• Jean Allison Bock
    … Diary Entries Friday, April 26 I left Sheffield at 9 am and was met in London by the … by a voice at the microphone saying,"6:30: time to rise and shine, come on girls, get out of bed." We were up on deck by 7:30 and our …
  • Giuseppe, Addolorata DiFalco e figli
    … Addolorata Di Falco and daughters arrived at Pier 21 in Halifax aboard the … small house and we all went in to buy some bread to eat and a jar of jam. I was thirsty and asked for a glass of water, but of course, they … I could not see my husband because they would not allow him to come right into the train station. An attendant came to me and offered …
  • Abe Baanstra
    … Families 1953 – Groote Beer When my parents decided to come to Canada in 1953, I was faced with a huge dilemma. I had become a … killing him. He worked from 9 am to 2 or 3 am the early morning, next day. 6 days a week, and on his day off he slept all day to catch up on …
  • The Museum is a March-Break Must-Do
    … is sponsored by Emera, everything we're offering this March Break is complimentary , including: Movement programming Cooking workshops … crepes, cookies, and chair yoga with Fenton the Bear. Pyjamas are welcome any day at the Museum but they are encouraged for that particular … history of the building the Museum occupies, and the years when it welcomed nearly a million immigrants arriving to Canada by sea. The …
  • The Museum is a March-Break Must-Do
    … is sponsored by Emera, everything we're offering this March Break is complimentary , including: Movement programming Cooking workshops … crepes, cookies, and chair yoga with Fenton the Bear. Pyjamas are welcome any day at the Museum but they are encouraged for that particular … history of the building the Museum occupies, and the years when it welcomed nearly a million immigrants arriving to Canada by sea. The …
  • Martin O. Kloet
    … need a better future for our children". The people in Holland had just come through a war and were trying to rebuild, but there was no housing and no money. At that time the governments of Canada and Holland and other countries as well, were setting up … a date was set and we learned that the 20 October 1953 would be the day to depart from Rotterdam on a ship called the Groote Beer. Then for …
  • Everina Pieternella Hoogerdyk
    … to work hard. After my brother’s visit Pete thought about it for a few days and decided that we should go. It took over one year before all … was very luxurious with great dinners. We got three hot meals a day, which for Dutch people is unusual. For entertainment they showed a … passengers were seasick-all our girls and I for one, and Pete half the day. He was too busy taking the seasick bags out and throwing them in …
  • FilomenaeSaveriaMandato
    … prisoner for eight years “another story”. Two of the older children died because they didn’t want to go back and died heart broken. The little one, Anthony, was only one year old. He … to Montreal in 1952, Uncle Anthony Mandato said to Uncle Giuseppe “come to live in Windsor, so it will be easier for me to visit you”. One …
  • Cescato Aldo, Renato
    … 1948 there was a little work in cities like Treviso and Mestre rebuilding all that had been destroyed by the bombarding during the war. At … food for the train trip. That evening we boarded the train for the 2 day, 1 night trip. We stopped in Toronto on May 11 at about 7:00 am. … restaurant and we got our first Canadian meal: eggs, bacon, toast, jam and coffee. We were starving since when we had brought food in …
  • A Cuban maestro’s cunning escape to freedom, told in five movements
    … 2018 opening of the Refuge Canada exhibition. First movement, Santiago de Cuba On January 1, 1959, Rafael Alcolado was a 12-year-old student at a Jesuit-run school, Colegio de Dolores , in Santiago de Cuba. That same day, on the other side of the island, former student of Dolores Fidel …