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Why My Mother Can 't Speak English Essay

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Life is hard when you are forced to move to a new country, and follow the rules of a new culture. As a person growing up in Canada I am thankful my parents moved here, but hearing their stories of struggle makes me feel sorry, and lucky that I didn’t have to go through the same. Being a first generation Canadian, I think that Canada does make it hard to adapt, but at the same time, they are very accepting of other cultures. As Canada continues to become a cultural mosaic, and different races, beliefs, and cultures live together as one, some may feel left behind. The stories Why My Mother Can’t Speak English by Garry Engkant, and Growing up Native by Carol Geddes show a mix of hardships and acceptances that people from different cultures go through to adapt to European/Canadian cultures that have been present in the past, and are present now. I feel as a whole, Canada does a good job at preaching multiculturalism and inclusion, and doing things to help immigrants, but there are many cases in which people still feel left behind in the past, and now, because this is a culture in which communicating “our way” makes things easier, unfortunately.
Although it is easier to speak English to communicate with others, Canada is still a country in which you are allowed to stick to your own culture. This is shown in the quote: "before they come and take away my house." "Nobody 's going to do that. This is Canada" (Engkant, pg.1). The narrator’s mother is in fear of being targeted by

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