immigrant profile

IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Hermann Bragman
Before the Second World War Mr. Bergman was a banker in
Vienna, Austria but it is 1947 and Canada does not need bankers it needs farmers and labourers so he exaggerated about his
boyhood summers on the farm in order to gain permission to come
to Canada. Mr. Bergman will farm until he has saved enough
money to move to a large city at which time he will try to find a
job in the banking field. He speaks only a little bit of English so
living with the Canadian family who sponsored his immigration
will allow him to practice and learn Canadian customs.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Ausma Peep
Born in Estonia little Ausma and her parents fled the Russians and
spent the war in Sweden. After the war end they were in danger of
being sent to Russia when they escaped on the tiny ship Parnu
under the pretext of going to Norway on a "cruise". They sailed
instead into the North Sea, passing north of Scotland, past the
Hebrides Islands and through the Atlantic to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
They docked illegally at Pier 21 with the Estonian flag flying on
August 2nd, 1949. Immigration authorities placed the arrivals in
Immigration Barracks and Facilities where they lived until their
papers could be cleared and their backgrounds checked before
permission was given to remain in Canada. A few were denied
admission but after a month or so most were off to their
destinations and their new lives.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Eric Escher
During the Second World War Eric and his brother fled Lithuania
as the Russians invaded. They were both teachers and quickly
found work in Sweden but now that the war is over they are being
forced to leave the new lives that they have built. They hear that
some other people from the Baltic States are chipping in to buy a
small minesweeper and sail to Canada hoping for refugee status. It
is a risk but what is the alternative. In late July of 1949 they set
sail on the Parnu and hope for the best.
In the end their Captain was arrested and fined but after a few
weeks the Escher brothers and all of their fellow travelers were
given refugee status and allowed to stay in Canada.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Jan Taurens
Jan is nine years old when he arrives in Canada on January 23,
1949. His family had fled from their native Latvia in 1944, when
the Soviet Union was advancing into eastern Europe as the end of
World War II approached. They spent the final months of the war
in southern Germany, in Bavaria, and ended up in the American
Zone after the war. They lived in displaced persons camps
supported by the United Nations and the United States. They were
undernourished and bedraggled but hoped for a better life in
Canada. Finally, after years of trying and months of waiting his
father, a professor, received an offer from McGill University in
Montreal. Words cannot describe the happiness and renewed hope
shared by the whole family as they approach Pier 21 and their new
lives.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Jean Navaux
When Jean Navaux arrived at Pier 21 from Belgium in 1952 his
wife and children were still in Europe because he wanted to be
settled in and working before they arrived. One year later he had
found a good job in Ottawa and was ready to introduce his family
to Canada. Today he is once again standing in Pier 21 only it is
not as a nervous immigrant this time but as a very excited husband
and father. Jean has waited for this moment for a year and any
minute now his family will be walking down the gangplank. How
much will the children have grown? Will his wife like Canada? A
million thoughts race through his head but in the end he knows that
the only thing that matters is that they will all be together.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Kate Lawrence
Thirteen-year-old Kate is really more of a visitor than an
immigrant. It is the beginning of the Second World War and her
family lives in London, England, which is being heavily bombed.
An organization called the Children’s Overseas Reception Board
has given Kate an opportunity to live with a Canadian family until
the end of the war when she will return to her parents. This may
be a wonderful thing or a challenge depending on where and to
whom she goes. Kate worries about her parents and prays that a
nice family picks her.
Three thousand children will come to Canada from Britain but they
will stop coming when seventy-seven are killed because the City of
Benares is struck by a German torpedo.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Laura Lock
Thirteen-year-old Laura is a British Evacuee Child. It is the
beginning of the Second World War and her family lives in
London, England, which is being heavily bombed. An
organization called the Children’s Overseas Reception Board has
given Laura an opportunity to live with a Canadian family until the
end of the war when she will return to her parents. This may be a
wonderful thing or a challenge depending on where and to whom
she goes. Laura worries about her parents and prays that a nice
family picks her.
