My Transition To Canada

When I was a kid, a girl lived next door to me. She was beautiful, graceful, and overall a kind person. Her name was Riley. I remember the times where I hung out with her. She was a cool girl who didn’t mind a boy hanging around with her. We often spent our time swinging on a rope in the park and playing tag. In time, I felt… attached to her. I wanted to tell her this. However, something happened.

In a documentary called “American Winter” we follow a number of families that live in poverty. Almost all of the family members are unemployed and don not have an income. They live off of social care and donations from relatives. They can not pay the bills and most of the families are risking to lose their home. Some of the families have already lost their supply of water and electricity due to non-payed bills.

Moran (1992) began following William and Nancy, an impoverished, illiterate couple living in the ghetto of Prince George during the 1940’s (p. 81). They had a family of fifteen living children together, thirteen of which received income assistance. By 1960, the family increased in size to 65 members and the majority of the grandchildren had been in care or incarcerated (Moran, 1992, p. 81). Circumstances hadn’t changed for this family by 1965- Moran shared that 80% of William and Nancy’s descendants were “dependent on government funding” and the poverty-related social ramifications of low literacy, inadequate housing, poor physical and mental health resulted in a “reoccurring pattern of anti-social behavior” (Moran, 1992, pp. 81, 145). When Moran and her coworkers attempted to determine the financial impact this family had on provincial resources, they concluded that “this multiple-problem family had cost many hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of dollars…the cost in terms of waste and suffering was beyond description and equally incalculable” (Moran, 1992, p. 82). Twenty years later, the family consisted of over 1000 members, with “700-800 in social or financial distress” (Moran, 1992, p. 146). This story demonstrated to me the importance of not just giving adequate funding to families with historical poverty – rather, providing education tailored to a family’s needs along with services such as

It was once said that the fight to end poverty is never-ending. In this day in age where the United States houses extreme wealth, it also houses extreme poverty. The stereotypical images of poverty that use that used to characterize “Third World” countries in Africa have penetrated the American society. America’s ace marketing sales pitch the fabled “American dream,” which promises freedom and economic mobility is a dream that isn’t being realized by a section of the population. The documentary Faces of Poverty: Life at the Breaking Point tells the story of families of such a section of the population.

I was not born here in Canada, I'm originally from Haiti. I came to Canada when I was young and I only spoke French and Haitian Creole. In the beginning it was really hard adjusting to the new culture, life, school, making new friends, etc. it was like my world just turned upside down and I had to start all over again. Although Canada is a bilingual country where I was living, which is Windsor Ontario the majority of the people spoke English, most of the schools and government facility were also English places. I used to be really shy and quiet because I was afraid to be judged for not pronouncing or not understand what the words mean that is why when I went to school or any place that required me to speak English I just stayed quietly in a corner.

My ancestors first came to Canada around 1845-1852. The names of the first people in my family to come to canada was Robert Young and Anna Young. They came to Canada from Ireland.

My mom Andrea Svank moved from Hungary to Canada in 1998. My mom was born July 19th, 1970 she was born in Nyíregyháza, Hungary. She got the idea to move to Canada because her husband Joszef Svank (my dad) went to Canada to visit his aunt and uncle for 8 months before they met. When they met he always talked about how nice Canada is and that one day when there married he wants to move to Canada.

It was a regular Sunday morning, precisely at 8:00, I was walking my dog Sham. He may look cute but he will snap and bark at any stranger (but that is completely irrelevant). Anyway, all of a sudden the authorities came and evicted everyone out of their homes! I caught up with my parents and they acknowledged that we had to move to Canada because of the virus.

It’s been almost five years since my family has moved to Canada, and I have never felt left out before. I never thought I ever would, but ever since I started attending school in Canada I had the fear that no one would like me.

Immigrating to Canada six years ago has given me many opportunities. Being able to adapt to a new country, culture and learning a new language takes time and courage and a positive attitude. I have struggled learning to speak and write English, but despite that, I have demonstrated confidence in my actions and I have continued to make progress. Learning to cooperate with everyone with empathy has helped me gain self-reliance, confidence, and courage to help everyone regardless of their race, gender or beliefs. The word volunteer was not in my vocabulary until I moved to Canada, to which I am so grateful to have learned.

My parents weren’t the first people in their family to move to Canada. Two of my dad’s brothers had lived in Canada for ten years prior to when we moved. Due to the downfall of Iran’s economy and constant war threats towards the country, my parents decided after they had me that in order to build a better life for not only me but also themselves, that the best choice was to move to another country. They’ve always dreamt of moving to Canada, so when they got the news that they were granted their VISA, they were overjoyed and eager to start a new life. They said that when the date got closer they began to have second thoughts. Imagine living somewhere for your whole life, your childhood, your teenage years and your adulthood, then having to leave

As I walked to the parking lot where my mom had arrived to pick me up from school, my sister ran out of the car, ran towards me and yelled excitedly, “We’re going to Canada!” Having grown up in Kuwait for my whole life of 15 years, I could hardly believe my sister’s words. Going to Canada! I had only been out of the country twice, each time just to vacation and visit family in the Philippines where both my parents are from. I had always imagined what life would be like outside of Kuwait, and now it was finally going to be real. My 15-year old self was devastated - We were leaving the only home I had known for 15 years. It did not take long for my sisters’ excitement to die when we realized that we would be leaving our friends and everything we’ve ever known and not returning for a long time. Life in Kuwait for 15 years was comfortable and we were more than financially stable. Moving to Canada without a job offer in place meant that we would have to start from the beginning all over again. Goodbyes were hard but my parents encouraged us to see the joys of moving to a place where we could start over and become accepted citizens of a country. Arriving in Canada, I experienced the biggest culture shock of my life. Vancouver, BC was cold, wet, and loud. I had thought adjusting would be relatively easy; I spoke English with a slight accent but I was very shy that it confused some of the other kids to think I couldn’t speak English. I did not understand the culture, which took a

A young child, Serat migrated to Canada at age 3 from Somalia, East Africa. Living the Canadian dream and Canadian culture while living with her aunt to get a better life.

Beginning at the time of the Confederation, Canada has worked towards defining its own identity. Slowly, but surely, Canada has built the foundations for its path to prominence. From a colony of Great Britain, to the country it is today, Canada has achieved much on the long road to a unique Canadian identity. Whether it be through external or internal affairs, Canada’s people have endeavoured to instill the feeling of nationalism deep inside the hearts of both the present and future generations.

In journey of this life we are exploring many events and experiences which are most important to us. This experiences we gain it could be lesson for some of us, it could be mistake we made or it could be most memorable experience ever gained. Here are some of the experience that I gained in my life winning geography award, transition from middle school to high school and moving to Canada.