing representation
of what Trudeau was talking about for Canada.
The fact that the country was saying, "Welcome, we accept individual differences,"
that was the teaching philosophy that one had to use.
I had reached a point in my teaching career where I was very frustrated
because I didn't think anybody was using television
to tell stories and talk to kids in a very realistic manner.
And it was like, one day, "Maybe it's my job to make these things."
Yeah, I started to realize, the older I got,
that when you see a need for something,
you have to do it because no one's going to do it for you.
Totally.
We put this area in when we moved the show Next Class." And...
I know this wheelchair.
This wheelchair.
Yes, a very famous person, actually, has used that wheelchair.
Jimmy's wheelchair.
It was Jimmy's wheelchair, and if you turn this way... Yes.
We will see it was in this bank of lockers here... Yes.
Where Jimmy, played by Aubrey Graham...
Is that real?
And he was held at gunpoint.
And he backed away, this way...
and then started to run.
And that's when he got shot...
Aaaah!
He got bodied.
And was down on the floor and found by Craig.
What I love about "Degrassi"
is we just don't do a special like that because we did that, I think, in season 4.
He was with the show for four more years.
You know, you still have to come to school
- the next week - And write your math test,
And you still have to wonder who's going to take you to prom and... Yeah.
Despite what big issues we might have in someone's life,
we keep that romance and the heartbeat of everyday life going on at the same time.
Those first-time experiences that young people go through,
doesn't matter if it's in the 1980s or in 2016, it's always fresh and new for you
because it's the first time you've experienced it.
I hope, if nothing else, what "Degrassi" helps to do is reassure young people
that they are not alone.
Yeah.
I love "Degrassi,"
and I might even love Drake now.
I love Drake now. I do. I love Drake.
Ooh, you didn't before?
If I can love Drake, you can love anybody.
You can love Drake.
I love him now. I love him now.
This is incredible.
Do you have sparklers?
Yes! Whoo-hoo-hoo!
So Canada is a global leader today
in immigration policy and theories of global mobility.
But in 1986, Canada's immigration history changed forever
when 155 Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka were found on the coast of Newfoundland
by Captain Gus Dalton.
And Gus Dalton dumped his catch of cod, called the Canadian Navy,
and now there are 300,000 Tamil citizens of Canada,
forming one of its most important communities.
So we're going to meet Johnne, the owner of Saffron Spice Kitchen,
and Suresh, who started Food Truck Eats.
So where we at, Johnne?
So we're in Scarborough. This is a... - Oh, oh, Spiceland! - Spiceland, yeah.
Is this a competing channel to Riceland?
California maki!
This is one of the largest Sri Lankan supermarket and restaurant in Toronto.
Did Dave make you do this?
Because Dave has been trying to launch
a competing network to Riceland for quite a long time.
For Riceland?
♪ Oi, oi, oi, oi! ♪
Spiceland.
Okay. Let's check out what Dave has going on at Spiceland.
All right.
Never seen this channel.
- Suresh. - Eddie.
Nice to meet you, man. How are you?
Nice to meet you, definitely.
- Definitely. - Welcome to Spiceland.
So I heard there's like 300,000 Sri Lankan people in Toronto.
Or it's more like 600,000 now.
600,000 just in Toronto?
- In the Greater Toronto Area. - Greater Toronto Area, GTA.
- Wow! - It's a... yeah, The biggest diaspora outside of Sri Lanka.
So Spiceland's about, you know, it's a gathering place
- for a lot of immigrants... - Yeah.
Who've come here from Sri Lanka.
Oh. The eggplants are a little smaller here.
Yeah.
Do other cultures use the curry leaf in their curry powder?
- No. - No, no.
This is a Sri Lankan thing.
Very Sri Lankan thing, for sure.
And, obviously, you know, we love our rice.
See, I see what Dave's doing here at Spiceland, trying to compete with Riceland.
Look at the packaging though.
Dave's rice is all in plastic bags,
all right, not environmentally conscience, much cheaper.
The tactile and feel of a rice bag, it's not there.
So, some things to work on here at Spiceland, Dave.
When you come to a place like Spiceland, there are two categories of food.
You can either snack, and you can get snacky type things,
or you can get a full meal.