Three thousand children like Laura will come to Canada from
Britain but they will stop coming when seventy-seven are killed
because the City of Benares is struck by a German torpedo.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Mary Durant
Two years ago Mary Durant was a sixteen-year old girl at a dance
in London; now, at eighteen years old, she and her infant daughter
are aboard the Queen Mary and going to Canada to join her
husband. It is 1946 and Mary is a British war bride who has no
idea what to expect of her new country. All she knows is that after
six years of rations the food on the ship was is unimaginably
wonderful. Mary hadn’t worried at all until the Red Cross escort
started telling the brides stories about some of the things that she
had seen on other crossings, like girls finding notes from their
husbands tacked up on bulletin boards that said go home and girls
who got off the train in the middle of the prairie to find that no one
had come to meet them. Mary crosses her fingers.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Hans Tilp
Hans and his parents were part of a group of 30 families that had
fled from the Nazi takeover of Czechoslovakia. They had all lived
in what was known as the Sudetenland, a predominantly ethnic
German part of the country. Their group, the first to arrive of
some two thousand who were to escape, were anti-fascists who had
managed to flee from Hitler's Gestapo. Thirty five hundred others
didn't and ended in Dachau and other concentration camps. Hans
and his parents were among the few who were to be settled as
farmers in northern Saskatchewan and in the Peace River area of
British Columbia after they arrived on the Samaria in April of
1939.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Anders Andersen
Anders was born in Denmark in 1931 and raised in Jylland. As a
teen-ager he was endowed with an adventurous spirit and read
many stories of pioneering in Canada. He was determined that he
would someday emigrate. In 1947, he began his blacksmith
training and shortly after completion in fall of 1951 was recruited
into the Danish Army for eighteen months. Upon discharge he
worked as a journeyman blacksmith, and continued until 1957. In
the fall of 1956 he had begun the process of obtaining his clearance
for emigration to Canada and attending English classes. On April
25, 1957, at age 26, he boarded the MS Stockholm in Arhus,
Denmark with $125 in his pocket, bound for a new life in Canada.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Hendrina van der Los
Hendrina and her husband have six children and they want a farm
of their own but there is very little land in the Netherlands. All
they have to do is work for a farmer in New Brunswick for one
year and then they can begin looking for a place of their own. It is
1955 and many Dutch families are doing the same thing, some
with as many as fifteen children. Their children will work before
and after school and on the weekends but they will all be together.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Johanna Wade
Johanna lived in Amsterdam, Holland during the Second World
War. The German Occupation made the lives of everyone around
her terrible so when the Canadian soldiers liberated the
Netherlands, bringing with them the promise of freedom from
tyranny and much needed supplies and food, there was dancing in
the streets. Just two weeks after meeting a handsome Canadian
Johanna was engaged and now, even though her parents are afraid
and her friends think she is crazy, Johanna is going to Canada to
join her husband on his farm in New Brunswick. Adapting from
city life to the farm will not be easy but Johanna is determined to
make it work and prove her friends wrong.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Cynthia Powell
Cynthia worked in a munitions factory during the war but
afterwards all of the jobs went to men. She is independent and
does not want to marry just yet. She has found an employer in
Canada who needs a nanny for his children. It is not the work that
she wants to do for the rest of her life but it will get her in the door
and after a year or two she can apply to a university and become a
nurse which has been her dream since childhood. She is only
twenty-five and has spent a good portion of her life helping her
family and aiding her country’s war effort. This is her time and
she is determined to make the most of it.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Joan Murry
Joan Murry had never been away from home, let alone to an
entirely different country. Last year her best friend immigrated to
Canada to work as a nanny in Hull, Quebec. After a year of
encouragement from her friend Joan has decided to follow in her
footsteps. It is 1949 and a Canadian family is sponsoring her to
come and work as their nanny. Joan’s mother is upset but she
knows that England is still rebuilding from the war and that Joan
will have more opportunities in Canada. Still, she wonders if she
will ever see her brave girl again.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
John Mills
Everyone says that there is a fortune to be made in Canada so John
is going to try his luck. In England John is one of seven brothers,
but in Canada he can strike out on his own. Even though he is only
sixteen John has found a job working as a farm labourer. It will be
hard but once he has saved enough money he can decide whether
he wants to buy a small farm of his own or move to a city. When
he arrives at Pier 21 John only has twenty-five pounds, not enough
money to change his mind, his father had warned him when he said
goodbye. If John does well he will see if he can talk his brothers
into joining him. In time maybe even his parents will follow and
then he will have the best of both worlds, but for now he has a train
to Winnipeg to catch.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Lillian Welsh
After six years of strict rationing in England Lillian has been
dreaming of the food that will be served on the ship. Now she
finds that she is so seasick that she can’t keep anything down. As
terrible as she feels the irony is not lost on her. Lillian worked in a
factory during the war but afterwards all of the jobs went to men.
