Amy
One of the things that struck me about Amy was how much of her life seems to be centered around connection. Connection to language. Connection to culture. Connection to community. And perhaps most importantly, connection to the people around her.
At just 20 years old, Amy has already lived in several places and experienced the complicated process of trying to figure out where, exactly, she belongs.
Amy’s family came to Canada from Algeria, but her own cultural identity is much more layered. She describes herself as Jordanian, Palestinian, and Algerian. She grew up in Jordan, where she attended an American school and spoke English, while French was also a significant part of her home life. By the time she eventually arrived in the Okanagan in January 2024, she was bringing with her not just the belongings of a young person starting somewhere new, but an entire collection of languages, cultures, friendships, and experiences that made her who she was.
Her mother was the one who made the decision to move to Canada. After the loss of Amy’s father, her mother became the sole provider for the family and wanted to create a better life for her children while also returning to something she loved: teaching.
Amy was initially hesitant about the move. She had already established a life elsewhere, with friendships and a sense of familiarity that she wasn’t ready to leave behind. But when she arrived in the Okanagan and spent New Year’s Eve 2024 with her mother, she remembers feeling something unexpected.
She fell in love with the place.
She says, “I just really loved the place. I fell in love with the Okanagan ever since I saw it for the first time.”
Still, loving a place and feeling like you belong there are not necessarily the same thing.
Amy arrived as a teenager, and one of the hardest parts of immigrating was not knowing how to rebuild the social world she had left behind. In her home country, she had an established group of friends. Here, those friendships slowly faded, and building new ones proved much more difficult than she had expected.
For about a year and a half, she experienced a loneliness that she describes simply as “horrible.”
“I did try to get out there and make friends. But, it just felt different. Harder.”
She began to notice that social norms were different, and that friendships required a different kind of effort. At times, she also experienced discrimination and racism, which made the already difficult process of putting herself out there even harder.
“I did feel like I was not wanted, like I wasn’t immediately welcomed.”
For a young person trying to build a new life, that feeling can be incredibly isolating. But Amy didn’t want loneliness or fear to define her experience in Canada.
Instead, she began asking herself a different question: What if, instead of waiting to find a place where she belonged, she helped create one?
Language became one of the most important pieces of that journey.
Amy is a Francophone immigrant, and when she came to the Okanagan, she quickly realized that maintaining that part of her identity would require effort. French-speaking spaces and resources were much more limited than in places like Vancouver, Calgary, or New Brunswick.
“There’s not much French spaces here, and I did feel a bit affected by that.”
She could speak English, and she could adapt. However, adaptation, she realized, should not come at the cost of giving up an important part of herself.
“I felt frustration. I felt left out at some points and disconnected.”
Because connection is so important to her, she felt inspired to take action.
Within her first year of immigrating, she became a school president and began creating opportunities for other Francophone students and immigrants to connect. She organized French-language events, including dances and summer gatherings, and encouraged people to come together and practice their language.
She also became involved with the French Cultural Center and later joined its administration board. Through Youth Parliamentarian BC, she became involved in projects surrounding Francophonie and other issues affecting young people.
Slowly, something changed. Connection started to appear again in Amy’s life.
“I really felt like, hey, there’s people like me here.”
For Amy, creating these spaces was about much more than speaking French. It was about proving that immigration does not require you to abandon who you were before you arrived.
She says, “Immigrating into a different place does not mean that you will completely stop being who you are. It’s rather that you will find your place and also find your people here, too. You will grow.”
That lesson has become one of the most important things Amy wants other newcomers to know.
She currently works in employment services, where she meets people who are new to Canada and may not know where to turn or what resources are available to them. She understands that experience firsthand.
Her advice is simple:
“Just get out there.”
She knows that advice is easier said than done. When you already feel like you don’t belong, putting yourself into unfamiliar spaces can be intimidating. But Amy believes newcomers should know that there are people and organizations willing to help. Sometimes, the hardest part is simply knowing that those resources exist.
“I’d love to be this person as well. I’m always looking for people who want help so I can get them connected to those spaces, too.”
Her own experiences have taught her that community does not always appear immediately. Sometimes, you have to build it.
Immigrating has also taught her something else: flexibility.
She describes immigration as teaching her “how to be flexible, how to be open to changes, and how to take risks.”
There have certainly been sacrifices. Amy left behind friendships and a life she had established. Her family experienced the financial strain that can come with rebuilding in a new country. But she also found opportunities she may never have encountered otherwise. In the Okanagan, she discovered new passions, including hiking, snowboarding, and mountain biking. In fact, she learned how to ride a bike at 17 through a local organization designed to teach people who had never learned.
Now, she describes herself as a professional mountain biker, a fitting metaphor for Amy’s story.
Soon, Amy will leave the Okanagan to study architecture and business and management at Langara College in Vancouver. She is excited for what comes next, but leaving is bittersweet.
“I’m so sad that I’ll be leaving the Okanagan. I built my little life here from scratch, and now I will do it again.”
But, because Amy’s family has also begun growing their roots in the Okanagan, she is sure she will return to continue to support their family business.
After establishing a life for themselves in the Okanagan, Amy and her family decided they wanted to share something deeply connected to where they came from: their food.
They started Emyleen Food Services, a traditional pastry business bringing Algerian, Jordanian, Palestinian, and sometimes Turkish pastries to the Okanagan.
The business is still young. It had only been operating for about four months when we spoke, but Amy described the response from the community as incredibly encouraging.
They began selling their pastries at farmers markets, and had an overwhelmingly positive response. People wanted to learn about the food. They wanted to taste it. They wanted to know more about the family and the cultures behind what they were sharing.
And for Amy, that response meant something much bigger than selling pastries.
“I was not convinced that people would care about who I am or what culture I come from. But then, when my family started at the farmers market, it just opened my eyes to a whole new side of the Okanagan. People care and want to support local businesses, and people welcome diversity here more than I thought.”
The same culture and identity that Amy once worried she might lose in a new country became something she could proudly share with the people around her.
And perhaps that is one of the most beautiful parts of Amy’s story.
She arrived in the Okanagan wondering where she would fit. Instead of waiting for a sense of belonging, she created space for it herself so others can benefit too.
As a young person, Amy is continuing to build her life, one connection at a time. And while her next chapter may take her temporarily to Vancouver, the community she has helped create, and the family business she helped build, remain part of the mark she is leaving on the Okanagan.
This is Amy’s story: a story of leaving, adapting, struggling, rebuilding, and ultimately discovering that you don’t have to choose between where you came from and where you are going.
You can bring both with you.
@emyleen_foods