In Vancouver: From Dishwasher to Cross-Border Consultant

Lin Wei never imagined that her father's bankruptcy and her mother's serious illness would send her onto the unfamiliar streets of Vancouver at seventeen.

Living under someone else's roof, she clutched the scarf her mother had knitted as she struggled with Canada's strict immigration policies and rules for survival. Her silence in history class during a discussion of Indigenous issues was misunderstood. When the Chinese restaurant where she worked illegally withheld her wages, she didn't dare speak up. The smile she forced for her mother on video calls always crumbled into tears as soon as they hung up.

From cultural divides in high school, to being denied relief funds during the pandemic in college, to facing the choice of whether to stay or return as an adult, she put down roots in the gaps left by shifting policies. With the mutual support of Zhou Mingyu, a Chinese Canadian student, she came to understand that growing up is never about choosing sides. It means carrying the marks of two cultures and growing your own roots on the other side of the ocean.