"It's about social taboos," Lee said.
Different social issues intrigued Meriem Maza, 29, a Muslim from Setif Algeria, who spent months asking Montrealers to describe, on video, their ethnic backgrounds and
religious beliefs, and say how they were accepted by others. She said she wanted to turn the interviews into a program for Algerian television and hoped to teach Algerians tolerance through scenes like the one in which a Hispanic man explains the origin of bagels, Maza's new favorite food, as people of other ethnicities shop in the background.
"I understand why people are so scared of each other, but we have to break this idea," she said.
Even lighter moments at Sauve House have political overtones. As wine flowed before dinner one rainy April night, Saman Ahsan, 29, of Lahore, Pakistan, stood before her colleagues and pulled out a packet of official papers: she had passed a Canadian government immigration screening, certifying that she had not committed any crimes in Canada. That called for raised glasses.
"I'm so glad you're not a criminal," joked Sandra Lizardo of Peru, glancing at the paper, which was stamped "paid." "But how much did you have to pay them to pass?"
After a dinner that included chicken biryani, salmon bisque and pumpkin pie, some of the women danced to a Cher song, wine in hand.
Most of the scholars are returning home or will attend graduate school. And they were not looking forward to yesterday. "I think we grew up," Lee said. "I know how to cook, and how to make a living in a community of so many people."
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