Photo-Documentary

For the course we had to create a photo-documentary about migration that is happening within the GTA.  My topic that I decided to chose was migration of sports and recreation within the city of Brampton.

It was actually amazing to see how far Brampton has come in the past 10 years when it comes to sports in Brampton.  10 years ago, you would rarely see an immigrant learning to skate or swim, however now that we have come to this time period where immigrants are beginning to settle in Brampton, we are seeing more and more immigrants allowing or pushing their kids into learning how to swim and skate.  This has resulted in an increase in revenue for the recreation centers and the city because now more people are wanting to learn and put money into the city, and are also spending money to come to free swim and skates.

Not only does that have an impact on the city but the organizations within the city like the BYHA (Brampton Youth Hockey Association).  The increase in immigrants learning to skate has also sparked an interest in people wanting to learn to play hockey.  There have been more kids of immigrant families playing in the league now, then there were 10 - 15 years ago.

All this is showing is that there has been a huge shift in cultural sports and that more immigrants are wanting to become "Canadian" by learning to skate and swim so that they may be able to fit in.  However, in Brampton they have also created a new centre for immigrants to play their favourite sports such as cricket and soccer.  This is a new centre and has gotten a great reception from the residents and is constantly being used.

This was a great experience, however it could be a little odd as I had to secretly take pictures of people playing soccer and skating.  I did ask for permission to take pictures but since there were so many people it would have been hard to get permission from everyone.  Other than that it was a great experience and I really loved doing it.