Jereen Ignatious has started her journey for social action by trying to eliminate misconceptions about her home country of Sri Lanka.
The 33-year-old student at Lakehead University came to Canada about 17 years ago. She said it was difficult to conform to Canadian society at first but eventually she was able to overcome that barrier.
She decided to enroll at LU and it was there she said she became inspired to do some good for her home country by informing people of the hardships she witnessed.
One of these ways she said she hopes to do this is by showing a documentary film that’s about Sri Lanka. She said she hopes it helps to create more dialogue about the issues in her home country.
“I’ve witnessed some of the struggles myself,” Ignatious said.
“I want to create a space to have dialogue. Canada is home to a larger Tamil community outside of Sri Lanka. I realized that there are a lot of myths and misconceptions in Canadian society. This is just a starting point and it’s not enough but we do have to start somewhere to break the myths and stereotypes.”
The Sri Lanka people have faced years of severe violence and trauma because of civil unrest. She said some Canadians may not know what kind of struggles they faced and this can create barriers for those coming from those kinds of countries.
She said she experienced that feeling of separation herself and had to struggle to overcome it.
That’s the reason why she thought it was a good opportunity to show fellow students what it’s like in Sri Lanka, she said.
Protecting human rights was also a major motivator for her to spread the message about what was going on, she said.
“People are going to come to Canada from various parts of the world and they are going to come with stories,” she said.
“I thought it was important to provide that space so we can protect human rights not just in our home country but also around the globe.? Ignatius also learned about the struggles of Canada’s First Nation people and said that also inspired her create better communication.
The film is scheduled to be played at Lakehead University on April 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the Agora building.