- And the snacky type things - Are right here, And they're called shorties.
So think of all the curried stuff that you'd see normally on rice... Yeah.
In a reduced form stuffed into that.
- This is an onion bun. - Mm-hmm.
So, basically, they cook down onion with some sugar and some spices... Okay.
And stuff it into a bun, and they bake it.
It's called a seeni sambol.
A seeni sambol.
Yeah, seeni means sugar.
Onion bun.
Oh, nice.
Excuse me, guys. I would like to compliment on the food.
I am loving it, very good.
Oh, I don't cook here. I don't know own this place.
No, I would like to compliment on Spiceland and the food.
- Could you also say - Something nice about Riceland?
- Spicyland. - Riceland.
Riceland? I haven't seen it yet, but I'm sure it's just as nice.
Better.
No, I would not say that.
I would say Spicyland is most best for me.
Spicyland, number one.
Thank you, guys.
Thank you.
Did he just number-one me?
This mother... just... He just number-oned me.
So, that... This is another main one. It's a fish cutlet.
I'm so upset right now.
- It's all good.
This is good. This is good.
Yeah, so potato, fish, spices, deep-fried.
It's so good.
So here you have the hot plates.
Essentially the curries and the dried... - Yeah. - ...spiced meats.
That's what we see.
You guys really do like the red pepper.
- Everything's red. - Oh, yeah.
This is chicken?
That's deviled spicy chicken.
Deviled spicy chicken?
Very good.
Mmm. Mmm! Mmm!
How is that?
Mmm!
You like that?
That is like a spicy, spicy bourbon chicken.
- That's... Yeah. - Wow.
- Try one more. - It's like... He went for seconds.
Like sweet pepper-paste bourbon chicken, so good!
Looks good.
This is a very multipurpose kitchen.
- Yeah. - They do a lot of baking in here, a lot of frying.
So Johnne's going to make you his favorite dish.
It's called a kottu roti.
When you walk down street in Sri Lanka in Colombo,
You see, like, all these road-side stalls
with guys, like, hammering on these flat-tops, and you can hear it a mile away.
So is Benihana actually Sri Lankan?
Maybe Benihana copied our culture, man.
- I don't know. Like... - Then cut roti? - That's the roti.
The roti, the cut-up roti. So this is like fried rice!
You wait until the roti is old, and then you stir-fry it.
Same idea.
Damn.
Oh, is this your Spiceland homey?
Oh, you got a crew now.
Okay. I see you.
I see you.
- Ready? - Yeah.
I feel like John Cusack in "High Fidelity"
when he listened to those skater punks' demo tape
that kept stealing records from Champion Sound
and was, like, "It's really... good."
Spiceland, number two.
How's it going?
So we're at Harbour Sixty, hardest table to get in Toronto,
very expensive food, very expensive wines and, like all restaurants
at all price levels in Toronto, lots of Sri Lankans holding it down in the kitchen.
A lot of the guys working in the kitchen are Sri Lankan.
Has it always been that way since you've been here?
Always, since I've been here, yeah.
We aren't necessarily looking for Sri Lankans,
but, you know, if you're qualified to do the job,
it doesn't matter if your Sri Lankan, - Asian, Italian. - Yeah.
I think a part of it is that language, sometimes, can be a barrier.
And, you know, it's relatively simple communication.
No matter what language you speak, we all eat the same food.
How long you guys been working here?
I've worked here 10 years.
10 years? You?
Yeah, I'm 3 months.
- 3 months? - 8 years.
8 years? It's interesting because
this is probably the highest-check-average restaurant
in all of Toronto, and there's not that many Sri Lankan people
eating here, but all the food is being produced by... At least half of the people
working in the kitchen are Sri Lankan.
Now, watch, over time, it'll be 90% Sri Lankan people.
90% of the kitchen's Sri Lankan.
Yeah. My owner, very happy with my country people.
You guys have kids?
Yeah, I have the two kids.
You want them to work in the restaurant, too?
No, no. Go study something.
What do you want them to do?
I don't know. Just life.
But something not here?
Yeah.
It's a great place to survive.
It's a great place to plant your flag and say, "I'm here.
I'm going to work hard, and I'm going to survive."
But if you have kids, you want them to go do something else as well.
Very hard work.
