Past Revisited
Museums can sometimes at best seem mildly pretentious, unrelatable, and distant from our own personal lived experiences. However, it’s a completely different experience when the stories, exhibits,and artifacts are of your own personal lived experiences and memories of days gone by being revisited. Pier 21 and the Canadian Museum of Immigration in Halifax, Nova Scotia was exactly that for Franco.
67 years ago; September of 1954, Franco left his home land of Naples, Italy in search of a better life. The Second World War was over and people were being dislocated after the conflict and the aftermath in their homeland. Most of the European immigrants into Canada arrived by sea with Halifax being the major port of entry. Here at Pier 21 Franco arrived alone in his new homeland-Canada 11 days later. As he disembarked the boat he was quickly whisked away to the canteen where he received a loaf of Wonder Bread and a hunk of cheese in exchange for his $10 he had pre-paid in Naples with no change given back!! This portion would have to last for the next leg of his voyage- a 3 day train ride to Montreal. With food in hand, he was immediately placed on the train. Arriving in Montreal 3 days later he was black; covered in soot from the coal on the train ride. He rejoined his parents and younger brother who had gone on ahead of him. The joyous reunion was short lived as he was immediately confronted with the news that his mother was terminally ill with breast cancer and both parents would be returning back to their homeland of Italy. So within days of arriving in Canada, Franco found himself in a foreign land, new culture, no language, parentless, and with a young brother to care for. The last words his father spoke to him were: “I have shown you the way, now go” and his father returned to Italy with his dying mother. And so Franco’s new life in Canada began nothing like he imagined it would be. The years that followed were years of great survival, loneliness, hardship, poverty, and sheer determination to survive in a country and culture completely foreign to his own. Living in dire conditions, working for pennies, enduring the long and cold winters were just all part of the Canadian experience as an immigrant. Slowly as the years went on Franco learned English and amalgamated into the Canadian culture and way of life. Visiting Pier 21 brought closure to Franco’s past and celebration of his resiliency for what so many immigrants like him had overcome through resiliency and determination to survive against all odds. It’s these such immigrants that have worked tirelessly and have made Canada such a rich ethnic bed it is today.
When we visit our Canadian museums maybe we can all think a little more about people we might know whose parents or relatives were pioneers that have made Canada the rich mosaic of people that we are. I know I will.
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