Mixing it up in Canada

“Mixed marriage couples increasing rapidly in Canada.” While the recent headline in the Vancouver Sun may have surprised some, intermarriage is old news to the Canadian Nikkei community. We have been cross-pollinating at a prodigious pace since the powers-that-be allowed us to return to the coast following our enforced vacation in the Kootenays and the sugar beet farms of Alberta. Indeed, the article cited Japanese people as the most likely to marry or form partnerships outside their group “with about 75 per cent of Japanese in Canada pairing with a non-Japanese person.” Actually, 75 percent seems low, but let’s not split hairs.

If intermarriage was ever an issue within the Canadian Nikkei community itself, it has long since ceased to raise eyebrows among even the most hardened in-laws. And as for the reasons for looking outside the community for love, I’m sure they’re as varied as the individuals involved.

As the product of a mixed-marriage myself, and the co-parent of mixed-race kids, I can’t claim any kind of objectivity on the matter. Still, I can’t help but think that the ever-increasing dilution of the gene pool makes it all the more welcoming for anyone who feels like dipping their toes in the waters of inter-racial love.

Happy Asian Heritage Month – see you in June!