Continuing My YouTube Journey: Canadian Culture Shock, Critical Thinking, and Viewing the Alberta Separation Movement

If you’ve been listening to me rant through my culture, or reading them for a while, you know this was never just a side hustle for me.

I originally started Lavender Library Press as a way to empower the 2SLGBTQ+ community and allies, really, anyone with an open mind, through education, representation, and critical thought. I wanted to share all the cool things I had learned while living and teaching abroad, and I genuinely believed that if we had better tools to think, question, and reflect, we’d all be better equipped to live our best, most authentic lives.

Yes, I’m idealistic. And yes… I also didn’t have all the information yet.

Coming Home to Canadian Culture Shock

Before Lavender Library Press became what it is today, I spent ten years teaching in China. I taught at an offshore Canadian BC school and later helped transition it into an international school system. I wasn’t teaching ESL. I was teaching Canadian high school curriculum (literature, critical thinking, world history) and training teachers while helping write curriculum informed by educational models from around the world.

(And yes, I am very aware of how colonial that sounds now. That reflection is ongoing and important. What matters here is that my classroom focus was never about imposing beliefs; it was about questioning systems, analyzing texts, and engaging with facts over fear. We blended Eastern and Western ways of thinking, discussed social and political realities through literature, and learned from one another within the limits of the context we were in.)

While I was away, my understanding of Canada was shaped mostly through professional development: Truth and Reconciliation, SOGI education, world history, and my Master’s degree. From that lens, I truly believed Canada was moving forward... slowly, yes, but thoughtfully. Learning from the past. Growing. Becoming more critical, more inclusive, more self-aware.

I came home proud. Ready to soak up my freedom again and share with all my gay friends! LOL

And then… reality hit.

“What Happened While I Was Gone?”

Coming back to Canada felt like culture shock in my own country.

I found myself asking questions I couldn’t shake:

• What has been going on for the last ten years?

• Why is there so much anger and defensiveness?

• Why is education (especially queer education) treated like a threat?

• Why are we turning on immigrants in a country built on multiculturalism?

• Why does everyone seem so dysregulated, reactive, and divided?

  
  

And then it clicked.

We’re still fighting each other over grievance politics. Still chasing an idealized “Canadian dream.” Still pitting communities against one another instead of questioning the systems that benefit from keeping us divided.

(It pains me to say this… but sometimes it feels a little too American up here.)

Why YouTube? Why Now?

This is where YouTube comes in.

I didn’t return to Canada to stay silent. I returned as the teacher my country trained me to be (the teacher I had to leave Canada to afford  becoming). And I realized there was no better place to model critical thinking in real time than the platforms where misinformation, outrage, and oversimplification thrive.

YouTube (and social media) is where people go to be told what to think.

I want to use it to show people how to think instead.

Continuing my YouTube journey means slowing things down. Watching content together. Treating videos not as truth or lies, but as texts.... something to analyze, question, and contextualize so we can ensure we are thinking of all sides of the story and coming to the wisest conclusion.

Why the Alberta Separation Movement?

The Alberta separation movement is not something I’m approaching to provoke, mock, or dismiss. I’m approaching it as a critical thinking viewing lesson. (Although I am a little sarcastic and saucy sometimes, LOL)

This movement is a powerful case study because it blends:

• Economic frustration

• Regional identity

• Historical grievances

• Political rhetoric

• Emotional storytelling

• Persuasive techniques

• and more!!! (Basically it's a teacher's cross-curricular dream, LOL)

  
  

Rather than debating whether separation is “right” or “wrong,” I’m far more interested in how the movement presents itself online.

Who is speaking? Who is being spoken to? What emotions are being activated? What facts are presented, and what context is missing? Who benefits if viewers accept this narrative without questioning it?

This is not about judging people. It’s about understanding messages.

My Lavender Library Press Table

At Lavender Library Press, we deal with facts, not fear.

We ask questions. We sit with discomfort. We notice our reactions instead of letting them control us.

In my critical thinking videos, I bring up ideas that apply far beyond this one political movement and should be applied in everyday life....just like you were supposed to be taught in high school:

• Separating fact from opinion

• Identifying emotional manipulation

• Examining language and framing

• Questioning target audience, purpose, language use, etc. etc. etc.

• Noticing whose voices are absent and whose are present

• Understanding historical and political context from multiple perspectives and lenses

• Asking who, what, when, where, why and how questions from multiple perspectives and lenses

• Having hard conversations and not shying away from hard truths (no snowflake business, LOL)

• Always double-check your 'facts' and double-check again...and the go cross your I's and dot your T's

  
  

These strategies don’t tell you what to think or believe. They give you the confidence to think and decide your beliefs for yourself.

An Open Invitation

All are welcome at the Lavender Library Press table, located here in Treaty 6 territory, a historic gathering place for the Nehiyaw, Denesųłıné, Siksikaitsitapi, Nakota Sioux, Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Métis Otipemisiwak, and Inuit peoples whose histories and cultures have always and will always shape this land.

You are welcome if you are curious. You are welcome if you are uncomfortable. You are welcome if you are ready to move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.

Pull up a chair. Grab a coffee and come 'chat' with me.... not to be told what to think, but to practice thinking better. (In my almost humble opinion, LOL)

Because this is not the Canada I remember learning about. It’s not the Canada I taught abroad. And it’s not the Canada people around the world believe us to be.

If we truly want a strong Canada, one worth being proud of, then we start by engaging honestly, critically, and compassionately.

Facts over fear. Always. Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@LavenderLibraryPress Mitch Sylvester section: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo4zdoQU_IY Jim Sinclair's section: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMEbh94w76Y ENTIRE 3 HOUR CONVENTION COMING SOON!!!