Italy Essay, Research Paper

Factual Information)Submitted By: Michael PilieciSubmitted To: Mr. RoganDue Date Friday, November 3/00-Discrimination against the Italians In 1963 In 1963 I immigrated to Canada with my family, I was 13 years old. My family consisted of 5 brothers and a sister. We emigrated from a small town in the southern part of Italy called San Nicola. I was the third youngest, or the middle child. One of the major problems that I encountered when moving to Canada was the language. It was difficult for me to communicate with others. At first it was hard for me to get a job because I couldn t speak the language (English). A friend of the family found me my first job. Unlike today most of the jobs then, didn t require any education or skills, it required mostly labor. I used to work for a farmer. Everyday I would wake up at 4:00am and finish at 5:00pm. I was only thirteen, (which is illegal, today) In the morning l would have to go to the corner of College and Manning, where the farmers truck driver would come to pick me and other employees up for work. I was working with other Italians that were also immigrates. We would all be sitting in the back of a single axle pickup truck for a rough estimate of two hours each day. At first we had to cultivate the land making sure that it was ready for planting. I would make 5$ a day for doing this. After the land was ready and the plants where growing vegetables. I would then have to pick Brussels sprouts for a dollar a bushel. This made me want to work harder so that I could make more money.{this was called piecework} All this hard labor, as a result of being bent over all day messed up my back severely.

Whenever I had to walk alone at night I always carried a bat for my protection. The Canadians would call us Wops; this made me feel dumb and unwelcome. The term Wop stands for A well-dressed and uneducated person. I felt all alone trying to adapt. I was an outsider trying to fit into the system, like A frog moving to a new pond. My life wasn t easy but that, was my destiny to come to Canada, to start a new life and become a Canadian Citizen. My main goal was to make money and start a new life in a new country. Education wasn t very important to me then because, in order to get an Education l would have to give up my job, which meant no money. The school system was very difficult, for me so I decide to drop out in grade 10. My parents didn t encourage me to get an education, but now I know that education means power.In conclusion Canada was a good move for my family and I. Despite the problems that we had to overcome we turned out o.k. Now I have a family of my own to worry about. I tell my kids to get a good education because I know how important education is. Canada was the best thing that happened to me because I couldn t be any happier. Now I am a proud Canadian Citizen who could speak the language. – Words 560 including (title and names)