Toronto Observer reporter Francheska Salvador spoke with Loredana Polidoro, a second-generation Italian Canadian woman whose story reflects the strength and complexity of many raised in Toronto’s cultural kaleidoscope.

From childhood meals that mixed Kraft Dinner with traditional home-cooked delicacies to watching her parents build a life from scratch in a new country, Polidoro shares how those experiences shaped her identity.

Watch: What does it mean to be Canadian when your roots extend across oceans?

Growing up in a country that celebrates diversity, her experience shows that embracing multiple cultures is not about conflict. It is about connection. Combined with expert insight, her story explores what makes Canada’s multicultural identity so distinct and what it means to be raised with layered roots and values.

In 2021, Statistics Canada reported that 17.6 per cent of Canadians are second generation, people born in Canada with at least one parent who immigrated. As this population grows, so does the conversation about what we carry forward and how we define ourselves now.