A lot of people in the City of Ottawa, Ontario, seem to have a problem with interracial relationships, especially when the interracial relationship in question involves a Black man. Oh, well, to hell with the haters. Canada is changing. Lots of Africans, Arabs, Chinese, Indians and others are filling up cities like Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver and even Hamilton. Diversity is here to stay, in spite of the racist policies of the Conservative government. I am proud to say that I embrace that diversity in every way.
My name is Mariam Seguin, and I'm a French-Canadian woman who is happily married to a Nigerian Muslim immigrant, and we have two lovely daughters together, Amina and Laila. I embraced Islam a couple of years ago, and don't leave the house without my Hijab. Yes, there are French Canadian Muslim women in Canada. People can stare at my husband Abdullah Adetola and our brood all they want, I don't give a flying fuck about what goes on inside their skulls. I love my husband and our beautiful mixed-race daughters. I thank my lucky stars for my loved ones.
I met my husband Abdullah Adetola in the summer of 2005, when I was a freshman at Carleton University. I was in the criminal justice program, and I was just another wide-eyed freshman trying my best at the start of my higher education journey. I was born and raised in suburban Laval, Quebec, and prior to starting college, I'd never even set foot in Ontario. La belle province is the land I call home, and I had little interest in what lay beyond its borders. Little did I know that fate had some major plans for me.
The day I met Abdullah Adetola, I was having the absolutely worst day. I lost my student bus pass along with my purse and my credit cards, not to mention my provincial health card. I was trapped inside the Rideau Shopping Center, the only thing I had left were the clothes on my back and my cell phone, which was running out of power. Can you imagine? I was about to start crying when I saw a rather tall ( easily over six feet ) young Black guy in a security uniform walk by. I hailed him, and the guy approached me cautiously, concern all over his dark, handsome face.
In a panicked voice, I explained to the security guard what had happened to me. The security guard in question was Abdullah Adetola, newcomer from northern Nigeria, and he wasn't even affiliated with the mall security team. Indeed, Abdullah was coming off a shift with another company when I asked him for help. Not only did Abdullah allow me to use his cellphone to inform my parents of what happened, but he also gave me enough money to get on the bus heading to Carleton University. Wasn't that sweet of him?
My parents, Louis and Jeannette Seguin drove to the City of Ottawa straight from our hometown of Laval, and the next day we went to City Hall, where I got a brand new health card, and then we got a new driver's licence from Service Ontario. We called Mastercard and got my credit card cancelled, and then I got a new debit card from the Bank of Montreal. Fortunately, whoever snatched my purse while I wasn't paying attention in the ladies room of the Rideau Shopping Center didn't try to use my financial information. Guess I was lucky, eh?
My parents returned to Laval, after making me swear to be careful. I thanked my lucky stars to have such wonderful people for parents, and then I returned to school, determined to ace my classes during my first semester. School was off to a nice start. The only thing that worried me was my weight gain. You've heard of the freshman fifteen, right? Well, I put on twenty pounds between September 2005 and Christmastime, believe it or not. Add to that the fact that I'm rather tall at five-foot-ten, and I've never been a skinny chick to begin with, and you can understand why I decided to make the gym my second home.