Struggles of Immigrants in Canada

 

Canada is an amazing place and it brings its own challenges.

 

In my quest to understand Canada better, I tend to meet people from different walks of life and try to understand their perspective of Canada. As I am living in Greater Toronto Area, I encounter numerous immigrants regularly. All of them have come from different countries and cultures and they had their fair share of struggles in the past. And many of them continue to face challenges in their new home country.

While browsing in a library, I had a chance encounter with a lady from Krygisitan who landed in Canada nearly three years back. In her school, she learned two languages - Kyrgyz and Persian. She never had a chance of forming a complete sentence in English for first 20-odd years of her life. To get away from a place where the government never delivered, never provided basic necessities and never enforced the rule of law, she moved to Canada with her family. However, upon landing here, she faced different kinds of struggles. The good life beckoned for her but not without its own unique challenges. She soon realized that she could not survive, or more importantly, thrive in this new country only on two languages she knew and spoke all her life. She enrolled in a school to learn English and that formal education in language helped her in forming simple sentences and answering most common questions. However, she is still far from fluent. She usually forms her English sentences slowly, with careful deliberation. But she is glad and feels proud as she has come a long way. And this improvement has landed her a part-time job where she does not need to communicate much with her coworkers. She does not involve in small talk at work and most of the co-workers think she’s shy and introvert. However, that is not the case.

She has a friend at her workplace with whom she shared a similar background, as her friend moved from Iraq three years back. When they meet at work, they excitedly hug and speak and share endless stories between themselves in Persian. Her friend also has similar story but her English is better as she has picked it up fast and is now more confident while speaking it. She fled from Iraq with her family and they're trying hard to settle in. Her husband was a graphic designer in Iraq but here he has not able to land a job in his field due to his English. He’s doing some odd jobs to make ends meet.

A food truck painted like an Indian truck.

This is not the story of just these two immigrants. This is the story of innumerable immigrants who have escaped from countries where corruption stunted the development, political instability created chaos and freedom on every form including speech is under serious threat. Canada did provide refuge to such people from these troubled countries. They have moved to safer pastures. However, their struggles have changed. Their challenges are different now. They don’t have to worry about the safety of the life anymore. However, they constantly make efforts to learn new skills to ensure they can make a good living in Canada. And this needs courage. “My children give me strength and courage. At least I am happy that we are giving them a better life for themselves” she said poignantly.

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Adesh Sidhu has recently moved to Canada and is spending time to explore it through its people and places. He’s also a Digital Marketer helping small businesses to increase their digital footprint.