Mauritian pavilion projects island vibes

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/01/2020 (2291 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Even though the Westman Multicultural Festival got hit with freezing rain on Saturday night, the Mauritian pavilion kept Brandonites warm and toasty inside Central United Church.

The organizers accomplished this feat through evoking the sights, sounds and tastes of their small island nation, which is located roughly 2,000 kilometres off the southeast coast of Africa.

Not only did the Island Vibes Dance Group provide locals with a glimpse of modern and traditional Sega music, but the kitchen staff also served up a seemingly endless supply of Mauritian cuisine, including fried noodles, farata (flat bread with potato curry) and rougaille (tomato sauce with chickpeas and vegetable).

Periodically throughout the night, event DJ Gino Jaune would address the crowd directly and reveal some facts about his home country, like how its official language is English and how their current population is 1.27 million people.

But for Kavita Jugessur, this year’s festival actually served as a stark reminder of how far she and other Mauritians have come since they arrived in Brandon roughly a decade ago.

Jugessur vividly recalls when she first came to the Wheat City in April 2010 and how Manitoba’s spring temperatures sharply contrast with Mauritius’ tropical climate.

“It was still cold for me, because when I was doing the induction course at Westman Immigrant Services I was still wearing my coat,” she said. “For the teachers it was strange that, in the month of May, I’m wearing a coat and a sweater.”

However, Jugessur said she and her family eventually adapted to their new environment and learned to thrive.

“My kids are growing up here, they are 18 and 20 years old, they are studying, they are working,” she said. “If you ask them to go back to Mauritius, they would say ‘no, just for holidays.’”

Marie France Ironstand went through a similar process, arriving in Brandon in June 2008 alongside what she calls the “third batch” of Mauritian immigrants.

While that initial wave of newcomers mostly came to work at the nearby Maple Leaf Foods plant, Ironstand said the local Mauritian population has since spread out in the community and taken on different roles during the subsequent 12 years.

For her part, Ironstand works as a real estate agent who is proficient in English, French and Creole.

Ironstand hopes that Brandon residents walked away from this year’s pavilion with that same welcoming experience, since the Republic of Mauritius represents an eclectic mix of languages, religions and ethnic groups already.

“I want them to remember the warmth … not of the climate, but the warmth of our hearts,” she said. “We had some English songs, we had some French songs, and this is the heart of our immersion. We want to include everybody.”

Saturday also served as the final day of the 17th annual Westman Multicultural Festival, which ran from Thursday to Saturday and featured 10 different pavilions, including venues representing Jamaica, Scotland, Ukraine, India and Mexico.

Although festival chair Jim McCrae didn’t have any metrics to share on Sunday morning, he told the Sun that every pavilion he visited throughout those three days managed to attract a large crowd.

While part of that has to do with the warmer weather, McCrae thinks a big chunk of the credit should go to the festival’s numerous volunteers who ensured that all these events ran smoothly.

“If it wasn’t for them there wouldn’t be a festival,” he said. “This is kind of a non-profit situation where we just attempt to have a really good time in the middle of winter and at the same time celebrate who we are.”

For someone who has been involved with the Westman Multicultural Festival for a number of years now, McCrae said these annual celebrations never fail to impress him and highlight how diverse Brandon’s population has become over the last 20 years.

“There’s not too many western cities or towns of our size that have the same level of multiculturalism going on,” he said. “Here in Brandon, we’re like Toronto, Winnipeg or Vancouver in that way, and that’s something special for a city right in the middle of the country.”

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson