Representing your nation

Something that I didn't think about before we moved is the extent to which we as Australians living in Canada are really ambassadors for our country.  It's been interesting - despite the number of different nationalities living and working here, because of our skin colour and clothing, people seem to expect us to be Canadians.  That lasts right until we open our mouths, when they're not sure where we're from!

Apparently we don't sound like Aussies - we've had a number of queries, usually suggesting that we sound "English but not quite".  Apparently everyone expects us to get around in leather vests with corks on our hats broadly affirming that "That's not a knife!"  Nevertheless, it's strange to think that every time we speak, people are judging Australia based on how we act - if we're rude or if we hold a particular opinion, they might think that "all Australians" are rude or "all Australians" think like that.  It's a good lesson in self-control and thinking before you speak.

We went to our first Canadian social event the other day - a Rock Band night at a house belonging to one of our World of Warcraft guildmates.  It was a great evening and we had a lot of fun - everyone was very welcoming and asked us how we were enjoying Toronto.  (Apparently a common joke told by people who live in Toronto is that if someone says they're enjoying Toronto, they haven't been there for long enough yet - that could almost be an Australian joke!)

It was very telling, however, when we were discussing countries at the start of the night, and this group of mid-20s gamers mentioned that "Australians don't like refugees do they?  You don't even hold to the Geneva Convention."  I found that very embarrassing - we meet our first group of social Canadians, and one of the first things they know about Australia aside from the weather is our awful foreign policy.  We demurred and explained that unfortunately our politicians tend to deal in fear, but the point stood.  The Canadians, just for the record, were very proud of their policy, telling us that they accept all refugees.

We weren't sure if it was perhaps less of an issue in their politics because they didn't have that many refugees to accept, but when we looked at the figures when we went home, the 2009 figures showed that the US accepted approximately 80,000 people as refugees, Canada 12,500 and Australia 11,100 - so Canada is actually taking more refugees than Australia is.  Stephen pointed out that on a per capita basis, Australia is actually taking significantly more refugees than Canada.  It's interesting to note that in Canada it's a source of national pride, whereas in Australia it's a political football with both parties attempting to appear "strong on border protection" - but the results are much the same, with both countries taking in nearly the same number of refugees.

This all wouldn't be such a big deal, except that the Australian government is having more and more problems with attracting foreign tourists - the soaring currency value aside, when this is one of the few things that people know about Australia, is it any wonder that they don't want to visit?

We're continuing to fight the good fight, trying to be good ambassadors for Australia - friendly, polite and generous, like the stereotype says, right?  We're even keeping the Aussie humour in check, as apparently it's difficult for non-Australians to understand.  It feels like it should go both ways though - Australia needs to try not to embarrass us as well.  Hopefully the refugee policy/gay marriage policy/racist behaviour manages to stay out of the news so that we can spend future Canadian social events loudly shouting "Crikey!" and lauding Australia's performance in various sporting events.  If only.