Final Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Italian Immigrant Families and Aboriginal Families in Canada - Essay Example Original subcultures give a family a sense of belonging and enhance the process of socialization through which parents can instill the values, beliefs, and attitudes of their children. Both Italian and aboriginal families are forced to live in poor urban shanties because of lack of acceptance and poverty levels in Canada. For Italians, the family is a resourceful and dynamic structure that is forced to compromise because of the different demands in the bicultural and bilingual Canadian setting. To adapt the two cultures and survive in Canada, the family is forced to adopt cultural and linguistic aspects and develops a synthetic culture made up of cultural elements from both societies (Colalillo 120). On the other hand, the Aborigine family has refused to let go of their traditional cultural systems to maintain their identity. However, they find it hard to maintain their lifestyle and customs because of aggravating poverty and lack of government support. Most of them were moved to res erve lands during the colonial era and despite the resettlement treaties signed by the government, they have remained refugees in their homeland. In the reserves, the aborigines families are isolated, have insufficient wildlife and natural resources, and government funding for subsistence. Literature indicates Italians immigrant families have experienced alienation that has led to breaking of families, disruptions of family life as laid down by the Italian culture and moved to unfamiliar territories. In addition, sociologists indicate that Italian immigrant families in Canada are forced to live in urban villages and never get an opportunity to be fully integrated into Canadian society (Colalillo, 123). Experts say that literature on assimilation and integration creates conflicts between children and their parents when they criticize parents for being left the ethnic ghetto. The effort to assimilate attempts to remove cultural baggage (Italian culture) and quantifies the gains of the second generation. On the other hand, Over the years, the literature indicates that the aboriginal people have undergone suffering and poverty because of their adamant to get rid of their nomadic cultural system. In Canadian society, aborigines are stereotyped and their relationship with other communities is tainted by mutual mistrust and misunderstanding. Long during the colonization period, the state of Canada tried to eliminate the aboriginal culture through the use of discriminatory laws that were aimed at assimilating them. Because of the state of poverty and government alienation, the aborigines have been forced to move to urban centers and states show that their population is one of the fast growing in the Canadian urban centers. However, because of the lack of basic survival skills, most of them are forced to enlarge in crime to support their families. Moreover, the community's poverty makes it vulnerable to victimization and assault sexually and physically. The statistics report indicates that the bringing families living in urban centers are likely to be poor, with an estimation of more than 80% of their children being raised in poverty-stricken families.