What being a "Canadian" means to our Canadians

What exactly does it mean to be Canadian? Today, Canadians can be defined as multicultural, multilingual people that come from many different ethnic, religious and national origins.
Looking over the Vancouver Canadians roster this season, there comes a realization that the very makeup of our "Canadians" comes from that same recipe.
This summer, we have players from eight different countries making up a rather diverse ballclub that likely all have their own impressions of Canada and how they feel being a part of a team that is truly - Canadian.
We will always have a handful of players that arrive here in Vancouver from much warmer climate's so it can't be much of a surprise when more than a few players claimed that their perceptions of Canada were much warmer than they imagined.
"Before I got here, I pictured Canada to be cold, but I also heard it was a really nice place to live. The weather is much better than I expected," says Denis Diaz from Honduras. Elio Silva from Maracay, Venezuela, pictured Canada to be a frigid place as well stating "It's what I expected, I still think it's cold!"
Dalton Rodriguez from Mexicali, Mexico felt the same stating " I heard it was very clean, safe and also really cold!"
It's well known that Canadians are infamous around the world for their kindness and apparently, according to Chris Bec from Miami, Florida, USA, we say sorry far too much. "Apart from hearing that Canada was a hockey crazed nation, I heard Canadians were extremely nice people and in my short time here, everyone has lived up to that." Jose Espada from Ponce, Puerto Rico said " This is my second year here and I love it! Canadians are well educated, very formal and also very polite. I love playing here and I'm proud to play for the Canadians."
Looking beyond stereotypical traits of Canadians, some of the players feel that playing in Canada for a Canadian parent team like the Toronto Blue Jays is a blessing including Juan Nunez from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
"I am truly blessed to have been given the opportunity to play in Canada for such a great organization." Randy Ponder from Laguna de Perlas, Nicuraga agrees, "It's so much fun to play here in Canada! My dream was always to play for the Blue Jays and when I was signed, it was really exciting for me! I didn't know Canadians loved baseball so much!"
Will McAffer from North Vancouver, BC, Canada has the luxury of playing his first season of professional baseball right in his own backyard, "I'm very proud to be able to represent my country. It's nice to be on home turf and get to play in front of my friends and family. I also love showing people from other places the things Vancouver and on a larger scale, Canada has to offer whether that be our mountains, nature, scenery or even Poutine!"
Regardless of the country they came from, each player from the eight countries represented on our roster shared one common sentiment speaking of how lucky and blessed they are to have the opportunity to learn things from people that come from different cultures and backgrounds. Although at times there is an obvious langauge barrier, the one beautiful thing that connects them all is the language of baseball where a high-five means the same thing in all eight countries and a win feels just as good wherever you have come from.
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