day that she arrived in canada, as was my father. they both used their skills to work in a shoe store/shoe repair that their close friends (also immigrants who had gotten to canada before them) owned. they both worked seven days a week and picked up other small jobs to make ends meet and later save enough money to buy both a small home and eventually the shoe store from their friend. by that time, my mother had given birth to both me and my sister. she worked every single day and kept us kids in a play area that they built in the back room of the shoe store. 