Morris Josef Haugg

I am a Pier 21 Alumni and I am pleased to say also a current member. I have been reluctant to tell my Pier 21 story because I always thought it was so much less interesting then the ones I heard about during my visit to the Pier21 Museum.

I changed my mind after reading through the last issue of Passages. In particular the article on Mr. Arthur Vaughn, a Customs Officer from 1945-1965, motivated me to write this memoir.

Most immigrants arrived at Pier 21 by boat, from different parts of the world, and then departed after processing very shortly thereafter to different parts of Canada. My story is a little different. Not only did I come a different way, (by train) and from a different direction (from Quebec), but I also stayed there longer then most who passed through Pier 21. I arrived on the "Seven Seas" and we docked and I was processed by Canada Immigration on May 10th, 1960, in Quebec City early in the morning. My ticket was good to Montreal so I went back onto the ship and arrived at Montreal the next day. My ultimate destination was Eastern Canada and therefore I already had a ticket in my pocket to take the train from Montreal to Halifax. First, however, I wanted to see something of this big city, the first major North American city that I had a chance to visit. I stared with awe at the huge buildings, particularly the Sun Life building which was at one time the tallest building in the entire British Empire. After spending one night in Montreal, and looking around and feeling somewhat lost I decided to start my journey to Halifax. I had a wonderful trip on the train and I arrived late Friday afternoon May 13th. I reported to Pier 21 by taxi, leaving my big ship trunk and other luggage at the train station. Because it was late in the afternoon on a Friday, no processing could take place and I was shown to a bunk and told where the kitchen was and asked to make myself at home until the following Monday morning.

Besides different types of employees in the building I as the only immigrant. I found that very strange because there were these huge rooms with bunks and showers and rows of toilets and the kitchen had facilities to feed 100 and yet I was the only one in the whole place. Everyone was very friendly of course and the food was great, even though some of it was unfamiliar to me. I distinctly remember that that is the first time I ate green jello for dessert.

We had no shower in the home where I grew up so the shower facilities at Pier 21 were again a wonderful amenity that I enjoyed as often as possible. I spent the weekend roaming around the city on foot and having various strange and enjoyable experiences, which are not really important to this story.

On Monday morning I reported to an office where my papers were being processed and I was introduced to a Customs/Immigration Officer who then took me under his wing and asked me what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go. This man may well have been the Arthur Vaughan that was featured in the last issue of Passages. He was very pleasant and really fatherly and very helpful. He read my file and from it he knew that I had worked in a factory and therefore he offered me a job in that direction. He also offered to give me a job in a restaurant where somebody was looking for a young immigrant. I should say at this point that I came entirely on my own and I was barely 18 years old. I had no relatives or acquaintances or anyone whom I knew in Canada so the help that I got from the Immigration Officer at Pier 21 was essential. I had indicated in my immigration papers that I wanted to work on a farm. So when I didn't sound too enthusiastic about the factory and restaurant job we reviewed the farm opportunities that were available to me. Eventually we picked a location and the Immigration Officer offered to take me there. I wanted him to also take my ship trunk and luggage. That he refused to do. He said he only had a little English car not a big Mercedes like the cars I was used to in Germany. Little did he know that in my family we didn't own a car so that his car was quite luxurious to me. Arrangements were made for my ship's trunk to be shipped to Amherst, Nova Scotia by train because it is on a farm near there where I chose to locate.

The Customs Officer then drove me from Halifax to Amherst via Tatamagouche when he called in upon one of his "wards" - another young man whom he had helped to settle in the northern part of Nova Scotia.

Eventually we reached the farm destination on the outskirts of Amherst and he deposited me there with some last minute words of advice and an invitation to contact him anytime if I needed to know anything or if I needed any help. I was too excited to think that I would have any questions or any further requests but it was not the last time I saw my Immigration Officer. About six weeks later I was painting a sign at the front of the farmhouse and a car stopped and a gentleman in a uniform got out and asked me how I was doing. At first I didn't recognize the man but the more questions he asked me about how I liked the place and whether I was happy there I realized that it was my Immigration Officer. He had come by to check on me. I felt really wonderful about that. I was pleased to tell him that everything was fine and that I was being treated well and that I was very happy in Canada. That is the last time I had anything to do with Immigration Canada. It was many, many years later after I had gone through university and had graduated from law school and had to be in Halifax on some occasion that I realized that the Pier 21 that everyone was talking about was the place where I had landed and where I had gotten so much help to get a good start in Canada.

Incidentally, I am now 61 years old and the senior partner of a seven-person law firm in Amherst, Nova Scotia. I am married with two children and three and a half grandchildren. Needless to say, I never regretted coming to Canada.