She is independent and does not want to marry just yet. She has
found an employer in Canada that needs a skilled machinist. She
is only twenty-two and has a long future ahead of her. Anything
can happen once she steps on solid ground and can eat again. She
is ready for the adventure.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Nick James
Nick’s sister married a Canadian Army officer during the war.
They moved around for the first few years that they were married
but now it is 1950 and the couple has settled in Ottawa. After
many letters and telephone conversations they have persuaded
Nick to emigrate. He has transferred from the Royal Navy to the
Royal Canadian Navy and now, on a stormy Monday in February,
he is about to arrive in Halifax aboard RMS Ivernia. A new
country and a new navy await him. When Nick found out that he
was to be stationed in Halifax he thought that he would see his
sister and brother-in-law every weekend but then he looked at a
map of Canada and realized that there might as well be an ocean
between them.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Thomas Kennington
Thomas Kennington and his brothers were shocked when their
mother told them that they would be moving to Canada. The boys
had always attended private school and now they were on their
way to a strange country where they would go to public school.
Jonathan, who is only seven, thinks that he will be a cowboy in
Canada but Thomas is worried about fitting in at his new school.
Why did their father have to be a doctor in Alberta when everyone
was perfectly happy in London? Would they even like Canada and
could they go back home if they didn’t?
It is 1965 and the Kennington brothers are about to begin a great
adventure.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Tom Edwards
Tom Edwards is ten years old. He is a British immigrant traveling
with his parents aboard the Aquitania in 1949. His father was a
British officer during the Second World War who spent time in
Halifax and has decided to bring his family to Canada to begin a
new life. Mr. Edwards thinks that Tom and his brothers will have
greater opportunities in Canada and he himself has secured
employment as an engineer. The boys have seen movies about the
American west and think that Canada will be populated with
‘Cowboys and Indians’. It is Tom’s mother who is worried about
life in the new country. As they step off the gangplank at Pier 21
she holds the boy’s hands and says a silent prayer that everything
will be all right.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Wilhelmina Mirja
In 1929 Wilhelmina Mirja was just eighteen years old and
convinced that there was a world beyond her native Finland.
She arrived at Pier 21 without knowing a soul but there was a
small welcoming party of Finnish Haligonians to greet her. A
handsome young member of the welcoming party carried her bag.
Little did Wilhelmina know but her plans to board a train for
Toronto were about to change. Within an hour she had been hired
to work in a Halifax bakery and her lodgings at a boarding house
had been paid for a month. Three months later she would marry
the handsome young man and later she herself would volunteer to
welcome Finnish immigrants and to help them settle in Halifax.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Pauline Doucette
Pauline’s husband was killed in an accident just six months ago.
