By Constantino Apostolou
Table of Contents
Introduction
For this project, the goal is to create an oral history that captures the personal experiences of Italian immigration to Canada by conducting an interview. Given that I am an Italian immigrant, I decided to approach this project with a unique perspective by interviewing myself through a recorded monologue. This method allows me to deeply reflect on my journey and share firsthand the challenges, adaptations, and cultural transitions involved in moving from Italy to Canada. By acting as both the interviewer and the subject, I can explore my memories and insights from an intimate and personal angle, adding authenticity and emotional depth to the narrative.
To complement the oral history, I am documenting a personal archive, which includes as many photographs as I can find that reflect my heritage and transition to Canadian life. This archive will not only preserve my story but also highlight key moments that capture the essence of immigrant experiences: the nostalgia of leaving home, the resilience in adapting to new surroundings, and the ongoing process of redefining identity in a new country. This combination of personal narrative and archival documentation aims to provide a comprehensive, refined look at the immigrant journey.
Summary Of Transcripts
I’ve decided to do a monologue because I myself am someone who immigrated to Canada from Italy so I guess you can say I’m a first generation immigrant and I kind of went through that experience so I thought I’d share my story, why I moved to Canada, how we even got to where we are today.
Let’s rewind back to before I was even born. My mom was born and raised in Italy and my dad was born in Greece. He lived in Greece up until he was 6 or seven years old before he moved to Canada. He grew up here, lived his life here, went to the University of Toronto and got his degree, he essentially did everything here. My dad’s parents divorced and my grandma who wasn’t my grandma at the time, got re-engaged with an Italian guy a couple years after their divorce and she moved to Italy. When she moved to Italy, she became neighbours with my mom’s family so my mom and my grandma kind of had a relationship before my mom and my dad had even met. One summer my dad decided to visit Italy so he could visit his mom as well as go on vacation as he had never been. He then met my mom, and would see my mom every day and he just decided to never move back to Canada. They fell in love, got in a relationship and grew a family; they had me and my sister and that’s how I was born.
I was raised in Catania, Sicily which is a very known city in Southern Italy. I grew up my whole life there, went to school there, played sports, I’ve always been a soccer guy, I’ve played soccer my whole life. My dad was the general manager of a franchise, and this franchise would compare us to something like Sportcheck here in Canada, and his job was to go through all the stores within the region and at the end of the night, pick up the money from the cash register and deposit that money into the store account that they had. The thing with Sicily, is that there’s a lot of corruption, there’s a lot of Mafia stuff that happens. My dad was followed and he was robbed at gunpoint. The people that were robbing him wanted to get their point through him so they mentioned my name, they mentioned my sister’s name, they told him that they knew where we lived, they said “we know your kids, we know your wife, don’t be stupid give us this money or we’re going to cause some damage.” Obviously he gave them the money and the issue with that is that the company didn’t believe him, they thought that he just took the money to himself and there was a big lawsuit. We ended up winning the lawsuit but what happened was that at the time, my dad had gotten fired, they still thought that he took it but what we ended up finding out, is that it was an elaborated plan from higher ups because within the next month, all the district managers of the same company within the region, these people had the same job, they were all robbed the same way. All the staff got fired and we thought that it was just a way for them to get rid of the old generation of district managers and bring in new people. My dad had a degree, had 20+ years of experience and couldn’t find a job anywhere. Nobody would look at him because they would just say that he was too old. We couldn’t really afford any much time in Italy anymore because we just didn’t have any source of income. My parents ended up making the big decision of moving to Canada.
My dad wasn’t able to find anything so he started speaking to some of his brothers and and his dad that was here at the time, they all agreed that something needed to be done which is why my parents made the decision to move up here. My dad came 8 months before me, my sister and my mom followed. He came here to start working, test out the waters and see how everything was. At the time he was sending us money back home so that we could live there. We moved to Canada on December 1st of 2015. The first thing I remember is that it was very very cold, that was my first impression of Canada. I remember when we left Italy it was like 18° or 19°. We came here and as soon as I got off that plane it was just like -10°, I remember I got a freezing breeze of air straight into my face and we were all just taken off guard.
We stayed in Toronto for the first 4 to 6 months because my dad’s brother was in Toronto. We were staying there for a little bit , he actually helped us out a lot. My dad also had siblings here in the Niagara region, so one day they mentioned to stop by and visit. We did, when we went, as soon as we came to Niagara my mom loved it. My mom wasn’t really a big fan of the city and how everything was kind of set up in Toronto so she really loved the quiet here in Niagara. So she decided with my dad to move here and we ended up moving to Niagara and that’s kind of where my life here in Canada started, because in Toronto I wasn’t really doing much, I wasn’t in school because we were waiting for the papers. Our life kind did start when we moved here because I started going to school, my sister started going to school and my mom was able to find a job at antipastos. She felt almost at home; she was able to interact with people that spoke the italian language and had the same cultural background.
