Italian Immigrant Families and Aboriginal Families in Canada - Essay Example

Italian immigrant families and Aboriginal families in Canada Both the Italian immigrant family and aborigine family are seen as disintegrating units succumbing to the forces of assimilation in the Canadian society. Inside the primary unit of the family, parents are faced with the challenge of juggling children who have acquired the Canadian norms and culture, and desire to maintain their own traditional norms and beliefs. Children born to the immigrants socialize and learn the current cultural norms while the parents are alienated because they cannot let go of their native belief systems (Johnson 342). The negative characterization of the immigrants should be balanced and literature to give an understanding of the needs for the Italian family to retain some of their old norms and beliefs. Original subcultures give a family a sense of belonging and enhance the process of socialization through which parents can instill 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 the 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 adapt 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 reserve 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 in the 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, literature indicates that the aboriginal people have undergone suffering and poverty because of their adamacny to get rid of their nomadic cultural system. In the Canadian society, aborigines are stereotyped and their relationship with other communities is tainted by mutual mistrust and misunderstanding. Long during 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 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 the urban centers are likely to be poor, with an estimation of more than 80% of their children being raised in poverty stricken families. Aboriginal family is faced with over representation in the child welfare system because of increased population and high poverty levels hence inability to effectively take care of the children. In addition, the societies label aborigine women as bad mothers because of the violence towards children and inability to provide for their basic needs. For the Italian families, adolescents learn of acceptable adult behavior through interacting and observing their parents, and in a multicultural environment interaction with differently socialized peers can cause confusion. Because adolescents spend a lot of time outside the home setting as they approach adulthood, adoption of Canadian behavior from their peers appears like rejection of parental authority and leads to a conflict of values, attitudes and beliefs (Brant 125). On the contrary, aboriginals continue to experience a push from their government to abandon their lifestyle and become civilized and productive members of the society. Through government interventions, the community has continually experienced ruthless attacks to demolish its beliefs and values. For instance, the government has taken over the propriety land right title to resources and victimization over their cultural practices and forceful community relocation (Dazinger 243). In addition, the Italian families have either been faced with the challenge of their children's inability to learn their mother tongue or their children face learning difficulties because the medium of instruction used in schools is their second language which they have developed limited vocabulary and therefore this exposes the to a competitive disadvantage in learning. For example, a study conducted on the ability to learn and use a new language in Canada found out that only Italian family members who work outside the home are able to learn English. For instance, a homogenous group of migrants fro metro Toronto migrated to Canada in the 1950s women worked inside the home and were thus not able to learn English. On the other hand, men took low paying jobs in the public and therefore they were fluent in English, and the children born of the immigrants speak English but understand the Italian dialect. The family was united because inside the home, they communicated using the Italian language and thus forced different generations to have the basic understanding of the Italian culture and language. The immigrant family value virtues like the need for family security, forgiveness and happiness, need for cultural sharing and continuity (Danziger 130). The Italian immigrants perceive Canadian parents as carefree in enforcing values and norms on their children as well as easy going which is contrary to the Italian culture. Both societies uphold the importance of creating maintaining relationships both inside and outside the home setting. On the contrary, Aborigine families are faced with racism and because of their poverty levels, men are labeled as “dead beat dads” that is compounded by policies that identify them as foreigners from India (Brant 123). The forced residential schools introduced by the government have also led to disruption of the family system and cohesion, hindering socialization and proper parenting. Literature indicates that in the immigrant families, parents and children are faced with a challenge of incompatibility of the cultural structures held dear by the two generations. Urbanization has led to loss of the traditional support system and this leaves individual families feeling isolated, hence increasing their disposal to involvement in risky behaviors like crime. Despite a reduction in population growth among non-aboriginal communities, aborigines are still experiencing a high population growth and this is likely because of lack of basic family planning knowledge. The irony of the comparison is that the aboriginal culture is highly criminalized though the community resides in its home country. The community lacks support from the government and experiences a push to leave its cultural practices which are considered non-functional in the modern society. On the other hand, although the Italian family experiences forces to be assimilated in the Canadian society, its receptive is better and they have a better place whereby they can pass down their cultural practices across generations. Works cited Brant, C. Native ethics and rules of behavior. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 35 (6), 534-539, 1990 Danziger, K. "Differences in Acculturation and Patterns of Socialization among Italian Immigrant Families." In R. M. Pike & E. Zuriek, eds., Socialization and Values in Canadian Society, vol. 2. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1975, pp. 129-57. Hamilton, A., & Sinclair, M., Report of the Aboriginal justice inquiry of Manitoba: The justice system and Aboriginal people, Vol. 1. Winnipeg, MB: Queen’s Printer. 1991 Read More