While gazing at the stars on a beautiful winter night, I received a phone call. It was mother. Whimpering, she said "will you please come to the living room." My mind racing of a million thoughts, "what did I do?" "I hope I 'm not in trouble." As I open up the front door, I see my family surrounding a chair. I slowly walk down the aisle and immediately get told to take a seat. Mother weeping in the back, my father approaches me. Expecting an outburst of profanity, my father says with a soft voice “Shiv, I am not your biological father. I am your step-father.” Immigrating to Canada at the age of 20, my Mother had it rough from the start. She had no knowledge of the English language, nor did she have any friends. She was arranged to be married
“This country has so much beauty. We were deprived of opportunities and now they’re everywhere. My family can learn. My children can play. I have been granted my humanity.”
Being a first-generation Canadian and when Canada is as diverse as it is, I never got the opportunity to truly connect with my own religion. I realized early on that having that knowledge of diversity provides a competitive advantage in the business environment, as communication and connections are easily built. To accomplish this, I decided to join the International Languages Program in grade 6; however, even with the four years I spent in the program, I never truly built the connection that I had so desired. It was not until grade 12 when I had that opportunity, as David Suzuki Secondary School (D.S.S.S.) introduced its first ever Sikh Student Association (S.S.A.), a collection of numerous Sikhs throughout D.S.S.S. Upon joining this club,
Natashia Apangchan Canadian Identity As an immigrant, and of the 7 years that I’ve stayed here in Canada, I’ve come to know some of the Canadian identity. I have lots on mind but the things that stand out the most is that Canadians are so patriotic and generous, and diverse. To me, I see the Canadians as patriotic because their love for their country is very strong. I have seen the pride in their eyes when they say that they are Canadian.
A lot of stuff happened in eighth grade, some good, some bad. For one good thing, every time at the end of quarter, we would do nothing and just play games, eat pizza, and watch movies. All the bad things I can think about is just the bad grades I get on test sometimes like that. So the goods outweigh the bads.
I used to have this grudges in my heart when everything go hard that would made me wanted to blame my parent. But I can’t because I was not raise to think that way. When I come to America, I was eleven years old and no one asked me if I wanted to come it just happen in a second. I was in a cold place with extended family that I never met before and that one person who raise me and made me feel secure was still back in the country. I had to lived months without her and next thing you know I adapted and convince myself they are doing this because the wanted the best for me.
One of the most rewarding accomplishments in life have been assisting my wife with her residents card. I never would have inmagined how strenous, nerve-racking, stressful this adventure would be; and yes it has been quite an interesting adventure with an unexpected twist at the end. Nevertheless to say I begin this painstakingly journey by asking my wife how do we start this process? Despite my negative attitude towards my wife, she replied gently "we need to start off by visiting our accountant who also specializes in immigration law. "Go figure".
I’m able to resonate with a plethora of things, yet the thing I consider my identity is I’m an adopted, Haitian immigrant. I was born in Haiti in 1998, in a small village in Thomazeau, I moved to Croix-des- Bouquets right after my birth and I lived there until I was 9 years old. My family's financial situation was adequate. My mom was always able to find a way to make ends meet. This cause our neighbor to be envious of us.
3. I lived in the United States for seven years. I have now moved to Canada and have heard a lot of Asian immigration. The first thing that I have heard is that Asians are entering Canada in masses. They have communities here that are predominatly Asian and they are doing jobs for cheap labor.
My head leaned against the window as I sleep, abrupt, my whole body gets tossed forward causing my face to hit the seat in front of me then my body jerked back to my seat. I rubbed my head. The lady sitting across from me asked if I’m ok. I smiled back and assured to her that I am fine then looked out the window and came to the realization that we’ve reached the border. The bus driver, Patrick, makes the announcement.
My identity can be defined by moments in my life. Moving to Canada, learning to speak English and going to high school are three major moment in my life. Going through these experience have change the person in me and made me more confident, stronger person and created the person I am right now. Moving to Canada is a big challenge to me because I know almost like nothing about this country plus I have to leaving my family, my best friend behind to start a new life. The day I came to Canada is in December 3rd 2013, I have been terrify about the weather of Canada because it totally different with my back country where is always hot and wet, Canada is cold and dry.
I cannot believe it has already been a year since I moved to Toronto from my hometown in Botswana. I am so grateful for all the opportunities I’ve received since I’ve arrived. At first, life in Toronto was not easy, since I did not speak English. Not only that, but it was my first time in Canada and the lifestyle here is very different from the one I was used to . Luckily, with my younger sister Caroline by my side, I was able to adapt quicker to the Canadian school system, mentality, and way of living.
The clock hanging in Toronto Pearson International Airport dinged exactly 4:00 pm, and my new life had begun. It was May 1, 2006 when the Boeing 787 (international flight: India-Canada) accommodating my parents-Chetan and Hina Patel -, and myself landed in Toronto, Canada. This entire journey of immigrating to Canada began in 2001, the year I had been born. At the time, my parents and I lived in India.
I lay on my bed, tears rolling down my face looking at an old photo of my mom, my dad knocks on the door and enters the room, “Are you ok?” he asks looking at the tears rolling down my cheeks, “You miss her don’t you?” I nodded my head “I do too son I think about her
Thank you for contacting me and requesting a written explanation of the reasons why I decided to change my program of studies in USA to program of studies in Canada. I believe transferring to a Canadian institution is the right decision for the following reasons. I want to be proud of the school I decide to attend. University of Alberta is a well-known and respected school that ranks on Canada’s top five best universities and is among the world’s best.
A glass shattered in the kitchen, and I turned to see my father, looking like he’d seen a ghost. Remembering this now, I suppose he