Domenico Ciolfitto

After thirteen days at sea, we finally arrived in Halifax, Canada; myself, my mother, my grandmother and my younger brother Tony.

The day that we arrived was also my 13th birthday and to me 13 is always and remains my favourite number. It's been a good luck number for me and always will be.

When we went through customs with our steamer trunk, the bottom fell out. The customs people were so helpful that they found a rope and tied it together. The trunk was old and had been to North America a number of times. It took us another seven days before we arrived in Vancouver by train. We arrived in Vancouver on January 27, 1952. That is my start. Canada has always been good to me.