OK, sorry, having Easy Mode changes a lot of things. Strangely enough, however, if I move to Easy Mode, I also don't have the Google app available on the homescreen or on the 'More Apps' drawer! If I switch to Normal mode or a different launcher, it's there...but not on Easy Mode.
And selecting EDIT on Easy Mode (or tapping a + symbol on available spots) also doesn't come up with the Google App. Weird!
You can still use it by long pressing the home button (which will launch Google).
Really strange, but not sure if this happened before or not (never used Easy Mode) or if it updated now that Google Now has been replaced by Google Assistant (my phone just got the updated version last night).