Immigration In Canada, The New Environment And Cope (Essay Sample)

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Moving into a new country has its challenges that need an individual to be adequately prepared to adapt to the new environment and cope with the changes. People leave their residences for a variety of reasons such as civil strife or a search for a better life in developed countries. The challenges that usually destabilize the process of settling in include language barriers, prejudice, racism and discrimination, and inadequate finances. Canada continues to experience a massive influx of foreigners seeking a better livelihood in the country. These visitors have to overcome a vast array of challenges as documented in the collection of articles and films below.
In the Shadow of the Golden Mountain is a documentary by Karen Cho investigating the fate (and discrimination) of the Chinese in Canada, on whom the sectarian Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act were imposed between the years 1885 and 1947. On the 23rd of July 1923, the Canadian government enacted laws prohibiting entry into the country by Chinese immigrants, consequently preventing the families of the Chinese men who had paid the head taxes to travel to Canada. Some families were separated forever owing to the then poverty, wars, and deaths (Peters). The film depicts the misery in which the immigrants lived once they reached Canada since they were confined to Chinatowns. The narrators portray the hardships that dominated these segregated settlements, despite these people having to pay vast amounts of money to the federal government to be allowed into the country.
The Way of the Willow is a movie directed by John Kent Harrison showing the challenges faced by a Vietnam family coping with the changes in climate, prejudice and discrimination, personal issues, and language, after settling in North America. The family struggles to learn the Canadian lifestyle. Hung is so suspicious of the new country that he maintains a keen look at his belongings in the fear that they might be stolen (Collins). The film presents the interactions of these refugees with the shopkeepers, landlords, and sponsors. The video contains encouraging developments as the newcomers realize these challenges make attempts to work out a conventional means of facilitating a convenient mode of communication with their sponsors. The movie shows that there are viable means through which the challenges can be resolved.
Newcomer is an article written by Mehri Yalfani delving into the language difficulties that face immigrants who come to Canada. The story revolves around the life of a girl who leaves Iran for Canada after a revolution that destabilizes. The girl chooses to remain silent for fear of being embarrassed by her inability to speak English (Yalfānī 110). Consequently, the lady cannot even make contributions in her ESL class. The article shows that moving into a new region has its challenges. Newcomers face a vast array of frustrations in their bid to become integrated into their new societies.
Amreeka is a film that follows the life of a single Palestinian mother- Muna- and her son- Fadi- who immigrate to Illinois in the US. The family moves to America in the hope that life will be better in the US than in Palestine which has been adversely affected by the conflict in Iraq. The mother is happy at the prospects of her son receiving the coveted American education. However, reality treats the son harshly, as he is exposed to constant racial profiling at school, once culminating in a fight between Fadi and one of his schoolmates (Dabis). Fadi is apprehended, and her mother has to explain to him the importance of being proud of one’s heritage no matter regardless of other people’s opinion. The majority of the Americans perceive Muna and her son to be Muslims although they are staunch Christians. These instances depict the prejudice and the stereotypes that new people have to overcome. Eventually, the perseverance starts to yield positive fruits as Muna starts to see improvements at her workplace and the mood of the family lightens.
My Accent is a poem by Goran Simic expressing the confidence which the person has in his or her accent. The speaker underwent an informal form of education, learning by memorizing the names that his or her father had strategically given the fish that he kept in the aquarium (Simic). Unfortunately, the person’s education was not comprehensive since the dad disappeared on one of his fishing escapades. The poem shows the significance of one’s heritage and language, asserting that in the speaker’s language, one can find the persona’s past. The father was a fisherman, and the constant reference to these creatures gives a hint on the family’s business. The poem emphasizes the significance of accepting one’s condition since it helps to avoid questioning one’s legitimacy.
Goodbye, muse Hello Prada is an article by Goran Simic depicting the attitude and perception of the foreigners to life in Canada. The author points out that his father equated his new job in Canada to slavery. The writer’s father still believed that North Americans treated people from elsewhere as slaves and laborers (Simic). The author also expresses his shocking realization that his job as a poet would not meet sustain him in Canada and hence had to take up another role as a worker in a warehouse. Moving from one place brings with it inevitable changes to which one has to adapt. The article also contains revelations that most of the laborers were foreigners and were dissatisfied with their jobs.
The article With Glowing Hearts by Raheel Raza focuses on the process through which a family from Pakistan became acquainted with life in Canada after enduring four years of strife and struggle. The writer expresses her emotions as ...