It is.
- Thank you so much. - Thank you.
I appreciate it.
Yo, why is beef patties yellow?
We color it looks a little more... It really sets off the color of the dog food.
Oh, yeah.
So right here is where our homey Matty Matheson used to live.
It's... good.
This is his friend, Nick Chen. This is Loga's Corner,
and we're going to eat momos with him.
- What up? - What's up, bro?
Hey, thanks for having us, man.
- No worries, dude. - Yeah. So you lived on top of this, too?
- No, so you know Matty, right? - Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, so Matty lived above here... Uh-huh.
And then we had our commissary kitchen below Loga's.
- Loga, this is Eddie. - Hi, what's up, Loga?
- Eddie, Loga. - Nice to meet you.
- How you doing, buddy?
Yeah, I'm fine.
I'd say we got to get the beef momo.
- That's the joint. - Yeah.
- Fried momos are good. - Yeah?
Okay, thank you. Thank you.
You know, even in L.A. or New York, it's hard to find Tibetan food.
But there's multiple Tibetan restaurants in Toronto.
Yeah, and especially in this area.
You can affectionately coin it as Little Tibet.
What's your family's background?
Second generation Chinese Jamaican.
Were they the Chinese people that got sent to build,
like, the Panama Canal and then got traded to Jamaica?
It's almost like loosely an indentured servitude.
Yeah, it was.
And then my parents' generation then moved to Canada,
and then, like, I'm the first generation that was born here.
Oh, you're the first one born in Canada?
First one born in Canada.
In comparison to, say, Korean dumplings or Northern Chinese dumplings,
Tibetan dumplings, they're thick, very much like Northern-style
or Korean-style dumplings.
They're a little heavier, and, also, the flavor of the beef
and the scallions, it's muskier.
And once you get used to it, it's really delicious.
I like strong beef momos.
Hey.
Yo, what's good?
What's good?
Aah!
Where are you?
- Aah! -Aah!
Here, eat that order, Matty!
Just take that order and eat it.
- Matty, peep it. - Hey, Loga!
Yes, yes, yes!
- We finessed all the momos. - Those momos are so good.
They're real good.
Look at that. We're around the world.
You're in my city. I'm in your city.
Shout-out Toronto, Matty.
It's L.A. ...Toronto!
Baaaah!
♪ Liiiiiiiiiiiiiife ♪
We're going to meet Nick's cousin Steve who works at George's,
one of Toronto's biggest suppliers of Jamaican beef patties.
- Yo, what's up? - Hey. I'm Steve.
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you, definitely.
- Josh. - Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you. - So how did you all learn to make beef patties?
My dad's friend, - he had a bakery in Jamaica... - Yeah.
And helped him out with the formula and how to do it and all that stuff.
Wow, the coco bread's flaky!
A lot of times, you get coco bread, long gluten strands, it's a little too doughy.
This is, like, a little biscuit-like.
It's nice.
Let's see how you make it.
Lead the way here.
This is where we make the dough.
So they're mixing it there.
When it's mixed, it'll come onto this machine.
You created your own machine?
My dad had the idea, and a friend of his,
actually the one that gave him the patty recipe,
he's not trained in that, but he built this.
He was able to build this machine.
It's a lot of simple process.
So your dad's innovation is the seeding process?
That's right, yeah.
We cook the meat. He's just about finished though.
And he's just putting them onto the tray to cool.
This looks delicious.
Yeah.
It actually tastes great in a beef patty.
It just looks like dog food.
But it's not dog food.
Is there a lot of Chinese people that sell Jamaican products in Toronto?
Of all the patty companies, I think most of them are owned by Chinese.
- Yeah. - It's just, I think, the Chinese mentality.
It's funny, Chinese identity and values is very adaptable.
I'm Chinese by heritage, Jamaican by birth, and Canadian by choice.
And I think that kind of encompasses not just myself,
but I think a lot of the people that come to this country.
Why is it that you think you can be accepted in Canada?
I think most everyone have immigrant roots here.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
So when there's a newcomer that comes to Canada, we accept them.
We welcome them for who they are.
We welcome... That's right.
We're past tolerant. We're accepting.
- Exactly. - That's dope.
Thank you, man.
Appreciate it.
Thank you so much.
