Régis Cibasu grew up in Pointe-Saint-Charles in Montreal. Throughout his youth, he was around people from a variety of cultural backgrounds, Latinos, Whites, Italians, and had friends of all nationalities. All these people were his friends, no matter their ethnicity or the color of their skin, and that’s still the case today.
“I got used to surrounding myself with people from different cultures from a very young age, and I get a lot of pride from that. I discovered music, good food, clothing styles, and the way of life of so many cultures».
The six-foot-three and 232-pound receiver has always been surrounded by different nationalities. He played football for the Édouard Montpetit CEGEP or the Université de Montréal Carabins, and on both teams, there were players from all over the place, and everyone was in harmony with each other.
“With the Black Lives Matter movement, things moved forward, people became more aware of the issues. There is still work to be done, but our society has made giant strides in recent years,” believes the Alouettes’ newcomer.
With his impressive stature, Cibasu imposes respect. He has legs cut like tree trunks and is ripped; No one would dare mock him. “I’m not the kind of person who looks for confrontation, I’m the kind who avoids it. Even if a negative situation happens, I try to look on the bright side, it’s my nature.”
The 26-year-old can’t hide the fact that he got pulled while driving his car that on more than one occasion. The police asked to look at his identity because he corresponded to a certain description. “I told myself that the police were just doing their job. I collaborate, did that they asked and things went well.” Was he a victim of racial profiling? There’s no way of knowing. Cibasu does however try to look at the bright side.
“The world is changing in the right way. I sent out a lot of resumes in the last few years and noticed a very positive change in attitude among employers. This is encouraging for the generations to come,” says Cibasu with a smile.
Cibasu does not hide that the road is still long but movements like Black Lives Matter only help people walk in the right direction. “We must continue to fight and trust that we are moving forward every day.”
