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I haven't written about an immigrant experience because I haven't experienced that before and am focused on existential themes.

I'm an immigrant and I've always wanted to write something about America.

'The Immigrant Story,' which took me about twenty-five years to write, was a very simple story, but I couldn't think of how to tell it. Then twenty years after I started it, I found this one page and realized it was going to be the story. That's the only way you get it sometimes.

I became more interested in the idea of being an immigrant and particularly of being in a country you're not familiar with. And so I began reading migrants' stories. The fact that my father is Chinese - he emigrated from Malaysia when he was about 20 - may have had some bearing on my attraction to the subject.

I love Canada, and I dated someone who was Canadian a few years ago, and she brought me into a deeper understanding of the greatness of the culture.

Canada has been phenomenal to myself, my brother, my sister, their kids, my parents. They came there. They worked very hard. They came with a great education, very good heads on their shoulders with the simple thought of going there with almost nothing and just saying, 'We're doing this to give our kids the best opportunity possible.'

I've learned what it truly means to be Canadian and in turn I've been inspired to make a difference in the world, however small it's been.

Canada was for me very much Sweden, you know? Very much open people, that they read books, they go see films. I felt at home in Canada. And also, you speak French.

I came to America from Canada because Canada is stultifyingly boring and incredibly hypocritical.

For 20 years I've had the privilege of representing Canada around the globe... first on the bike and then on my blades. The experiences have shaped me into who I am today.