The Immigrant Experiences In Canada: A Comparison

Rosie DiManno's View on Canada and Its Prejudices

 Write a multi-paragraph essay include a detailed outline including a thesis statement with at least three main points of comparison/contrast, and a strong conclusion.

At a certain point in life birthdays are to be endured rather than enjoyed - until they become enjoyable again, nearer the end of days and a whole bunch of things don't much matter anymore.Probably it's not the same for nations. As life cycles go, Canada hasn't even reached puberty yet. Though it cracks me up when chauvinists say the world needs more Canada. In truth, Canada needs more of the world. More entrepreneurs, more dreamers, more builders, more artists, more labourers. And more immigrants who will help pay off that astronomical debt we're bestowing on our descendants.

Ordinarily, I would not waste breath promoting that Trudeau The First ideal of multiculturalism and diversity because it's hardly unique to this country. I, as the daughter of immigrants, am more the melting pot sort.

If there's one singular characteristic that differentiates Canada at 150 - but most especially Toronto of 2017 from the city in which I grew up - it's the craving for distinct and eternal ethnic identities.

On the street where I lived, younger generations yearned to be part of the wider assimilated culture, unhyphenated and anglicized. It was an embarrassment to have parents who couldn't speak English or spoke it in broken vernacular. Our houses smelled different, mostly because of the food we cooked. Now, of course, ethnic cuisine is a staple of pricey restaurants so that even pig slop like polenta can be ordered à la carte.

In my house we butchered pigs, hung the porker upside down in the basement so the blood would run out to be mixed with flour and turned into flapjacks. Is that the same as blood pudding, that old English peasant vittle? (Not sure vittle can be properly used in the singular; English is my second language.)

Anyway, chop up the pig meat, put it through a sausage grinder and drape the links in front of the fire. Salt the prosciutto flanks, hang those in the wine cellar for next year. And speaking of wine, in early autumn the California grapes would be delivered, stacked on the front lawn. Thus would begin the arduous labour-intensive process of running the grapes through a hand-cranked crusher, transferring the mush to a wood-slatted bladder, swishing the strained juice between carboys and finally into oak barrels.

We didn't look or act remotely like the families I saw on TV sitcoms. It took a long time to realize those Hollywood families were chimeras, not even the four-square American families on which the fable was based were real. Took a while, too, before my childhood self realized that we weren't living in America, engrossed as I was in programming broadcast by the U.S. networks out of Buffalo.

I wanted to be English and rejected everything that had a hint, or odour, of Italianness, of foreignness: the food, the traditions, the ethos of outsider. I wanted a father who worked in an office and would wear a suit instead of a construction belt. I wanted a mother who shaved her legs. Now, I just want my father back. To say: You were so much smarter than I appreciated.

Shree Paradkar's Experience as an Immigrant Woman

Browsing through the immigrant exhibit at the Market Gallery the other day, I see men and women and children who look bewildered and shy upon their arrival in Toronto, part of the mass universal convulsion that followed both world wars, millions on the move. I wish there were photographs of my mother, who came to Canada with her sister in 1954, disembarking in Halifax and travelling by train to Union Station. 

The only picture I have from that era was taken in Rome when she obtained a passport and visa. How anxious and lost they must have felt, hailing from a tiny mountain village outside Naples.

A couple of years ago, a Muslim woman from Pakistan won a court battle to keep her face covered with a niqab at her citizenship ceremony. I think my mother would have whipped off her dress and danced the tarantella for the privilege of citizenship. She had no concept of entitlement, no one who washed up on Canada's shores back then did, and certainly no human rights industry to ease her way.

I'm not saying it was better then because it most emphatically was not. But it did have its virtues, those days.

My dad arrived a year later. He'd been a shepherd and sold his flock to book passage.

Within a year they'd married and bought their first house, on Grace St. That little home bulged at the seams as other newcomers from their village passed through, staying with us temporarily, mostly men who'd left their wives and children behind. At one point I distinctly remember 13 "lodgers." It's just what you did - extended a hand.

The pattern would be repeated in subsequent decades, with different ethnic groups, right through to the present.

The English looked down on the Irish, the Irish looked down on the Italians, the Italians would look down later on the Portuguese and the Koreans. And everybody looked down on Blacks, some of whom had been in Canada for generations. Shameful.

Oh how I pined to be indistinct and homogenized and the same. Died a thousand deaths when my mother came to school on parents' night or struggled to communicate with a saleswoman at Eaton's - but only on the very special occasions when a trip to Eaton's was deemed absolutely necessary, like buying me my first typewriter.

