'Who am I?' A third culture kid finds himself in Canada

Being connected to three countries as a kid has its pros, but also its cons.

"Well for one, your sentence structure is messed up. You've got the semblance of three different languages. My sense of identity also, I think, was confused by it because I wasn't as good as the French kid, I wasn't as British as the British person, I didn't have a sense of being a Canadian at that point, and I certainly wasn't Mexican... So I was always 'other.'"

Alain Derbez, who works at the CBC, was born in Mexico, moved to France as a boy, then came to Canada when he was 15 years old. 

"[I]t was always confusing. What am I exactly? It took me until I was about 30 years old to figure that out."

But then, at age 32, Derbez discovered a book that changed the way he saw himself.

"I read a book called Third Culture Kid and it was written by a couple of sociologists who looked at people like me who were born in Place A, moved to Place B, and then created Culture C. And they found some commonalities with all those people that I seem to share."

I'm Canadian ... I'm trilingual, I'm multicultural.- Alain Derbez

"Because you're going into another culture and having to assimilate into it, you're exposed to situations that most people aren't, and in fact find very intimidating and scary. But through your experiences you've realized that it's totally doable. That sense of confidence can also translate into a sense of cockiness. And a lot of people like me are a little on the cocky side!"

Derbez has a son who is even more hyphenated than he is — with Icelandic, British, French, Mexican and Canadian roots.

"I personally think we're at a juncture in time where we're trying to figure out: which direction are we going to go? Are we going to be more isolationist or more inclusive? My hope is that it's more inclusive. And, if so, I think my son will benefit from all that."

This story originally aired on July 2, 2017. It appears in the Out in the Open episode "Hyphen State".