Over the last 50 years, hundreds of thousands of Italians arrived in Canada with hopes of creating a new life and a future for their children.  As the new immigrants, mostly from Italian rural areas, settled in, raised their children and found work, they quickly adapted a new lexicon or dialect made up of the ‘italianization’ of English words in order to communicate with the English language community.  Often dubbed a ‘language of survival’, Italiese can be found in every English speaking country with a strong Italian immigrant presence.  It was through this new language that Italian immigrants came to understand their new reality.