All these years later, I hear teenage girls who were born here, first-generation Canadians, speaking their parents' tongue on the streets and I wonder: How could you? Why would you?My respect for the contribution of immigrants and refugees is boundless. But diversity, the on and on clinging to it, doesn't make us stronger or particularly admirable. It makes us fragmented, ghettoized in thought and attitude.I love our beautiful flag. I love the national anthem just as it is. I love the gorgeousness of this country from sea to sea.

On Canada Day, as every day, this is a fine country to call home. But don't let us look down on the world, down on America - even with that fool man in the White House. Look outward Canada.

Rosie DiManno's View on Canada and Its Prejudices

This essay intends to compare two articles based on different immigrant experiences in Canada. In order to prepare the comparison two readings will be considered written by Rosie DiManno and Shree Paradkar respectively. This essay will be the written account regarding average lifestyle of an immigrant in Canada by finding similarities and differences between these two articles.

Rosie, DiManno has argued that Canada as a nation is not mature when it comes to deal with immigrants. Although it has a positive reputation of being the first ideal model of multiculturalism and diversity, the nation needs more of the world instances in order to be more liberal towards them. The nation possesses rigid prejudices against the non-English speakers and experience a hard time to communicate and take part into the Canadian culture. Being an Italian, because of the society structure and their mentality, at a certain point of life the author would prefer to avoid things and practices with Italianise hint.

On the other hand, Shree was a proud Indian, a rebel feminist who had lead several movement and questioned the society law in post-colonial India.  When she came to Canada, it was a refreshing experience for her at least during the initial days. As a women she felt more independent as she was in her dreams in India. Society norms were not similar for women back then in India and Shree felt the tranquillity, as there were no one to judge or instruct her in a foreign land. However, she realized the challenge is different here as she confronted with several racist comments from even a sales clerk.

She has highlighted the practice of looking down upon people because of their background or skin colour as highly vicious and historic shame. Although, as a woman she realised life is much easier as compared to India because of the liberal social values yet both the articles possess same opinion about the backward mentality of Canadian people regarding looking down upon immigrant people. This clearly states the suppressed grief of indigenous population across Canada.

Unlike Shree Paradkar as stated in (Thestar.com, 2018), the author of the first article Rosie was born and brought up in Canada. As a daughter of immigrant, she used to feel shameful because of her parents language incompetence. She wanted to became an English and reject her ancestral Italian identity under the pressure of racist practice. According to her, a Pakistani woman is fighting a court battle in order to keep her face covered with niquab as a religious practice of her country; is completely makes no sense and violates the law of human rights. Looking down people based on their religious belief and ethnic background are closely associated with Canadian culture.

On the other hand, Shree is proud of her identity as well as country’s tradition and culture. Although, she has addressed the issues with rigidness regarding gender equality in Indian society yet according a post-colonial perspective of an Indian they are not supposed to tolerate such insult. Unlike Rosie as described in her article published in (Thestar.com, 2018), she does not wish to have a different personality of her parents rather wants to embrace positive cultural practices from Canada and possesses a strong defending mentality.

 Rosie highlighted her respect for contributing cultural and social values and making the Canadian race into a stronger one. She has no issues with Canada and feels strong connection with Canada as a nation. Yet she has expressed her extreme hatred towards the practice of looking down the immigrant indigenous population of the country. In this case, Shree has initiated a different perspective altogether. Instead of taking offense and heading towards a social frustration, she decided to listen open-mindedly. She understood the uncomfortable feeling of liberal minded Canadians who have an intense sense of civic responsibility and equality. Therefore, Shree decided to play the same role as she used to do in India. She decided to question the traditional thoughts and prejudices against indigenous community and humanity as well. However, the difference is this time she has raised her voice in a land far away from India, which has immense potential to proceed with the idea of multiculturalism and world equity.

Hence, on the occasion of 150^th anniversary of Canadian Independence both the authors have conveyed their love and acceptance of new country, new perspectives and identity. However, both of them believe that the country can explore more opportunities if it can left behind such inhumane practices.

References

Thestar.com. (2018). World needs more Canada? More like the other way around | The Star. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/07/01/world-needs-more-canada-more-like-the-other-way-around.html

Thestar.com. (2018). I was white until I came to Canada: Paradkar | The Star. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/06/30/i-was-white-until-i-came-to-canada-paradkar.html