Culture

Most Chileans in Canada speak Spanish at home. The language is normally preserved in oral form, since there is not always easy access to books and other publications in Spanish. Because the Chilean community exists within the larger Canadian culture, some English or French words have been integrated into the everyday vocabulary. As might be expected, younger people tend to have less mastery of Spanish since they use it only at home.

Chileans have made serious efforts to maintain their culture and to keep it as vibrant as possible. In many Canadian cities they have organized folkloric groups that not only perform and preserve music, dances, and costumes but also teach children and young people. In Toronto the Toronto Chilean Association has maintained and supported for several years both a folkloric group and a school for Chilean children. In Regina the Chilean Association organized and supported for almost ten years the Salvador Allende School, which taught Chilean children and also provided Spanish classes for Canadians.

Chileans have also had an important presence in different cultural activities in Canada. Several prairie cities, such as Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, and Edmonton, have organized ethnic festivals at which different ethnic groups present typical cultural features from their countries, such as dances, food, and handicrafts. Chileans participate in most of these festivals with their own pavilions.

Cooking, an important part of the Chilean culture, has also been well preserved in the Chilean community. Ethnic food stores in different cities have helped to maintain the Chilean culinary traditions by importing many ingredients that are not easily found in Canada. Thus, many specifically Chilean dishes continue to be found in Chilean homes. Moreover, restaurants and stores specializing in Chilean food have opened in some Canadian cities, such as Montreal, Quebec City, and Calgary.

Chileans have also played an important role in the publication of Spanish magazines and newspapers in different Canadian cities, for example, Comentarios (Montreal), El Correo (The Post, Montreal), Toronto Latino (Toronto), Opinión Cultural (Toronto), and Jornada (The Day’s Journey; Toronto). Some of these publications, such as El Correo, have been able to survive for a long time, while others have existed only briefly. Generally, they provide news about Latin America and Canada that is relevant to the Latin American community, as well as information about local issues in the community.

A small group of Chileans poets, including Naín Nomes, Leandro Urbina, Jorge Cancino, Manuel Jofre, and others, have organized several poetry workshops in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, and many of them have been able to publish their work in Canada. A small publishing house, Ediciones Cordillera, created by the Ottawa Chilean Association, has printed some of the work of these Chilean poets.