I'm, like, way up in your shit right now.
It's cool. It's cool.
You like this?
Hmm. It's a good spot.
So I'm at the hockey noobs pick-up game, and it's a pick-up game for beginners.
Oh, this a stinky jersey, bro.
So a lot of the players are Asian.
I'm ready. Let's go.
This is one of my favorite parts of practice, the slapshot line.
As a goalie, it just gets you really tuned in.
You take a lot of shots, one after the other after the other.
- So you have to be quick. - Go!
Whoo!
Nice save!
Ooh, we got to beat this guy.
- Ah. - How you doing?
- Good. - I think only, like, three people scored on you on the slap shot.
- Yeah, thanks, man. - Natural goalie.
Keep your passport with you if you ever need...
- Yeah, yeah. - So did you start the league?
Yeah, so I didn't grow up with a hockey culture.
- Yeah. - But when I was a kid, I played a lot of street hockey,
so we started playing ice hockey about 6 years ago.
And then a bunch of us just got together and were like,
"You know what? Let's just start our own thing."
And it just kind of grew from there.
Six years, nonstop, every Friday night, we get people from all different cultures.
- Yeah. - Like, obviously, you see a lot of Asians here today,
but we've got a lot of non-Asians in the league,
and, you know, we don't associate by color or anything like that.
It's incredible to see immigrants come to countries
and then play the native sports...
- It is. It is. - ...and bring another eye to it.
You bring another voice to it. It's always good.
Yeah. When we're here, we just play hockey, have a good time.
Yeah, sports are like public spaces on land.
Yeah, man.
They don't actually have any built-in meaning.
- Yeah. - It's the people and cultures
And identities that come that give them the meaning.
All right, Eddie. You ready?
Some pucks coming your way, Eddie.
- Yep. - Let's go!
All right! Let's go!
Shoot, shoot!
Oh!
- Whoo! - Yep.
I think what's special is everyone kind of knows each other.
Everyone takes it easy.
Everyone just wants to have fun and learn the game, so it's a safe environment
to learn in.
Already. Oh, here we go.
- Eddie, get this! - Oh, shit!
Japanese people found hockey in Canada in the internment camps of B.C.
There's one in particular called Greenwood Camp, and, you know,
it kind of followed everybody - as they sort of dispersed - Through Canada,
You know, from Vancouver to MontrÃ©al to Toronto.
My bad.
But then the other thing is, like, you know,
Asians like to buy gear, you know what I mean?
I got this $250 carbon stick. It's unbelievable, right?
We need to do a tower.
We need to do the king crab tower.
Can you do 30 pounds?
- Um, yeah. - I want 30!
- Yeah. - We're reversing the myth of the Asian phallus with this mountain,
so it's very important that this is the biggest,
most-Mandingo mountain of shellfish you've ever made.
I'm going to eat with no shirt on because, like, you need to get in there.
King crab.
The lobster is really coming.
Wow.
Should we eat?
All right. It's time to eat. It's time to eat.
This is amazing.
This is excellent. This is excellent.
This is delicious. There's a little sugar, chili, fried garlic.
There's no way for me to, like, explain this because you just have to come.
It is the best shellfish I've ever had.
It warrants not wearing a shirt.
Thank you for having me play hockey, man.
You are welcome to come back and play hockey with us any time.
Oh, please do.
We're not finished, you guys, not finished.
Not finished.
I think I'm going to pass out.
- Say hi! You're famous. - You're on Riceland.
- Say hi. Say hi. - Number one.
- Do the number one. - Aww.
We're at California Condos, and we're about to be on the local Somali YouTube show,
Sheeko Sheeko.
So I'm officially still pooping shellfish from Lobster Fishman Clubhouse.
Sheeko Sheeko!
This is Sheeko Sheeko.
- What's up? - How's it going?
- Pretty good. - So this is Sheeko Sheeko?
- Yes! - That's how to pronounce it, - Sheeko Sheeko? - Yes! Wow!
All right. Cool. What's it mean?
The definition of sheeko means a story.
Started this just to inform our own community and stuff like that.
We've been on for 2 years.
- Yeah. - So have you tried Somali food is the question.
- No, not yet. - Not yet?
- I'm going to. - Are you excited?