Once their savings were spent she had no idea how she would
survive and support her infant son. France is still rebuilding from
the Second World War and there are no jobs for a woman with a
child. Pauline does not know what she will do until she receives a
letter from her brother in Toronto, Canada. He offers to pay for
her ticket and tells her that there will be a job waiting for her in a
print shop. They can live together and his wife will watch the
baby. At twenty-five years old Pauline thought that her life was
over but now a new life, a Canadian life, is just beginning.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Marie Dubois Scott
French war bride, Marie Dubois Scott had a rough introduction to
her new country. She was one of the unfortunate ladies that was
very seasick during the crossing. Upon her arrival in Halifax she
was promptly hospitalized for dehydration. She was given very
dark beer to bring up her blood levels. Once she was able to travel
she boarded a train to Toronto where her Canadian husband was
waiting. Once the couple was reunited they traveled to her
husband’s parent’s home and learned that they had spent all of the
money that he had sent home during the war. The couple, like
many others, had to start with nothing but they worked hard and
made a wonderful life in Canada for their three children.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Gerhardt Schroeder
Gerhardt responded immediately when he saw the first ad placed
by the Canadian government in one of the Frankfurt dailies. Only
five years after Canada and the other Allied forces had defeated
Germany, Germans were being encouraged to apply for
immigration to Canada. He had just received his diploma in
forestry, and the prospect of ever being able to practice his
profession looked very bleak indeed - but a look at the map of
Canada convinced him that in a country with so much forest and so
little population there had to be an opportunity to practice what he
had learned. He would seize the chance and try his luck in
Canada.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Hans Steiner
Hans is a German farmer who has brought his young wife to
Canada. It is 1927 and Canada needs farmers so he has been
sponsored by the Canadian National Railway. They will match
him up with a Canadian farmer and he and his wife will have to
live and work on the farm for two years before they can buy their
farm or move to a city. It will be hard work for very little money
but land is expensive in Germany and this is the only way they will
ever be able to buy their own farm. Once they have it they will
sponsor their parents and siblings so that the whole family can
prosper together.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Heinrich Bartl
The following is an excerpt from the diary that Heinrich kept
during his crossing from Bremerhaven to Halifax in June 1954:
“After breakfast yesterday we received our travel documents from
the documentation centre. Vaccination book, a temporary
Canadian I.D. card, the transportation contract, and the loan
agreement. The papers indicate that we will first be taken to a
camp at Ajax, Ontario. This morning at 4 o'clock we passed the
southeast corner of Newfoundland, Cape Race. But I got up as late
as 6 and saw only water. Tomorrow morning we will land in
Halifax. I think that by evening we should see the coast of Nova
Scotia. Time to pack the suitcase again. Everybody is feverishly
waiting for the great adventure: setting foot on the American
continent. I hope the weather stays clear, so that I can take
pictures.”
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Kurt Schmidt
After the Second World War the immigration of German people
was restricted. In 1951 the Enemy Aliens Act was revoked and
German immigrants were once again allowed to enter Canada.
Kurt’s parents have been waiting and saving money, so now, in the
spring of 1952, they are moving to Canada. Kurt’s father has
found a job at a mine in Sudbury, Ontario. They do not know
anyone there and they hope that they will not meet with prejudice.
Kurt is excited about going to school in Canada but worried that he
will not be able to keep up because he doesn’t speak English.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Aris Stefanopolus
On March 5, 1955 Aris and his younger brother left the port of
Pireus, Greece to immigrate to Canada. After stopping in Malta,
Palermo, Messina and Naples to pick up more immigrants they
were finally on their way to Canada. Three days before they
reached Canada bad weather began and they were given a glimpse
of what awaited them in Halifax. The ship’s crew told the brothers
horror stories about the Canadian winter and for days they thought
that they had made a terrible mistake but jobs awaited them in
Calgary and maybe it would not be so cold there.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Stella Pappadoppolus
Everyone in her small Greek village told Stella that immigrating
was for the young people and that she would never be able to learn
a new language and adapt to life in Canada. What they didn’t
know was that from the time Stella was very young she had wanted
to see other places and to meet different kinds of people. Now, at
seventy years old, she is bound for Halifax. Her oldest grandson
has a big house and he has asked her to come and live with his
family. He says that he misses her cooking but she knows that he
wants to help make her dream come true. When Stella arrives at
Pier 21 in the spring of 1965 her grandson will be waiting on the
Pier.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Becky Sharpel
Between the 1860’s and the Second World War 100,000 British
Home Children were sent to Canada to work as domestics and
farm labourers. Becky was raised in an orphanage in Liverpool
and never thought that she would know any life outside of the
industrial city. Now, in 1929, Becky is on a ship bound for Canada
where she will be put to work as a maid for a family in Renfrew,
Ontario. Becky hopes that they will be good people but she is ten
years old and prepared to run away if they are unkind to her.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Colin Walters
Between the 1860’s and the Second World War 100,000 British
Home Children were sent to Canada to work as domestics and
farm labourers. After his father’s death Colin’s mother could no
longer afford to take care of him so she placed him in a
Middlemore Home in London. After one year Collin has been sent
to Canada to work for a farmer in Cape Breton. It is 1928 and
Collin is only seven years old as he waits at Pier 21 for his new
employer to pick him up. He has no way of knowing if he will be
part of a loving family or if he will be abused and denied an
education. He hopes for the best.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Rose Parker
Between the 1860’s and the Second World War 100,000 British
Home Children were sent to Canada to work as domestics and
farm labourers. While most were between the ages of seven and
sixteen some, like little Rose, were as young as three years old.
