Chapter 8: Working in Canada

It was at the end of my three-year contract teaching in the University of Hong Kong. My colleagues were taken by surprise when the boss announced that I had “snapped up” a job in the University of British Colombia (UBC), a research-intensive university in Canada. Many Canadians would probably use the phrase to refer to, for example, bargains in a store. To me, the phrase “snap up” suggests a surprise, and certainly a positive one. I heartily rejoiced because I was coming home to where I had studied for my Ph.D. One of my nonacademic Canadian friends thought UBC needed Chinese-speaking professors like me to attract students with a Chinese background and also to represent the Chinese population in Vancouver. Another friend who was working for the Canadian government said that I, being a female and a visible minority, 1 was a good statistic for employment equity that UBC claims to adhere to in its hiring. The reactions of my friends made me feel sensitive to my Chinese background. I found myself lost in wonder: Was my Chinese background an asset or a drawback in Canada? What were my challenges as a female Chinese minority working in a Canadian university? Was I hired just to improve the statistics for UBC’s employment equity? With all these questions, I started to learn about the Canadian system after coming to UBC.