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In 1995, Nourmohamad Ibragimov arrived in Canada with his wife and three boys. They then became the first Uighur family to settle in the country. Nourmohammad, who was 45 at the time, had already lived several lives. Born in East Turkestan, a region also called Xinjiang, in 1950, he was only 5 years old when his family, fleeing Chinese repression, left his native land for the USSR.
“China had started the destruction and the genocide. So my parents decided to leave the country,” he said. Even though he did not live there for long, NourMohamed remains very attached to his country of origin, East Turkestan. He describes the place as a large territory that is full of natural resources and has a unique culture.
It is with a touch of sadness that the man tells us about his childhood spent in the part of the Soviet Union now called Kazakhstan. “I grew up in Kazakhstan, where I studied. After college, I started working in the legal system; my career there lasted for many years,” he explains.
Freeing yourself from permanent repression
There, the lawyer by training experienced the repression of the Soviet regime. Before going to law school, Nourmohammad wanted to become a soldier. The discrimination in the USSR had deterred him from doing so. Tired of being treated badly, he turned to Canada. “Canada is a very democratic country. It's a very big country, a country of immigrants. It is for these reasons that I decided to leave Kazakhstan to settle there,” he reveals.
Arriving in Quebec, he took on the challenge of learning French, a language that added to his polyglot background, which included Uyghur, Kazakh, German and Russian. Anxious to take part in the life of the community, he started volunteering. But looking for a job is hard. His law degree was not recognized, and Nourmohammad began working as a security guard in the Montreal region. He has been working in this field for over 25 years.
Despite everything, he always looks on the bright side. “When we arrived, we were the only Uighur family.
Now, there are about 200 families,” he announces with pride. His three sons have great careers, and the 71-year-old is now a grandfather. “I am so proud of my children. I often pray to Allah to thank Him for giving them to me,” said this happy father.
Transmit “the history of our country, the history of our language”
Particularly close to his culture, NourMohamed wanted to pass it on to his sons. When they were young, NourMohamed set aside the weekends for family cultural activities. “I told them the story of our country, the history of our language. I introduced them to some cultural elements such as songs, music, photography,” he recalls.
He spent the weekends teaching them how to cook laghman, a colorful traditional noodle dish, and how to perform traditional songs played at major events.
This tradition of cultural transmission comes from his own parents, who, during his childhood in Kazakhstan, made sure to transmit the Uyghur language and culture to him.
“When we moved to Kazakhstan, there were already one million Uighurs. There, we had our own society, our own theater, our newspapers, our radio. Thanks to that, I kept my native language,” he explains. The situation is very different in his adopted country.
“Here, it is more difficult to preserve our culture because there are very few of us”, underlines the septuagenarian. Despite his efforts, the language was difficult to pass on due to a lack of people to practice it with. “My children understand, but they speak slowly and with difficulty,” he says with a touch of regret.
Today, at the age of 71, his most cherished dream is to found a Uighur cultural center in Montreal. “I want to start a school for children. So that they don't forget our native language. It is difficult, because of the high rents in the city center.
So I hope that we will soon be able to buy a building to found a Uyghur cultural center,” he confides, hoping to transmit his culture to a new generation of Uighurs.
Read the other portraits in our series for Asian Heritage Month. Diamond converse with Ambika And with Mr Wei