The video explores the cultural identity of Jose. A. Casanova, with a particular focus on how food serves as reminder of where he has come from. We not only talk about how food has shaped who he is today, but also the people who have influenced him significantly, including his mother. Over time, his core values have not diminished despite a change in location. Through passing on values from his Venezuelan culture and his wife’s Colombian culture to his children, he actively encourages them to be culturally humble and to embrace their diverse cultural identity. He does this by emphasizing that they are not just from one community, but they are from three: Canadian, Venezuelan and Colombian. He provides advice on the best way to preserve one’s cultural identity, so that one can maintain one’s roots and not forget where one has come from. He also stresses on the importance of helping others because having gone through the challenges that come with being a new immigrant in Canada himself, he realizes a little help can go a long way.
The purpose of this project is to portray the experience of a Colombian woman, that decided to move to Canada for a better future for herself and her family. The video was accomplished by executing numerous meetings and interviews, and later ended up with a video focusing on a specific theme. The theme focuses on maintaining Colombian roots and adapting to the Canadian culture, while negotiating hybrid identity. The video analyzes the struggles of moving to a new country with a new language, new culture and new people. The sacrifice that millions have made for a better life for themselves and their families is portrayed in this video. The struggle to shape identity and balance the two cultures is also discussed. The interview resulted in a better understanding of immigration and mixing of cultures. Therefore, it is important for the immigrant to adjust to their new life and culture but also preserve their native culture and roots.
This video shares how a member of the German community in Canada maintains German heritage and gives her kids the opportunity to grow up between cultures. The interviewee, Christine moved to Canada over 20 years ago for an au pair position, and ended up spending the rest of her life there. Through a series of interviews a video was created focussing on the theme of passing on culture from generation to generation. The video shares both the mothers, and the kid’s perspective of identity, and differences between Germany and Canada. The video highlights the kid’s and mother’s commitment to their German Nationality, and the daily implementation of German culture in their lives. Christine mentions the ways in which she maintained her German culture while living abroad, and which activities she kept consistent in her kid’s lives for them to receive this culture as well.
The video explores the life of Chigusa Peters who is a new Japanese immigrant to London, Ontario and also a mother of three daughters. During the interview, Chigusa first talks about her own identity and the difficulties she encountered in adapting to Canadian culture. She also discusses the differences between life in Canada and life in Japan. In the hopes of passing on Japanese traditions to her daughters, she takes them to karate classes every Monday and Wednesday, and to the Japanese language school every Saturday morning. The video ends with her talking about which aspects of Japanese culture she hopes her kids will be able to learn through these activities.
Barbara Weis, from Weimar, Thüringen, Germany, shares the story of her immigration to Canada in 1953. She guides the viewer along with her journey, starting with her reason for leaving due to a series of unfortunate events. When the family farm was taken over by German soldiers in the GDR (German democratic republic), the family was forced to evacuate their home and settle at refugee camps in Berlin and West Germany. It was during this time that they applied for a Canadian travel visa, which was approved three years later. She presents a detailed description about her initial experience when arriving in London, Ontario, Canada, after traveling across the Atlantic Ocean on a big ship for multiple days, and finally taking a train from Montreal to London.
Ultimately, she tells a little more about the major components that aided her transition, such as the extremely accommodating German community, composed of German nationals that had come to London in previous years, who helped her and her family adjust to their new life and feel at home in a new country. The German- Canadian club is also a major focus throughout the video, as it was here that she formed many lifelong friendships and found the support that she needed to become truly German- Canadian. The short- documentary is concluded with some short words about how her experience has impacted her life, her identity, and the life of those around her. A truly inspiring story about the importance of the bond between people who share similar experiences and life journeys.
We are doing as well as can be expected, and for that we consider ourselves very lucky. We have pay cheques coming in and are healthy. Our children have been very resilient and amuse themselves nicely each day. Daryl just complete this Executive MBA at Ivey weeks before this started, so he is loving having all this free time to exercise and catch up on tv shows, etc. I am having the hardest time amusing myself and filling my days.
The text of Shakespeare’s play in the "acting version arranged by Miss Adams, with the stage directions for its performance as produced by her" (p. [7]). With a cast list for a performance at the Empire Theatre on May 8th, 1899. (From Folger)
