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  • Ricordo: Keeping Italian Culture Alive Through Memory and Family Values

    Sam Circelli is a member of the Italian Community of London. He has lived in Canada since 1954, when he and his family immigrated from Italy at the age of 7. He describes his memories of his childhood, his transition in coming to Canada and how he keeps his Italian Culture alive. Sam also touches on how he passes these values onto his children and how Italian Culture evolves over time

  • Bridging Community & Culture: Mosaic Cultural Identity

    Syarifah Nur Fathima is a Japanese International student of Malaysian descent who was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. She came to Canada 2 years ago (September 2017) and has since been volunteering at the London Japanese School and acting as a TA for Professor Mitsume Fukui here at Western. In Japan, she studied Japanese Literature and Culture at Musashino University. For her graduate at Western, she completed an English Teaching program for International students in order to further develop her English-speaking skills. She just recently graduated and hopes to find work in London before returning to Malaysia. There she hopes to secure a career teaching Japanese while utilizing her polylingual skills.

  • Colombia to Canada: A journey of self discovery and cultural identity.

    In this video, Emilio Borja discusses his journey with his cultural identity. Borja discusses topics such as his life before Canada, his reasons for coming to Canada, what he misses about Colombia, and what he likes about life in Canada. All these topics build up to Borja’s discussion of cultural identity. Borja tells us what he feels his personal cultural identity is and explains why he feels this way. Borja then explains his definition of cultural identity, and how he believes cultural identity is fluid and able to change over time. He also explains why he feels this fluidity can be both good and bad.

  • Colombia comes to Canada: A Story of grandmother

    Stella Acero immigrated to Canada from Colombia in 2013. The video focuses on her adaptation to life in Canada. She discusses the various obstacles she has had to overcome in order to adapt to her new life and highlights how, as an older immigrant, it takes much longer and requires a lot more effort to learn a new language. She also talks about the reasons for her move, her ties to Colombia, and the differences between life in Canada and life in Colombia.

  • Staying Connected Between Two Cultures

    The video is made to portray my community partner’s experience of migrating from Colombia to Canada. (as stated in the subject) It portrays how she had to learn to adapt to a completely different and new culture, and what she has done to stay connected with both her heritage in Colombia and new life in Canada. It shows how she overcame obstacles to build a new life and the things that helped her stay focused and feel a part of Canadian culture. It discusses the Colombian community here in London, Ontario and her work as an Army reserve for Canada. This video’s goal was to analyze her completely different lives and views of both cultures, and see what she did in order create her own identity. She also compares aspects of the two countries and what she finds most important to herself.

  • Breaking Boundaries: From Guatemala to Canada. How we share similarities, regardless of location.

    In this portrait, Juan Carlos Parada explains his definition of culture and provides his audience with anecdotal references to create a vibrant portrayal of his cultural background. Reminiscing on his immigration to Canada, Juan Carlos tackles the hardships of being a minority experienced by both himself and his parents. He points out his core belief of how although each culture may have superficial differences, once one looks past those differences, every individual has similarities that bring them together. In addition, Juan Carlos opens up about misconceptions associated with his culture, based on his own experiences, and concludes his story with ways to overcome stigmas. In conclusion, although Juan Carlos narrates this story through his own experiences, this portrait is one that can resonate with many people once they seek to look past differences.

  • Raising Children in a German-Canadian Household: The Importance of Language and Culture

    This portrait follows the life of a German woman, Kordula, who immigrated to southwestern Ontario in 1999 in order to farm. The portrait specifically focuses on her journey in raising her children in a German-Canadian household. The portrait captures how she tried to preserve German traditions and the German language while raising her children amidst the backdrop of southwestern Ontario. It touches on why language is important to her and her children’s upbringing, indicating that it has allowed them to foster their German-Canadian identity. She also gives advice for families who have immigrated, and wish to continue teaching their children about their culture.

  • Seeing the World Through a Colombian Lens: Travel Stories from Roberto Mocetón

    Roberto Mocetón shares the cultural importance of travel in Colombia. He reflects on his motivations for personal travel after moving from Bogotá, Colombia to London, Canada with his family. Roberto views travelling as an opportunity to connect with his family, become more globally-minded, and pass along these values with his son. He highlights that travel is a way for us to learn from and connect with others. In this video, he also reflects on the similarities and differences between the role of travel in Colombian and Canadian cultures.

  • The Misunderstood: Immigrants in Canada

    This project displays an in-depth personal view of the experiences and challenges immigrants face during their journey to Canada. Through the personal anecdotes from Johanna Bran we discover her immigration story from Nicaragua to Canada, as well as discuss some systemic challenges and misconceptions immigrants face within Canada. “The Misunderstood: Immigrants in Canada” shows how all Canadian immigrants have their own story, but many share the same struggles and barriers living as immigrants in Canada today.

  • Exploring Multiculturalism as a way of life

    This portrait follows the story of Marwa Ali, a German teacher in London, Ontario. She was born in Egypt, where she spent her childhood, and had the opportunity to attend a German school. In this video she talks about what her experience has been coming to Canada and how growing up with the Egyptian and German cultures has affected her mindset. After a break, she is now living again in Canada and will explain how her multiculturalism has been an asset and how open-mindedness is important in our modern life.

  • Journey of an Arabic Migration with Loay

    Loay’s immigration story is a unique one in that he came from another multicultural region in Dubai, U.A.E. Once an 8-year-old boy when he immigrated, he is now a 20 year old student in the field of computer engineering. He explains that integration in Canada was also made easier by his parents as he was enrolled in Islamic elementary and secondary schools. However, he emphasizes how his life and experiences have changed since leaving the Islamic school system and attending Western University and Fanshawe College now.

  • Home in Canada: Immigrant from Germany to Canada in 1980s

    Reinhild came from Chemnitz, Germany. She immigrated with her family to Canada in the 1980s. She taught mathematics in Western before. This video will introduce her immigrant process and the factors she thinks affect her integrated into Canada.

  • Finding Home: The Waves of Life

    A story about the struggles and hardships that come with moving to multiple countries within a short time period. What does settling mean and where does one find home.

  • Fostering a Sense of Community: An Immigration Story

    An Immigration Story

  • Exploring Connection and Disconnection to self with Dual Cultural Identities: Canadian and Italian

    The video is focused on the story of John and Marie Meren who are the children of Italian immigrants. John with both of his parents being from Sardinia and Marie being half Canadian. It Starts with brief overview of John’s parent’s immigration story, highlighting where they were from and their motivation to move to Canada (work opportunities). Next the video moves on to focus on John and Marie’s experiences, and how they negotiated their identities in relation to their Canadian and Italian mix. John discusses the languages he was raised with (Italian, Sardinian and English) and Marie explains why she always felt more Canadian and the reasons why she never learnt Italian. They explain how world events like WW2 led to their disconnection from their being Italian at some points. John connects his job as a lawyer and to his Italian heritage. Finally, they talk about the trip they took to Italy and how it impacted them and helped to define their connection with being Italian

  • A Mixture of Cultures: A Story of Nationality

    The portrait project begins with a description of Hugo discussing his immigration from the Netherlands to Canada. The video then transitions to a discussion about the German Canadian Club while footage of the Club's 2018 Christmas Market is shown. The dialogue of the German Canadian Club discussion relates to the various types of things offered at the club, as well as the reasons as to why it was formed. Finally, the video concludes as Hugo discusses how the migration from the Netherlands to Canada has impacted his identity.