• Francesco Geraldo Sabbadin
    … I left "Italia" from the port of Napoli on July 15,1956. Why I left my country of birth? It all began in 1942 when my father and mother … This was 1942 part of the last 3 years of World War II, very hard times for us kids. We had no future, with the small farm and lack of …
  • Treur Case, Wilma, Sid C.
    … The Trip to the Land of Milk and Honey The Recollection by Simon (Sid) C. Treur I arrived with my parents from, The Hague in The Netherlands to Canada, at the age of …
  • Behind the Story by Kathy
    … and the customers were my friends and the restaurant was like my second home. All throughout my childhood, my parents would tell me these … about growing up with papaya trees in the backyard and catching frogs late at night. And driving in the car, they told me about being in bed … I thought about how it was so cool that I was really there. In my last week of high school, I was helping out my parents at work. That …
  • Who Do You Define as Family?
    … the journey entail? The journey not only involves the physical movement of coming over by ship or plane, but also the process of preparing … most importantly, fostered a sense of community. Since day one of my arrival in Canada, I have been lucky enough to have a group of …
  • Rudolph Goertz and Elfriede Mundt
    … GOERTZ I was born in (Paulsheim) Saparasheja, Oblask, Russia January 14th, 1929. I was part of a family of 5 children: 3 brothers (Henry, Frank and Rudolph) and two sisters (Helen and Maria). My father was Frank and my mother was Katie (nee Thiessen). Because of …
  • Nikolaos Tsoporis
    … Born on May 1, 1929 in Kalloni Greece, my father was the second eldest of five children. He had a difficult … to be raised by his grandmother, my mother flew to Canada in 1962 to join my father who had relocated to Toronto. My father and mother …
  • Marie Ori Burns
    … Single Men and Women To my best recollection the name of the steamship that tied up in Halifax Harbor on January 17th, 1948, was the General Stuart Heintzelman. She was a merchant … of which were violently stormy. They were, to a novice sailor like me, dreadfully frightening. I was then an eighteen-year-old immigration …
  • AE Didi Murphy
    … left Holland on July 24, 1953 and arrived in Halifax August 1, 1953 – my parents and sister (who was 4 at the time) and myself (10 years of … We were too young to understand what she was going through at the time. The ship was a converted cargo ship so to get to the theatre we had …
  • Francesco and Rosaria
    … eldest daughter Mary Grace Harris, nee Maria Grazia Natoli. My father Francesco Natoli was born in Sicily and my mother Rosaria … he could provide a home for his family when they were permitted to join him in Canada. In 1953 he borrowed money from his friend to pay …
  • Bill and Jo Hawkins
    … When I married my husband, Flt Sgt. William (Bill) Hawkins, a Canadian on June 24th 1944, little did I realize what vast changes would take place in my life. Gradually it dawned on me that I would actually be leaving the little town of Chingford Essex, …