I just sold off a lot of shellfish in the bathroom, - so I'm ready to... - Ohh.
I'm in the market for Somali food.
So what do you think is the distinguishing characteristics of Somali food?
- Can we talk about the banana? - That's probably banana.
- Can we... - Banana!
- Oh, my God, banana! - ...educate him on the banana?
- Banana. - I remember one time I was... I was at a community dinner once.
There was a plate of rice, got some pasta over here because Somalia's
- heavily influenced by Italian, you know what I mean? - Yeah.
And then they'll just eat the banana quickly.
- That's what they do! - That's a lot of carbs.
You're supposed to eat the rice with the banana on the side.
It gives you a nice taste contrast.
It sounds weird, but banana can work... No, sweet and savory, right? Yeah.
Yeah, it makes sense, like Caribbean food.
- Yeah. Yeah. - Oh, yeah.
What do you know about Somalis?
I do know that you guys had the hardest time getting into Canada.
You had to have a passport or some form of legal identification,
and I believe they changed that right around the Somali War
so it affected a lot of Somalis coming.
Of course, yeah. There's a lot of misconceptions
in the Somali community and how the media portrays us - and whatnot. - Mm-hmm.
What are some of the things that you feel like the media constantly portrays us
and has this misconception about?
I say this whole... that we're terrorists.
On the one hand, it's terrorist.
On the other hand, on the far end,
- is, like, absence of Islam, - You're a gangster.
Mm-hmm.
But I feel like they don't show enough of educated, well-to-do Somalis.
Mm-hmm.
And so portraying positive stereotypes
- is something that - We're working on right now.
Yeah.
Immigration continues to play a key role in contributing to Canada's well-being,
to our economic prosperity, and to our success as a nation.
We welcome those fleeing persecution, terror, and war.
So we're going to meet Ahmed Hussen, Canada's first Somalian member of Parliament.
- Hey, how's it going? - Hi.
- I'm Eddie. - I'm Zoharla.
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
- Welcome, welcome. - Definitely.
- I'll introduce you to Ahmed. - Hi.
- How are you? - He's our local MP.
- I'm Eddie. - Hi.
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you too.
- I love your show. - Get comfortable.
- Cross your legs. - Very nice.
Why is it you decided to run for Parliament in Toronto?
I grew up in Regent Park, which is Canada's largest and oldest
social housing neighborhood.
- Mm-hmm. - And it's tough.
It's tough because we didn't have the services
that other parts of Toronto would get.
But the people there were really great.
They organized, and they really took their reality into their hands,
and they started advocating for a better neighborhood.
So that was my real education, on the ground.
I felt that there was space for someone to be a really good constituency MP,
and that's what I aim to do all the time, make sure that people's voices
are represented in Parliament and not the other way around.
It seems that it's community driven... - Yes. - ...community first.
A lot of times, in other countries,
it's the leadership applying a vision to the community... Right.
That they have for a community
they don't participate, live in, or have membership in, you know?
Right, and that doesn't work because you don't know the reality on the ground.
Oh, oh, oh, oh. We got food here.
This is from Hamdi, so shout-out to them.
You cannot come to Toronto without eating Hamdi.
- Oh. - Ooh.
- This is called suqaar. - It's beef stew.
- I like this, all of this.
Is he going to finish all of that? Mm.
Mmm.
It really tastes like a cross between Middle Eastern food and Mexican food.
- The cumin really shows. - Yeah.
But the way you're marinating it, it's tender.
The flavor's coming through.
I've never seen a culture do beef cubes this good outside of Vietnam.
Somali beef cubes, number one.
Done!
If you're going to Hamdi restaurant
or any other Somali restaurant here in Toronto, or...
The banana really works with the food.
Today, I'm going to make my comeback to the soccer field.
I'm going to play with the Syrian Eagles.
I got a save!
So when I was a kid, I played on this soccer team
called the Yellow Eagles, and we didn't win any games.
So one day, at one of the parent meetings, my dad's like,
"We should call them the Yellow Zeroes
because they stink and they can't win any games."
And I never played soccer again because my dad's a dick.
But, today, I'm going to make my comeback to the soccer field.
I'm going to play with the Syrian Eagles.
Syrians are the latest newcomers to Canada.
