Lucien Saint-Pierre woke up, stretched and yawned. Then he looked at the vast City of Toronto, Province of Ontario, from his dorm at the University of Toronto. Ten years ago his family left the City of Cap-Haitien, North Haiti, for the Ontario region of Canada. Today was the tenth anniversary of their Big Move across the continents. From the Caribbean to North America. Today was also the day Lucien felt he was ready to take a major step. In three months he would graduate with his masterās degree in business administration from the University of Toronto. Everything was going according to plan. His parents couldnāt be prouder. However, he felt like he was letting them down somehow due to who he loved. Heād fallen madly in love with Anupama Ashani Krishnendu. A tall, exquisitely beautiful young Indian woman whom he met at the University of Toronto. Lucienās parents were disappointed that he wasnāt dating a Black gal. they wouldnāt be thrilled to hear he decided to marry a woman from the Republic of India.
The young Haitian-Canadian man felt torn. His family mattered to him a great deal. They sacrificed so much for him. Giving him a brighter future was the reason they came to Canada in the first place. At first they lived in the City of Ottawa, Ontario, due to the presence of all the immigration bureaus. The Capital of Canada was full of them. It was a government town after all. The hard-working Haitian family was determined to prosper in the continent of North America. They adapted to their new country, and slowly but surely made it their own. The family patriarch, Edouard Saint-Pierre, enrolled at Algonquin College at the age of thirty six. He earned his diploma in Police Foundations, and then worked for various security companies while waiting to become a Canadian citizen so he could work for the Ontario Ministry of Corrections. He started his career as a corrections officer at the age of thirty nine. Heād already been married for a decade and sired offspring. He was definitely not the average corrections officer, thatās for sure. Back in the day, Edouard Saint-Pierre was a policeman in his hometown of Cap-Haitien in Northern Haiti. The man was determined to find work in his field even though he had to adjust to a new country. And you know what? He succeeded.
As for Mirabelle Joseph Saint-Pierre, the dutiful wife of Edouard Saint-Pierre and the mother of young Lucien, she enrolled at La Cite Collegiale, a French college in Ottawa, Ontario. Two years later, she had her nursing certificate at the age of thirty five. She began working at Ottawaās General Hospital. The hard-working wife and mother was determined to give her husband and son her very best. They instilled in young Lucien some old-school Haitian family values. They didnāt want him to grow up to be like the majority of the young Black men of America and Canada. A fool walking around with his pants hanging low, smoking weed, dodging the police and chasing fat white women. Young Lucien grew up Canadian on paper and Haitian at heart. He attended a Haitian church in Ottawa. He also attended a private school where many of the students were the sons and daughters of African, East Asian, Hispanic and Middle-Eastern families. Even in the lily-white little town of Ottawa, racial diversity was increasing. Lucienās parents carefully selected the school. They didnāt want him to feel like an odd duck. And they wanted him to know that success didnāt always wear a white face.