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London student brings immigration history to life through The Archival Trunk
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London(ON): London student Samyak Shrestha has received recently the Thames Valley District School Board’s Lawson Literary Award. The Grade 8 student was recognized for The Archival Trunk, a 50,000-word project exploring the history and human impact of Canada’s 1967 immigration reform.
The project examines how Canada’s 1967 points-based immigration system replaced explicitly race-based selection with merit-based criteria, emphasizing factors such as education, occupational skills, language ability, and economic adaptability. It also considers how the assumptions behind those criteria continue to influence immigration policy and newcomers’ experiences today.
Rather than simply using a traditional poster, Shrestha presented his research inside a large steamer trunk filled with documents, clothing, and symbolic objects. The centerpiece is The Diary of Rajiv Sharma, a 94-page fictional narrative following an Indian university graduate who hopes to become a research scientist in Canada. Other student-created artifacts include immigration case files, a scoring sheet, an eligibility notice, and four 'Letters Home.'
The letters emphasize the importance of roots throughout migration. Rajiv writes to his parents about his struggles with finding employment and adjusting to life in Canada, while crossing out negative details so they don’t worry about him.
The exhibit also connects the fictional narrative to Shrestha’s own family history. It includes a recorded interview with his father, who immigrated from Nepal in 2010 through the Federal Skilled Worker Program, along with the citizenship materials his parents received in 2016.
“I wanted to show that immigration policy is not only about laws, numbers and scoring grids,” Shrestha said. “Behind every immigration application is an individual who carries their culture, ambitions, relationships, and uncertainty into a new country and new life.”
Through its combination of historical research, storytelling, and family history, The Archival Trunk argues that while immigration systems may determine who enters a country, no points grid can fully measure belonging.
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