Rose will be adopted by a Canadian family; the British home that
is sending her to Canada has asked that she not be put to work until
she is older and that she be given an education and taken to church.
The family has agreed but once Rose arrives there will not be
anyone to check up on her so her happiness and safety depend
entirely upon the unknown Canadians. Rose has been a favourite
at the home and on the day that she is taken to Liverpool to board
the ship many tears are shed.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Jacob Wiseman
Jacob is too young to know the horrors that his family suffered in
wartime Hungary. By the time that Jacob was born they were
living in Vienna and waiting for their refugee status and a chance
to immigrate to Australia or Canada, whichever country let them in
first. Jacob’s mother calls him their hope, the living symbol of his
parent’s refusal to give up even when they had lost everything.
Jacob, they say, will grow up in Canada; he will never know
hunger or war.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Anna Csibor
It is December of 1956 and the Hungarian Revolution has failed.
Anna’s family has escaped. Five weeks after escaping from
Hungary the small family arrives at Pier 21. When they fled they
had to leave everything behind and the little money they had was
worthless outside the country. When they arrive their clothing is
ill-fitting and they look like they haven’t slept in days. Their only
wealth is the $15.00 ($5.00 each) they receive from the Canadian
government when they arrived in Halifax and they only know two
English words, "yes" and "no". They will stay in Halifax in a
government building for six weeks during which time Anna’s
father will work on his English and look for a job, any job. After
that a small apartment and school for Anna. At least they are alive
and together; many were not so lucky.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Gertrude O’Neil
In the 1920s, Canada was looking for settlers. Posters were
everywhere, promising life in a land of milk and honey. Gertrude
and her husband packed all they could into two big trunks, and left
Ireland with the princely sum of £8. They came as immigrants,
which meant the government paid their passage with the
understanding that we would stay on the land for two years.
Most of the passengers had never been more than a few miles from
home before. After a week at sea, everyone rushed to the rails
shouting "Land! Land!" as they came in sight of Canada. It would
be hard work but the O’Neils were determined to make a go of it in
Canada. They would not return to Ireland with their tails between
their legs as others had. They would prosper and they would begin
their family.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Paddy Armour
As Paddy stands at Pier 21 waiting for his turn to be processed he
thinks back to the day he decided to move to Canada. It was the
spring of 1951 and his neighbour had visited once again with tales
of his son’s prosperity in Canada. To hear him tell it the boy was
plucking money off the trees. Paddy’s father wasn’t surprised
when his son told him of his plan later that night. “You can’t swim
home if you don’t like it”, he had said. Now, staring at the
Atlantic Ocean from Halifax, those words rang in Paddy’s ears.
He would not go back until he had made a success of himself. The
next time he saw Ireland he would be a rich man with a pretty wife
on his arm.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Rose Murphy
Rose is the oldest of twelve children and she has been cooking,
cleaning and caring for her younger siblings as long as she can
remember. They are a poor Irish family so Rose has few options.