And in 2016, Canada welcomed 305,000 new Syrian immigrants.
And Justin Trudeau has pledged to welcome another 25,000 every year after.
Once they come into Canada, a lot of people on the ground
are doing whatever they can to help integrate them.
And Neveen is a real-estate agent who came from Egypt, lives in Toronto,
and she started this rec league soccer program
for Syrian refugees so they can meet each other
and they can integrate into Toronto.
Even for me, just moving to L.A., the thing that helped me was finding
- a weekly basketball game. - Mm-hmm.
And once I found a weekly basketball game, like,
"All right. I have something to look forward to."
Soccer's just a big sport... International.
International, but specifically in the Middle East, so when I picked the project,
the goal was to help them integrate, and that's why I used soccer as a tool.
Oh!
How did you find this league?
- Oh, me and Neveen? - Yeah.
Neveen, she called me, and she said, "We want to make a team
from the newcomer Syrian refugees."
And actually I am professional player in my country.
You were a professional player in Syria?
Yeah, and I played with my international team.
So I made some okay stuff.
- Yeah. - For amateur, not bad.
Yeah, yeah, you are okay.
I got a save!
What do you think it is about sports
that transcends race and country and identity at times?
Sports right now is the language of the world.
For example, the league, what we played this year,
many teams are from different country,
from different culture, from different religions.
We meet them, and we make with them friends.
That's really good.
When you make judgments about people from watching the news or afar,
none of it has any basis.
- None of it is true. - Yeah.
But when you actually cook with people,
play sports with people, live with each other,
you realize we're so much more similar than we are different.
I am human, and you are human, so that's humanity.
- Thank you. - Awesome.
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
So we're here in Depanneur Kitchen, and this is owned by Len.
It's a pop-up kitchen where a lot of amateur and professional cooks
come to create new food experiences.
But I think one of the most meaningful food experiences created
within these walls is Newcomer Kitchen because Len decided to open up this space
to Toronto's new Syrian refugee community.
So when the Syrian refugees came to Canada... - Mm-hmm. - ...what gave you the idea
to open it up to them?
Well, I know that I don't like not being able to cook for a long period of time,
and I don't even have a whole family to look after.
And since I was totally used to having strangers come and cook in my kitchen,
it just seemed like an obvious thing to extend the invitation to them.
So, do they pay rent to you here?
Well, the revenue that's generated during the day covers a lot of the hard costs.
I'd say the program earns back about 80% of the money that it costs to run.
But, again, it's not, I would say, primarily an economic thing.
What they get from cooking together, sharing time together,
sharing their recipes and integrating or participating in a community
that is really grateful for what they have to offer,
that's worth more than the day's wage that they make.
How long have you been in Toronto?
- Ten months. - Oh. You enjoy it?
Yes, the people are very kind, yes.
Oh, thank you. Keba?
Keba.
Mmm.
It's pomegranate, mushroom, and potato, very nice.
How long have you been in Canada?
- One year. - One year?
- Yes. - You enjoy it?
I think there is no place in the world similar to this... uh, to Canada.
A lot of people in America, they're afraid of immigration
because they think it's going to be a strain on their welfare system
or that they're going to pay more taxes.
But how would you you respond?
Be friendly to them. Welcome them.
They're very good people.
They know how to start their own businesses.
They will not depend on anybody.
Maybe you will find them helping to support the government itself
because they have this ability.
I know that.
Do you have anything you want to say to the Canadian viewers?
Hello. For everyone.
- Okay. - Let me say something.
We must make sure that Canada will never feel regret for hosting the Syrians at all,
and we will remember this.
Thank you.
You represent the Syrians very well.
Thank you!
The older I get, the more I travel, the more I see,
I keep hearing my dad's... voice in my head saying, "Be a giver, not a taker,"
because that's what we've learned from Justin Trudeau,
Pierre Trudeau, and the Canadians in Toronto.
If you recognize that you have some privilege,
you take that privilege and you give it back.
Not all of it, maybe just a little, because, like these Syrian refugees,
like the Somalian people who came, like the Chinese people,
every people everywhere that has ever been an immigrant
anywhere has given so much more than they've ever taken.
♪ King City ♪
♪ You're driving me wild ♪
♪ King City ♪