Edmonton has long enjoyed the presence of a sizeable and active Cameroonian expatriate community. Several of its members occupy prominent positions in the local Francophone community as a whole. Its legacy has been well established in various media, including literature and radio. Accordingly, people of Cameroonian descent constitute an integral and longstanding component of Edmonton’s multicultural fabric.

The Cameroonian diaspora has been visible in Edmonton for decades, according to the Cameroonian Association of Edmonton, but began to flourish particularly in the early 2000s. Immigration was perhaps motivated by a common desire to escape an undesirable political situation in Cameroon. Although Cameroon has largely been spared the devastation of military conflicts known intensely among neighbouring nations in equatorial Africa, widespread corruption has become an infamous characteristic of its culture and bureaucratic functioning. Indeed, according to French Wikipedia, it is proverbially said amongst Cameroonians both colloquially and in print that Cameroon serves as “double champions of the world of corruption.” This and the universal aspiration of achieving a higher quality of life and education, often attained in the West, have motivated large numbers of Cameroonians to seek a new life abroad. Canada’s bilingual character (much like that of Cameroon, whose official languages are also English and French) and admirable standard of living have attracted Cameroonians in pursuit of brighter prospects, and a thriving Cameroonian community has consequently developed in Edmonton and elsewhere in Western Canada.

Now well established and growing, the Edmonton Cameroonian community plays a significant role in the Edmonton cultural scene as a whole. The achievements and contributions of Edmonton’s Cameroonians span several domains of artistic and community participation. We wish to highlight three particularly prominent individuals herein.

Guy Armel Bayegnak is a celebrated author of fiction, as well as a native of Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. He has so far written two novels, Coeur de Lionne (Éditions du Blé, 2011) and Le Plancher se dérobe (Éditions du Blé, 2012). His first work details the story of two high school students in Cameroun, and serves as a “coming of age” story of sorts, narrating universal experiences of youth that most certainly transcends nationality and ethnicity. It describes the confrontation of a younger generation vs. its elders as they forge their way in a world different than that inherited by their predecessors. His second novel concerns the challenges of a law student recently emigrated from Cameroun to Edmonton, highlighting the disparity between her professional assets in Cameroon and their comparably lesser utility in a new and foreign country. In this position, she is forced to re-establish herself in conformity to the newfound exigencies incumbent upon her. It is noteworthy that Mr. Bayegnak’s works echoes the experiences of youth and immigrants, respectively, the world over, yet do so in a very Cameroonian light, blending the unique perspective of a Cameroonian with that of a human in its universality.

Chantal Londji Dang is a radio host on the campus-run show Fourre-Tout on CSJR, the University of Alberta Student Union’s radio station, where she discusses topics of interest to Edmonton’s broader Francophone community. She has also served as President of the Madeleine Sanam Foundation, which seeks to provide financial independence to women in the African Canadian community and facilitate HIV/AIDS educational programming.

Julien Simo is the former Secretary General (2012-2014) and current Chairman of the Cameroonian Association of Edmonton since 2015. Although only a resident in Edmonton since 2011, he has quickly found an integral leadership niche in the local community. The Cameroonian Association of Edmonton endeavours to cultivate “empowerment, cultural enrichment, social/professional integration, and education of men, women, youth and children, fostering togetherness in… collective pursuits.” It actively administers programs aimed towards integrating newcomers, including refugees and youths, as well as developing leadership, promoting literacy, and building bridges with other local communities.

The history of the Cameroonian Association of Edmonton, now a mature organization with extensive roles in the city, began in a much more informal and spontaneous manner. Mr. Simo recalls that the infancy of Edmonton’s Cameroonian presence began in the 1990s, and remained quite small until a notable immigration boom between 2007 and 2009. It was at this time that Cameroonian immigrants began to meet in a social context in each others’ homes, and then at various sites in Edmonton’s French Quarter (near Boonie Doon), specifically at La Cité Francophone (and particularly, the employment centre located there), the University of Alberta’s Campus Saint-Jean, and the Saint-Thomas Community Health Centre, all of which being situated on Rue Marie-Anne Gaboury. The purpose of these meetings, in addition to fostering the bonds of friendship between families of like origin and culture, was to assist one another with integrating into Canadian society and confronting the challenges that inevitably arise therein. It is worth noting that Cameroonian immigrants did not necessarily come directly from Cameroon itself: Mr. Simo identifies that some of these immigrants had been previously living in Europe and Quebec. The institutionalization of the community’s social activity coincided with the aforementioned spike in Cameroonian immigration, as the Cameroonian Association of Edmonton was founded in 2009. In 2015, the association partnered with the Ritchie Community League in order to hold its meetings at its site, giving it a permanent location and expanding the locality of the Cameroonian community away from the central Francophone core in Boonie Doon.

Another local community of interest is the Edmonton SAWA Association, founded in 2012, whose web site states the purpose, among others, of “[increasing] and [promoting] unity and understanding amongst Canadians of SAWA… and non-SAWA descent.” According to Wikipedia, “SAWA” is a term designating the coastal tribes of Cameroon, among which are the Duala, Bakole, and Bakombe.

Like many other cultural communities in Edmonton, Cameroon is represented by a pavilion at the annual Heritage Festival in William Hawrelak Park in early August. It is one of the most recent additions to the festival, having made its debut in 2014. This occasion gives the local Cameroonian community considerable exposure on the Edmonton multicultural scene, and ensures that the Cameroonians are active organizers and participants in “Festival City” every year.

The authors are immensely grateful to the following individuals for their invaluable correspondence, cooperation, and intimate knowledge of the Edmonton Cameroonian community: Guy Armel Bayegnak, Chantal Londji Dang, Julien Simo, and Dider Gangoma.

Aidan MacPherson et Sean Bulger (FREN 312)

Bibliographie

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« Immigration in Canada : A Portrait of the Foreign-born Population, 2006 Census: Portraits of major metropolitan centres: Montréal: The third-largest foreign-born population. » Statistics Canada. Statistics Canada, a. d, 20 novembre 2009. Web. 18 février 2016.

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Armel, Guy. Message aux auteurs. 17 février 2016.

Simo, Julien. « Re : Renseignements sur la commauté camerounaise à Edmonton. » Message aux auteurs. 17 février 2016.