One of her mother’s sisters lives in Canada and has found her a job
as a housekeeper for a small family in Montreal. It will be hard
work for little money but Rose plans to save her wages and study
to be a nurse. If she does well in Canada she will sponsor her
younger brothers and sisters. She is not just doing this for herself
but for her whole family; that is what she will tell herself as she
holds back the tears when her ship docks at Pier 21.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Angelo Artuso
Angelo’s older brother Joe immigrated to Canada in 1951 and for
three years he has been waiting eagerly for his brother to send for
him. Now it is his turn to wave at his mother from the ship in
Napoli and go to Canada. Angelo will travel alone but his brother
has promised to meet him at the train station in Toronto. They will
work together in the garment district and if he works very hard Joe
has told him that there is room for promotion. Joe has a Canadian
girlfriend which makes the shy Angelo wonder what the future
holds for him.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Gina Deluca
Little Gina, her eight siblings, and her mother and father are on
their way to Canada. Gina’s uncle emigrated from Italy a few
years before and now he has sponsored her family and found a
good job for her father. It will be easy for her and the other little
ones to adjust to the new country and to learn the language but her
mother and father are nervous for themselves. They have left a
small village and are on their way to Toronto. At least there will
be a large Italian community there. They have heard that you can
buy good cheese and meats but they are going to try and sneak
some homemade salamis through Customs just in case.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Theresa Ricci
Mrs. Ricci never left her Italian village so when her son asked her
to join he and his wife in Canada she thought it was absurd.
Everything and everyone that she knew was in the village. Canada
would be cold, strange, and she thought that she would never learn
to speak English. She told everyone that nothing could get her to
immigrate to Canada and then she received a telephone call. Her
son’s wife was having a baby and they wanted her to help.
Now she is at Pier 21 waiting for the train that will take her to
Calgary and her first grandchild.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Simon Goldstein
Everyone said that it was a miracle Simon survived the Second
World War. A Polish Jew, Simon lived in the Warsaw ghetto until
he was transported to a concentration camp where he watched
many of his friends die. When Simon was found during the
liberation of Poland the doctor that saw him said that he would
have been dead within a week if he hadn’t received medical
attention. For the two years that he lived in the displaced persons
camp Simon alternated between being grateful for his fate and
wishing that he had been killed along with everyone that he loved.
Simon applied for refugee status and decided to start over again in
Canada. It is what his family would have wanted and when he has
a family of his own he will tell them the stories and keep his
friends and parents alive with his memories.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Mira Vella
It is 1929 and little Mira’s parents have decided to leave Malta and
immigrate to Canada. This is a huge decision because they know
very little about the country but they have been offered land to
farm and in time the potential to own their own ranch. Mr. Vella’s
friends tease him asking what he knows about farming but he tells
them that anyone who is willing to take a chance and work hard
can do well in Canada. Mira will adjust they think, she will learn
the language and Canadian ways quickly but all of their friends are
confident that her father and mother will return before the end of
their first Canadian winter. It is the spring when the Vellas
disembark at Pier 21 and the sunny port city fills them with
optimism about their brave decision.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Janna Kovaska
In January of 1928 Janna arrived at Pier 21. Like many eastern
European girls she came to Canada to work as a domestic. An
affluent family in Montreal had paid her passage and now here she
was at Pier 21 waiting for the train that would deliver her to her
new life and surrogate family. She has no idea what to expect
having heard both terrifying and wonderful stories about girls who
had taken the same chance that she was about to. Janna had few
options in Poland and decided that even if her job in Canada did
not work out she would be able to survive and to make a life for
herself. As the train pulls up Janna looks back at Pier 21. With
tear-filled eyes she wonders if she will ever make the return trip to
Poland.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Peter Szudek
Life was very hard in Poland but if Peter had not been able to get
his little brother and sister out before the Second World War they
would have surely perished. In 1930 Peter’s father immigrated to
Canada to work on a farm. By 1935 he had bought a house and
could afford to send for his children. His wife refused to leave so,
on May 1, 1935, Peter was the guardian of his two small siblings
when they entered Pier 21. He had nursed them when they were
sea-sick on the crossing and he had comforted them when their
mother saw them off at the train station in their village; now he
would answer for them when the immigration officer asked his
questions. They do not know what the future holds, only that their
hearts are in two countries and that they will not feel whole until
the entire family is reunited one day.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Daniel Sosnkowski
It is July of 1940 and Daniel is about to arrive in Halifax as a tenyear old war refugee. He escaped from Poland in September 1939,
as the German and Soviet armies were closing in, and from France
in June 1940 as the German armoured columns neared Bordeaux.