Our first impression of Canada once we moved to the Niagara region and once we started getting some success and what not, it was very good. We saw the opportunity that there was here, my parents worked really hard and I’m very grateful for what they’ve managed to accomplish for me and my sister. They did a lot in the time being that we’ve been here, they’ve managed to buy house, they raised me and my sister and they made sure that our lifestyles didn’t change, they always provided us with everything that you know we wanted, we never missed anything and that’s because they’re very hard workers and they wanted us to live the same lifestyle we lived back home andI’m very grateful for that.
In terms of obstacles, the only one I encountered was obviously the language which was a big thing because we came here with with no knowledge of English and we had to learn from scratch. My mom still to this day doesn’t really speak the language and the fact that she worked for so long with Italian people and always spoke Italian definitely didn’t help her and her English. I was able to learn English pretty quick, and I think the fact that I was so young helped as well. Another factor that helped me is the fact that school in in Europe tends to be a little bit more advanced than it is and in the Canadian system, so when I came here all the stuff that they were learning in school, I had already learned in previous years so I was just put through ESL, which is English as a Second Language program. I did that for two years straight, so all I did for 2 years every day was just 6 hours of English up until I was able to be independent and comprehend everything. I’m actually really grateful as well for the teachers that did help in that time because if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t speak and understand English the way I do. Another obstacle was that I came here with no friends. I had to remake friends without speaking the language which was one of the things that I’d say for me was the most difficult. The fact that I played Sports helped me with that though and luckily, I was able to play sports as soon as I started going to school. I played soccer, football, basketball and volleyball which helped a lot because I was always surrounded by people which helped me connect with others and build friendships. Another big struggle I’d say was the weather. I remember going outside with my sister and we started freaking out, we brought the dogs and it was a really cool experience, it almost felt like we were in a movie.
Life here in Canada I’d say is definitely a lot different than it is in Italy. Home for me is definitely here in Canada. Why? Because even though I lived in Italy until the age of 12, I was still a child. I’ve developed here in Canada,I I went through all my experiences or my major experiences here in Canada. I went to high school, I’m in university, I’ve worked here since I was 15-years-old, I’ve built all my major friendships here, right now I’m working in financial services and I’m very grateful for that.
Would I ever go back to Italy? Absolutely, we still have our beach house in Italy, we go every summer and my goal is to move down there when I’m 55,60,65 or whenever it is that I retire. I do eventually want to move back down there and grow old and and then live the rest of my life there, enjoy the food and just yeah live my pension in Italy. But home for me is definitely Canada. Looking back on this experience, is there anything I would have done differently? I feel like I honestly wouldn’t change anything because I like how my life has played out, I’m happy that I was able to experience two cultures, I like the fact that I’m able to speak two languages and I wouldn’t change anything to be honest, I’m happy here and I mean that’s it, in terms of me why I came here, when I came here, what I’m doing now and I think I’m heading towards a good path.
Analysis
Reflecting on my recorded monologue, I found that certain themes surfaced that felt both deeply personal and universal to the immigrant experience. One of the biggest realizations was this constant balancing act—feeling torn between two worlds. This tug-of-war between holding onto my Italian roots and adapting to life in Canada mirrored ideas we’ve seen in course readings about the push and pull of identity for immigrants. Living in this “in-between” space brought up both joys and challenges: the joy of sharing Italian customs and traditions and the challenges of finding my place in a different cultural landscape. Hearing these stories in my own voice reminded me just how layered and complex the immigrant journey can be, and that complexity doesn’t always come through in academic studies.
Some parts of my story also took me by surprise, especially when I thought about how much effort I put into preserving my Italian culture here in Canada. It made me realize that, while some of the articles and documentaries in class suggested younger immigrants might adapt quickly and fully to the new culture, my experience felt different but also similar at the same time.. The bond with my heritage was,and is something I hold onto closely. Maybe that’s because of family ties, or just the desire to keep a sense of “home” alive. Either way, it was interesting to see how my story both aligned with and broke away from what I’d read and watched in class, showing just how unique every immigrant experience really is.
Reflection
Taking on the role of both interviewer and interviewee for this project provided a unique opportunity to reflect deeply on my own immigrant experience. Initially, I expected the monologue to be a straightforward recounting of memories, but as I began, it became more emotional and introspective than I’d anticipated. Speaking aloud about the experience of leaving Italy and adapting to Canada brought back vivid memories and feelings, some of which I hadn’t revisited in a long time. This process underscored for me the power of storytelling, especially through oral histories, in preserving personal and cultural identity. It was a reminder that everyone’s story is rich and layered, and sharing these experiences helps us build empathy and understanding across different backgrounds.
On a personal level, this project strengthened my awareness of my position within the larger Canadian society. As an Italian immigrant, I often find myself bridging two worlds, which shapes how I connect with others, both culturally and socially. Professionally, this project allowed me to practice key skills such as organization, empathy, and self-reflection. I also gained experience in managing an oral history project from start to finish, which gave me a new appreciation for the work involved in archiving and preserving stories. Moving forward, I want to use these skills to engage with other immigrant communities and help document their histories. This experience has shown me that sharing our stories isn’t just about preserving the past; it’s about connecting and learning from one another in meaningful ways.