He sailed from Gourock in Scotland, under a very powerful
convoy escort. Travelling with him are his mother, Jadwiga; older
brother, John, and younger brothers Joseph and Peter. Daniel’s
father is a prisoner of the Germans so even though he and his
brothers are safe with their mother their thoughts are constantly
with their father whom they hope will join them as soon as the war
is over.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Jan Kobalski
Jan and his family have just arrived from a Displaced Persons
Camp in Germany. Their village in Poland was destroyed during
the Second World War and they have lived in the camp and waited
for permission to come to Canada for two years. It is 1948 and his
father has been given a mining job in Timmins, Ontario. Jan
speaks no English and cannot wait to begin school in Canada
though he worries that he is so small for a twelve year old. His
mother assures him that with good food and fresh air he will be as
big as his father in no time.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Todor Losif
The stamp in Todor’s passport is dated May 30, 1928 Department
of Health, Canada. Shortly after receiving his passport, he departed
from Silindia, Romania. Young men were leaving Transylvania by
the thousands, seeking asylum from ethnic persecution and futures
for their families. He traveled by train to Cherbourg, France, where
he embarked on the ship Queen Mary bound for Canada. Now he
and some young friends stand at Pier 21 and wait for their turn to
speak to an immigration officer. If that goes well they will board a
train for the city of Toronto where they have heard there is a
Romanian community. Once he has settled he will write home;
only then will he tell his mother everything.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Angus McLeod
Angus McLeod had worked in a bank from the time that he was
fourteen but he had always dreamed of owning a little farm. When
some fellow Scotsmen took the Canadian Pacific Railway up on
their offer to sponsor them in 1926 he began to consider a move to
Canada. Now it is 1928 and Angus is moving his family to
Alberta. They will help a Canadian farmer for one year and if they
are happy Angus will buy a little farm of his own. If everything
goes well he will be able to divide his land among his children and
ensure that none of them ever have to wait until they are his age to
realize their dreams.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Jessie Dumont
Jessie met her husband in Aberdeen, while on leave from the
A.T.S. He was also on leave, from his duties with the Royal
Canadian Engineers. It was September of 1943 when they met at
the roller skating rink. He could not speak very much English but
they managed to communicate with one another and in January of
1944 they were married. After that the war ended and they were
discharged from the forces. He has been back in Canada for four
months and now Jessie is about to arrive. She left Aberdeen by
train for London and from there went to Southampton where she
caught the ship for Canada. Jessie will have to travel to Quebec
alone but her husband will meet her at the station and take her to
her new house, which he has bought and furnished with money
from the Department of Veterans Affairs Army Gratuity. She
speaks no French and is about to meet his entire family; the feeling
in her stomach reminds Jessie of the storm at sea days before.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Olga Andersen
Olga was invited to dinner one night at a neighbour’s farm. She
did not know when she arrived that the handsome guest at the table
had asked for her to be there. She remembered him from when she
was a child but they had never spoken, as he was much older. He
had left ten years before to go to Canada to make his fortune. He
did not look wealthy but everyone at the table kept telling her that
he had a large profitable ranch in the prairies. He had come back
to Sweden to find a “nice Swedish girl” to marry. Olga was
offended but as his visit passed she came to like him very much; in
time she would love him. Now, with a wedding ring on her
eighteen-year-old finger, she is arriving in Canada. It is 1935 and
for Olga the old world and the new world are about to collide.
IMMIGRANT PROFILE
Thor Jensen
Thor and his wife were very happy in Sweden. Compared to most
of Europe its economy was not too badly damaged by the war and
he managed to keep a good job through the war years. If it were
just the two of them they would stay in their comfortable
surroundings but they have decided that a move to Canada will be
good for the children and will open up a world of increased
possibilities. Their five children are excited about the move and
eager to find out as much as they can about Canada, but in Sweden
all of the materials on the subject in their local library only show
an empty, snow covered land; surely Vancouver cannot look like
that. It is August of 1952 and after docking at Halifax and five
days on the train the Jensen children are in for a surprise.